Caius MacNeil Hatt was born on Easter Sunday (Apr. 12) at 5:16 at an

independent birthing centre with midwives- 8lbs 6oz. He was born 5 days

before his due date. My water broke on Sat. morning at 11 am (thank goodness

I was already in the bathroom). I stayed at home all day after consulting

with my midwife, and with still no contractions, at 8:30pm I took 1 dose of

castor oil. Went to the birthing centre at 11:30 pm and soon after

contractions started. The whole thing was VERY fast, but manageable- about

5 hrs. total time in labour (and it's my first). Most of the labour pain was

in my back and in my hip joints. I spent a lot of time sitting backwards on

a chair with DH rubbing my back, and with hot compresses. The whirlpool was

my personal saviour and I stayed in for several hours. I had difficulty

pushing because I felt no urge to push, and all I wanted to do was rest.

Everything went really well and I had no, and wanted no medication. The

placenta was slow (2hrs.) and so I was transfered to hospital to deal with

that, but it came by itself anyway. I only had a small surface tear, which

required only a few stitches (this was great considering Caius' head was at

the 85th percentile). After 2 hrs. at the hospital I went back to the

birthing centre where all three of us hung out/slept/ate for the day. We

went home at 5:30 pm, 12 hrs. after the birth. The whole birth experience

was wonderful. We had tons of support from our midwife at home, and thank

goodness because Caius had severe jaundice/breastmilk jaundice/difficulty

feeding for 2.5 weeks, which required a lactation consultant and tube

supplimentation. Fortunately we all survived, and are doing well now.

At 4 wks. Caius and I flew to the west coast to visit my dad for 2 wks. We

then flew to Ottawa to visit my mom for 5 days, during which time I

presented a paper at an academic conference. After that 5 days we drove home

(Montreal) and the following morning I started teaching summer school. It

was 3 hrs. in the morning, 5 days a week for 3 wks. I left at 7:30am and got

back by 1pm. I pumped once mid-morning and DH fed Caius bottles in the

morning. It was a bit crazy, but everything went well. I'm happy that both

DH and I are at home and not working now. It's really great to spend time at

home and all together.

Kierstin (& Caius)