Welcome Jocelyn!

We are so happy to have welcomed our beautiful, healthy baby girl Jocelyn into our family on Saturday morning with the sun rise. She is perfect! 9 pounds, 9 ounces, and 23 inches long! A very big, healthy vegan girl! I am truly at a loss of words to describe all the emotions, feelings, and sensations that come with giving birth, but if it makes any sense, the best way for me to describe my experience is through the combined sensations of pushing her in those last moments, with the images of seeing her for the first time come up out of the water, and then feeling her be immediately placed on my chest, and realizing that all laboring leading up to that moment (24 and 1/2 hours total) almost felt, "easy," putting that moment into perspective. "Oh that's all I have to do to get to this moment? I wouldn't trade any of it for, this moment."

 She was a natural water birth, with no complications and surrounded by love, support and the combined experience of four (maybe five? my eyes were closed most of the time) midwives sharing decades of deliveries together to welcome her to us. Cat my awesome yoga teacher, who has been with the birth center for six years, and is just finishing up her student midwife requirements delivered her for us, and Jocelyn was one of her first water birth deliveries! She took such great care of us the whole time, and her energy, and support let me completely follow my body's wisdom and let go of any sense of hesitation, and relax out of the urge to fight the sensations that my body was sending me as I moved rapidly through the final part- active labor and pushing (which was about the last 5+/- hours all in the birthing tub).

 I feel so lucky to have had Cat deliver Jocelyn for me, and am so proud to help be a part of her process to complete her journey in becoming a full midwife herself! She is such a natural care giver, and has so much positive energy about her that i couldn't have asked for anyone more wonderful, caring and competent. So much love her way. And though I didn't have any doubts about her abilities, there was no way I could have felt any doubts at all having all the other midwives there to help support her (if she needed them) and to help me and the birth in general, and mostly be there just in case they were needed, or if any complications came up (though no complications did!). All those women there helping me filled the room with such a beautiful, powerful, energy of strong women, helping us (mama and baby) do the most magical thing that our bodies can do, make life. It was the most amazing experience that we have ever had, individually and as a family, and though we are all three tired, and I'm still a bit sore, we are feeling so blessed, and full of love moving into the next adventure of our lives together.

I also want to mention that another powerful energy that brought me strength during my birth was all the blessings that were sent to us and strung into our labor necklace! As soon as we got to the birth center I asked Jason to attach the necklace to one of the light fixtures hanging over the birth tub to be right there with me the whole time through my labor. Though my eyes were closed most of the time, when I would open them and look up at all the treasures and beads from our loved ones, it reminded me of all the love we have in our lives, how thankful I am to be going through this experience, happy, healthy and supported, and really appreciate all of the contributions that were sent to us to welcome our sweet baby. It really brought me a lot of strength when I needed it most. Thank you so much to each of you!

Speaking of strength, I also need to mention how strong and wonderful Papa Jason was during the whole experience. He couldn't have done a better job of being the rock holding me together when I was having the strongest contractions, and giving me all the love and care that I needed through keeping my forehead cool with ice water compresses, keeping my hair out of my face, keeping me hydrated with ice water through the whole labor, and offering me his hands to grip onto so tightly to pull me through the strongest contractions all while keeping me oblivious to the fact that I was almost breaking all of his fingers time and time again, though he kept offering them to me when he would see another one coming. Thank you papa, your baby loves you so much, and she is already such a lucky girl to have such a loving strong daddy to have all her own. We love you!!

Once I have more energy I will post more of the full story, with some pics (though we are still choosing to not post any of her face for her privacy but my goodness is she a cutie!!) but in the meantime, I wanted to share our good news, and wish our daughter a very, very happy birth day, and many more to come! Here's to our new life together ahead!