Playing around

I went in my play gym for the first time today

Oh my, that's a little overwhelming. I think I'll stay in bed

Are you still here taking pictures?

I think I'll take a nap

Sleepy Baby

For the first few weeks, I just slept almost all the time.

I like to sleep on my Grandma, too.

9 days old

I'm starting to get used to this baby body

But I still like to sleep lots

I can hold my head up for a few minutes

And this is my favorite spot

My Twin Cousins are WAY Cool!

I have twin cousins, named Evan and Cameron.
They came to meet me today.
They are only three weeks older than my big brother, Jacob.

Cameron really likes babies and he was so excited. But Evan seemed a bit nervous and almost dropped me after Grandma took this picture. Good thing Mommy was right there!

All of these pictures makes me sleepy...

I met my Grandma Bonnie and Uncle Adam

Today, I met my Grandma Bonnie.

She could hardly wait to meet me and came over right away.

Jacob, of course, wanted to introduce us

And I met my Uncle Adam, too!

I feel like we've known each other for a lifetime

Meeting so many family members made me feel tired

The first time I met my big brother Jacob

This is me with my big brother Jacob.
He was almost three years old when I was born.

Look at how big his feet are!

He introduced me to his friend Woody and
wanted to make sure we got to know each other.

After we met, we took a nap together

Getting to know Mommy and Daddy

My second day was a big day! I nursed with Mommy.

And I slept in my favorite spot
And I got to hang out with my Daddy, too!

My Birth Story as Told by My Mommy

Zachary’s Idyllic Birth Story

“TODAY is the day,” I thought as I woke up at 9am with a strong cramping in my belly. I texted Cindy, our midwife: “things are different and contractions are stronger.”

She had been expecting me to go into labor soon. At our prenatal visit on Tuesday, I had been a stretchy 2cm for the past two weeks and my baby’s head was at position zero. She commented, “I’m not even sure how you’re able to walk with your baby’s head so low in your pelvis.”

I had a prenatal acupuncture appointment scheduled at 11:30. And I decided that we should get things moving along with the treatment. Gabriella placed eight needles in the “Ba Liao” (translated as “eight seams”) in my sacrum and applied electrical stimulation to the highest degree I could handle. After that, she also needled the “4 Gates” with e-stim to further get things moving along.

When Shani (our nanny) and Jacob picked me up from the appointment, the contractions got even stronger and I had to really focus to listen to Jacob tell me about his adventures at the park during the drive home.

We got home and started preparing for the birth. First, eat a big meal. As I was making food at 2:30, I had to stop and lean over the stove to breathe through a contraction; I knew it was only going to get more intense from here.

The plan was for Jacob to spend the night with Shani. I said goodbye to my son, knowing that when I saw him next, he would be a big brother.

Jesse started filling the birth tub while I sat on the yoga ball. Contractions were getting stronger, but not painful. I tried to keep reading my book, “The Red Tent” in between contractions, but it became clear at about 4pm that I needed to just stay present with myself and my body. So I turned on the birth music mix I had created and allowed myself to go into a meditative trance.

As the wistful voice of Tina Malia sang songs of connection with the Divine, and with lyrics such as “Be brave, my love, the time has come…” I found myself swaying with the music and completely present in each moment. Each contraction came as a wave of sensation that I was able to breathe with, to rise and fall with, and to stay connected with. I used the breathing techniques I had learned from the hypnobirthing class and each contraction came on strong with the first two waves, and then subsided into stillness.

Jesse sent Cindy a text at 4:30 to let her know that the contractions were 5 minutes apart and 45 seconds long and consistent. We spoke on the phone briefly and I shared that I was able to manage all of the contractions. I was elated, considering that my labor with Jacob started with my bag of waters breaking and back labor…it had gone from very mild contractions to the most painful experience of my life. THIS was definitely different.

I asked Cindy to hold off on coming over, because I was enjoying the privacy of being with myself and with Jesse.

I dove back into my experience and meditative state. Completely enveloped in my body, my breath and the music, I began to cry with gratitude. I wasn’t feeling any fear! I was managing every contraction, although intense.

I felt proud of myself and joyful that my baby was coming. I trusted God, my body, my baby, and myself. I felt fully connected with the Divine; and was experiencing what my friend Stephanie Dawn calls “Sacred Birth.”

We decided to get in the hot tub outside in our garden in the woods. I experienced each contraction, noticing that the water eased the intensity. In between, I watched the birds and watched the wind gently blow through the trees and Jesse and I joked and laughed together.

At 5:30, I asked Jesse to call and ask Cindy to drive over. Things were moving along and I wanted her to check my cervix to find out how dilated I was.

Jesse and I stayed in the hot tub together after the call. The contractions started to become more intense and painful, but my breath and presence (and Jesse’s support) continued to allow me to stay connected to myself and my body.

With every contraction, I said to Jesse, “Here it comes” and I turned to face the outside of the tub and leaned forward on the rim of the tub while he applied pressure to my sacrum.

At 6:20, just after two very intense contractions, Cindy appeared on the deck above our hot tub to see us together in the tub with the light shining through the trees that surrounded us. “Hi you guys. Wow, what an idyllic birth scene, just like out of a birth movie. I should get your camera. It’s a New Moon…what a great day to have your baby.”

I was starting to feel too hot, so we decided to get out and go inside the house (before Cindy was able to get the camera and capture the moment on film). Cindy brought a “10 cm rose” from her garden and placed it on my birth altar next to the Quan Yin that had been present during my friend Pamela’s Ecstatic Birth experience.

Cindy checked fetal heart tones at 6:50 and our baby was doing great, zero decelerations and good variation. She checked my cervix, which was at 4cm and 50% effaced.

When I heard that I was only 4 cm I thought, “That’s just not going to do! It’s time to get things moving along. Get intentional, Sharla.”

Cindy reminded me that labor is not linear in second births and I could go from 4 cm to 7 cm quickly, which was somewhat reassuring, although I just wasn’t having it that I was only 4 cm.

I sat on the yoga ball, listening to Tina Malia sing and breathing with each contraction. I leaned against the wall when the waves came, chanting the mantra I learned in our hypnobirthing classes, “Oooooooooooopen” with each breath.

I got up to go to the bathroom and on my way back to the ball, had to fall to my hands and knees to allow Jesse to support me and let my belly fall away from my spine. I was starting to feel pain in my back. Cindy explained that the baby’s head was so far down in my pelvis, that I would be feeling lots of pressure.

The contractions grew in intensity and with each one, I needed Jesse’s support. My hero was there with each wave, squeezing my pelvis together with his thighs and applying pressure to my sacrum with his big, strong hands. Without him, this would have been unmanageable. The contractions were getting more intense, and the endorphins increased with the contractions.

And then, the first one came that was unbearable. Cindy saw the look on my face and came over to give me a hug as she said, “What we women do for the world.” With this hug, I cried, knowing it was just going to get harder.

I thought to myself, “What am I doing out here?” I said, “Jesse, let’s get back in the water.” And we went outside back into the hot tub.

While in the water, I started to feel nauseated, but this lasted only about 20 minutes.

Kymm Ann walked to the edge of our hot tub to check fetal heart tones and as I started to get out she said, “It’s a Water Doppler; you can stay in the water.” She looked like the Goddess herself in that moment. After checking she said, “Baby is doing great.”

In between contractions, I kept thinking how different this was from my labor with Jacob!

Jesse supported me with each contraction.

At 9pm, it was getting dark outside and I started to feel the urge to push, so I decided to get out of the hot tub and go inside. I asked Cindy to check my cervix again…7cm (this occurred for me as “only 7 cm”). I rested my head on the yoga ball while on all fours. The pressure was so intense, I wanted to lie down, but that didn’t make a difference, so into the birth tub we went. It was instant relief.

At 10pm, I was 9 ½ cm and my bag of waters was coming down. Cindy felt the anterior lip and said I could try to push through it. After a strong push, I realized I wasn’t going to be able to push past the lip. Cindy reached in to try to move the lip so I could push past it, but it was so painful, I said, “Ouch, get out of there!”

I felt so tired and I just wanted to push my baby out and be done with this labor thing. But there was just another half a centimeter to go to get past that lip, so I went back to breathing through contractions to try to open that last bit. These were the most painful contractions I experienced. After a couple of squeals, Cindy offered to reduce the lip, but I didn’t want to experience that pain of her holding the lip out of the way again. So I tried to breathe through the contractions and avoid pushing for a bit longer, but I just couldn’t take it. So I asked Cindy to hold the lip so I could push past it.

She did and I gave a strong push. My baby’s head came down 2 cm with this push and my bag of waters broke. I thought, “That was easy; I should have done that sooner.” I was so relieved to be done with the opening part. Pushing is easy for me, opening requires tons of focus.

I gave a few half-hearted pushes (I didn’t feel like pushing, but had to push with the contractions now). I thought it might be ANOTHER two hours of pushing (since that is how long I pushed with Jacob), but I felt some downward movement in my pelvis. So I decided to really push with the next contraction.

I started the “F*********ck” mantra with the next push, but Cindy said, “Sharla, quiet down. You’re going to scare the baby.”

“Are you kidding me, Cindy?” I thought; No one told me not to yell when I was pushing Jacob out. Then my annoyance turned into joy and gratitude. “My baby is coming soon. I can’t wait to meet my baby.”

A few minutes later and after just a few more pushes, the music stopped. Cindy was telling Angela to push the power button again and then the play button. But I screamed, “Ring of Fire, Ring of Fire!” and Cindy told her, “Forget it,” and directed me to lean back into Jesse’s arms. I had no idea how long that burning pain in my yoni would last, but fortunately it was just fleeting.

Suddenly, there was all this commotion. “That’s your baby’s head,” she said and reached down into the water between my legs.

I reached down to feel a head full of hair. His right hand was pushed up against the top of his ear (now I understand why I felt little punches on my bladder over the last few weeks).

I asked, “How much longer?” and Cindy said, “One more push.” So with the next push, I pushed my baby’s body out and reached down into the water to bring him up to my arms with Cindy’s help. He was born at 10:50 pm.

Jesse and I cried, “We’re so happy you’re here. We Love You! We’re so excited you’re here…” And I said, “We did it! You did a great job.” (This elation and celebration of welcoming our new baby and being done with the labor went on for what seemed like forever.) And we kissed our baby and kissed each other as he let out a good cry.

He looked almost EXACTLY like Jacob! But he was so ruddy with much lighter hair and less of it. I thought of Adam in this moment (Jesse’s younger brother) because of his red skin, strawberry blonde hair and blonde eyelashes.

During the couple of minutes of us talking to our baby, he started to snort. I thought he was just clearing fluids from the birth because we didn’t want suctioning, but he was actually gasping for air. Cindy and Kymm Ann were talking about how he was dusky and coaching me to keep his chest in the water. He finally pinked up nicely after a minute.

I reached in between his legs to find that we had a baby boy. I was elated to have a boy. I had joined the “Mother of Two Boys Club.” (But we hadn’t even thought of any boys’ names…again.)

Just six minutes later, I felt a strong pain in my belly and asked, “What is THAT?” thinking I had a good twenty minutes before it was time to birth the placenta.

Cindy said, “That’s your placenta.” I pushed out my placenta. I was relieved it didn’t have any bones.

Shortly after, Cindy and Kymm Ann said that our baby boy was cold and we should get out of the water. They threw a blanket over him, helped the three of us get out and move to our bed, his placenta still attached. I felt so off balance getting out of the water and now without such a large belly.

Once we got to our bed, he started to root just a few minutes later and latched on. And then he pooped all over my belly.

Later that night, we talked about the birth: Six hours and 20 minutes of active labor and six minutes of pushing. I fully trusted my body; I never even thought about getting drugs for pain relief (Yes, I feel like a rock star). I breathed through each contraction and allowed the endorphins to rise as the contractions increased in intensity. There were only five or ten contractions that I resisted, and therefore, felt the pain.

Cindy said that when she felt me push him down 2 cm when she was holding the lip out of the way, she really had to pee, but knew that if she went she was going to miss the birth.

With examination, Cindy discovered that I tore exactly along the scar tissue of the tear from Jacob’s birth. Cindy suggested that we don’t stitch it to allow it to heal more easily and I agreed.

A couple of hours after being born, he weighed 8 lbs. 3 oz. and measured 19 inches long with a head circumference of 13 inches. Cindy and Kymm Ann decided to give him another 3 ounces for poop, so his official birth weight is 8 lbs. 6 oz. They gave him APGAR scores of 8 + 8.

Cindy clamped the cord and Jesse cut the cord at 1:45am.

For the first week, he remained “Baby Boy.” We tossed around the names Shane, Joshua, Jonah and Zachary, but couldn’t agree on anything. My mom came over later in the week and shared that my sister-in-law, Rachael, thought Zachary Joshua Koren sounded great. After researching on my iPhone to find that Zachary Joshua (roughly) means “God remembers the High Priest,” we thought that was an appropriate name for him.

Within just a couple of days, he started to look like Jacob’s brother, rather than exactly like Jacob.

And so, Zachary Joshua Koren is now part of our family. Jacob is elated to be a big brother and we feel so blessed to have another little man with a full head of hair in our family.

The Cast of Characters
OR
Birth Resources
OR
My Prenatal, Birth and Postpartum support team:

Jesse Koren: My husband, best friend and Hero

Cindy Bacon, LM: Licensed midwife and pediatric craniosacral therapist
http://www.TribalBabies.com

Kymm Ann Wallin, CMT: Assistant to midwife and doula
http://www.mothersjourney.com

Angela Hartley: 3^rd assistant to midwife and doula

Gabriella Jones. L.Ac.: Licensed Acupuncturist specializing in prenatal and postpartum acupuncture. Also, mother of two boys born naturally and at home. She's an angel. http://www.birthpoint.org/

Kristin Nemzer, LMFT: http://www.BirthingThroughHypnosis.com Private Hypnobirthing classes gave us tools for a more easeful labor. I noticed a significant difference in my ability to be with the contractions using the tools she taught us.

Caroline Nicola, CMT: Prenatal Massage. Caroline is incredible. I have been working with her weekly since I was pregnant with my first son over three years ago. carolinemassageatgmail.com

Stephanie Dawn: Sacred Birth Counselor whose workbook on Sacred Birth inspired me to have a new experience with my second birth http://www.StephanieDawn.com

Salle Webber: Postpartum Doula and baby whisperer http://www.Sallewebber.com

Rick Williams: Osteopathic Therapist, http://vitalhealthcenter.net/ Rick is a genius and a couple of sessions postpartum will make for a happy baby. He put my pelvis back together from my first birth and did it again after the second.

Ian Chambers, DC: Network Chiropractor, http://healingwaves.net/ Ian keeps my central nervous system working optimally.

Pamela Stone Chambers, DC: Network Chiropractor and my friend who experienced an “Ecstatic Birth.” My friend Pamela inspires me as a powerfully feminine woman who is a model mother. She gifted me with the Quan Yin statue that was present at both of her home births. http://healingwaves.net/

Tonya Fleck, ND: Naturopath, http://www.scnmc.com/ Tonya helped get my hormones in check to get pregnant

Roxanne Cummings: Midwife who teaches "Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction" Birth Ed Classes in Santa Cruz County. We attended her classes prior to our birth with Jacob and the women from this class are still dear friends. Highly recommended for the community and connections with other women who are in the same stages of motherhood. http://www.midwivesofsantacruz.com

Nandi Moore: Vital Health Consultant. Helped me lose the baby weight from Jacob before I got pregnant with Zachary. http://www.HealthySexyPregnant.com