Easter in Mississippi

For Easter we drove to Mississippi to spend some time with my family. Here are some pictures from our trip.

Miami!

Two weeks ago we went to Miami to visit Daniel's Nana. The weather was wonderful there so we enjoyed some fun in the sun!

Noah had a good time riding in the basket on Nana's tricycle.

We took Noah swimming in the heated swimming pool. He was so cute in his little bathing suit! He loved the water and had a blast kicking and splashing.

We also went to the beach. Noah only lasted about 30 minutes before he fell asleep.

We had a great time visiting with family and enjoying the weather.

So cute!

Noah is almost 2 months old now and he just gets cuter everyday. Here are some of his latest pictures.

The Temptations

Here is Daniel soothing little Noah with a Temptations song. I think Noah liked it!

Noah Stretching

When Noah finishes eating, he likes to stretch. It's so cute!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Daniel and I were wondering if we would get to celebrate Valentine's Day this year since we now have a newborn. Well, my mom, grandmother, and brother came into town this weekend and babysat for us so that we could go out to dinner. It was so nice! Thanks, family, for giving us that opportunity! Here is a V-Day picture of our little family.

What is a waterbirth?

Some of you know that I decided to deliver our baby through waterbirth. "What is a waterbirth?" you may ask. Well it is exactly what it sounds like--giving birth in water in a tub or small pool. At the beginning of my pregnancy Daniel and I were researching which hospital we wanted to deliver in. I went to the website for North Fulton Regional Hospital and found out that they had the option of waterbirths there. So I started doing more research about this method of delivery and came to the conclusion that I wanted to do this. I had always wanted to have a natural childbirth but I was pretty scared about it. Well, a waterbirth is all about the mom and helping her give birth in the most gentle and relaxing way possible (without drugs). It's also completely safe for the baby. This idea calmed my fears and gave me the courage to have a natural birth. If you google the hospital I named above, they have information about waterbirth on their website and a video about it. The midwife in the video was actually one of the midwives I saw throughout my pregnancy. Only midwives perform waterbirths, by the way. I loved my midwives! I went to an Ob-gyn's office that had two midwives and a doctor. I only saw the midwives, and they were amazing! At the end of my pregnancy, another midwife was brought in because the other two were on leave (go figure!). I saw the third midwife only once before I delivered and she was the one who delivered me. Even though I had only met her once, I really liked her and had confidence that she would be a huge support during labor and delivery. Well, she was. She told me exactly what to do and directed Daniel in what he was supposed to do and everything went so smoothly. She told me how to position my body to make myself comfortable and how to get the baby out in the best possible way. She knew exactly what to do! She was so comforting and reassuring and knowledgeable.

Now I will admit that my labor was very fast. I started having contractions at about 1:00 am and Noah was born at 6:43 am. I got to the hospital at about 3:30 or 4:00 and was in the pool for about an hour or so. Once I got in the pool, things went pretty fast. One of the benefits of a waterbirth is that labor tends to be shorter. The warm water was very relaxing and reduced the pain of the contractions. Once I started pushing, Noah was out within about 20 or 30 minutes. I only pushed about 10 times. I hardly felt any pain when Noah was coming out. Some people talk about a "ring of fire" when the baby's head comes out. Well, I only felt a little burning, which barely hurt at all. Noah "came out" without any problems. No one had to pull on his head or use forceps or a vacuum, which really scare me by the way. He was able to come out on his own without any assistance (except at the end when the midwife had to catch him of course). A waterbirth also reduces the chances of tearing, and I only had to have 2 stitches for my tearing.

An additional benefit of waterbirth is that the husband is very involved in the whole birthing process. Daniel held me up from behind while I was in the pool and helped position my body to make me comfortable. He also got to see the whole birthing process firsthand and he got to cut the umbilical cord, which he thought was very cool.

So, was it worth it? Would I do a waterbirth again? Absolutely! Noah was so alert and ready to meet us when he was born. Having a baby without any medication was also very empowering and liberating as a woman. I had always wondered if I had it in me to do a natural childbirth, and now I know that I do. Did it hurt? Was it very painful? Of course it was! But it was also very doable. Childbirth had always been one of my biggest fears, and waterbirth helped me conquer that fear. I highly recommend this form of childbirth to any woman out there who may be thinking of having a natural childbirth. If I can do it, anyone can!

If anyone has any questions or wants to know more about waterbirth, please feel free to ask me!

Noah--Day 5

Here are some new pictures of little Noah. He just gets cuter everyday!

Our New Arrival

Baby Scherer finally decided to join us! He (yes, it's a boy) was born on February 2 at 6:43 am. His name is Noah James and he is beautiful! He weighed 8 pounds and was 20 inches long. Rose had a waterbirth, which was very successful. She'll write more about that later. Mom and baby are doing great and the family is now at home. We are so grateful to have this little bundle of joy in our family!

Waiting, waiting, waiting

We are still waiting for Baby Scherer to arrive. My due date was 2 days ago, which I know is not that long, but I'm ready to see this baby! We went to Scalini's last night, which is a restaurant here in Atlanta that is famous for it's eggplant parmesian dish that is supposed to induce labor. So we went there last night and I ate the whole eggplant dish. So far it hasn't done anything, but we'll see. The waitress at the restaurant told us that if you have the baby within 48 hours of eating the eggplant parmesian they will give you a little pink or blue shirt for the baby and a 25$ gift certificate to eat there again. You also get to put your baby's picture on their wall. So if Baby Scherer will hurry it up, we could get a free meal! That would be awesome, but I'm trying my best to be patient and let the baby come when he/she is ready. Hopefully it will be soon!