Welcoming Jakob Asher: Here Comes The Son!

 

Yesterday got off to a fabulous start with a 3:45 a.m. call from my friend Jen telling me her water had broken and she’d just experienced her first labor contraction. Knowing it could be two hours or ten, I fell back to sleep until her husband Josh called me again at a little after five o’clock to suggest it was time to join the fun! I scrambled out of bed, got dressed, grabbed my gear and headed out. As I walked out the door I was awe struck  by the constellation Orion blazing vividly above and I immediately knew it was going to be a great day : )

Ten minutes later I arrived at Jen & Josh’s place to find their daughters Grace and Samantha sound asleep and Jen and her birth team shrouded in candle light with  Jen peacefully breathing through contractions coming a few minutes apart. By the time I arrived at 5:30, Jen had been in labor for two hours, but because checking the cervix after the water has broken can introduce infection into the birth canal, we weren’t sure how much dilation had occurred and so had no idea how long we might be waiting for the big arrival!

Eventually Jen decided she was ready to move to the waiting pool of warm water and once she was settled the effect was apparent as contractions started occurring one upon another. Jen (a birth doula by profession) handled every single one of them with absolute grace. Unlike the other births I have attended, I arrived at this one before transition to the third stage of  labor occurred so I was there to witness the change in the level of intensity, which was really incredible to watch. I was pretty stunned by Jen’s ability to focus so deeply with every building contraction and found myself wondering where she was going in her head. I learned later that she was repeating the mantra “I can do anything for one minute… I can do anything for one minute.” Yes you can, Jen!

     

By about 7:15, Jen decided she needed to know how far she’d progressed and asked her midwife, Eloisa to check her dilation. Because of Jen’s position in the pool it was hard for Eloisa to tell and she suggested that she might be at 5 centimeters. I remember thinking … “oh boy, this is going to take a lot longer than I thought!” Jen seemed to know better, however, and after a few more contractions,  the next thing I knew she was saying “ELOISA! HEAD!” Eloisa checked again and sure enough, the baby was preparing to crown!  With an unbelievable burst of power, Jen pushed Jakob Asher Quesada into the world just after sunrise at 7:22 a.m., weighing 9 pounds, 6 ounces and measuring a whopping 23 inches!

Our first glimpse of little Jak!

               

Within minutes, sleepy-eyed girls Grace and Samantha joined us in the living room for the celebration of little Jak’s  arrival. Within an hour, the family’s home was filled with elated loved ones sipping mimosas and the smell of bacon and Eggs Benedict… you definitely don’t see this at a hospital birth!  What a wonderful environment for a little person to begin his life  in…. and what a fortunate girl I am that I got to be part of it : )

You can see more photos from  Jak’s first day of life in an album on my Facebook page!

Dear Jen, Josh, Grace, Samantha & Jak… Thank you, endlessly, for inviting me to be part of such a memorable day for your family. I’m elated that you think my “presence” helped make everything perfect as you welcomed your newest addition and I love knowing that these pictures we created together will always hold within them a flood of beautiful memories  : )