The Mason Family: Announcing Jillian Makayla!

So, I should be sleeping since Jillian is asleep and Jeff and Jacinda ran to the store, but alas, I have decided to update my blog for you and tell you my birth story.

April 17, 2010-
I woke up at 2:15 am with contractions that were pretty strong. I started timing them and they were about 7 minutes apart. Jacinda happened to stir about that time and so Jeff went to check on her and when he came back I let him know the news! So, he got back up and started re-inflating the birthing pool and then started filling it. We continued to time the contractions for another hour and they started coming a little faster. At 4:30am I decided we'd better call our midwife, Laura, and then my mom to have her be ready to come pick up Jacinda. Laura arrived a little after 5:30am and started prepping. My mom arrived at about 6:30am to get Jacinda. A little later my contractions were getting even more intense and closer together so I moved to the birthing pool. About 4 contractions later I started pushing and within about 4-5 pushes our little Jillian was born at 7:17am weighing 8lbs 13.5 oz, 21 3/4" long. She was born "in the caul" as they say, which means she was born in the amniotic sac. Since I was group strep B positive, I believe that this was God's way to protect her from infection. In the hospital they start antibiotics right away, so there is a risk at home even though we did have other measures to prevent infection. It was really amazing to see how gentle she came into the world, being in her water born into water. Being born in the caul happens only about 1 in 80,000 birhts and is very rare mostly because doctors will break the water rather than letting this happen. She didn't even cry for about 5-10 minutes after birth, she just looked around. The placenta was another amazing thing to see as you could clearly see the "tree of life." We love joking with the midwife about how it is amazing that Jillian wasn't poisoned and is thriving even though she was born in the caul and we let her cord blood pulse all the way through. I am just so blessed to have had another wonderful birth. My recovery has been amazing and I feel great!

Jillian has been a very good baby so far, but was a challenge for the first few days as she wasn't waking up by herself to nurse. I say a challenge just because I had a hard time waking for nighttime feedings too. She seems to have quite a little temper, but overall pretty laid-back when she's awake. Jacinda loves her little sister and is doing very well with the transition. We've only had a few jealous moments, but once she has some mommy time then she's back to being herself. The second morning Jacinda and Jeff were out in the living room and when Jillian cried I heard Jacinda say, "That's my little sister. She's crying. She needs Mommy's milk." I about cried! It made me feel so much better about the transition to come.

Minutes after birth