FOIM Friday!

Every Friday, we will feature member-submitted stories and photos about their homebirth experiences. This week, Janelle sent this picture of a beautiful moment following her daughter's birth and the joyous email her husband sent to friends and families.


Last night Janelle birthed our baby – Baby Ella, a genuine Georgia love angel. I’m looking at her and her mama right now. They’re gazing into one another’s eyes as Ella - Eleanor Beatrice Railey - drifts in and out of sleep. Mother and child. Ella’s swaddled, mother’s
relieved, coffee’s percolating in the next room, and our coyote, Stella, is licking her paws.
“Yesterday was a long, hard day,” Janelle just said to me, “If there were drugs (for pain) nearby, I would’ve taken them. I’m glad we were at home.” Her labor started at 3 a.m. yesterday morning and lasted 19 hours and 59 minutes. (That’s about average,
according to our midwife, Debbie, whose “performance” yesterday was masterful, motherly, improvisational, and, in a word, expert.) Time bended and flopped in on itself, though, as it is wont to do during these major life events. The clock played tricks on us, cause one
minute we’re getting up a 3 a.m., starting to stir, and phoning the midwife. Next minute I’m out in our front yard, under the stars, getting a quick breather before we head into the home stretch and Janelle’s in our bedroom, breathing deep like a soft, fierce war-woman through formidable contractions that swelled in major upsurges and reverberated throughout her
abdomen and entire body.

Janelle did fine. We both did fine. Janelle, though, was amazing. An adult life devoted largely to psycho-spiritual pursuits and yogic asana practice paid off in huge amounts yesterday. No drugs. No episiotemy. Minimal, all-natural interventions (just juice, water, food, homeopathics, one chiropractic adjustment by Dr. Randy, and the constant emotional/physical support of our two attentive doulas, Amy and Christie, who perfectly and unerringly embodied the highest ideals of that noble feminine role yesterday.). It was just the kind of birth we wanted for baby Ella – couldn’t have been better. A straight-up, non-institutional, folk-birth, a home birth - solid! Though difficult and exhausting, the
day unfolded itself just as it should have. In moments of anxiety, Janelle & I drew close. In moments of expansion and space, we laughed, told jokes, made hilarious surreal and/or inappropriate remarks, cried, felt the love, and often just rested up because a new
set of waves/contractions lay in wait. Big waves, Hawaii-style, the kind that boggle the mind when you seem them swell against the horizon. Janelle surfed these waves and we listened to Patti Smith, Bob Dylan, and Neko Case on the hi-fi. That helped. Rocking – musically or in chairs - helps. Having a midwife, doulas, and a chiropractor/brother nearby who all know
what they’re doing - and what Mama & Papa are all about – helps considerably, too…

What can I say? Before long, there was a head, a body…a baby! Ella was born at 10:16 p.m. on June 7, 2007. She’s 22 inches long, 6 lbs., 6 oz., and has Janelle’s brow, my mouth, and her own lovely blue eyes. She’s got black hair and is curious, expressive, responsive, and, by all accounts, seems to feel pretty well at home on the planet Earth, despite a long, hard
day for herself yesterday as well. (When she came out of the birth canal, her forearm was placed above her head, which made the labor slow and considerably more
difficult - hence the 19 hr. 59 min.-long labor.) She’s doing well, though. We’re all doing well.

After Ella’s birth, Janelle and I feasted on eggs, milk, cornmeal fritters, and vegetables. Ella in her mama’s arms, we spent the night fading in and out of the transom of wakefulness. It is now morning. The population of Athens, Ga. has increased by one. Soon, you’ll all be getting to know Little Ella in your own ways. Until then get on the horn and spread the word.

Thanks Janelle, Jonathan, and Ella!