More Pictures of Clementine

Brand new!

Moses helping Kate with the newborn exam.

Pooter face!

Cuddling with Grandma Sue.

So Sweet!

Big brother Moses.

For Judah, holding his little sister for the first time is serious business!

A little sleeping beauty!

Meet Clementine Grace!

Our little darling Clementine arrived on Thursday, October 22nd at 12:53am.
She weighed 8 pounds and was 20 inches long.

Join us in praising God for her safe arrival!

"Clementine" means "merciful" in Latin, and our prayer for her is that she would grow to be full of mercy, and would know and love the mercy of Christ.

"Blessed are the merciful,
for they shall receive mercy."
John 5:7

Birth Philosophy: The Intrinsic Wisdom of Women's Bodies

"...pregnant women themselves [have] rediscovered a wisdom more valid than any method we try to superimpose on the natural process. Women's bodies have near-perfect knowledge of childbirth; it's when their brains get involved that things can go wrong.

When we force external rules on laboring women's behaviors, their births may veer off track. The intrinsic intelligence of women's bodies can be sabotaged when they're put into clinical settings, surrounded by strangers, and attached to machines that limit their freedom to move. They then risk falling victim to the powerful forces of fear, lonliness, doubt and distrust, all of which increase pain. Their hopes for a normal birth disappear as quickly as the fluid in an IV bottle.

Given a normal labor and supportive, permissive surroundings, women are capable of finding their own unique ways of dealing with labor. They need only a guide, a calm and experienced woman who can help the struggling mother-to-be along the rocky paths of Laborland."

~Peggy Vincent, Baby Catcher: Chronicles of a Modern Midwife

My 30th Birthday

This is from way back in August, but I wanted to share these pictures anyway. Thank you again to all who helped make my 30th birthday so wonderful!! And thanks especially to my fabulous hubby for planning a great party, even though I told him not to. :)

The yummy DQ ice cream cake - my favorite!

Grandpa Mike with baby Jesse

Lovely friends with lovely babies!

A big group of kiddos enjoying the sandbox

Two of the beautiful Miss Harms

Miss Olivia with the angelic curls!

Mama Pickering with baby Theia

Mr. Mo, enjoying the festivities

Papa and Judah

This was such a special day. I was so surprised and blessed to have all you dear friends and family gather to celebrate with me! This birthday will linger in my memory as one of my favorite days for a long time to come. Thank you all again!

Blessings

We haven't had our computer hooked up to the internet for a while, so hence the lack of blog posts. It's finally up and running, so I had to share these sweet pics of my favorite kids in the whole world:

Mama and Gracelee Annlee

Moses with his cheesy grin and Judah the nose-picker. Let's try again...

Getting closer!

Yay! What sweet, precious children these are!
I feel incredibly blessed to be their Mama.

Homebirth with Midwife is as Safe as a Hospital Birth!

Flying directly in the face of the so-called journalism that warned of "The Perils of Homebirth" (see my previous post), a new study shows that "having your baby at home with a registered midwife is just as safe as a conventional hospital birth" and "in fact, planned home births of this kind may have a lower rate of complications."

The study looked at 2889 home births attended by regulated midwives in British Columbia, Canada, and 4752 planned hospital births attended by the same cohort of midwives compared with 5331 physician-attended births in hospital. Women who planned a home birth had a significantly lower risk of obstetric interventions and adverse outcomes, including augmentation of labour, electronic fetal monitoring, epidural analgesia, assisted vaginal delivery, cesarean section, hemorrhage, and infection. Newborns born after planned home births were at similar or reduced risk of death, although the likelihood of admission to hospital was higher. The mortality rate per 1,000 births was 0.35 in the home birth group, 0.57 in hospital births attended by midwives, and 0.64 among those attended by physicians, according to the study.

The safety of home births is under debate. American, Australian and New Zealand Colleges of Obstetricians and Gynecologists oppose home births while the United Kingdom's Royal College of Obstetrics and Gynecology and the Royal College of Midwives are supportive, as are midwife organizations in Canada, Australia and New Zealand. Canada's Society of Obstetricians and Gynecologists has encouraged further research into the safety of home birth, and this study addresses that directive.

(Read full-text article here)

So when people ask why we would "risk" having a homebirth, I feel confident answering that we aren't doing anything more risky than having a baby in the hospital! In fact, I know that I'm decreasing my risk of unwanted interventions!

Although there are no guarantees when it comes to childbirth, I think it is clear that giving birth at home with a trained midwife should not be viewed as risky, irresponsible or stupid. It should be a valid option for women and their families should they chose it.