JAX LUCIEN'S BIRTH STORY.

Jax Lucien Hauser - our sweet 3rd baby was born on May 22, 2022 at 5:36am.
7lbs 7oz | 20.5” long

This sweet boy is 11 days old, snoozing’ away next to me. I barely put him down, he is usually tucked onto my chest or in the crook of my arm. I think this must be a “last baby” (says Chris) thing. With Grey and Mila, I held them a ton, obviously, but I had them next to me more, or sleeping in a bassinet sooner, or in a swing when I needed a hand free. With Jax, I am like….nah, I just wanna hold you and smell you. I just know how fleeting these early hours, days, and weeks are. The newborn stage is my absolute favorite. Hands down. I want to cherish every single bit about it. We just loved the name Jax, and Lucien means “the light” - and what a light he is. He will do big and beautiful things one day, I know it in my soul.

I spent the last few months visualizing exactly how I wanted his birth to go. “They” say that 3rd babies are wild cards. Grey was born at 36+3 weeks with a 6 hour labor, and Mila was born at 39+4 weeks with a 5 hour labor. So for Jax, I kept thinking…will I go past 40 and have a billion hour labor, orrrrr will I be birthing you by ourselves while our midwife is still on the way. This was something I talked about lots with my midwife (Kathy Hindle, Midwifery Traditions) - “What do I do if he comes before you get here?” Kathy, calm as always, said something like, “Oh, you’d be fine. Just put a towel over him to keep him warm.” Like no big deal. You got this mama, kind of reassuring vibes.

So, I visualized his birth over and over. Mild contractions, slowly ramping up, wisdom to know exactly when to call Kathy, my mom, and our photographer (Photos By Carlyn) and videographer (Danielle, Sonderbird), labor starting in early morning so I can have the whole day to rest with baby, quick transition, have him out in a few pushes, he comes out crying and alert, my bleeding is minimal, and I pass my placenta with ease. Over and over and over I would play this out in my head, while listening to my birth playlist. (I’ll share below!)

One thing that was different with this pregnancy is prodromal labor - which is apparently common with 3rd babies. It’s where you get early labor - but it never progresses farther. I had it 3 different nights starting at 37 weeks and 38 weeks, where I thought I was in labor but then it just stopped. Such a mindfuck.

By 39 weeks I was antsy. Yeah, yeah, babies come when they are ready, and I knew It could be weeks more, but when you’ve had babies around that time, anything longer feels torturous. I had been getting acupuncture and going to the chiropractor weekly and massaging my ankles with clary sage to get my body ready.

The night before I had him (I was 39+5), we had the best day relaxing with the kids and my mom. It was insanely hot out, we played in the kiddie pool on the deck, and just wore the kids out. That night, I really wanted to get a good solid sleep. I was having such a terrible time sleeping in my last couple weeks of being pregnant. Pregnancy insomnia is no freakin’ joke. I took an ImmuPro (melatonin with immune supporting mushrooms and Ningxia wolfberry) around 9pm and fell asleep. I woke up and felt like I had been sleeping all night - except it was only 10pm and Mila was calling for me to come lay with her. LOL. I went in her room and snuggled with her, and started getting those same mild contractions I had been getting. Around 1am, I got up and went back to my bed. The contractions started to intensify so I started timing them. They were every 2 minutes and about 30 seconds to a minute long. This really means nothing to me, I don’t even know what they are “supposed’ to be - but after noticing them being a bit more intense I woke Chris up around 2am and asked him to blow up the birth tub just in case. I went downstairs and started emptying the dishwasher and cleaning up the kitchen to pass the time.

This is the part that gives me such anxiety - deciding when to call the midwife. Around 2:30am I called Kathy to have her start heading over, and called my mom too. I called Danielle (videographer) because she was the farthest away, then after that called Carlyn (photographer) to head over. Everyone was there by 3:30am. Carlyn got here first was was perfect because she captured this perfect shot of Kathy coming in with all her gear as I was going through a contraction. I was happy everyone arrived - with Mila’s birth by the time everyone got there, I was in the tub and had her not much longer after.

My contractions were still consistently picking up, but I could still talk through them. They were definitely getting more intense, and as soon as Kathy got there she was like you should start filling up the tub.

The tub had a air leak, and kept deflating so that was super fun. Chris figured out how to fix that, then went to fill up the tub. The connection piece that I bought to fill it up with water from the shower was not connecting or working even though I literally just tested it like two weeks before, so we ended up needing to go and find another hose to get it to work. Luckily I bought two, but that was kind of stressful - because I was in labor having contractions and kind of messing with the hoses because I knew that I had gotten it to work before and I was pissed it wasn’t cooperating in my time of need lol. See my irritated face below haha

I was trying to decide when to wake up Grey and Mila at this point, and when to get into the tub. Kathy kept reminding me to just get in the tub when I felt like I needed help getting through a contraction. Around 4:30 I decided we needed to wake up Grey. He was SO excited for me to be in labor and I didn’t want him to miss anything. Chris went and got him and he was sooooo happy. He was the best little doula. He gave me water, hugs, made us all laugh, and just was a sweetie. Once he was awake, I felt good about getting in the water and letting this progress more. I labored on my knees, with my body draped over the tub, holding Chris’ hand.
My contractions kept ramping up, and around 5am I said I wanted them to go get Mila. I couldn’t relax into my head and into labor knowing she wasn’t there. I was scared if we didn’t wake her up, she would miss him being born. It is amazing how much you need to be comfortable to allow labor to progress, because pretty much as soon as she walked into the room, my body started pushing.

I didn’t do the pushing - my body did. I had noooo choice in the matter.

At this point I was doing lots of low moaning and saying “Ohhh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh” over and over ha. I was on my hands and knees, with one hand out holding on to Chris. One thing I was really mindful of, was loose lips (moaning is good, and not clenching mouth together is key) and loose hands. I kept opening my hands and wiggling my fingers to keep myself loose to allow my bottom half to stay loose so it could keep doing what it was doing - opening up and moving the baby down.

I could feel him start moving down, and it was intense. Kathy was really good at reminding me - “It’s just pressure, that’s your baby moving down” which was so helpful.

Eventually, my arms got tired and Kathy reminded me I could get in another position. I needed those little reminders. I sat up and got into a squat position, and that’s when he really started to move down and out, and I knew it was almost over. I felt my water break, and I got that panick-y feeling of transition, and I remember saying I was scared for the next part. Kathy said “It’s okay, he’s right there. I can see his dark hair.” That gave me the confidence I needed, and I took a few calm deep breaths and asked for water.

The next contraction I was determined to get him out. I worked hardddd on that contraction, and I thought I felt his head come out fully but wasn’t sure. In my head, I thought it would always be cool to have the birth where you pull your baby out, but yeah, I realized I am not that person in labor haha. I didn’t want to touch anything with my hands, I just wanted him out. I asked Kathy if his head was out, and she said yes! The short period where the head is out and you still have to get the body out always makes me a little nervous, I don’t know why! Something about being half in half out makes me just want it ovvverrrrrr, so Kathy helped me guide him out on that last contraction. He was born at 5:36am, two hours after everyone arrived, and three hours after my first active labor contractions.

He came out and I pulled him right up to my chest and he instantly started crying. Best feeling ever. His color was perfect. He was so alert and looked right at me. I just was so happy he was finally here. After a few minutes, Chris and Kathy helped me out of the tub and I went to the bed to deliver his placenta. The placenta came out easily, and my bleeding was so minimal just liked we had been visualizing. I had a small tear, so Kathy stitched me up (yes you get a lil numbing for that. Natural birth - yes. Stitched without anything - no.) and I just laid there all snuggly with Jax on my chest for a while. Kathy cleaned up the birth area, Chris drained the pool, and after a bit, I was ready to see how much he weighed. That is the beauty of home birth, there is no rush for any of that. It’s all on your timeline. He got weighed, got his measurements, and his newborn checks and then came right back to my chest. After a while longer, I handed him off to Chris and I got up to use the bathroom. They pulled the top sheet off, and then my cozy fresh sheets were ready for me when I was done. I climbed back in bed, got snuggled in with Jax, and Grey brought me my coffee.

THIS IS WHAT DREAMS ARE MADE OF.