Life... with two kids!: There are two sides to every story... Welcome Mia Marie!

Below (in black) is Andy's account of Mia's birth and, although it is all true, I decided to add my two cents (in red).

Here are our stories:

I was awakened at three o'clock in the morning in the typical way:

Cindy was blow drying her hair and she was organizing things in the closet and on the bed hurriedly but with calm. Was this a post Halloween excorcism or was she just skating through one of her obsessive compulsive episodes? Typical my a**! I was awakened at 2:00 am with what I was sure was a contraction... then another a few minutes later, then another. I started timing them and realized they were 5 minutes apart, lasting about 30-40 seconds. I thought a hot shower would feel good and then of course I had to dry my hair!

"What the hell are you doing Cindy?"....I grunted, half asleep. Um... I don't just shower and dry my hair at 3:00 am on a daily basis? I think I'm having this baby!

The thought that she could possibly be going into labor was the absolute furthest thing from my mind. Really... umm... you did know that we were just days away from our due date right? That was until she cooly proclaimed that she had been having contractions since two, and that the contractions were every five minutes apart. She went back to doing her cat-cow pose and ignored me. This was the only position that I felt some relief in.

WTF??

Oh yeah...it was go time. This baby was coming today. I suddenly became nervous. Did we have everything we needed for the birthing home?....Yes, we did, because Cindy packed it 9 months ago. Not really. Relief spilled over me. I slowly began to collect the things I thought I would need, basically music and coffee, then calmly woke Lois (Cindy's mom) and explained to her what was going on. This all took about 5 minutes, and by the time I got back to the room to check Cindy and the next pose, the contractions had surprisingly sped up to every 2 minutes.

WTF???

This was not expected. Anxiety spilled over me now. The midwifes told us to expect hours of pre-labor and not to worry about coming to the birthing home until the 5-1-1 rule had been reached: Contractions every 5 minutes, 1 minute long, for 1 hour long. Why wasn't Cindy's body obeying this simple rule? Oh yes, I forgot, no one "tells" Cindy to do anything, and the moment you do so, be prepared for rebellion. So, I guess we all should have been prepared for this.

"Andy, we need to go now!" she yelped. My water had broken at this point and the contractions were getting more and more intense.

Now, I was running. We dashed to the car with all of our stuff, (There was no 'dashing' on my part!) and I grabbed a salad bowl for the vomit. (Cindy said she had to, and it was the largest container I could find). Thankfully, I did not throw up in our salad bowl! So, I guess I was doing about 80 mph on the 301 trying to avoid having this baby in the car, and Cindy was doing great, you know...normal grunting because of the contractions and some heavy breathing and such, but that all changed 10 minutes from arrival. I really did not want to have a baby in a car...

Okay, so let me just say there are certain sounds that are just not intended for humans to make. And what I heard come out of Cindy's mouth....well, I can't say that the noise itself even came from her mouth... it was more like it came from all over her body. Like through her pores or something. And let me tell you it came from a dark place. That sounds horrible. I asked Andy to mimic the sound I made and he said it wasn't possible to make that sound again! When I heard it, I was afraid for a moment to even speak to her because I thought some demon might come flying out of her body and possess me like it had possessed her. But, I did manage to squeamishly squeak out...."Are you okay?" To which she responded with her eyes rolling into her head. I decided just to make deep breathing noises and leave at that. Only hours later would she admit to me that that actually did help her. I don't recall the sounds I made while in labor. I do remember that I could not talk or see... I don't know if my eyes were closed or if I just could not see... I was in a place somewhere deep inside myself. I did however find relief in hearing Andy breathe; it helped me to regulate my breathing (I think). I also found relief in Jessica (our midwife) gently holding my knees and telling me that I was doing an amazing job! THANK YOU JESSICA!!!

Soooo...we avoided the police, and arrived at the birthing home, but I was seriously worried that I would not get her through the threshold of the clinic. But we did make it. And Jessica, the midwife, was confidently talking Cindy through her pains while putting water into the bathtub.

WTF???

Oh yes. This was a water birth! But I was ready for that. We had watched a video in one our birthing classes that showed a Brazilian woman from 1972 give birth underwater (this is another funny story-we watched this on a VCR with a VHS tape!!!....yes, they still exist!!)

Back to Cindy now. While the bath water was running, Cindy thought she was going to pass out and she felt like she needed to go to the bathroom so I guided her there, but what was really happening was...

SHE WAS HAVING A FREAKING BABY!!!...

Sooo...we (Jessica and I) calmly guided her to the bathtub....AND....10 minutes later...

MIA MARIE NATIELLO WIDHALM joined our world....5:00AM....Amazing!

Cindy was amazing. Andy was too! She was very strong and calm throughout the whole process (that is if you don't include the demonic stage that, to her credit, only lasted about 15 minutes or so.....completely acceptable) For the next hour, we waited for her to pass her placenta, and then Dr. Woody (me) got to cut the umbilical cord. I never in a million years would have thought he would have wanted to do this! Yay Andy! Incredible!! Cindy's sister, then showed up, (my sister was supposed to be there with me as a labor support but Mia came into the world too quickly!) as well as her mom, with Dru, and we all hung out for awhile in this very feng shu-ish sort of room, and at 9:00AM we went home. Mia's birth was an incredibly intimate experience... I'm so thankful for all the wonderful staff at Rosemary Birthing Home and to Andy, my mom, and my sister for their unconditional support. I love you guys!

WTF???

I know. From start to finish this whole thing only lasted a few hours. It happened so quickly that we didn't even have a chance to film Mia's birth... I really wanted to see it. Thanks to Hattie (another midwife) for finding our cameras and taking lots of pictures. Hattie showed up just minutes after Mia's birth along with Ivy (our other midwife).

You know.

Typical.