Aislin Gemma
Name: Theresa Namenye from The Honeycomb
Baby’s name: Aislin Gemma
Weight: 6.5
Length: 19.5
Gestation: 40w3d
Birthday: 9/30/19
Place of birth: Honor Health, Scottsdale AZ
Our daughter is here!
After Leo’s induction fiasco from the pits of hell, I was determined to have the natural and complication-free birth of my dreams. I realized that this would include waiting and being extraordinarily patient, which turned out to be just fine for me. I did not want another three hour pushing situation with a trapped baby and I mentally acknowledged that this meant really trying for an epidural free birth, where I could move around freely.
The weeks leading up to birth, I was extremely diligent with my stash of herbal concoctions, including but not limited to: liquid chlorophyll, red raspberry leaf tea, wheat germ oil, prenatals, horsetail, maca root, flaxseed, and collagen. Later, this included calcium magnesium and blue cohosh tea picked up from a random herb shop in Mesa. I exercised religiously every morning with weights or an Insanity workout and ran long runs on Saturday mornings. And while I don’t know if all of these crazy things culminated in helping my birth go quickly, I definitely can testify to the fact that I took even better care of myself this pregnancy than the last and I truly felt different in the weeks leading up to it all.
This past weekend, Garrett had two days off work and we tried to very intentionally savor these last few days with Leo: going out for Italian food, taking two hour walks, trying new recipes, going to Mass together while drinking the nasty-ish blue cohosh tea. Sunday afternoon was the first time in the whole pregnancy where I felt, “Meh, I could really be done with this now.” Even though I was over forty weeks, I was determined to wait it out and let my body do its thing.
On 4:30am Monday morning, I woke up to what I could only assume was my water breaking in bed. I shot up and went to the bathroom and serenely, happily, accepted my fate. I woke up Garrett and went to go make coffee like normal. I wanted to labor at home for as long as possible so I did not wake up our friends unnecessarily and cause this huge alarm only to sit on a hospital bed for hours and hours. We got a hold of our babysitter for Leo right before 7am, when the contractions started to get so intense that I had to breathe through them audibly and had difficulty walking through them. I grabbed a squishy strawberry in a fit of spontaneity because I realized that I hadn’t really thought about or practiced how I would be handling all this unmedicated pain and maybe a squishy thing would come in handy? HA.
When we arrived at our room, I got checked and was beyond relieved to discover that I was dilated to 6cm. I paced around the room and did some extremely interesting, interpretive dance like movements as I groaned through the painful contractions. I sat down on a chair for some blood to be drawn at 8am and all of a sudden I gripped the arms of the chair, sprang up, and screamed with all of my energy because I felt a head crowning and trying to exit my body. I heard the nurses yell that I was ready to push and to get the doctor in there.
I got up on the bed and immediately felt the urge to push. But it was not like I had an option, it was like an all-encompassing violent possession of pushing a baby out. They told me to get on my hands and knees to try and move the baby beyond my pubic bone and Garrett says he will never forget the sight of me gripping the mattress, screaming and hollering and writhing like I was in a legitimate exorcism.
The pain was the most intense I have experienced in my life. Focusing intensely on offering it up for specific persons, repeating Hail Marys, and consciously remembering every woman who has and will experience infertility and loss gave me purpose within that pain.
When the flipped me around and I started to push again, I had no break in between the violent and intense bursts of adrenaline and pain. I remember lots of screaming and sweating and yelling vulgarities at my poor doctor and the nurses. I could not handle the gentle reminders to “moan” and “not scream” and to “relax my legs” and I found myself getting so angry at these pain-free, blissful individuals spouting off advice as they enjoyed complete and utter autonomy over their bodies. Ha. I had made it clear to Garrett earlier that I needed absolutely no advice, no questions, no comments, and no touching. I needed to seriously dig deep within my own subconscious and get one with the pain, so needless to say, even well intentioned encouragement pissed me off but I suppose in the end it empowered me and got me though the worst of it.
Cutting and such is not fun while unmedicated by I had no choice, so on we went and very suddenly a slimy human popped out. Garrett exclaimed, “It’s a girl!” and I laid there with her on my chest as she pooped all over me, which didn’t phase me because I couldn’t believe the clock was reading 8:34am and I had a baby on my body. Stitching unmedicated also was a horrific, torturous experience which turned me into a dreadfully impolite person but it eventually was over so that made it bearable I guess!
We spent the rest of the day relaxing in bed, admiring our tiny little princess, eating food, and talking with family. We slept all though the night peacefully and then went home at 1:30pm and grabbed a frappuchino on the way back. Leo has been amazing and gentle with his little sister and honestly little Aislin Gemma could not be more perfect for our little family.
We chose the name Aislin because it means “dream” in Gaelic and the only reason we even knew we were pregnant is because people kept having dreams that we were. She was a surprise from start to finish and we wouldn’t have it any other way. She is 6 pounds, 5 ounces, and 19 inches of sheer, peaceful delight.
We are so excited to do life with her!
What did your birth experience teach you about yourself?
Aislin's birth taught me that I really can do hard things. Things that utterly terrify me have the ability to transform into moments of glory and triumph. Aislin's birth taught me to trust and honor my body at the deepest level.
