54 Happy Home Birth Podcast with Katelyn Fusco on their home birth
Imagine your ideal birth. Where are you? Who is with you? In what position are you laboring? Listen in to hear Katelyn’s most recent birth story. Her experience was “magical,” as she was surrounded with exactly the right people in exactly the right time– it was a peaceful, undisturbed birth. Katelyn set up her birthing space very intentionally and set her mind to the exact kind of labor she wanted to experience.
She and Thomas share their labor story, as well as a hilarious postpartum experience that occurred.
Katelyn’s labor march:
Katelyn’s birth video: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B2DSJQYpxCc8MHVyeWxfa0xhb3FiVVhkT3ctenZpQmhiWm8w/view?usp=sharing
Sponsorship:
Deepest Thank You to Our Sponsor! Hatched at Home-Midwife Carrie LaChapelle: www.hatchedathome.comhttps://www.facebook.com/MidwifeCarrieLachapelleLMCPM/ 864-907-6363
Happy Homebirth hit 10,000 downloads! It’s time to celebrate. What do you want to see? A Facebook group? Merchandise? Send an e-mail to katelyn@myhappyhomebirth.com with your suggestions.
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https://www.myhappyhomebirth.com/episode30/. (link to original show notes)
https://www.myhappyhomebirth.com/3pillars
TRANSCRIPTION
What does a contraction feel like? How do I know if I'm in labor and what did the day of labor look like? Wait, is this normal? Hey, I'm Heidi. My best friends. Call me hides. I'm a certified birth doula host of this podcast and author of birth story and interactive pregnancy guidebook. I have supported hundreds of women through their labor and delivery.
And I believe every one of them and you deserves a microphone and a stage. So here we are, listen each week to get answers to these tough questions, birth story, where we talk about pregnancy labor deliveries, where we tell our stories and share our feelings. And of course, chat about our favorite baby products and motherhood.
And because I'm passionate about birth outcomes, you will hear from some of the top experts in labor and delivery, whether you are pregnant, trying desperately to get pregnant, or you just love a good birth story. I hope you will stick around and be part of this birth story family. Well, hello. Hello everyone.
I am so excited to be on the birth story podcast. Thank you so much to my friend hides for having me on and letting me share my birth story with you guys. So for those of you who don't know me, my name's Kaitlin Fesco. I'm the host of the happy home birth podcast. And today, Heidi and I, they're doing a little switcheroo.
So I am going to come on, give a little intro and then share with you my own home birth story with my second daughter Lillian, which happened just about a year ago. I had such an incredible home birth. This was my second home birth. And it was a really just truly amazing experience. I am going to link in the show notes, a video of the birth.
Um, you guys will hear, obviously hear me talk all about, about it. And my husband Thomas is in this episode as well, and he's class, like he really makes the episode, so, so much fun. So I'm going to link the video so you guys can check that out. I also wanted to let you, no, if you are listening to this podcast and you think, Whoa, Home birth.
Like, I haven't really considered it or maybe I have considered it, but I'm not sure. Or if you're like, yep. I know that's me. That's what I'm doing. It's what I'm planning. I would love to invite you into the live event that I'm going to be hosting. In my Facebook group and that's coming up on September 8th through the day 10th.
So September 8th, ninth, and 10th, and that's in my face. Facebook group, happy home birth podcast, community. If you would like to be involved in this amazing live event where I'm going to covering the three pillars for a happy home birth, all you have to do. Is go to my happy home birth.com forward slash the number three, three pillars.
So my happy home, birth.com forward slash three pillars. And you can sign up for this amazing three day live that I'm going to be hosting. I am so pumped about it. We're going to be talking about support. We're going to be talking about informed decisions and mindset, all of the things that you really need to have the type of home birth that.
I got to experience myself. So before I waste any more, more of your time, let's go ahead and jump on into the episode once again. Thank you guys so much for listening. It is such an honor to be able to share this space with you.
Welcome to the happy home birth podcast, your source for positive, natural childbirth stories and your community of support, education, and encouragement, and all things, home, birth and motherhood.
So I want to ask you what. Would your ideal birth scenario be when you think about how you give birth, what do you imagine? Where do you imagine yourself? Who is there with you? These are all things I want you to think about as you listened to my birth story. Because when I think of what happened, I. Feel like my birthing situation was my absolute ideal birthing situation.
So just think about what would that be like for you and what would that look like in your mind? Take a screenshot right now while you're listening and upload it to your Instagram tag, happy home birth podcast, and I'll be sure to feature you in my stories. So now we are going to go ahead and jump into our home birth story.
Make sure that you stick around to the end because Thomas ends on an amazing postpartum story. That is like the greatest thing that's ever happened. And it makes me laugh so hard. So I hope you enjoy this and let's head on over to the interview. All right, Thomas, you wanna introduce yourself? I'm Thomas.
Very good. So we are just going to go through what happened with. With the birth. Um, I was saying earlier, we were kind of going through like the list of events and I feel like things kind of started happening Wednesday night. And it was really exciting. I knew that it probably wasn't going to actually happen over Wednesday night, but I had been so frustrated with the fact that like, I felt like my uterus was not even online.
Like it wasn't even doing anything, anything at all. So Wednesday Thomas was at work in the evening and I started feeling some tightness and I was like, Oh my gosh, like, thank goodness. This thing actually works still. And he came home pretty late and got in bed. And I told him like, Oh, I'm like, I'm getting this tightness.
And then at that point I was kind of to get like mild, mild contractions, but they were like, Every 10 ish minutes, but you've been getting those for the past couple of days at that point. Yeah. Yeah. Through the net. Like especially no, especially in the night, but yeah, but they were definitely a different like feeling this time.
Cause I could ghost contractors' yeah. I could tell that they were like, okay, things are going to happen. Eventually I will have a baby. So that was a good feeling. Um, and I listened to hip no babies, which probably was annoying to you as well, because I listened to it on loud. It's actually pretty hypnotic, so I don't mind.
Oh, that's good. There you go. Character shelf. We'll be happy to hear that. So, yeah, so we. W I went through the evening. Oh, the other important thing to note is that I had sent out an incentive to some of the girls in my church to come over to my inlaws house to go swimming on Thursday. Like Thursday morning.
I had done that Wednesday night when I, before I was experiencing the tightness. And I was just thinking like, I'd be pregnant forever. So then at like five o'clock in the morning on Thursday when I realized, okay, I'm still getting these kinds of contractions, I better cancel. So I sent a message out to everyone saying like, Hey, looks like we're not going to be able to have the pool party.
Um, I'm hoping that I might be having another pool party in my bedroom, a small one. Um, but they weren't invited to that one. So, and then I was like, also, if I would have known that, just inviting everybody over would have. Caused me to go into labor. I would have done this a freaking week ago, but, uh, yeah.
So, so we canceled the party. And then what did we do in the morning, Thomas? Well, Janie had a meltdown at the chiropractor. Yeah. So. It's an official tradition now to go to the chiropractor while I'm in labor. But granted this time was much better. Yeah. Last time you were in labor for like already a day at this point, this time you were like, jumpstarting your labor, right?
Yeah. That's a good way to put it. Yeah. Cause the last time, uh, my chiropractor saw us in the parking lot and like told whoever was on the table. Like, okay, I'm going to need you to get up. Cause there is a woman clearly in labor walking in right now. Okay. It's a fun car ride car bump. Oh my God. Oh my God.
Yeah, this time was not like that. It was, I was having the contractions that I knew. Okay. Well, I just want to go ahead and get everything stimulated and inline so that I'm not driving in the car with horrible contractions. So we went and saw dr. Dreckmann, AKA DACA, DACA. And when I walked in, I was like, well, I'm kind of in labor.
And he was like, ah, I don't, I remember you had labor last time. This doesn't seem likely, I doubt it, but I was, it was definitely early labor. Right. I thought you were probably just trying to get like a seat real quick. Okay. Yeah, sure. Ever again, just trying to cut in line real quick, but, so yeah, so we got our, we got an adjustment.
Janie was. Like really, she's just, she's just Janie doing Janie things. Well, actually she was like being really shy at first. I remember that. Oh yeah, no, she was rough. She wasn't rough that time. She was rough. Cause she was rough when we went in to the room. That was when she was well, cause I was having to take care of her and she was losing it, Janie, just doing Janie things.
So we went to the chiropractor, got all that taken care of. And then I guess we just went home and she took a nap. And then we went over to your parents' house, right? Yeah. So she had swimming lessons and made the fatal mistake of having her take a nap before the swimming lessons. So she woke up in a.
Cranky mood. And he was not wanting to swim. She didn't want to cry a lot though. She did. She did. She is like her dad in the sense that it's not like a, Oh, like I'm going to wake up and then I'm going to be in a happy mood. It's like, there's this whole groggy phase where they're be angry and I don't get it.
But yeah. So she woke up from her nap. We went to S to my inlaws house where she was having her swim lessons. Oh, there's Lillian. Alright, Lillian's nursing now. So if you hear any, uh, bulldog grunts that's she's on the T. She's a very grunty baby, but anyway, so we, we went to Janie swim lesson where she didn't do any swimming and then just kind of hung out at Thomas's parents' house for a little bit.
And that's when I started getting more intense contractions and they were like every five or 10 minutes. Um, and finally I like came out of the bathroom and was like, okay, Thomas, we got to go. Okay. And I thought she had done something horrible in there, but really it was because I was starting to like, want to make noises, but not yet, we got in the car and I was like, why are we leaving now?
Is it getting worse? And she's like, I just don't want to make contraction sounds that your parents, that's not, that's not what you want for your in laws, but it wasn't, I didn't think like things were. Happening anytime soon. Really just the way that the contractions were feeling, it just, it was like they were squeezing my intestines, like.
I knew that they weren't super productive. I knew I was like, something was going to have to change for it to have a baby come, but it was real uncomfortable. So, so then we got back home and she got hungry and wanted to get some food. And I was like, Whoa, not yet. No, not yet. We w we had to do all of our walking and stuff.
Oh yeah, that's right. Yeah. Don't you are just so excited to tell on me. Oh my gosh. Yeah. Well, it's even better. We went walking. Well, first we went out to the back in Janey. Gotten to some poison Ivy, of course, apparently there's just every single type of poison Ivy in her backyard. And she grabbed it. I'm super allergic to poison Ivy.
Like almost every year growing up, like in the summer, I would just get it all over my face. So I'm very scared of Janie getting it. So she touched the leaf and I went and researched the leaf over and over again and found out it was. So then we had to go inside scrubber down. And then we brought her back out and Caitlyn was doing a marching band March up and down the road for awhile.
Actually, I have a nice video of it. If anyone wants to see. Yeah, we can put that in the show notes. Yeah. We have this like small little culdesac beside our house and I was just, it's like, it's nice because it's an inch, it's a Hill. It's just like a slow incline Hill. So I was just like marching down and up.
Just trying to get the baby in a deeper knees, arms pumping serious. It looks like a real fool. Also, it was really hot and I was wearing my like black yoga pants and tank top. That's pretty much the only outfit that I've worn this entire pregnancy. But I remember thinking this is going to make me smell real bad.
So hopefully I have time for a shower between now and a child. So of course that's what she's thinking about. That is what I was thinking about. Well, I just feel bad for like midwives and things to have to smell mistake. So we marched up and down the Hill and I had, meanwhile, I'd been texting my it's she's my midwife apprentice, but also my, like one of my very closest friends, Sarah, um, and she's, she's like a, like practically a midwife, like she's been apprenticing for a long, long time now.
So she's, she's got all the knowledge. Um, and I was texting her and telling her what was going on. And I had said something about like, these contractions are hurting my intestines so bad, and I have struggled with constipation. Cause I know you guys wanted to know about that, but I've really struggled with like, with constipation, especially towards the end of this pregnancy.
And there was one time where I couldn't go, couldn't go. And the baby was, she had been really, really low. And then it finally, like after a few days she was kind of high and I'm like, why is she so high? Then finally, once I went to the bathroom, she was down low again. So clearly we know where my intestines were in this situation.
And so Sarah was like, well, maybe it's like that again. And maybe you need to get the poops out before you can have a baby. So I was like, okay, well, and you guys know from last week's episode that I said like, mama, ain't scared of no, uh, enema. So I was like, okay, well maybe I should just do an enema. And she was like, well, maybe you should just do like an Epsom salt cleanse.
So I decided to do the Epsom salt cleanse and I regret that. I wish that I would have just gone straight for the enema, but I did that and it was horrible. Like I felt so sick after drinking a quarter of. Warm water with salt in it. And, um, and then like 40 minutes later, I still hadn't cleared out. So it was like, this is not going to be good because I'm going to be all backed up.
With all of this in me, and then the baby's going to come and I'm going to have waterfall poops in a birth pool and no fish net is going to be able to handle that kind of situation at all. So that's what was going on with me while Thomas is dealing with the whole poison Ivy situation. And then we got back inside from the walk and you that's when that's when the food situation occurred.
So I know you're super excited about this part. I'm not excited at all. So she, she got hungry and I was like, well, how about, I'll go get some burgers at cookout down the road. And she's like, well, actually I think I want Wendy's and I'm like, seriously, you want Wendy's right now? Cause he, first of all, she doesn't like fast food at all.
And I guess she just wanted the chicken nuggets from there. I don't know what it was, but I kept trying to talk her out of it by saying she was like, well, you don't have to go there. I was like, no, no, if you really want Wendy's I'll go there. I haven't had them. And I was like, And then I was on the way and I was like, I got to try to change this.
I called her as like, Hey, what if we went to Publix and got subbed? And she's like, no, I want Wendy's. I was like, okay. Yeah, that's fine. She's like, Well, wait, what if we went to Chick-fil-A maybe got some, no, Nope. I want one he's like, okay. So she was trying to say, I could take two trips, go somewhere else for me, but I was like, you know, I really don't want to do that.
So I suffered with her and got Wendy's as well. And yeah, really. I guess she really, really wanted to poop really bad. So I was like, let's get some Wendy's going and just clear my entire system out for the next couple of days. Yeah. I don't know why. I don't know where the Wendy's came from. I mean, I do.
Yeah, we don't really, it was a frosty that she really wanted. She was hiding behind the chicken nuggets. No, I love, I really like their chicken nuggets. I think it's more of a sentimental thing though, because. We used to get Wendy's as kids. And I really liked their chicken nuggets, but whatever, either way, it doesn't matter.
It was going to be horrible, horrible food anyway, which is not exactly yeah. How we typically live our lives. But of course, like for this birth story, you have to know that. W that I was eating crap food after I stand on my soap box and talk about the importance of prenatal nutrition. I was eating Wendy's.
I think she just wanted me to feel contractions at the same time. She was because that's definitely what happened. Wendy's contractions, Thomas and Janie got home after their, uh, They're going to pick up our food and they came while they were gone. I was sitting on the birth ball, watching the office because what else?
Well, literally all she ever watches, fave show the office and Seinfeld. And so I was watching the office, they came in and, um, we all decided to eat in our bedroom. So Thomas is on the bed. I'm on the birth ball. Janie's sitting on her little inner little desk over our white carpet, which I don't know how that happened, but that's what happened.
Yeah. We even get, I gave her like a teeny bit of a. What are those things? The frosty. And afterwards, I was like, what was I thinking? She's literally sitting on a white carpet with this like tiny bit of slushy that she's going to spill over the place, but she didn't, she didn't go Janie. So I'm sitting on the birth ball, Eaton mill Wendy's.
And it's about seven o'clock at this point we had gotten home. No, it was like seven Oh six or something. Okay. It was about seven Oh six or something. Let's get it. Right. And, um, we had. So w the way that the afternoon, yeah, it played out was I had messaged my friend, Sarah around like four 30 or something telling her that, uh, my intestines were hurting.
So that's when that happened. Um, that's when the poison Ivy situation was happening. So not a lot of time between that. And when we ate dinner and at seven 11 actually is when I decided to time. Contraction. So I'd felt a few. I was like, yeah, it does check out seven and six. I can't remember. So I was like, okay, these are coming, uh, pretty quickly.
And they are feeling way different. Oh gosh. Done. No, I totally forgot. This is super important. While before I started watching the office while they were getting the Wendy's, I did decide to do an enema. And so I do not, but they have their benefits. Someone come into the bathroom, she's just laying on the ground, all hooked up.
What are you doing? Coffee enemas are very beneficial for the liver, everybody just so you know, but I haven't done them in a while. Because pregnancy does not make them very fun, but I figured let's bring it on back and get this stuff out. It was a good idea. It cleared me out and then that's when the contractions totally changed.
So Sarah was right. And my diagnosis of this is squeezing. My intestines was, was also right. That's exactly what was happening. So as soon as that happened, baby dropped really low. And, uh, we started getting good contractions. And they were like, okay, actually let me not say they were like, let me pull up what I ended up sending to my midwife because.
They were. Okay. So we did seven. What I can see on this page was seven 16, seven 19 seven 24, seven 26. These are the times of when I'm having these contractions and the duration 31 seconds, 39, 38, 48. And then so between times was like, Two minutes, two minutes, two minutes, two minutes. Yeah. They're all two minutes apart.
And so I sent that to my midwife and to Sarah and was like a question Mark question Mark. Like, is this real? I don't know. I'm able to breathe through these. Like I could I called Sarah, I can talk through this, but, and she was like, yeah, you're talking through it, but you're a sounding a little strange. So she.
And she lives, um, about an hour away from me. And she had, luckily she had the sense to a little bit before start heading towards like, towards our area. She's in, if, I mean, not that it matters to most people, but she's in Spartanburg. We're in. Easily. So Greenville is like the in between kind of area. So she was like, I'm just going to go there and go to target.
Because when we were apprentices together, every time any of us would go to target, a person would decide to have a baby. So she was like trying to really nail it down that I was going to have this child. Um, so she's a target when I called her. And she's actually was actually buying Mila labor gown, which was so sweet.
And she heard me on the phone and she and I carry, I could tell that she started like rushing to get the heck out of target. Like she, like, she's starting to sound out of breath, like trying to get to her car. And so she gets in the car and heads our way and actually great timing. So, cause I guess I, I don't remember what time I sent that message.
It was like seven 30, six. She got to our house by eight o'clock. So she dang, she went fast. She broke some laws. She did break some laws unless she was closer. And it was just thoughtful of your shy uterus. Some of them trying to stress it. I heard her, I heard it for checking out. That was very sweet of you, Sarah.
Thanks for getting here. And um, by that time, yeah, I was like, I was standing up, right? No, no, no, no. Thomas was, we already had the birth pool like out, but we didn't have it filled. And, um, so Thomas was starting to work on getting the hose hooked up. Sarah came in and I was kneeling at the bottom of our bed and, and just could not find a comfortable place to have contractions.
To that. What was going on with the, what was going on with the birth pool? Cause there was like a long, they just took, I had to take the washer and dryer out of the room because the way the hose was set up, it was a long, solid piece. It wouldn't bend. So I had to like actually move everything around. So it took awhile.
I think Sarah checks me like everything. Okay. Like, yes, I just have to move these washers and dryers by myself. So it's fine. Just a drop pan too, that made it even funner. But anyways, I digress. So Thomas is doing that. Sarah is in the room with me. We turned on the hidden Obies relaxation music, which I had what'd she put on her phone and I kept asking her, Hey, let me go get a.
Boom speaker. And she's like, no, no, it's fine. I'm like, you want this boom speaker? And she, she did want it eventually. She wouldn't accept it right away. I remember that being like, what the heck, come on. This is a perfect situation for a Youi boom speaker. I don't know why that was the thing that I didn't want.
Maybe it was cause you didn't want me to leave at the time, but still. Gotcha. Oh, I could see that. Sweet. Yeah. So I was having, I was having contractions at the bottom of the bed could not get comfortable. And then I remember finally, like, we've tried putting pillows. We tried, we just did everything that we could for me to be able to get comfortable as I'm kneeling at the bottom of the bed.
And it just wasn't working. And then Thomas was able to come back in the room and it changed everything because he was able to sit at the bottom of the bed. And I just like. Kneeled on a pillow in front of him and like put my head in his lap and it was like the perfect height and it felt so much better.
Um, so we did that for a while. I can't remember timewise how, how probably like. Maybe 20, 30 minutes. Yeah. And so then, and then in the meantime, Sarah was sitting in the corner, like just kind of talking and, and really, I felt fine between contractions, right? Like, yeah. You seem to be all right. Talkative.
And, um, and my sister came because we wanted somebody to be here with Janie. I wanted Janie home and to be able to be involved, but I knew she wasn't going to be able to just like. Hanging out with us. So she was in, she was in and out of the bedroom controlled. Yeah, she was in and out. My sister was here and I had some activities for her to do, just to kind of keep Janie engaged and not going crazy.
One of the things was a cake mix that I had gotten from trader Joe's. Interesting, funny little side story is we had all the. Olive oil and cooking oil in here for Kaitlin. So she it's called for some kind of cooking oil and she decided to use soy sauce instead it smells like soy sauce. So I remember coming out like halfway through and be like, what is that smell like?
This is some weird, weird trader Joe's cake mix. And then I looked on the counter and saw there's soy sauce all over the counter. It was like, what the hell is this? Yeah. That, and it didn't actually taste that bad though. A little weird back taste of it, but the smell still haunts me well. So it was the Sesame seed oil.
Plus she did find some avocado oil on the counter that she was going to use. But what she didn't realize was that was like this. Oil that I had made it's like turmeric oil. So it's avocado oil with tumeric in it to like put on roast vegetables and, um, and like salad and stuff. So she had used that too.
So it was a chocolate trader Joe's keenwah cake with Sesame seed oil and tumeric oil. So. It sounds Asian Mediterranean blend feels phenomenal. Very anti-inflammatory but yeah, so, so Kelly and Janie were working on their cake and I'm sure Janie was doing a whole bunch of baby doll stuff. But she would come in and check on us and see what's going on.
The birth photographer got here, and though she kept having to leave. I gotta go check on my cake. I got to go check on you do that. Janie's asking other people,
the birth photographer got here and there was a sweet picture that Sarah took where cause Janie came up to her and said, what what's you're doing? And Ashley was like, I'm taking pictures of your mommy and daddy. And Jenny said, can I see? And so there's a picture of Janie taking a picture with Ashley of us.
It's a really sweet, um, yeah. Photo inception. So yeah. So that's what was going on with her while we're going through all of this? I think, um, I think Ashley got there maybe. She got there. She got there a little, like not too long after Sarah got here. Maybe like a four, right? Yeah. Cause Sarah kind of came in and assessed the situation and was like, okay.
Yeah, this is, this is real. And she was also the one that was going to be in contact with the midwife and my, actually my other midwife Elizabeth who caught Janie, she, it was amazing. It was like, totally. Such a blessing, but she was at home. Um, she happened to be at home. She moved to New Hampshire. So she was in South Carolina taking care of her grandparents.
And, uh, so Sarah was going to see if she could possibly make it. Um, we still weren't sure, even like, Just a few hours before whether or not she was going to get to come, but Sarah was the one that was going to be in touch with all of them. So I didn't have to worry about that. And, um, let's see what happened next week.
Oh, so after the whole kneeling. Yeah, I started, I started hanging, um, I realized. That was that I was going to be more comfortable, not kneeling. Like it just was getting to be too much. My stomach was hurting kind of bad at that point, hashtag Wendy's and um, I decided to stand up. So Thomas was just standing basically against the wall or maybe not, or even against the Washington, just Stan, just Danny.
He's so strong. All the dead lifts and squats have paid off. Yeah. So he was standing up and I was just like, yeah. W wrapping my arms around him and then whenever a contraction would happen, I would kind of like, I would kind of squat. Like a, kind of like a plea, a squat kind of, you kind of just like lock your hands down my neck and just fall to the ground.
I like to think of it as a controlled school.
I mean, it looks like you were squatting. Yeah. So that's, that's what I mean. That was the majority of the labor. What did you say? Like that's what we did pretty much the whole time. Yeah. Until you got into the pool. Yeah. Yeah. Which was at the very end and it got to the point move pretty quick. Yeah. I mean, it was, this was only right.
Yeah, this was only a three and a half hour labor from like when I, when I started feeling the contractions, right. Seven Oh six and when the, he became out at 10 36, so. Eight nine, 10, yeah. Three and a half hours. Exactly. Oh, Oh, it really does. So, uh, so yeah, we did that for a long time. And then I remember at one point as I'm hanging from Thomas during these contractions, I feel, Oh, Sarah had actually checked me pretty recently.
And she was like, you're like a six or a seven, which I think she's like a perfect 10, but you know, to each their own, well, it's really sweet. But my cervix was like a six or a seven, which is exactly where I thought it was. Um, so yeah. So I remembered though that with Janie's birth, I went from a six or a seven to an eight and a half pretty quickly.
And then I went from an eight and a half to pushing very, very quickly. So I, I wasn't concerned about numbers and you guys shouldn't be either. And that part of me will, like, you're telling everybody about the numbers here we are. But part of the, I, part of me didn't want to get checked, but I decided to just because I thought that it might be helpful for Sarah to kind of convey to everybody else what was going on and for the decision of like, okay, would this be a time to get in the pool?
Okay. Um, Oh, actually you were thinking about not getting in the pool. You're which was freaking me out. I was like, wait, this didn't happen last time. What's this going to be like, I like it in the pool. It's kind of mysterious in there. You didn't want it very dark. Oh, that's kind. I'm just kidding. So, um, yeah, so.
So she checked me and then we do some more hanging, but not long after she checked me as I'm hanging down during this contractions, it's like at the worst part, it's like, That part where everything feels really open, but you can't do anything about it. You know, like you're just having to let it kind of happened to your body.
And there's a mental part of that where you just have to let go and that's not very easy. So then. I remember starting to feel like, Oh, if I just bare down a tiny, tiny bit during these contractions, it makes it feel a lot more manageable and I feel more in control. So I started doing that during the peaks of the contractions.
And I told Sarah, like, I feel like I'm feeling like a little bit of a need to bear down. It's not a push. It's nothing like a push it's just like this light bearing down and looking back at it. I think that that. That my body knew that I needed to do that, to just bring her head down just a tiny bit more and apply that last bit of pressure, um, to just kind of, you know, soften and release the rest of the cervix that was there.
Because once I started doing that, It really, really wasn't long until, um, until she came and back to what Thomas said, I was starting to think I wasn't going to get in the pool. Granted he had taken, I guess, another reason that you probably wanted me to is, cause he'd worked so hard to get the fricking water in it.
Well, if you're not going to get in, I'm at least going to do it. Well, that was the other thing we haven't talked about. Janie was trying so fricking hard to get into the pool. Yes. The whole time, not just like in the beginning, during, after. She almost actually, well, we'll get to that. Okay. Yeah. So Janie was definitely like, okay, you guys, aren't going to use this.
I'm gonna use this. So, um, so yeah, I did say at one point I was like, I don't even know that I'm going to get in the pool. And I do remember Thomas being like, what, what are you talking about? So, Oh, okay. So this is about the part where. I started getting just really nauseous, like during the contraction, if my stomach was hurting really, really bad, and I just felt way too full.
I felt like I was going to throw up. And if any of you have listened to my previous birth story, you know, that. It didn't involve a lot of puke. Yeah. For like a day and a half. Yeah. It was a, it was just a puke Fest. Really rough on me, honestly. Yeah. Thomas Tom's really struggled with that. So this time it wasn't like that, but I definitely was feeling the Wendy's hashtag Wendy's and, um, I probably don't want your question.
It's really funny. And so finally I was talking to Sarah about it. I was like, I really don't know what to do. I'm just feeling so sick. And we decided that maybe it would be better out than ends. So I'm not recommending this to anybody. And this is not like, this is disturbing and it's not necessarily the way to go about things, but it's the way that I decided to do it.
So full disclosure for you. I decided to just make myself throw up and get it over with. So I did that and I'm proud to say that it worked really well. And I felt a good bit of relief after I just got the Wendy's out of my system. So really what I'm saying is. Don't eat Wendy's before you go into labor.
I think that kind of goes without saying well, but I'll just say it anyway. I guess some people don't. Okay.
So after the pukes came up, um, and I was feeling the pressure that's when we got the olive oil out and started trying to just prepare the area and get everything nice. And, um, Moisturize because, you know, everybody, nobody wants to tear and that's like always a something in, in a mom's mind. I feel like, at least for me, and I've definitely heard that from other people, so all of oil.
Um, and especially since I was thinking, okay, this might be a land birth. I was just trying to go ahead and get things ready. So I think it was about this time where. I started having a contraction and right at the peak of it, I just said, I can't like, totally knew that. I mean, I could like, what the heck are you going to do at that point?
Like, you're in labor, you're going to do it. But that's when it was like, alright, this is pretty transitioning. And Thomas, I think that's about the same time where I asked you to just pray over me. And that is another. Significant part of the labor that just really stands out to me is when, you know, I had my arms around you, you're holding me and you just prayed for peace for me.
And for me to, um, to feel strengthened, feel the Lord's presence. And it, it was just a really sweet moment. And then it really wasn't long after that, that I was like that, I think was it you, that just was like, why don't you get in the pool? Well, yeah, cause you said you weren't feeling really, you know, you were starting to feel worse.
So why don't you just go relaxing? I remember last time you were in the pool for a long time before you were ready to go, just cause you're like, it just feels good in here. And I'm really glad that I decided to take that advice because I did get in the pool and Oh my gosh, it was a huge relief. It felt so I just am, and I was glad that she finally used it.
So relief to me. It's definitely something. I mean, I'm sure that not everybody wants a water birth. I'm sure that not everybody likes water when they're in labor, but I am the kind of person that if I get sick the day that I am sick, I will take four or five baths like water, just definitely and enemas.
And those are from water too. So. Water. Definitely. Oh my gosh. Water definitely makes me feel better. So I'm glad that I took the advice and I got in the birth pool. Um, I think I was, I think I was, um, on my knees at that point. Is that right? I think I started, I started on my knees. Yeah. I think you were that's all your back was to me that that happened at one point.
I don't know either way. There were a few positions that I got into in the, in the birth pool. But, um, I was pretty much on my knees either. Well, at this point, the boom is just blasting out. They had no babies. Oh, that was another thing though. There were like two times during the labor that the new baby's truck stopped.
And I kind of put that back on. I kinda lost it there for a minute, so that they're relaxing. It wasn't anger. It was like a scared, like that needs to get back. What happened? I just got pulled back to reality here. So I did, I really did not think that I was going to listen to him. No babies. This time I had made a playlist that I thought I was going to use.
And. It was very clear to me. Like, Nope, don't need any words. Just need hip. No, baby's relaxation. Music stat. So him, no babies, relaxation music is playing I'm in the water. And my contraction slowed down a lot. Once I got in the water, like, do you remember them? I don't know how long, like, I don't know how far apart they were beforehand or what they were like during, but I do remember the difference in like what I'm getting a much longer break now that I'm in the water.
Do you remember the time or what, what time you got in? No. Do you remember the TA? Like, do you remember if you were like, okay. They're like every two minutes now and now they're like every five minutes. I feel like that's. Yeah. Well, I feel like that's probably about what it was. They went from probably being every tuition minutes to every five minutes, which Sarah ended up saying was a great thing, because she was pretty confident that if I hadn't gotten in the water, I would have had the baby before everybody else got there.
And so that's not a spoiler alert, so, uh, yeah. Well actually, why don't you tell them? Cause I don't know what was going on at that time. I have no idea who was in here. What was going on pretty much once I got in the birth pool, I don't know what happened. Oh, well, in the meantime, so Carrie wasn't here yet.
That's our midwife, Carrie. And uh, so a little backstory though. Apparently she had, um, Locked her keys in her house. She went out to her car to get something went back inside, went back out to her car and then went to open the door and the door was locked and her keys are inside. And this is like, I mean, this is like during, I think this was probably during the time you were getting in the water, she maybe she had to call her son to come open the door for it.
But she was freaking out because she was like, Oh my gosh, I'm going to miss this. And I was asking, cause I asked Sarah, I was like, w where's Carrie yet? Cause I thought, you know, this is going to come soon. And she's like, Oh, she's on the way. But in the background of her head, she knows what was going on was like, she comes, I'm not going to lay this burden on them right now.
I wasn't worried. I was just wondering, you know, when is it? When's everybody coming. And it wasn't actually a big deal. Like she ended up adding like 15 minutes to when she. Arrived. So it's more of just like a funny story that that happened. And the cool thing, I don't think you really knew about this Thomas, but I wasn't wanting anybody to get there super early.
Like I just wanted it to be you and Sarah, just because of my past with the shy uterus, it was kind of perfect though for Kaitlin's birth since Kaitlin does that kind of stuff. Like every single day, Every time she's where are my keys would take like 10 minutes search party to find there, like in her backpack, she already looked in, but poor thing.
Oh, it broke my heart because I just know that feeling of, Oh my gosh. Like, why is this thing happening right at this moment? But she worked her butt off to get her son. He had to like come home from whatever. I think he was on a date maybe even, and she got him to come home and get. Get her keys out of her hand.
And she, when she got here, she still had plenty of time. I mean, there was still, I think it was like probably another 30 minutes. And then. Everything was progressing. And then I saw Elizabeth walk in and then maybe two minutes later. Yeah. Later you were pushing. If you go back to the tapes she got here three minutes before the baby was born.
Um, so let's get five minutes that falls within that spectrum. Sam anyway, she, yeah. Elizabeth is the midwife that was, um, that, that caught Janie. So she was able to get here in the backstory between how she or the backstory of how she got here is actually really, really sweet because, um, there was a girl's night planned for.
Thursday night that I was invited to where I not having a so make plans in the baby will come. That is really, that is the crux of this. It sounds like. Um, but the people that were at the girls night, one of them was actually my friend, Christina, who had offered to doula at my birth and, um, She's an amazing doula, but I had kind of started feeling like, Oh, I don't know that I can have any more people just because my uterus was so shy last time.
And I was just pretty nervous about that. And also Sarah was going to be kind of functioning. I knew she was going to be sort of functioning in that dual role too. Um, so I had told her not she had called me that afternoon or that evening, once I was having the contractions like that, I was having a hard time talking through.
Um, and I even had one on the phone with her, but. She had called and asked how everything was going. And if I was coming to the girls night and I was like, no, I'm pretty sure I'm gonna have it baby and stead. But anyway, she, um, she ended up going over and watching Elisabeth's grandparents for her and Elizabeth's daughter.
Um, so that Elizabeth could come and that just meant the world to me like that just, I really can't get over the selflessness in that and how willing she was to. To let me have the perfect birth because no, how it is when you have somebody attend your birth, when you have a midwife. Yeah. It's such a connection and you want them to be there for all your births if they can.
And so the fact that I was able to have Carrie and Elizabeth, like that's the dream team and it just was, it was an amazing group of people. So yeah. So Elizabeth walks in and it was right, right before that is when we called. We called Kelly and with Janie and which she immediately came in and was trying to get into the water.
She's splashing it around. We were like, okay, Janie, I don't want to be like fussing at you on video here, but you need to get out of the way chill girlfriend, which she doesn't. I think she's like a little bit scared, you know, overwhelmed and stuff too, but she was just kinda. Laying on the ground a little bit and a little fussy, but just doing her Janie thing.
But once the, once the head started to come out, cause I think there's actually a video somewhere and they say that they're like, Oh yeah, I think the head's out. And then she walks over and she actually starts, I think at that point becoming entertained. Yeah. And also just to give like a little description of the way everything was kind of set up, um, The birth pool was set up in the corner of our bedroom, which has like a pretty little, um, Bible verse hanging up over it, like framed.
And then I also had the flower crown that my, um, midwife had given me during my blessing way a few weeks ago. And my grandmother who Janie is named after, um, who I just adored. She has some pearls that I wore during my maternity photo shoot. And I just put those up. Uh, with the, with the flower crown, and then we had little twinkle lights around the corner of the room, and then I had all of these Bible verses that I had, um, kind of colored in like these little flowers and stuff around them.
Um, they were hung up as like little affirmation, so it was a really. Cozy and peaceful setting and the birth pool was very close to the bed. So Thomas was actually sitting on the bed and, um, right behind me supporting me in the birth pool. And then everybody else was just kind of surrounding and sitting in the floor.
Yeah, well, actually it was funny was like a couple of minutes before she gave birth. I remember looking into the water and being like. Oh, my gosh, something's wrong with our tap? Like this is contaminated. There's just stuff floating all in this water. What is this? And I didn't, it was kinda like a little discolored.
He was like, Oh my gosh, I don't wanna tell Katelyn she's going to freak out. Which I found out later was I think just birth GCs. But at the time I was like, I was like, what is this stuff? And I was like, Oh wait, nevermind. That's probably just stuff.
My water broke six minutes before. The baby was born, which is actually what kicked off the pushing, like the legitimate pushing, because before I was kind of just like, yeah, I was illegitimately pushing. Okay. Um, before I was just like bearing down and then, then I did a, a good push and my water broke, which the baby's head was kind of before the bag of water.
So not much came out, but a crap ton of vernix came out, which was really shocking because she was past her due date. And Janie did not have that. Um, so that I remember the head came out and then it started to turn and then Kaitlin's like, what's going on? It's like, well, there's a baby coming out of you.
That's that's what's going on right now. She think it's going normal though, which is really funny to think back on. I don't remember saying that, but I, yeah, I did video a video. Can't deny it, but it's really funny because I remember having that exact same feeling when Janie was coming out. Right. The head comes out and then there's like this like shift, like just as harsh shift.
And I'm like, what is happening? But another funny thing before actually all of that happened before the head came out before the head came out, when Elizabeth walked in. So she has a three month old baby, right. And she walks in with the baby and I hear Janie on the video, like when we were looking back at it, Janie says, is that it?
So she thought like, baby just walked in the room and that was her baby. Today, it's how you deal with simple. So, um, what was the, what do we need the birth pool for? So, yeah, so I do remember feeling as the head was starting to come down after my water broke and as the head was coming down, this is where I feel like I really started being super mindful.
Like I was trying to be mindful of the entire time. That was like, really my goal. This time was be present, be present for this and be in control. And not in like a way of, like, you have to, you have to control the birth, but like be able to experience this the way you want to, because I really had my heart set on.
Not being touched. Like I wanted to do everything myself. I wanted to, to support my own parenting him. I wanted to catch the baby. I wanted to birth the placenta. And I knew that if it went like last time where just the fetal ejection reflex came on and I just was like, Whoa, I'm gone. You know, like my body's just going to do this and I'm just going to push with it.
I knew that if I did that again, that I wouldn't be able to have that experience. That I wanted. Um, so I was really, really mindful during this time. And so the head is coming out and there was definitely that feeling of like, just push it hard as you can just push it out. And instead of I breathed through a lot of it and let my body just do it and I didn't try to add anything to it.
And then there were a few times. The head was really, really like right there. That, of course I, you know, I gave a little umph too, but it was definitely a very controlled process. And looking back that is, I mean, I will, hopefully I can always do that. And birth is so crazy, you know, like every single one is different and next time might not be like that.
Should there be a next time, but, um, But that w that made a huge difference. And, and I'm going to be honest, it still was not comfortable. It sounds like on the video, like, it sounds like, Oh, wow. She's having such an easy time. It was, no, it was hard work. It was. I'm gonna tell you it was hard work. I know it seemed like it wasn't, it was hard work.
I want to make sure it's funny. Like the compliment. Wow. It didn't even seem like, Oh, no, it was bad. No, it was, it was bad. It wasn't also, it wasn't bad. It was just, yeah. I mean, it was giving birth. It was giving birth still, but it was just so different from my first experience. And it was really cool to feel like, I don't know.
I just feel so empowered after being able to do it all. Oh man. And I felt a lot more connected this time, because last time it was. Just so long. And I was so exhausted and tired and like in and out of sleep. So I was just kind of like in Twilight zone, when it happened this time I was fully alert and awake and, uh, it, it was definitely a little bit of a different experience for me, for sure.
And it was, it's also, I mean, even though it's the same way last time, just watching the video again, kinda made me really realize too, where, you know, especially. Me, just so programmed to think about birth as this horrible woman's screaming in the hospital completely out of it, just whacked out of her mind.
Uh, just not really present, like seems like just a horrible experience to like watch this, which was not like that at all. It's very calm, peaceful, and immediately afterwards she's normal holding a baby, you know, like completely with our own senses and everything. It's just crazy that we're all programmed to think birth is this horrible, crazy thing.
But it's actually can be pretty, pretty cool. Yeah. And another thing that I feel like was really different in relation to this birth and with Thomas is, you know, the last birth. The last birth that we had. Um, we did preparation things. We did hip, no babies. I felt like, okay, good. He's prepared. I'm prepared.
Everything is going to be fantastic. But what I realized is, you know, birth is so individual and. Thomas never heard from me what I wanted from him and what I needed. Like I never sat down and was like, Hey, I think that I'm going to need this, or I'm going to want that. And granted, you kind of don't know what's going to happen during labor.
You might think that, you know what you want and then you get there and it's like, Nope, don't touch me. Don't do anything. But I didn't do a good job explaining to him. What I was going to want. And on top of that, he also had this perception because I am so. You know, obsessed basically with birth and this idea that women are so capable.
And so Abel, um, that he was like, yeah, it's kind of not a big deal. Like, you know, like it's a big deal, but he trusted that I was able to just handle, well, she made me feel too comfortable that I was like, Oh, she's got it. She's telling me all this stuff and going, or other things like, well, she's obviously got it figured out.
And so. I remember after the birth, there were times where I was like, Oh man, I wish that I wish that this would have happened this way or that way. And so this time. Before we gave birth, you know, weeks before I was telling him, like, you know, I feel like I'm going to want you to, I'm going to need affirmations.
I'm just like a very meaty affirmation kind of person. And yeah. So like, of course it makes sense now. Looking back, like, okay, I'm going to need, I'm going to need a lot of affirmations from you, from Sarah during birth that I can do this, that I'm doing a good job that, you know, everything is going well.
Um, and, and it made such a difference, like, and I think it made a difference for you too. Right? Like knowing what I wanted. Yeah, definitely. And I remember the last time and a little bit this time during contraction stuff like. I'm always joking and just nonstop talking. She's just like, you can't talk right now.
I don't want you to talk. So I figured out she doesn't, I guess she doesn't want me to talk at all during the time. So, but her telling me this time kind of helped me realize that. Yes, she doesn't want me to talk, just talk at the right time and. Not make jokes when she was having contractions. Yeah. That's another really good point that people might not recognize or realize is it is like during a contraction is not the time to talk.
Like, I definitely am fine with talking between contractions, but during, I can't, I can't even deal with it or being touched or rubbed, but I just feel like that's a really important aspect to keep in mind is be sure that you. Like, don't just assume that just because you went to a childbirth education class, that your partner is going to know exactly what you want.
That's really pretty unfair to them, to not, to not feel like they know where they belong in the birthing. Also, don't be surprised if you don't even know what you want. I remember the first, the first birth she wanted me to catch to the baby and. Once you started pushing, she's like, you can't leave me.
Right? Like, um, cause I was sitting in front of the Burt's office. She was holding onto me. She's like, you can't move. I need you right here. Yeah. So, I mean, everything kinda might change. You never know what's actually going to happen or what you're going to want at least the first time. Right? Definitely.
And well, yeah, I think every single one is different, but just that idea of like, you can, you can help your partner by telling them. Beforehand, what you think you're going to want. And, and it made a huge difference for me and this, like I kept telling Thomas, I mean the last few days, even like, I will never forget this and I will never forget the way that you made me feel during this birth.
And it was just in a good way. Not a bad way. Like you'll never forget what you did. I was getting there, but it really like, I mean, it just, Oh, Lillian. It just like, it just meant so much to me, the way that he was able to be present and help me, it wasn't like I was having the baby. It was that we were having the baby and that was really beautiful.
And I'll cry if I think about it too much. Um, but yeah. Okay. So. Baby baby's head comes out and Janie says, yes, this is her baby. By the way, this was like, that's mine. Yeah. This is her baby. Um, so she asked that that's her baby sister, which I got this baby for her. Yes. And if you will all recall, I'm sure you do.
I was convinced that it's a boy Thomas thought it was a boy too pretty much, but both of us were still a little like, eh, maybe not though, because Janie. Would only refer to it as her baby sister. And you know, I don't know, little kids just, they just know things, especially Janie. She's just very intuitive.
So, so the baby, yes. She also knew that I had a baby in my belly too, and that she had a baby sister in her belly. She, she really got it with all of these things. So, uh, but the baby comes out. Oh no, the baby's head comes out and Janie assets. That's her baby sister. And what I thought was really cool was I actually was able to talk to Janie between like, there's a head out of me, but I was able to talk to Janie and be like, look, look at your baby sister.
And, um, so yeah, that's my cool moment. And then the rest of the baby comes out. I pull the baby out of the water and hold the baby for a few minutes. And then I'm like, okay, well, let's see what you are. So I lift the baby up and I'm like,
I could not see it. I was like, somebody's gonna have to move this cord. And so we had the cord moved and. Sure enough, it was a baby sister. So Janie was right. We were wrong. I was super wrong and I will, I will allowing lead. So was she also thought it was going to be a huge baby? Like just the way it was carrying too true.
That is going to be heavier than Janie and just this big monster baby, but ended up being too much more of a smaller than Jamie. Yeah. Janie was eight pounds, four ounces and Lillian. Was seven pounds, 12 ounces. And so, yeah, J baby arrives and. It was just the most amazing feeling. And then w so we stayed in the birth pool for a little bit, and then I started feeling some pressure on my tailbone, which my favorite phrase ever is my sacrum hurts.
And so I started telling Thomas that my sacred was hurting. And, um, and so we thought though, that's probably the placenta has detached and it was just kind of sitting on my tailbone. So eventually we got up, went to the bathroom. Luckily, like I was just going to go sit down on the toilet and birth Michael placenta.
My midwife was like, um, let me put a chucks pad down between the lid so that it doesn't just fall into the toilet. You idiot. She didn't say that. Yeah, that won't flush. She didn't say that, but. Unless you maybe have American standard, you know, like have like six golf balls going at the same time. I wanted to eat my placenta though.
So, so we, um, so I sat on the toilet for a few minutes and then yeah. Was able to just kind of push the placenta out, which actually was more uncomfortable this time. I feel like then I remember last time. I didn't yet did I? It was on the couch, but, um, anyway. Yeah, I, but I was able to do that by myself too.
Okay. The couch that people would come and visit and sit on a different couch now, while it's still in the office and he sits on it a lot. It's true. But, um, I. I really love the fact that Carrie was willing to let me be in control of everything. And I think that that's really important if you, if that's what you want, you need to be up front with your midwife and tell them that because you know, it's normal for a midwife to, to like put hands on you and do those things just because that's what they're used to doing.
So making sure that you are clear with like, Hey, I want to be left alone. Um, That was really nice. And she was, so she was so willing to do that and just stand by and just make sure that, you know, everything was going well from, from a short distance. Uh, so yeah, so then we got, we got the placenta out, put it in a bowl, got in the bed and nurse Lillian for the first time.
And then Janie. Was so that she was sitting on the bed, the side of the bed that was closest to the birth pool. So Janie climbed up and then put her feet in the birth pool and then just started sliding back into it with her still. Full of a lot of things. And I tell, like, I don't remember it was me or somebody.
I just had to like, grab, like pick her up as she was sliding in. Cause she was just trying or damaged in that birth. She was going for it. And I was the one closest to her, but I have a new born, like freshly new newborn on my boob. And I'm like trying to grab Janie and there was no way that I could do anything.
I was thinking, well, this is it. Like, she's just going to have to go in and. You know, there's that picture that is floating around and the poor mom is like really unhappy about it, but there's like the mom and dad are in the birth pool and the toddlers in the birth pool and she's drinking for the water.
And that is 100%, which anyway, that's Janie. That is, I remember when I first slashing around in it the whole time. Yeah. So I'm glad we I'm glad we were able to get her out before we had a viral photo. Um, but yeah, and we just laid in bed and then after. A week after I nurse Lillian, we did the cord burning, which I put a picture on Instagram already of that.
That's a really cool experience. Right? Some reason this one took, I don't know if it was different to the court. It took a long time to do, though. It did. It was a long time to get up her pain torch if you're going to do this. And, um, the cord this time, it, there was like a period where it. Popped super loud and Lillian actually.
Um, so that was kind of funny. Not that she got scared, but it was just a funny pop and yeah. So then after that, after we burnt the cord and by the way, there, like somebody was asking me like, what are the benefits to that? And really, I think it's more of just like a ceremonial thing. Like it's cool to have all of the people that were.
There for the birth, be able to kind of participate. Um, but also I will say that her cord fell off really quickly. So I have I noticed in Sarah has said that she's kind of noticed with, with the cord burning courts, it does seem like they might fall off a little bit faster, so that's nice. But, um, but after we did that, we laid in bed.
They made me some toast, like four pieces of toast that I ate all four pieces of. And then we went to bed. And everybody left and it was really beautiful and really magical. And I just can't, I really couldn't have asked for a better birth and I are, um, birth photographer sent us like three sneak peek photos from the birth that I've already put on Facebook and, uh, excuse me, Instagram.
And I just was looking at the pictures and thinking, gosh, these pictures look so magical, but it's not just that. It's like, no, they completely perfectly captured the exact feeling of this birth. And that's how it was. It was really, really magical. I was just surrounded by the absolute perfect people for this birth.
You know, my husband and then Sarah, who's such a close friend and she really acted as a doula for B. And then Carrie just, Oh my gosh. Like she was just. The perfect midwife for this situation. She just was so willing to let my body do what it was going to do. And she was hands off and she was there watching should anything need to be helped, but she was just going to let me do it.
And that's how it worked out. And so that was, that means so much. And now to wrap up, we're going to leave you guys with one amazing postpartum story. Thomas, take it away. So I had to run to the grocery store to pick up a couple things for Kaitlin. Like I think a day or two after, um, Lillian was born. And one of the items on the list was some depends for, so, but I remember thinking to myself as I pick them up.
I'm so glad these are so gender specific. So no one will think that, Hey, these are for me. So no sweat at all. So I'm walking up, I've got a basket and then I've got the box. It depends. And I don't have the depends in the basket. So I put the basket down in the box. It depends. And the guys checking me out, checking me out.
And he's like, you know, going through all this stuff and he finally gets to the box. It depends. He looks at me and he says, are these for you? And I was like, what? No, they're from my wife. Why, why are you asking me this? And I'm just super offended. Like, how dare you ask me who these pens are for? And he's like, well, I mean like, are you buying these are these like part of your group of stuff?
And I was like, uh, yeah, I guess, yes, this is yes, they are. Sorry. Also my favorite part of that is like the lack of understanding of I'm sure the guy was left thinking. Okay. But also why is your very young wife needing dependence? You could have been, I could have been like a Cougar or something, you know, that is true.
Anyway, guys, I hope that you enjoyed our birth story. I know we enjoyed sharing it with you and I look forward to seeing you guys next week.
Thank you for listening to first story, Michael, if you will walk away from each episode with a clear picture of how labor and delivery might go and that you will feel empowered by the end of your pregnancy to speak up plan and prepare for the birth you want, no matter what that looks like.