Positive Home Birth Story of our Baby Girl: a Waterbirth

Wow. After over 9 months of hoping and praying for our sweet baby girl, here we are, her birth story. I hope my positive home birth story inspires all women out there that our bodies were MADE for this!

 

FULL LENGTH VIDEO OF BIRTH & LOOK INSIDE POST-BIRTH AT HOME

 

And if you doubt that you can have the birth you want as a first time mom, click over here where you can read my FIRST positive home birth story with our baby boy who is now 22 months old 🙂

 

ps: if you’re a mama wanting to rebalance her body postpartum to avoid the chronic fatigue, lack of confidence in her new body, and hormonal imbalances that can lead to depression, emotional swings, insomnia, and more — come join us inside Hormone Healing Academy!

Other helpful links:

• 4th trimester must have guide
• natural pregnancy checklist for the mama to be
• amazon labor prep folder
• amazon homebirth folder
• amazon postpartum must haves
• amazon newborn must haves

 

3 Days or 3 Hours?

I laugh because I don’t know what to tell people when they ask how long my labor was. If we’re just talking active labor: 3 hours. If we’re counting all the prodromal labor that got me to EIGHT cm before labor even really began.. 3 days. Either way, this blog post accounts ALL of it in detail. So if you’d like to skip down to just the “real labor” story, you can scroll down and also watch the full video below that includes the active labor, water birth, and what it looks like AFTER birth when doing a homebirth!

What this positive homebirth blog post includes:

• The video: of active labor and ALL the details of what it looks like after birth when at home!
• The 2 days of prodromal labor leading to the main event, mental game of it all, and lessons I learned through it
• The main event: the 3 hour active labor that led to the birth of our sweet baby girl
• Common questions asked over on instagram, answered at end!

The Birth Story of our sweet girl,  Skyla Grace Meckelberg

Labor and birth always teach me something, and this time it was really to let GO and let God. Let him work in His timing instead of trying to control anything (which we all know we can’t in labor but man it’s still hard for this personality type!)

The first very lengthy part is more so “prodromal labor and mental game story”, so if you want to read about just my quick 3-hour “real/active labor” birth story, scroll further down 😅🙏🏻

Coming to the 38 week mark:

• Even though I went “late” with my first and try not to focus on any due date (guess date is what I like to call it!), everyone kept saying “oh you’ll go earlier with your second!”, and so begun the mental game of secretly hoping I would.

On Friday, February 2nd

• my mom flew into town, and even though 5 days before my due date, had some crampy contractions for the first time and thought, wow, perfect timing, this could be it! What perfect timing!! We all thought baby may come during the weekend now that the week was over and I could just relax.
• Well, those turned into nothing, and nothing happened that weekend, making me feel a bit discouraged even though that was silly since I hadn’t even hit my “due” date.

On Tuesday February 6th

• the day before my due date, I once again found myself playing the mental game and “really wanting her to come before the due date”. Why? I have NO idea, it’s so silly looking back. But again, lesson I had to learn: stop trying to control things.
• But my midwife came for my weekly appt that afternoon and I was having some small irregular contractions, so thought, “hey, maybe I could still!”
• That night I felt crampy, but nothing regular… and unfortunately my 22mo old son came down with some kind of stomach bug and began throwing up — so I went into mom mode and once getting him to bed finally, went to bed after texting my midwife saying I’d let her know if something changed from the crampy feeling I was having 
• My husband went and slept in my sons room that night because of him being sick, but at 11pm I got woken out of my sleep and for the next 3 hrs was having back to back every 3-5min contractions, but more mild ones. I finally thought, ok this may be the real deal so I should get out of bed and tell Brandon. I also went to the bathroom and passed a huge blood clot looking thing, what I realized was my mucus plug (never passed one/saw one with Brady so didn’t know!)
• Well, at the same time, without him knowing my situation, he came down with our sick son who was crying, saying “I think he’s feeling really bad, what should we do?”
• I was like, “welllll I actually may be in labor 😳 but then as soon as I saw my son not feeling well, I went into mom mode and literally almost instantly contractions completely stopped.
• That was the first big “aha moment” in this labor & birth — making me realize just how mental labor is! The fact it could stop instantaneously when my body felt stress come on from seeing my son sick.

We eventually got him back to bed, and since my contractions had completely stalled, I went back to bed too. I had mixed emotions of discouraged by contractions stopping but also realizing this was NOT the birth story I wanted: my husband MIA taking care of our sick son and me birthing our baby girl alone with my midwife. So when I was real honest with myself, I was glad they stalled.

 

On Wednesday February 7th: her due date

• my midwife came back over that morning because I had texted her that night about the contractions and then how they had stalled, so she wanted to just do a quick check on baby and me. Everything checked out good, and after seeing I was 3-4cm dilated already (so those little contractions did do some work!), I opted for a membrane sweep. Now this is something that some don’t agree with, and I personally think doing them before the due date is potentially disrupting what could be a baby not ready yet… but due date and on, I opt for them because 1) it usually won’t “work” if baby isn’t ready and 2) it took 2 for my son to come, 4 days late, and he was WELL BAKED at 9lb and no vernix left. If not wanting them, totally cool! But for me and the big babies I tend to make, it’s been a good thing for.
• Anyways, I knew after the sweep it would start with some contractions and either fizzle out or turn into labor, so I tried to rest a little and just relax my mind and walk a lot, to hopefully let the 2nd become true.
• My husband had some big dental surgeries that day but would be home by noon, and I texted him saying, I think she may come today, I’m hopeful! 
• throughout the day, I’d get some consistent every 5min contractions when doing stairs or walking, but as soon as I’d sit down to rest some, they’d slow. So I began REALLY getting in my own head and trying to “control them” by constantly moving. Lesson learned: you can’t control labor 😅🙏🏻
• after a lot of walking and spotting/passing more mucus plug, the day came to an end with no progress in contractions.. and I got REAL discouraged. But also knew often labor starts at night when fully relaxed so hoped once Brady was down now that he was feeling better, it may be go time. Again, playing the mental game vs just relaxing and trusting.
• My midwife recommended to go to bed early and that often it’s then when fully relaxed you may get woken up with contractions that lead to labor. I felt hopeful, but also with having some more solid (but not as frequent) contractions before bed, decided to stay up for an hour on my ball to just seeeee if they’d lead into something. 
• They didn’t so I finally just laid down.
• As I laid down, my whole body started shaking (like the post birth shakes if you’ve given birth before!), and I was so confused. I called my midwife which I never do unless it’s important, and she had hope that maybe it was hormones as my body geared up to go into real active labor, and told me to keep her updated. Well, it didn’t turn into anything and eventually an hour later I went to bed.
• But every 20-30min one of those “more solid contractions” would come, which would wake me up and make me breathe through it, but then that was it. It never sped up. So I was up basically all night with again what I deemed “no progress to actual labor”, which was SO defeating.

Also just a side note: Meanwhile through all of these days, I was also keeping my friend who would be my pseudo doula updated since she would be at my birth too, which played into the mental game for me because I felt like everytime I had hope and would update my midwife and her… things would just stall. Again, just totally discouraged and defeated. 

 

Thursday, February 8th: She arrives!

• After on an off sleeping all night, I woke up feeling so completely discouraged. 
• I filled the bath tub up around 630am, and just sobbed. Like real ugly cry. A hot bath and good cry do good for the soul.
• But in all honesty, what I felt and what I said to my husband that morning, was “I feel like my body is broken – why aren’t these turning into real labor!! I know I need to trust the process and that my body is built for this, but all of this is making me feel so defeated and like she’s staying in there forever!”
• Again, just being honest as I tell the story, not leaving out the parts I now can look back on and say are silly of me for saying/doing/thinking.
• Anyways, my midwife came over at 8am, did a cervical check, and I was EIGHT centimeters dilated and basically fully effaced. I was like, “wait so I’m literally almost fully dilated but yet labor won’t really start?!? What the heck!!” I mean part of me was happy to know all these false alarms weren’t in vain, but also I wondered what it would take to get contractions going strong at this point if I could dilate that far without real labor ones starting.
• But my midwife looked at me and said: “let’s do this, we’re having a baby today. You’re almost there, we just need to get the contractions going to back it up”. She had also brought in her big birth bag with her, which gave me mental hope knowing she believed what she was saying.
• So she suggested I get my breast pump out, because that can help kickstart contractions. My one friend also said Nipple stimulation even without the pump helped kickstart hers twice, so I felt it would be a good move! I was also suggested some castor oil, but my midwife likes to use that more as a last resort as week 42 approaches, due to the fact it can lead to a lot of GI distress/ pooping (which is how it can kickstart labor). But since she brought it in I thought, well, I’ll do a small 1tbsp dose vs 2oz dose too and just see, since a trusted friend said it worked for her well! (Ps: the castor oil thankfully did not kick in till AFTER my short labor, but the first PP bathroom trips were ummm, cleansing to say the least, and had labor been longer that could have turned real ugly lol, so I do not recommend using that 😂)
• So around 915am I began pumping as I turned on a cheesy hallmark movie to relax my mind, eventually just putting in AirPods to Christian hypnobirthing instead to tune out all around me… and by 10am I had good contractions going. 

 

The “REAL LABOR”:

• I laughed with my midwife saying, do I say my labor was 3hrs or 3 days? 🤪 that’s why I’m separating the “earlier parts / prodromal labor” with the real active labor that FINALLY came around 930/10am on the 8th
• I’ll say this quickly: I think I had heard so much that 2nd time births will be quick, that I had put in my head I wouldn’t have any of that prodromal stuff or false starts, that it would just “happen” and happen quickly. Again, the mental game I had going on that I truly feel was preventing real labor from happening for days – me playing the story in my head of how it was suppose to go and then getting in my own head when it wasn’t happening that way. Takeaway: LABOR IS SO MENTAL. 

Anyways… 10am:

• I left the living room where I had been pumping and everyone else including my toddler was, and went into the bedroom to really focus in now that I had some good contractions.

• I sat on the toilet for a few (the “dilation station it’s often referred as), and then came back into the room and went back and forth from sitting on my ball to all 4’s leaning on ball, to lunging… since I knew the more movement and pressure I could get on cervix the better to keep these contractions going.
• Part of me was still not fully convinced I was in real labor, since I had so many false starts the past couple days, so I just kept trying to stay out of my own head and focusing on one at a time.
• Between 10-1130, my midwife was doing a lot of different massaging and counter pressure on me while on all 4’s or lunging, the pool was getting filled up, and I could tell everything around me was getting set up for birth which mentally encouraged me.

By 11am

• my midwife said something that stuck with me: “I’m fully confident you’re fully dilated by now, but I know last time the pushing phase made you hesitant. So whenever you mentally decide you’re ready, you can probably start breathing down pushes with contractions.
  • Side note: I know SO many people say they “feel pushy”, but I’ve realized for me, especially after this one too, that I have to kinda initiate the pushing/breathing down phase and THEN my body kind of kicks into that transition /intensity mode. 
• Anyways, I knew deep down she was right. I pushed for 2hrs with my first and I reallllllly didn’t want to do that again. I also felt the contractions weren’t bad at all at the moment, which kind of put me in disbelief that I could be ready to push. Part of me just wanted to stay going through them since they weren’t terrible 😂
• I got in a handful of good contractions in the lunge position with breathing down/ pushing during them, knowing the only way out was through.

11:25 am

• I remember asking, “can I get in the tub?” This was a big mental turn for me, because that to me was saying, I’m ready to do this. Also last time I tried to push in tub for 2hr before getting out and pushing 9lb baby boy out “on land”, so I was also at the same time telling myself, I’m trying this again, I’m believing I CAN do it this time, it won’t be like last time. 
• Between 11:25-11:45 in the tub, my contractions slowed a little… and my midwife, friend/pseudo doula, and husband all looked at me, saying “maybe you should get out to get them going again and then you can always get back in!”.
• It was in that moment I had to make a decision I realized. I either listen to them and this becomes a drawn out process out of my own fear of the pushing stage/unwillingness to do whatever it was going to take… or I MAKE IT HAPPEN NOW.
• So I told myself in that moment I’d see what I could do next contraction. And when it came, I began really pushing all my breath down vs out my mouth… and I felt a POP and there went my water breaking. Which made me know, ok we’re DOING THIS. Last time it also didn’t break until I pushed with Brady and it was it breaking that allowed me to feel progress finally… so this all encouraged me mentally so much.
  • My midwife also afterwards told me it was that contraction that she knew I was good to stay in the tub.
• The next few contractions i spent on my hands and knees, knees in feet out, and I felt my body transition from going through the contraction motion, to the intensity mode that was needed to get this baby down birth canal and out. I had to be reminded a few times by my calming incredible midwife to slow my breathing and “push it down all towards my butt”, not letting that energy go out my mouth.

 

Around 12pm

• With one very intense contraction I felt my whole body take over – transition we like to call it – as I felt that baby moving down and the massive amount of stretching as the head began making its way. I put my finger inside and felt her head right there, right inside, and I knew she’d be out soon and it gave me the energy I needed.
• I did one more intense contraction on my hands and knees, and then felt the incredible stretching of the head popping out. I quickly flipped over to sitting with my back against the tub stair, as Brandon got ready to catch her. (Only after I reminded him not to grab her head until the next contraction and I pushed the body out haha). I had told him in advance, the head will probably come out first, it’s ok for her to stay underwater until the next one when I can push the body out slowly. In the video you can tell he still needed the verification of that from my midwife, who calming explained she’s just rotating her shoulders now and would be out the next contraction. 
• I sat there for a little with her head out, and the sigh of relief knowing the hardest part was done.
• With the next contraction, I pushed the rest of her body out, and my midwife instantly saw the cord wrapped around her neck, which within seconds had it unwrapped calmly as Brandon brought her up from the water and put her on my chest.

 

At 12:19pm she came into this world – she was here. Her very long body covered head to toe in vernix (which my son had none of!), in my arms, healthy as could be. 

 

Nothing else mattered in that moment, none of that early prodromal labor or nights of mental games… she was here, the birth was everything I dreamed of, and I realized THAT was God’s plan all along — that having those days leading up to it allowed my body to have a short and sweet labor when it was go time, allowing me to not only have the energy to push effectively but being SO much more present after birth unlike my first. 

Post Birth

I sat there skin to skin with her for a little, and then once the cord stopped pulsing, Brandon got to cut it, and I gave him our baby girl to hold for the first time skin to skin, so I could deliver the placenta and get out of the tub and into bed. Quickly the gush of blood came which meant my placenta had probably released from inside — and when I got on my knees in the tub it took one little push witht he tiny contraction to bring it out.

A nice HUGE placenta. This was also an answer to prayer – quick placenta delivery, since that can minimize blood loss and I didn’t want to have to get the shot of pitocin as active stage prevention for too much blood loss like I did last time unless needed. 

My midwife got me out of the tub and into bed. Baby came back to me to find her latch and initiate breastfeeding. Midwife checked me for tearing and there wasn’t a single little thing – another blessing I didn’t even know at the time until I realized how EASY the physical recovery has been this time around due to almost no swelling and no tearing down there. Last time I felt I couldn’t sit up for a week due to the swelling, even though it was only a small tear! But I have heard your body just recovers faster second time around too, so that may be playing a bigger role in this fast recovery than anything else.

Baby girl quickly latched on despite a small tongue tie my midwife saw, and we just basked in the beauty of all that took place.

After my midwife was done cleaning things up an hour or so later (I always get asked who cleans everything up – she does!), then she did baby measurements.

8lb and 12oz — 21.5in long — and already passing all her oxygen tests that rule out any congenital heart defects 🙏🏻

My midwife took me to shower, which I was hesitant about because last birth I felt I couldn’t shower for 2 days with how faint I felt – I couldn’t imagine standing by myself. But to my surprise, I was able to stand there strongly and shower, and it felt INCREDIBLE to not just shower, but to feel so good after a birth.

And then I got back into bed and just rested and nursed baby the rest of the afternoon. I can’t complain about my first birth – having a smooth problem free homebirth as a first time mom to a 9lb baby with his hand by head… but WOW this birth’s physical recovery was already night and day different in the best of way. I felt like me almost instantly after. Full of energy and excitement. I was able to truly enjoy the newborn snuggles that first 24 hours instead of wondering what had just happened to me. It was EVERYTHING.

CLICK HERE FOR FULL LENGTH VIDEO

The Lessons

Birth always leaves me with some good growth and life lessons… and the biggest one this time around was to LET GO AND LET GOD. Stop trying to control it all, and allow God to work since His ways are better than mine anyways. 

So whether I say I had a 3 day labor based on 2 days of prodromal contractions and mental games… or 3hr birth based on 9am-12pm active labor that beautiful February 8th afternoon… it was truly everything i needed in a birth and more. And I’m so excited to get to know our sweet Skyla Grace and share her story with YOU.

 

SKYLA GRACE MECKELBERG

(Grace means undeserved favor, and Skyla represents where that grace comes from, from above 🙏🏻🤍)

8lb 12oz

21.5in long

Born on February 8th at 12:19pm at home in the water 🥰💞

 

Common questions about birth from Instagram:

• Was it less painful this time around?
  • I’d say the contractions leading up to the pushing phase were 100% less intense to me this time. It may have been I just knew how to handle them better, or maybe my son was in a less than ideal position for a lot of it (because I also had a ton of back labor with him and I never had that this time! Just a lot of butt pressure with the contractions which was interesting feeling hah)
• Natural pain relief during labor? 
  • I honestly didn’t use much even though I had arnica montana ready. I did have my friend/psuedo doula rub Young Living’s orthoease massage oil and their CBD roller on my lower back at one point right before I got into the tub! But the warm water of the tub really does help a ton with managing the intensity!
• Did you hit a point this second time still of “I can’t do this”?
  • YES. Haha but it was about 5-10min before I birthed the baby. For me, it’s always when I’m in the pushing phase and they are descending down the canal, but no head is actually popping out yet, that’s the hardest for me to mentally overcome and continue pushing through. Once the head is even slightly out, I get SO encouraged because I know I’m there. See video for me actually saying it on camera haha.
• Did I tear this time? What about with Brady? What made the difference?
  • I didn’t! I did have a slight tear with Brady but not a huge one, that required just a little stitches. And I honestly didn’t think it was that bad back then even when I did have them! BUT I will say it’s night and day difference this time around in terms of pain and swelling down there. Part of it could be the no tearing/no stitches part — but I feel like even more than that it’s two big things: my body having done this before & birthing in the warm water that helps with stretching down there instead of with Brady, I couldn’t get him out in the tub so I finally got on birthing stool on land, and even though that’s what it took to get him out, it did put a LOT of pressure down there. I also had a 12hr labor and 2hr of pushing with Brady, vs like 20min pushing with baby girl, so that probably made a big difference too!
  • The last thing my midwife said really helped me: I took the pushing part slow at the end this time. I stead of just pushing her out as fast as I could, I got her head out with two different contractions, and then waited until the next one to then birth the rest of the body. Slowing down the pushing can lead to slow stretching which can help with tearing!
• Could I tell when it was time to push?
  • I feel like everyone else can tell when it’s time to push. For me I ALWAYS have to initiate it and then it’s like my body kicks into gear, my water breaks, and then I feel progress and baby descending. Both times that’s how it was. This time around I was hoping I’d be able to tell more, but I still had to start the pushing side of things with my breath on contractions, and then (what you’ll see in video) my body all of a sudden flips a switch and kicks into intensity mode / pushing mode.
• How did Brady not wake up to the sounds of labor and birth??
  • Haha, loud sound machine I guess! 9am-12pm my nanny had him out in other room, and then it’s funny how it’s almost like my body waited for him to be sleeping to actually give birth, just 19 minutes after he went down!
• Brand of diapers for you and for baby girl?
  • I have all my PP diapers, mesh underwear (I use diapers WITH padsicles in them first couple days until bleeding slows, then go to mesh underwear + pad!), nursing bras and more here: https://urlgeni.us/amzn/postpartumfavorites
  • For baby girl, I’ll be using Joonya this time around (what I use for my 22mo old!). I loved millie moon brady’s first year of life but they recently changed ingredients on us, so I switched to joonya. We’ll hope they work as well with the newborn poops as they do with the toddler poops! I also have leftover diapers from every size from Brady, so will use those up from random brands like old millie moon ones with old ingredients, and honest. Even though honest didn’t hold in the newborn poops well for us with Brady — they do work well for him in toddler stage for overnight!
• Doona stroller – yay or nay?
  • YES YES YES. This stroller we finally invested in as our travel stroller — and our son had been on 35 flights and 4 countries by 12 months old so we TOTALLY got out use out of it. But really, even if you don’t travel that much, it is SO much easier than anything else when traveling by plane! It’s also good if you live more in a city where you ride share a lot or are needing to switch carseat from car to car a lot!
• Most important foods and supplements for postpartum?
  • See this FREE 4th trimester must have guide for all necessary products here!
• Post birth pain relief?
  • Young living’s Super-Cal (4 tablets every 4 hrs): I heard this from a friend that calcium can really help and it did!
  • Afterease tincture (just put in a shot of water every 3-4hrs those first 48 hours)
  • and arnica montana 30cc – every 3-4hrs dissolve under tongue!
• Bassinet? Sane as one you used with Brady?
  • Yep same one! I will same I’m more relaxed this time around and baby girl has mostly slept with me, it’s just easier for both of us that way. But I still love the bassinet, and when we get more into week 2 and beyond I’ll use the bassinet more!
• Who cleans up after? Midwife? Family?
  • Midwife does it all! within an hour or 2 she has it all cleaned up!
• Registry /baby must haves? 
  • Right here!
• Prep anything different for this birth?
• How long until cord is cut/stops pulsing?
  • mine was probably 10-20min!
• How long skin to skin for after birth?
  • I do immediately until needing to birth placenta and cut cord once done pulsing – I hand baby over to husband for that short 10ish minute window. And then once out of tub and into bed after those 2 things, I take baby back and I keep baby skin to skin on me until midwife is done cleaning up (1-2hrs) and then she’ll do baby measurements and such! Once that’s over, I still stay skin to skin basically that whole day!
• Pp meals?
  • I have a full postpartum rebalance guide inside my program, Hormone Healing Academy! But some easy go tos for me: nutrient rich smoothies, lasagna, grass-fed burgers, any meal with lots of greens and protein, lots of iron rich grass-fed beef/steak meals, eggs and egg bakes, oatmeal with protein mixed in, chili and soups. Honestly I keep it pretty simple and just get in tons of veggies, proteins, omega 3 and iron rich foods!
• Did you get sick during transition?
  • I didn’t either time! But always get REALLY hot and sweaty.
• Anytime you wanted an epidural during it?
  • No, that’s never even really a thought on my mind – I guess when you’ve never known that, you just don’t even know what that would be like anyways. But I do have thoughts of not wanting to continue through or saying “I can’t do this” — which is usually about 5min before baby comes hah!
• Did you shave/wax before labor?
  • I try to shave haha, but as any pregnant woman knows, it’s a shot in the dark when your belly prevents you from seeing. I think it’s whatever you feel best about! I’d love to get laser hair removal eventually so I don’t have to worry about shaving anymore in general and especially in pregnancy hah!
• Tips for unmedicated or home birth?
  • I have a homebirth highlight right here on instagram, and give my top tips!
• Best part of homebirth?
  • getting into your own bed right after and being able to just have the peace and quiet of you and your growing family those first days. Also just feeling super comfortable and unbothered during labor!
• How did hubby help during it all?
  • emotional support mostly this second time around – helping me to believe I could do it when I was mentally needing the affirmation. First time was a longer 12hr labor so he also helped a lot physically with like counter pressure and just holding up my head in tub when I got tired.
• What contributed to easier recovery this time?
  • I think with each birth it can get easier, especially from 1st to 2nd… BUT I also think two big things:
    • continual exercise in pregnancy
    • water birth and slow pushing baby out at end that prevented swelling and tearing
    • not to mention a 3hr active labor birth is a lot easier exhaustion wise than coming out of my first 12hr labor hah.
• Was labor pain easier to manage this time?
  • The pre-pushing phase was SO much easier, I was kind of dumbfounded when my midwife said whenever I was mentally ready I was probably ready to begin breathing baby down — because I just didn’t feel like they were intense enough to be there yet. But the pushing phase is always a bit intense with the stretching and bringing that baby down birth canal. BUT it was much shorter (like 20min total vs 2 hours haha) this time.
• Placenta encapsulation?
  • Not for me! it was cool seeing it this time, but with mixed research on if it helps a mama or if it’s a toxin filter for baby and filled with stuff we don’t want to be eating — just makes it not for me. Yes every other mammal does it, but it’s to cover up evidence of birth so predators don’t come find their baby, not for health benefits hah.
  • I know my program Hormone Healing Academy is everything I need to heal, rebalance and feel like ME again, so will be following that!
• How has Brady been adjusting to baby and you not being available?
  • Well, he had a stomach bug the first week as I’m writing this so hasn’t had much exposure to her — and now hubby and my mom both have it, so baby girl and I have been isolating ourselves on this lovely day 6 postpartum as I write — grateful I feel well enough to take care of both of us solo!
• How deep to fill water tub?
  • not too deep at first but with totally hot water. And then when I’m ready to get in, we fill it a little more to make it right temp for me. But see photos to see how high it was for me!
• Do you put her in crib right away to get used to it?
  • No. Last time we used basinet right away and he barely slept and we barely slept and it was just a tough few weeks and the moved him to crib around 8-12 weeks when sleeping through night (both kids rooms are upstairs so wait until they sleep through night to move them up there!) — learning not all babies are that hard now that I have this one lol. But this time around, I’m letting her sleep with me, then will transition to bassinet by bed, then bassinet in dark closet of ours, and then eventually upstairs once she’s sleeping through night!
• How to find good midwife? 
  • find all options in your local area, and then interview them all and feel it out which is best fit for YOU! I’m so grateful for mine, she is so calm, educated, experienced, and the perfect mix of letting me do me but there to offer help and advice when I ask for it, along with having all the medical experience needed to give me peace of mind if something does go not planned.
• Cost of homebirth?
  • it’s different in every area, usually depending on cost of living. Mine was 6k totally for all prenatal visits and birth and after birth support — and we live in a very expensive area of Florida so that’s probably max you’d ever see.
• Can you share more about postpartum oils and YL products and how to use them?
  • See all explanation of that here!
• When to start with sleep and feeding schedule ? Right away?
  • I feed on demand and every 2-3hrs minimum first 2 weeks or so, and then I’ll go to follow moms on call schedules verrrry loosely, that’s what worked best for us with Brady! And we had him sleeping through night by 8ish weeks, without feeling like I was ever making him feel alone or “deserted” as some put it. Also taking cara babies was a great resource for us and baby sleep!
• How’s Brady adjusting?
  • He hasn’t had many opportunities with her since he’s been sick — but the few times he’s around her, he gets excited and points and says “baby”, or is just kinda indifferent! Which at 22 months I kind of expected!
• Alllll the pp must haves?
  • 4th trimester must haves guide here: https://freshfitnhealthy.ck.page/pp-guide
  • amazon postpartum folder here: https://urlgeni.us/amzn/postpartumfavorites

 

Come over and see me on instagram, and let me know what you thought of this all!!!

 

ps: if you’re a mama wanting to rebalance her body postpartum to avoid the chronic fatigue, hating what she sees in the mirror, and hormonal imbalances that can lead to depression, emotional swings and more — come join us inside Hormone Healing Academy!