Birth Story

Women are made to have babies 

It is our physical anatomy to labor and deliver 

So why are we interfering in nature's affairs?

I recently watched a documentary called "The business of being born:

It was amazing 

Informative!

1 in 3 women in america give birth via C-Section 

I am one of these women but I wasn't always 

July, 10th 2008 

My water broke at 8:30 am and I was in inactive labor at 1cm for 12 hours.  10:30 pm I was admitted to the hospital and I was determined to give birth using hypno-birthing techniques.  I was given pitocin which all you mothers know makes contractions 1,000 times harder.  I labored for 6 hours with pitocin and no pain medication which even the nurse said was impressive since most women get pitocin and get the epidural right after. I was determined to let nature run it's course even with the Pitocin.  2:30 am July 11th 2008 I was at 6 cm and was in "discomfort" I say that because this is what I learned to call pain in Hypno-birthing.  I hadn't slept and was exhausted.  Much to my dismay my mother and I decided I needed an epidural to sleep.  I got the epidural and slept for about 4 hours. around 8:30 am my midwife came in to assess my progress.  I was at 8 cm and I had stopped pushing my epidural button around 6:30 so the medicine had pretty much worn off.  I wanted to experience the feeling of delivery.  10:00 am came and I was 10cm and ready to push.  My midwife prepared everything needed and it was time to meet my baby :) I could feel everything and the contractions at that point were not painful they felt great it felt kind of like being tickled but a good tickle(haha i'm a dork-get over it) It took me until 11:40am and my midwife said "One more push baby's head is right here" I pushed one more time and there it was, that feeling of accomplishment, pure bliss, a transition to motherhood.  Then there he was, my strawberry blonde bundle of joy.  His eyes opened and I saw into his soul.  That perfect little baby in my midwife's arms.  

April 4th 2011 

2:40 pm "You are 2 weeks from your due date and your amniotic fluid is below 5" for those who don't know amniotic fluid below 5 is not good.  I am 37 weeks pregnant with my second son Phoenix.  I was admitted to be induced at 8:00 pm.  This was a hospital that didn't really put my wants first, I was not their main concern.  They just wanted me in and out of there.  I was given cervadil, which is a drug used to soften the cervix before given pitocin.  Reluctantly I took it because I was given the medical ultimatum of "your baby is in danger" any mom will listen to that statement and not give it an ounce of thought.  April 5th I was given pitocin at 8:30 am and I labored on a birth ball up until 5:30pm.  This was longer than I had with Brae-Avery . I was at that point where I wanted an epidural, at 6 pm the anesthesiologist came in and proceeded to give me the epidural.  It was probably a mistake because it hurt worse than labor, he was not good at his job.  He had tp pull out the needle and start all over.  It was more painful than labor.  9 pm rolled around and the same midwife who delivered Brae was coincidentally at a different hospital and was the midwife on call.  It was time to push and as I had done before with Brae.  I did not push my epidural medicine button for the last hour and a half of labor because I wanted to feel the natural process.  The nurses kept telling me to push that button, one even tried to push it without me knowing! 10:38 pm I gave birth to a brown haired, brown eyed boy named Phoenix :) Then again I felt that accomplishment, and bliss of giving life and nurturing him from within my body.  I insisted on skin to skin contact and the nurse's were constantly bugging me to give him to them to take to the nursery.  I declined to their dismay haha! they were not amused but I was.  This is my baby leave me alone...

This is an example of a birth not controlled by the mother.  This was my worst birth experience because they made me feel weak like I needed help birthing when that's what I'm wired to do.  "Interventions" are not always  needed.  

Fact: 

Babies born via C-section are periodically born between the hours of 4pm and 10pm 

Fact: 

Those doctors just wanted to get home see the hours listed above? 

Ludacris! 

August 29th 2012

My baby is breech and I am in labor! I am determined to give birth vaginally, I have never even considered a c-section.  I actually feared a c-section.  Which is the way it should be! I'll get to that later but in a nutshell I had done everything possible to deliver him the natural way but he was coming and I was in more pain than I had ever been in my life.. the doctor informed me a baby in a transverse position is way more painful going into labor than it is when a baby is in the head down position.  I have explained this story in another blog so I won't detail.  I felt cheated, I wanted that feeling I had experienced before.  

The point of this blog is that America has a higher birth rate by c-section than anywhere in the world!

We even have lower infant mortality than some third world countries!

Wake up America!

We have been taught to fear birth!

Something we naturally know how to do

More women are opting for elective c-sections because they are afraid of childbirth

It disgusts me... honestly

C-sections are not for your comfort or your "designer birth"

They are a major medical procedure 

and they hurt!

Recovery from natural birth is so much easier

Recovery from c-section is awful

C-section delivery is a procedure left for an emergency!

not for your comfort

Now you might be thinking I'm a hypocrite 

My c-section was an emergency c-section

My baby needed to come out 

For my sake and his 

Those are the circumstances that apply to c-section 

The well being of the mother or baby 

Life and death

Children of a new generation

  My Cousin has inspired me to explain my children's somewhat unconventional names.

My older cousin just had a baby and named her Listen.  I love it and the reason she named her Listen is truly amazing :)  I have reasons for naming my three boys the way I did but I have never really explained it and some people ask me "what kinda name is that he'll get nowhere in life with a name like that" yes believe it or not this has been said to me.  I have been asked why I didn't name them something simple like John or Daniel.  I have also been asked why I gave my son's all my last name instead of my husbands. 

Colvin last name not Burnham:  My husbands family are really malevolent people.  I'm not saying this because they're my in-laws I'm saying this because the really are the most unsympathetic and uncaring people I have ever met.  With the exception of Jeromy's grandmother who is the complete opposite of her family.  I won't go into a huge detail of it but Jeromy's wish was to make sure our son's had no connection to a name that really had no understanding of the word family.  So there is the explanation for the last name.    

 Brae-Avery James Colvin: 

I was a 16 at the time I gave birth to my son who is now almost five.  I was nervous of what kind of life he might have knowing that he would be born to a mother and father who were just kids ourselves.  One night when I was about 7 months pregnant I had found the name Avery in a name book my mom had on the self. I instantly fell in love and then Jeromy came to me with the name Brae.  I wasn't sold on it but then my mom asked me to take a paper and write with my left hand and focus on the little baby boy growing in my belly.  Very slowly I wrote out the word "Bravery" I looked at the word and realized you can run Brae and avery together to create "bravery" but not only did it sound and look amazing.  It also embodied my connection to my younger self.  In all honesty I was afraid of losing my childhood and that's why I was empowered by the words on the paper.  Every time I would speak my son's name it would give me the Bravery to keep on trying, the courage to be everything he needed. James is a family name, it sounded so elegant along with Brae-Avery.  

Phoenix Eastin's Colvin:

At the time I gave birth to Phoenix I was married and 19 years old.  The bird Phoenix is a sign of rebirth and so many other things, but that's what it symbolized to me a new beginning in my life.  Having two children was tricky and it made me a better mother.  Learning to juggle your time makes you appreciate the time you have with each child.  In the process you learn more about them as well.  Or at least that's my experience.  Eastin is kinda silly, Jeromy loves hockey and all his equipment when he was little.  We just changed to Easton to Eastin.  Plus it sounds nice :)

Valiant River Colvin: 

At the time I was pregnant with Valiant my husband Jeromy was pushing the name on me.  I wasn't really sold on it.  I was about 6 months pregnant when I had a dream about my son with dark brown hair and was very handsome. He was a full grown man but something about his aura was just so amazing it took me back he was just so Vailant, like a prince.  When he was born lo and behold he had a birthmark in the shape of a V on his forehead.   I struggled with a middle name for months but I finally settled on river.  I tried other names but every "normal" name sound like I was implying they were Valiant example "Valiant Daniel" haha so weird. River sounded calming, and it sort of touched my native american roots :) 

Those are my son's names and they fit them beautifully I wouldn't ever change them and I do not regret the decision to name them the way I did.