Erin Today!
Erin and Eddie right after she was born.My oldest baby girl is seven today. Wow, how time flies.
I found out I was pregnant with Erin in November of 2001. I was a high school senior at the time, and Ed, my now husband, was my boyfriend. At first we were scared because we were so young; Eddie being 19, and me being 18. We finally began to grasp the idea that we were going to be young parents, and at that time resolved ourselves to be the best young parents we could possibly be. Ed and I knew that we would like to learn more about homebirth, and were introduced to Laura. We instantly knew she would be perfect. Nine months went by pretty uneventfully, other than me falling down the stairs and peeing my pants at around 5 months along, and me swelling bigger than I did in any other pregnancy. My feel wouldn't even fit into flip-flops by the end of my pregnancy. I swore that I would never have another summer baby again.
The day before my due date was the 19th, and I took that day to do some things I had been putting off, such as get an oil change and such. That night, when Eddie got home from work, we ate dinner and went to lay down in bed. I remember when it hit midnight and my due date had arrived... July 20th... I said to Ed "Well, it's my due date, and there is no sign of a baby!"... which wasn't entirely true as I was having a dull backache. At around 1 am, I had my first contraction... it was painful, but I was not sure what it was. About five minutes later I had another... and then another... I thought I had to go to the bathroom so I headed downstairs to try. That is when I realized I was in labor, as I was bleeding quite heavily. Ed walked in at the moment I realized I was bleeding. I looked at him and said "I think I'm in labor!" He ran and called my midwife who told me that since this was my first baby, I would probably be in labor for a while, and to take a shower and try to get some sleep. I knew the contractions were too close together for my labor to last too much longer, so I told Ed to tell her to come now. He did, and then he decided he would try to get some sleep... while he did that I decided to try to take a bath. The bath felt great, but the contractions were coming harder and harder. It was painful, but bearable. I remember thinking "Hey, this isn't so bad... I don't need pain medications for this..." Every contraction I tried to meet with breathing and low moaning/singing, which really helped me to ride the contractions. Laura arrived, and realized that I was already almost 7 cm, and was glad that we had talked her into coming. She told Ed to go ahead and fill the birthing pool, which he did. When I finally got to get into the pool, it was AMAZING~!!!~ The pain lifted so much. Before I knew it, I was fully dialated (except for an anterior lip). Laura told me to go ahead and push, and she would try to hold the lip back so that the head could pass... this was my first baby so I wasn't really sure how to... and I had no urge, but I did it anyway, and let me tell YOU, that hurt so badly, but at least it helped the head to pass through. Then, I pushed her shoulders through, and she was placed on my chest. I cannot explain how I felt at that moment. For nine months I 'knew' I was growing a baby, but it was never real until that moment... She was mine... I have never had that feeling since, only with my first... She was beautiful... Hardly any hair, born with stork-bite birthmarks between her eyes and on the back of her neck. She had an odd placenta with a velamentous insertion of the cord which happens in only 1% of babies. It is when the cord is attached on the side rather than through the center.
Erin Melody Rittersdorf was born 8lbs, 20 inches, on July 20th 2002 at 7:22 a.m., just as the sun broke over the horizon.
I found out I was pregnant with Erin in November of 2001. I was a high school senior at the time, and Ed, my now husband, was my boyfriend. At first we were scared because we were so young; Eddie being 19, and me being 18. We finally began to grasp the idea that we were going to be young parents, and at that time resolved ourselves to be the best young parents we could possibly be. Ed and I knew that we would like to learn more about homebirth, and were introduced to Laura. We instantly knew she would be perfect. Nine months went by pretty uneventfully, other than me falling down the stairs and peeing my pants at around 5 months along, and me swelling bigger than I did in any other pregnancy. My feel wouldn't even fit into flip-flops by the end of my pregnancy. I swore that I would never have another summer baby again.
The day before my due date was the 19th, and I took that day to do some things I had been putting off, such as get an oil change and such. That night, when Eddie got home from work, we ate dinner and went to lay down in bed. I remember when it hit midnight and my due date had arrived... July 20th... I said to Ed "Well, it's my due date, and there is no sign of a baby!"... which wasn't entirely true as I was having a dull backache. At around 1 am, I had my first contraction... it was painful, but I was not sure what it was. About five minutes later I had another... and then another... I thought I had to go to the bathroom so I headed downstairs to try. That is when I realized I was in labor, as I was bleeding quite heavily. Ed walked in at the moment I realized I was bleeding. I looked at him and said "I think I'm in labor!" He ran and called my midwife who told me that since this was my first baby, I would probably be in labor for a while, and to take a shower and try to get some sleep. I knew the contractions were too close together for my labor to last too much longer, so I told Ed to tell her to come now. He did, and then he decided he would try to get some sleep... while he did that I decided to try to take a bath. The bath felt great, but the contractions were coming harder and harder. It was painful, but bearable. I remember thinking "Hey, this isn't so bad... I don't need pain medications for this..." Every contraction I tried to meet with breathing and low moaning/singing, which really helped me to ride the contractions. Laura arrived, and realized that I was already almost 7 cm, and was glad that we had talked her into coming. She told Ed to go ahead and fill the birthing pool, which he did. When I finally got to get into the pool, it was AMAZING~!!!~ The pain lifted so much. Before I knew it, I was fully dialated (except for an anterior lip). Laura told me to go ahead and push, and she would try to hold the lip back so that the head could pass... this was my first baby so I wasn't really sure how to... and I had no urge, but I did it anyway, and let me tell YOU, that hurt so badly, but at least it helped the head to pass through. Then, I pushed her shoulders through, and she was placed on my chest. I cannot explain how I felt at that moment. For nine months I 'knew' I was growing a baby, but it was never real until that moment... She was mine... I have never had that feeling since, only with my first... She was beautiful... Hardly any hair, born with stork-bite birthmarks between her eyes and on the back of her neck. She had an odd placenta with a velamentous insertion of the cord which happens in only 1% of babies. It is when the cord is attached on the side rather than through the center.
Erin Melody Rittersdorf was born 8lbs, 20 inches, on July 20th 2002 at 7:22 a.m., just as the sun broke over the horizon.
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