The Perkins Family Urban Farm: Baby Max is here!

In case you haven't heard, our baby boy has arrived! Max Thomas was born on Oct. 23rd, Sunday evening at 11:37 pm, weighing in at 10 lbs. 6 oz. and 23 1/2 in. long!

We had a beautiful home birth with three amazing midwives. I am still amazed at what I accomplished and what my body can do!

Here's the short version of my birth story...yes, "short". (I'll spare you the long version with little details you probably don't care about) Feel free to skip over this part!

My labor started out very slow. It was one day after my due date when I woke up around 6:00 am with contractions about 10 min. apart. They stayed that way until the afternoon, with some starting to get closer together. In fact, all day, I kept wondering if I was really in labor. Honestly, I think it was because when I went into labor, I was afraid of the pain that was to come and was holding back and not letting myself let go for most of the day. Then Brynn and my midwife called me out on my fear and reluctance that evening after several hours of contractions. They told me to stop fearing the pain, let go, and get out of the way. I was not wanting to go through the effort of labor and the hard contractions to come, even though I knew we'd have a baby in the end. I'd done this before and I was fearing the pain that I was going to have to experience.

After a good cry and encouraging words from my midwife and sister, I let go of the fear and knew I just had to do it. My midwife then checked me and I was at 7 cm, which confused me because I was still walking around, smiling, and just pausing briefly to breath through contractions. I realized that my body was doing this and it wasn't too painful...I didn't have to fear this. We discussed breaking my water to get things moving faster, which made me nervous again. I thought, why would I want to bring on the pain when I already at 7 cm and not hurting? However, after checking my blood pressure and discovering it was high, Michele said she didn't like that and had no choice but to break my water so that we could get this baby out quicker.

Slowly, I went into active labor (transition), but still able to be calm, focused, relaxed, and breath/vocalize through each contraction one at a time. When each contraction came, I kept telling myself that I could do this one and after it was over, I'd be done with it and never have to feel that one again. After about three hours of transition and 19 min. of pushing, I gave birth to our baby boy! I pushed with all my might because I wanted to get our baby out, like I was sprinting toward the finish line. It was amazing and empowering, even the third time around! I am a birthing goddess!

John was amazing through the whole labor. He was my coach, my encourager, my support, my strength. Brynn was able to be with us as well. Her and Mammy got here about 2 pm. Mammy took Eli and Jed to play and get them out of the house, which was a big help! Brynn stayed with us, which was a big help for me. Just her being with me during labor is encouraging. She's been with me for all three births! She knew just what to say and what to do for me. Not to mention the labor photos she takes that we'll be seeing soon! Mammy ended up coming back to our house after dropping the boys off at Rex and Jen's house so they could sleep there. (Thank you Rex and Jen for taking the boys last minute!) So, Mammy was here at the end and was able to see Max being born. I had no clue she was here until after he was born, but I'm glad she got to be here.

Max is a great baby. I know it's only 4 days in, but he seems to go with the flow and not mind his loud brothers at all. Eli and Jed have loved having Max around. They say sweet things to him and love it when he makes funny faces and noises. They like to hold him, check on him, draw him pictures, and bring him toys. They picked out some toys for him to welcome him into the family, and they also got toys from Max after he was born. Jed got a Spiderman blanket and Eli got some football and baseball cards from Max. Max was cool from the beginning since he knew just what they had been wanting! Eli also made Max a card, which says "I luv yoow", "I lik Maks. I lik yoow" and "I lik yoo. Mom". Melts my heart!