Eli was born in a birthing pool and our midwife (Louise) almost had to get inside the pool to turn him in the birth canal when he got his shoulders stuck. It was a bit tense for those who knew but they kept calm and I just kept pushing. He would have been born 'in the caul' except that Louise had to break my water and then the sac around him just to get to him out
Either way we were so happy to have him safely arrive. He does have a fractured collar bone due to the strain of the birth. When he was born, because he was so big they were a bit concerned about high sugars (gestational diabetes) and a high respiratory rate. They both went down and our midwife was amazing checking on him every 4 hours for 12 hours so that we didn't have to go into the hospital.
His collar bone seems to be healing really well and he already has good use of his arm. His breathing is a bit stuffy which seems to make it hard for him to sleep. We have been proping him up to sleep which has helped. Maetia is doing amazing with Eli. She loves him already and gives him kisses and hugs all the time. She is definitely having a hard time dealing with sharing our time and being patient while we attending to the baby's immediate needs. We have been trying to make sure she feels very special and I think it is harder on me than her as I struggle to be fair and have two babies with different needs.
We are feeling so blessed by God that Eli was born so safely at home with no intervention. This experience was so positive and it wouldn't have been without the people involved. My mother and my sister were both able to attend, we had a doula and a midwife (the other midwife didn't make it in time!). Thanks to them, and to my wonderful and supportive husband we had a 11 pound, 24 inch long baby with a very nice size head-not too big!!
Thankyou to everyone for your blessings and encouraging emails. We will try to get some more pictures up soon. They will be pictures with Grandma and Grandpa who we can't wait to see in 4 days!!
