Ellis Jacobi Gianchetta

On July 11, 2010 at 5:56am Ellis Jacobi Gianchetta was born at home.  To say we were thrilled to welcome baby boy number 3 into our family is an understatement.  We could not be more excited for this little guy!

On July 9th we had Garrett’s 3rd Birthday Party.  It was a hot, busy, fun day.  We were so exhausted after the party that we pretty much laid low.  The next day we decided to run out to the outlets in Leesburg to look at some home stores for light fixtures for the new house.  We brought all of our swimming gear and planned to hit one of the pools further from our house in the afternoon.  It was so hot that our time at the outlets was short and we spent our afternoon swimming.  On our way home we grabbed dinner and the boys fell asleep.

Once we were home I decided to load up a car full of boxes to take to my friend Lindsay that was moving.  I packed all the boxes, ran them over to her house, came home and then packed another car full to deliver to her the next morning when we had a play date planned.  After all that, I was pretty tired, so I ended up just getting into bed around 8:30pm to relax and watch tv.  I kept dozing in and out but was having a really hard time getting comfortable.  I kept thinking “Man, these Braxton Hicks contractions are really kicking my butt tonight.”  Then Travis told me that a friend of his from college was in labor.  In my mind I thought it would be funny if we ended up having a baby on the same day.  But I wasn’t in labor, so the odds of that were slim.  I kept trying to get comfortable and sleep.

Around 11:00pm my contractions woke me up and for the first time I felt like they were even in my back.  I still wasn’t going to admit I was in labor.  I just kept trying to find a position I could sleep in.  A little while later I got an upset stomach.  After going to the bathroom 3 times in about 40 minutes, Travis quit asking me if I was in labor and told me that I was in labor.  He wanted to call the mid-wife, but I was still not sure I was ready for her.  My previous births had been so slow and I didn’t want to have a houseful of people for 18 hours.  However, within a few minutes he finally just called the mid-wife.  After talking to him she didn’t think it was time to come yet, but wanted us to call back in an hour or so.  Travis then called our birth assistant who asked to speak to me.  Between calling the midwife and speaking to the birth assistant, my labor had really progressed.  Our birth assistant, Martha, told Travis she was coming and that he needed to call Regina the mid-wife back and tell her to come.  I guess I sounded pretty far along.  Travis called Regina and she made was on her way.  At some point during all this we had to make the bed to get ready for the birth and I made Travis clean off our dresser and night stands.  I did not want to look at clutter while I was in labor.  We got our birth supplies out of the closet and just labored.  Oh, and we called our babysitter to come be with the boys.  She slept through all of our texts and calls.  Luckily we had a backup and that turned out to be the biggest blessing!

Eventually the mid-wife Regina, the training mid-wife Safia, our birth assistant Martha and my friend Heather were all there.  Heather lives close to us and is a good friend.  She kept saying if something happened and we needed her to call, so we took her up on the offer.  It ended up being perfect, I am so glad our babysitter didn’t get our messages until after Ellis was born!  I ended up laboring all night and delivering Ellis at 5:56am.  We didn’t know the gender of the baby, so it was such an exciting surprise to find out we had another baby boy!

Ellis’ labor was my shortest of all three boys, however, I think it is safe to say it was my hardest.  He was almost born in the bag of waters.  He also came out with one hand up on his face.  This made pushing extremely difficult.  I actually felt him turning in my pelvis twice at the end of labor.  I wasn’t surprised about his arm being up though, I had been getting hit in my hips for weeks!  Giving birth at home was amazing.  It was such a different experience from the hospital. I had great hospital births but I hate the hospital.  When you are at home, the mid-wives clean everything up, make sure you and baby are okay and leave quickly.  By 9am it was just our family with no interruptions.  In a hospital, we would have spent the day being bothered.  Also, during labor I had so much more ability to control my situation. I could move anytime I wanted.  No one wanted to mess with my natural labor, there was no pressure to check me, break my water or check the baby’s heartbeat every 5 minutes.  They monitored my progress based on my appearance mainly and listened a few times to the heartbeat.  They encouraged me to move as I felt most comfortable and suggested changes in positions when I seemed to need it.  They only examined me once, at my request, when I was 7 cm.  When I was discouraged that I was not further along, they suggested I get in the shower and it made all the difference.  (Side note– with all three of my kids I have been checked at 7cm and been so disappointed that I wasn’t further along.  Turns out that is transition for me.)  After the shower I was ready to push, though it took at least 45 minutes of pushing.  This was by far the most I’ve ever had to push and the most painful.  Damn arm on his face!!

Ellis’ birth was perfect.  I labored at night and he arrived in the early morning before the big boys woke up.  It was so perfect for Travis and I to just have the space to work together through my labor.  I was really impressed with our mid-wives.  Safia was the training mid-wife and she mainly attended me.  She had the best bedside manner.  You would have had no idea that she was just finishing her training.  It was also amazing to have a good friend present at Ellis’ birth.  She gave me words of encouragement when I needed it and cried with us when he arrived.  Then as only a close friend could do, she made me breakfast and literally fed it to me in bed while I nursed Ellis for the first time and was attended to.  She shuttled our big boys into bed with us when they woke up and kept them entertained when we needed space.  Heather was a God send, no doubt!

Our adjustment to a family of 5 has been pretty smooth.  The boys love Ellis and are great with him.  He is the best baby!  He sleeps and is easy going.  He loves to be held but he is so snuggly that no one minds!  We love our boys and are so excited to have Ellis Jacobi!

 

G’s Soccer Party

Disclaimer– this was written before Ellis was born on Monday morning (the party was Saturday).

On Saturday after his Birthday, we had Garrett’s big party.  He chose a soccer theme and we hosted at one of his favorite parks.  The park is perfect because they have a big grass field where we could set up soccer nets and the kids could kick around the soccer ball.  There are a few picnic tables around and I was able to snag one easily.  Then the playground itself is right there and good for kids of different ages.  They even have an old school Merry-Go-‘Round that all the kids love.  (I’m still not sure how it hasn’t been torn out for safety reasons, but most parents aren’t complaining.  The kids LOVE it!)  And the most important part for the pregnant Mommy, there is a pool right there where they let you use the bathroom even if you aren’t a member.  Believe me, I took advantage of their of kindness!

Garrett had a blast at his party.  We intentionally kept it very low-key.  I knew I was going to be either very pregnant or have a brand new baby and there was no way I was going to be coordinating a bunch of games.  We set up a small soccer field with two nets and then put some extra cones around in case kids wanted to kick the ball around or through the cones.  Mostly the kids congregated around one net and just kicked the balls in or played on the playground. We had lots of snacks and, as usual, I made a special cake.  Going with the easy theme, I made a soccer ball cake and then surrounded it with cupcakes that made up the “grass”.  Although the cake was easy, I still stayed up until 3am the night before finishing decorating it.  I can never seem to get it together and not finish the cake well into the night before the party!

This was the first party where Garrett really picked the guest list.  He invited all of his classmates from preschool and then our friends from the Mom’s group that we’ve had since Jack was a baby.  He was so excited to have his friends there!  Most of the kids G’s age have an older sibling the same age as Jack, so we had quite a crew of 3 year olds and almost 5 year olds.  This year Garrett chose to have his guests donate supplies and/or money to the local humane society instead of bring gifts for him.  I feel strongly that my kids receive all the gifts they could want or need from family at their Birthdays and don’t need more gifts from their friends.  Every year I give the kids a choice of either doing some sort of book or puzzle swap or collecting for a charity.  This year a friend said that she had recently attended a Birthday party where they collected for an animal shelter.  Garrett thought this was a great idea, so in lieu of gifts we asked that friends bring a donation.  I know my kids had a lot of fun picking out treats and toys for the dogs at the shelter.  Plus, I like the idea of teaching my kids that their Birthday isn’t just about getting stuff but about celebrating being a year older.  They don’t need all the stuff to have a fun party!

I made it through the big party without having a baby.  That was my big goal.  Just get through G’s Birthday and party and then baby could come along whenever it was ready.  Success!!!

Watch out…

Here come the updates.  Or at least I hope!  I guess 4 months have flown by, because I have not updated my blog in a long time.  My Sis kindly reminded me that it is okay to blog once in a while, so here goes.  I’m going to try to update with posts of things we’ve done over the past 4 months.  Starting with…oh, let’s say having a baby.  Maybe that’s why I haven’t been writing much.

Forgive my random posts over the next few days.  They will likely be out of order and potentially even written months ago but never posted because I didn’t have time to upload the photos.  Stay tuned if you want the update.