There's a Placenta in My Freezer and Other Fabulous Facts & Photos

1. Miss Auburn was born on a Thursday morning in October. She arrived five days early (bless her heart).

2. The first phase of labor started Wednesday evening around 5 pm. I am a youth leader in my church and Wednesday nights are traditionally set apart for our activities. That particular Wednesday had a costume party planned for 7pm, complete with a black light, cider popsicles, and Carmel corn. Not only did my contractions and I attend, we shrouded ourself in panda attire so as not to be a "party pooper". At this point, you can call me a trooper.

3. Active labor started around 8 am and lasted three and a half hours.

4. Auburn was born at home, which was planned. She was also born on the bathroom floor, which was not planned. It was all very sanitary and was attended and cleaned up by a midwife.

5. At birth she weighed 9 lbs 8 oz on a faulty scale (which we did not realize). After 24 hours, she weighed 8 lbs 3 oz on two accurate scales, so her estimated birth weight is 8 lbs 5 oz.

6. She was 19 and a half inches long, which was Nolan's birth length, though he was more than a pound lighter.

7. She was born with dark hair and dark blue eyes.

8. The following are questions I am commonly asked with their answers:
Q-Why is she named Auburn when she doesn't have red hair?
A-She is named after the city of Auburn, NY, which is where my Grandma was from.

Q- Why did you have your baby at home?
A- Because I trust my body and consider childbirth to be a natural process that doesn't require hospitalization (if everything about it is low-risk). I also don't completely trust practices and procedures that are traditional in hospitals. In particular, I don't feel comfortable relying on the hospital closest to my house and the fact that it is thirty miles from my home made home birth more attractive.

Q- Did you want a water birth?
A- Not originally, so I didn't have a birthing tub on hand, but once in the moment, water sounded much more comfortable than land and I spent the last hour or more of labor in my bathtub and got out at the last minute (which is why she was born on the bathroom floor). If I could redo the whole experience, I think I would use a birthing tub.

9. Because Auburn's nursery is downstairs, our bedroom is upstairs, and Auburn requires attention in the middle of the night, PTB and I have been sleeping in the living room on the sleeper sofa. Believe it or not, I love doing this and I'm looking forward to having the Christmas tree all lit up where I sleep.

10. There is actually a placenta in our freezer. It's four weeks old today. What does one do with a placenta? Well..... Some people eat it (highly nutritional). Some people plant a tree over it in honor of their new child. Some people throw it away. Some people sell it on e-bay. Some people are too freaked out by it to even look at it, so it remains in the back left corner of the freezer, behind a stack of ice trays and next to a partially-used, three-year-old bag of corn.