Too Cute Tuesday

Wow, wow, wow! What an absolutely amazing morning!

First up, a local magazine wants to publish my rant about formula. I have absolutely no clue how they came across my blog, but it amazes me that someone wants to actually put my words into print. Actually, nix that. It amazes me that people even read my blog. I don’t consider myself a writer, but it’s absolutely the best feeling to be able to express yourself in words that others want to read. The funny thing is, I really dislike my writing style (maybe because I’m married to a “real” writer) yet I’ve only received glowing feedback. Anyways, the details are still being hashed out and I’m not going to hold my breath, but how cool would it be if this thing actually happened? One article could lead to two, then to three, and who knows… maybe another magazine, then another. Maybe even an actual column. (FYI, magazine writing pay completely sucks. But, as of now, I’m writing for free and anything is more than nothing. Plus, I could spew my very important opinions at thousands of people.)

Next is Harper’s Birth Video. I originally uploaded it to youtube, and it had more than 5,000 hits in the first day it was up. Okay, so 5,000 views doesn’t seem like much when you consider that Evolution of Dance has like 150 million hits, but it’s about 4,950 more views than I expected. In fact, several birthing websites have contacted me to get permission to repost the video on their sites. If even one person watches Harper’s birth and contemplates going natural instead of automatically opting for the standard drugged up hospital delivery, I’ve done what I intended to do.

I have to admit, I was really nervous about sharing that video with the general public. I mean, nobody (except maybe Heidi Klum) looks good during childbirth. Hell, I’m afraid to post my very unflattering P90X pictures over at KUrunner. Also, I’m having a baby… on a toilet. How many of you have watched some show on TLC and thought the woman who said, “Well, I didn’t know I was having a baby!” was an idiot? (Trust me, had I realized Harps was coming, I would have gone someplace slightly less embarrassing.) So, I was a bit scared when I logged onto youtube and had an inbox full of HUNDREDS of messages. Thankfully, most of them were good — thanking me for posting it and telling me how inspiring it was. I even got a few questions about natural birth. Of course, I did get a couple that were along the lines of, “You idiot, you had your baby in a toilet.” I even had one admonish me for “glamorizing unassisted home births.”

A. Yes, I had an unassisted home birth, but it wasn’t planned and I would never willingly do it again.  (I mean, unassisted.  If I have a home birth, there will be a midwife there.)

B. Glamorizing? Um, what part of that video was glamorous in any sense of the world?  Maybe I just look that awesome during labor that everyone wants to copy me?

Overall though, I’m pretty happy with the reactions I’ve gotten from both my friends and strangers about Harper’s video and my writing.

And now, just because she’s so darned cute, I leave you with this.

Harper’s Birth Video

After much consideration, I’ve decided to post Harper’s birth video online for all the world to see.  I absolutely hate watching the “educational” birth shows on television, but everything is blurred out so you can’t actually see anything.  So, I figured, if I’m not willing to post my vagina on youtube, I can’t complain about Discovery Health.


If you remember Harper’s birth story, she arrived by surprise at home after a quick labor.  We were planning a natural birth using the Bradley method, but we really didn’t get to use many of the techniques because of the short labor.  We did get our natural birth, though!


Ok, before you actually watch the video, realize that it does involve a tiny person coming out of my body; therefore, there is nudity and lots of gross-looking fluid stuff.  If you are squeamish or don’t want to see the vagina of a 9 month pregnant woman, you probably shouldn’t click play.  Also, the video was recorded by Kaelin and I’m sideways for the first half.


Without further ado…

Harper’s Birth Story

I woke up from a nap having contractions. They were irregular, but fairly intense so Jason and I figured that tonight would be the night. We had planned to spend most of the labor at home watching movies and relaxing with the techniques we learned in our Bradley class.

Introducing Harper Grace

Unfortunately, I wound up chained to my toilet. I started having really bad diarrhea, and every time I would get up, I felt like I needed to go again. Half an hour after my contractions started, my water broke. Even though I had been in labor for less than an hour, we decided to go ahead and call the doctor. He told us to head to the hospital and he’d meet us there.

Jason and Kaelin started taking our bags out to the car, but shortly after my water broke, the contractions really picked up. They were still irregular, but coming between every 1 and 5 minutes. Jason was trying to get me to relax, but I just couldn’t stand to be touched. I was leaning over the bathtub thinking that there was no way I’d be able to have a natural birth because the pain was just way too much. There may have been some screaming involved.

How can someone so little be loved so much?

I finally make it downstairs when I get the urge to go to the bathroom again. I figured the hospital was half an hour away so I better go before we leave. I sat down on the toilet and realized that it wasn’t a bowel movement coming out. I yelled for Jason who walked into the bathroom to find me crowning on the toilet. He asked Kaelin to get some towels and the video camera then made me squat on the floor holding onto his shoulders for support. I kept trying to sit back down, but he wouldn’t let me. While I was squatting, the baby’s head came out without any pushing. One push for the shoulders and less than two hours after labor started, she was here!

Thankfully, she didn’t have any emergency issues when she was born. She came out screaming, was pink, and tried to nurse right away. Jason called the paramedics because our hospital was more than 30 minutes away and it was rush hour in Charleston. They came, cut her cord, and put us in the ambulance. Of course, it was raining, and they didn’t give me time to put a robe on, but we made it to the hospital in one piece.

Harps and her proud Mama

Looking back, I realize that we got the birth we wanted. There was no medical intervention, at least not until after she was born. Jason got to catch the baby (something our OB refused on our birth plan) and it was just our family to welcome her into the world.