Dominic's birth

Dominic's story will always begin with our decision to have him at home.

With the 7 kids we already had filling our days and the two babies we lost last year, Bill and I have had a variety of good and bad experiences with hospital births. Over the the years good friends have shared their encouraging experiences with homebirthing, but it always sounded too risky and crunchy and not for us.

Our minds were more open after seeing the movie The Business of Being Born, and when we found out in Oct that I was pregnant again, we decided to look into homebirthing with Donna. It didn't take much--was it her saying "Stop running and gain weight"?--for me to feel like this was the right place for me to be. And that is how, after 40+ weeks of pregnancy, appointments that felt like Mom's Day Out with the kids in tow, and lots of repeating "a certified nurse midwife is a medical professional" to concerned friends and family, we found ourselves here.

At 8:40 pm on Tues I called Donna and told her--or she told me?--it was time for her to come.  Between contactions Bill and I got sleeping bags and kids together and Bill dropped them off at our friends' house.

Unfortunately, a severe thunderstorm blew up immediately after I called Donna to come, so they drove almost an hour in the pouring rain and on the way one of their windshield wipers blew off. The room we chose for the birth flickered with the lightning outside which was a beautiful distraction for me while I bounced on a birthing ball and waited.

11:10 pm About an hour after Donna, Dawn and Karen arrived, I was at 8 cm,
  in the birth pool and laughing with Bill while telling the story of how we met.

12:30 am An hour later I realized I was having too much fun and would have
to force myself to focus if I was going to ever have a baby.

Joseph's birth had been so fast and easy that when this baby didn't just shoot out, I was surprised...and even at one point missed Pitocin!  Well, Pit does the work for you.  Without it, I had to spend several contractions praying and telling myself to move into a better position.

1:10 am with minutes to go:  In the hospital it had been hard for Bill
to be close with all the wires and tubes.  When I felt him take my hand
and start rubbing my hair during a rough contraction, I instantly relaxed.
I felt so grateful that we were where we were.

And then...tada!  There was this little person in my arms and
Bill was grinning at me.  We all felt all along that the baby would be a girl, but we decided
to look anyway.  My determination: "It's ... an umbelical cord?"  I couldn't see.

A boy! A boy!  We have another boy!

So surprised and so happy!

Shortly after this things became more serious when I started to hemorrhage.  Donna's eyes became more focused and intense beneath her headlamp as she took control of the situation.  While Donna directed everyone and massaged my uterus, Dawn gave me meds and started an IV and Bill kept time.  The atmosphere was calm and under contol, and Bill and I felt very comfortable the whole time--not at all nervous or fearful.  In about 15 minutes Donna's face relaxed and she took off her headlamp and smiled. 

I thought my brother John would enjoy seeing this pic of the baby being weighed
on a fish scale.  The IV and the scale are also a nice juxtaposition
of the different ends of the spectrum of midwifery care.

Newborn exam shows we have a healthy 8 lb boy. 

We are so grateful to have little Dominic Peter here as a part of our family.  The kids are ecstatic and a little too enthusiastic to see him, kiss him and love him.  Bill will be home for a few weeks to help while I recover, and I feel typically tired but otherwise fine. Baby Dominic is eating, sleeping, snuggling, and working his way deep into our hearts just like he should

Dominic

Early this morning, Dominic Peter was born at our home with our fabulous midwife and her 2 assistants attending the water birth.  As lightning lit the sky outside, Bill held my hands and I eased our 8 lb baby into the world.  When we finally looked, we were surprised to find out we had a 6th boy.  For some reason, all of us excpected a girl and have been referring to him as "her" for months. 

Today Bill, Dominic and I have been resting.  The kids spent last night and today with friends and were ecstatic to come home and see their new brother. 
We have lots of pictures to post but until I can post them, Dominic has dark brown hair, brown eyes, and very pink skin.  We haven't decided who he looks like yet.  Thank you everyone who has been praying for us!

Father's Day Wisdom

It seems like most dads have words of wisdom that their kids remember forever.

These poor losers got stuck walking with Mom
while Dad took the big kids on a 6 mile bike ride.

One of Bill's favorite's is "C'est la guerre."  which he has translated into English for the kids.

Looking at a dragonfly

Recently, Charles was whining about something and Bill said, "You know what the French say, Charles."

Maria had time to pose as she was ahead of the other bikers.

Charles sighed and said, "Yes, they say 'Man up.'"

Bill and Thomas came next, and I missed Anthony.

Bill said, "Yes, but they also say, "I don't care.'"

Charles looked at me in surprise and asked, "Do they really say that?" We don't say that in our family.

"Yep," I said, "They just say it in a snotty French accent."

Looking at minnows and water bugs

  The rest of dinner was spent with people trying to say, "I don't care" in bad French accents.  :)

Bill says he does not have a copyright on these little gems, so you may use them as you please. 

And a trip to Dairy Queen.  What more could you ask for?

Hoping for a miraculous intervention

After one rosary failed to open the bathroom door,
Joseph opts for a second rosary and a skewer.

Joseph is 3

Joseph's birthday is in April so this is only 2 months late.  :)

Joseph is an avid cyclist...as long as Mom provides the leg power.

He loves to wear goggles, often to bed.

He's determined to do what he sees the big kids doing.
Also, I think he may be a southpaw.

This is his exasperated face.  He is probably exasperated that he
only got a one layer  birthday cake.  But he doesn't need 2 layers, does he?
He also has a "funny face" that he likes to shoot at the priest during Mass.

He loves being the center of attention.  

Joseph is planning to add varsity tennis to his schedule soon.

On his 3rd birthday a light seemed to turn on inside Joseph.  He suddenly became eloquent, independent and ready to potty train.  He has always been very close to James, his best friend, but he is starting to assert his independence with a loud, "STOP IT JAMES!" multiple times a day.  He is very excited about the baby and argued with the midwife about whether it was a boy or a girl.  He does not mind peeling away my many modesty layers over my baby belly so he can kiss her.  I do.  And, he has introduced a new word to the English vocabulary, "puggins".

Now you too know what the orange balls on power lines are called.

I'm 38!

Alright, I've been 38 for several weeks now, but now I'm both 38 years and 38 weeks pregnant.  I've been promising the kids to catch up on the April birthdays before the baby comes so I'm going to just do a quick one for mine.  For my birthday Bill and the kids gave me this lemon tree so I could try to grow lemons indoors.  Watering, humidifying, pot hunting, and pollinating have all taken on a level of obsession.  My parents gave me a label maker which has fulfilled a lifelong dream:  I am labeling all the light-switches in the house.  Apparently, this sickness is contagious because everyone else wants to use my label maker too.

If it looks like I'm snarling, it's because I had to tell my photographer
multiple times to warn me before he took the picture.  This is # 53, I think.

At present, I am not exercising, except for patience.  The midwife tells me the baby can come any time, but she is out of town until tomorrow night, so I've decided not to have a baby today or tomorrow.  Our school year is done and almost in the mail, so I'm looking forward to a long summer with a new little one to keep me company when I get lonely.