maya's birth story

*first off happy 2 months maya leigh!!!*

is eerily like finn's. the midwives told me i was very effaced & about 2 centimeters dilated two weeks before the due date. my mom freaked a little & changed her flight to come out earlier than planned. we sat & waited & sat some more & waited for 10 days; driving each other slightly crazy as we excitedly awaited the birth of peanut no 2. we bought some adorable little girl clothes even though we had no idea what peanut was... but we hoped, while keeping receipts!

i had a few braxton hicks, nothing serious.

the due date july 19th rolled around. on the morning of the 21st, i picked bryan up from work & we headed to the midwives. mom stayed home with finn. mary checked me & i was completely effaced, but i hadn't progressed any in the dilated category. dang. she recommended the cervical sweep again. "it'll only make it easier on you." can't argue with that i guess. i'd really hoped to let things happen naturally this time since this might be my last baby & i wanted to know what the surprise of labor starting felt like. ya know, the whole scenario of being out & about & oh my god, MY WATER JUST BROKE! bryan said he day dreamed about that too. where he'd be, how long it would take him to come home, etc.

so they did the cervical sweep & it didn't hurt that bad. with finn it was yowsa! i dilated a couple more centimeters. mary said see ya tonight! we walked around their building, it was pretty warm, but not miserable yet. (it reached 106 at the highest point in the afternoon.) i took bryan back to work & then headed to tempe town lake to do some more walking. a lil time by myself before my second child introduced themselves. (or should it be themself??) i was already really sore... this pregnancy was way harder on my body.


i went home & hung out with mom & finn. bryan came home at his normal time & we decided to eat dinner at chandler mall & do some more walking. plus finn could let out some energy at their indoor playground. we walked & walked & walked. we met another couple with a very young baby. they asked when i was due & i said 2 days ago! they mentioned they came to this same mall & did the same thing... & went into labor that night. we joked if i went into labor we should alert the news stations to chandler mall's magic powers.

we went home & put finn to bed. i was pretty anxious but still wasn't really feeling anything. so bryan & i went for a long walk around the neighborhood. i started having contractions around 10pm. nothing too serious. the only thing i was craving was fig newton's so bryan left at this point to go get em for me, since we'd finished the package we'd bought the day before! he came back & it was still pretty tame.

a little later it still wasn't too painful, so we decided to try & get some sleep. that was around 11-11:30ish. a contraction woke me up around 2am & it was go time. the contractions were 5 minutes apart & pretty serious. bryan woke mom up.

he called the midwife & she was on her way. he called short jill, she was coming. we talked briefly about setting up the pool but bryan wanted to wait for mary to check me out. (this is all a little foggy since i'm writing it 2 months later, but this time hurt worse.) i felt with finn i could moan throw the pain. but with peanut no2 i felt like i was trying to claw away from the pain.


mary arrived & said get that pool up! so bryan got to work. it seemed to take forever as i was laboring on the yoga ball in our bedroom. finn was asleep in the next room... that never strayed far from my mind. "please don't wake him up, please don't wake him up!" became my silent chant.


finn gets really scared when i'm hurt. he wants to comfort me/be comforted & i was not going to be in any shape to do that if he woke up. i didn't want to scare him like that. i've had other friends who've birthed naturally with their kids in the room & seen videos of it & it can be beautiful, but i saw a whole different movie rolling in my head!

mary's assistant, jen & short jill, our friend & documentor extrodianare! arrived. jill is smart & didn't even ask if she could use the flash, she just starts shooting away. poor tall jill, who documented finn's, asked & i said no way jose!

bryan couldn't be more than a few steps away from me... the contractions were really hard & fast. mom & bryan said i was a lot more alert this time, there was no going inside myself, no inner calm or moaning. once in the tub i had to hold on to both mom & bryan's hands & i nearly broke them. i can see it now, my mom mouthing ouch, ouch ooooouch! although she never said anything or let me know i was hurting her. same for bryan, they both let me assault them for the greater good :)

i put a rag in my mouth & would bite down on it as hard as i could. mary checked me and said i could start pushing. i don't remember taking breaks between the pushes, it was more like GETTHISOUTOFMERIGHTNOW! my moans were definitely more pitiful cries. luckily or maybe thankfully, i wasn't loud & finn slept through the whole thing.


at some point mary told me to slow down. i remember jen telling me to keep my chin down as i pushed. everyone kept saying, you're doing great. the baby is almost here. then i felt the head. i don't remember it burning, but instead this time i was all hell yeah! get this over with!


she slid right on out. thank god. mary brought her immediately to my stomach face down, so it was another second or two before we knew what it was. the babe was quiet & calm, so i was eager to see it's face. i flipped her over & i think shouted it's a girl! i heard mom say oh a girl, hi maya!!!! 2.5 hours of active labor, she was here.


excitement. pure excitement. we got our girl. so strange to be so excited about it, since we were so nervous about having a girl the first time around. now, i wanted a baby girl something intense.

bryan got to cut the cord & i held her for a few more seconds. then bryan took her & we went to the bedroom where all the after birth stuff happens.

i love this photo.

they measured her: 20 inches long.

they weighed her: 8 lbs 3 ounces.

healthy, happy & very alert. she scored a 9 on the apgars test. perfect lil bundle.

afterwards, bryan dresssed her in her cute outfit... it took him about 30 minutes, he was so careful. at least that's what it felt like as i watched & scarfed down the fig newton's.


& then we breastfed. she took right to it -with no problems, my lil 8lb 3oz-er likes her food!

mary & jenn cleaned everything up & then headed home. jill headed home too. mom eventually went to her room to rest. i felt like we laid there & watched our precious baby girl sleep for maybe 15 minutes when we heard finn's "mommy, daddy... wanna get up." cry. it was more like an hour, but it went by so fast.

my mom went in and got finn out of bed. bryan was ready with the camera. i was laying in bed holding maya, anxious to see how he would respond. he looked at her for a few minutes. we told him he had a baby sister & her name was maya. he softly said "hi baby maya!" he pointed out her eyes & nose & mouth gently touching each thing as he said it.




& then he excitedly ran into his room. he remembered on his own that he had a gift for the baby, that bryan & he had picked out a few days before. he came in & sort of handed/threw the winnie the pooh rattle at her & said "here ya go baby!!" it was adorable. & then we gave him his present from maya. a thomas the train puzzle set.

& that was our first morning together as a family of four. it was perfect. our sweet little boy instantly fell in love with his baby sister. kinda fairy tale, really. & i don't believe in that stuff. but, now maybe i do. maybe i do.

welcome to this world little girl.

welcome home.

our photographer extrodinare! short jill