a long one

after two days with this adorable couple and a couple nights of sleep lost the wee nugget was born yesterday at 3:25pm. it was a long haul but lovely. i did so miss my family when i was gone that long. i had to give a talk at whole foods that night at 7:30pm-8:30pm about birth choices so i had big daddy have a movie night so the sweet monkeys would be awake when i got home. even though they were up later they were still bright eyed and bushy tailed at 7:30am.

childcare for this one was kind of tight. my good friend canceled her appointment the first day to watch my kids. i was so thankful. and the monkey got to see his friend he has not seen in a bit. although the bean tells me she is not really grooving with my friends 3 year old but i am sure she still had fun. the second day was a bit more tricky. i was able to come home for a couple of hours to let big daddy get to work early, get the kids up and dressed and orchestrate childcare for the day which was asking my good friend again to watch the kids before and after her classes with my new (but absolutely lovely with southern hospitality) neighbor (well actually my new neighbors absolutely lovely mother in law) watching them while my good friend was in class. i even called my dad the second day to see if he wanted to play hooky from work to watch the kids. surprisingly he was open to it so that was good news.

today is a lot of laundry and grocery shopping (we have had no groceries for 3 days-oops) and hanging with the kiddos.

working as a doula is an odd calling. we are inviting into one of the most intimate events of a womans and a couples life. there was one point where this mother was in the shower with her radio blaring her premade labor mix, her husband stood moaning fore head to forehead with her while also spraying her back with the removable shower head. the peace on her face and the strength he offered her was beautiful to see. this couple was so connected i teared up watching them. i was really there at times just as a witness to this amazing event.

the birth unit was really busy because of all those childless folks going out on new years and kickin' it with some baby makin'. for how busy it was the on call midwives called in back up for all three of the 12 hour shifts we were there for so we got to see quite a few faces, midwife faces that is. i think at one point they had 9 women in labor at the same time. insane.

hopefully i will have a photo update soon.