It was Sunday February 16th 2020 and I was exactly 1 week over my due date of Feb 9th. I was for some reason expecting him to come early because everyone prepares you that your second usually comes earlier. But there are no rules to birth!! I’m learning that my body must like to gestate babies a little bit longer:) 😅😬 my mom had flown in from Arizona to help and take Senna to a hotel when I went into labor. This was Senna’s request! I showed her many homebirth videos and talked to her lots about what to expect. Although senna is completely fascinated and in love with birth (all her dollies are in “labor” or in birthing tubs 🧡 she also asks me to tell her her birth story every single night before bed- she says “will you tell me a story about when I was little and in your tummy and you were in labor?”☺️) I think the idea of seeing mommy make loud sounds was scary for her. I also felt a little nervous about me not being able to help her and that leading to a possible meltdown 😬 so we made the plan for grandma to take her to a hotel and she was SO EXCITED. She loves hotels! So the pressure felt on to get this show on the road. My mom had been here for 2 weeks since feb 2 and had to leave on Feb 18th. Dom also had school off that Monday... That Sunday around 5pm i was starting to have some stronger braxtons but i thought they could just be cramps. I went in my room by myself and lit candles and palo santo’d just in case. I palo santo’d the whole room listening to Trevor Hall and “To Zion” came on and I had no idea how perfect this song was for birth!

To Zion, I fly on

Up with the sunrise, Breeze through the wind chimes

Open my eyes as the images rush my mind

Shine

Well baby, you're just in time

The water is in the kettle

The stars have just aligned

Within the hour

Oh we'll see the power

Never knew this tree could bloom so many flowers

Yes I Water the roots as I lace up my boots

Strap on my parachute and float on back to

To Zion, I fly on

I am I

You are You

You are Me

We are We

Family on the road to unity

Plant the seed

Watch it sprout

Watch it grow

Watch it bloom

Get in tune

Sun and Moon

As we finally break through

To Zion, I fly on

Especially when the lyrics said “within the hour oh we’ll see the power” I knew in my bones labor was coming. But my mind still had to catch up to that feeling. I felt a strong feeling that i wanted to go cuddle with senna just in case it was the last time we would do so just her and I. I brought my crystals out by us and we laid on the couch and watched the little mermaid 2. The beginning scene is Ariel’s baby and we sang the cute song “you are the one my darling my beautiful baby” ✨ my crystals were kind of in her way and i said “do you want me to move those?” And she said “no I like them they bring us angels” it was so so precious. I kept feeling called to go back into my room to be alone. I kept listening “to zion.” dom and my mom were making dinner. Around 530 or 545 I went out and ate on my birthing ball. I was definitely feeling some sensations and stronger braxtons. But I didn’t want to jump the gun (i had false labor a couple days prior) so I didnt really say anything. I was having a hard time communicating and just kept wanting to be alone in my room (haha i was definitely floating into labor land) at 6pm I told them when i left I thought this was it but I wasn’t sure. When I went back in my room I texted my doula just in case to warn her tonight could be the night. My vision of my labor in the weeks leading up was that in early labor I would get in the shower and listen to my birth affirmations- a ritual I had been doing every morning for the past 3 or 4 weeks. The shower felt so good. I honestly didn’t know what was happening because I didn’t feel pain. I was just in another place. And certain things felt good. Like leaning over our shower bench and letting the hot water run on my back. Or circling my hips with my hands leaning on wall. The water took me to another place. About 35 or so min later my brain turned back on I got the ping that I needed to get out and start timing my contractions so I could let my midwife know. We were all preparing for me to have a fast labor since my first was only 6 hours. I got out and started timing and they were about 2-4 min apart but not super steady. I think that was partly because I was timing them myself while sometimes forgetting. I loved being in my bathroom and my closet and didn’t want to leave. I kept my affirmations on-on repeat. I grabbed pillows from my bed and laid them in my closet. Dom came in and said “i don’t want to bug you- but do you think I should start getting things ready?” And i said “I’m not sure if this is it, but just in case” He was so sweet and respectful of my space. He knew how important it was for me to birth in my power and do as much alone as I could. He intuitively knew when to come check on me, touch me, kiss me without being too much. I was so grateful for that. He starting getting the sheets ready and filling up the tub. I noticed after the birth that he had brought in items from my birthing altar in the living room into our bedroom 😭✨ so sweet. Senna was periodically coming in as grandma was getting their stuff ready to go to the hotel. I was on all fours in our closet and she would say in her cute little voice “mom are you in labor? You’re doing a great job. You have angels.” And she’d give me a kiss as my next wave came and i started making low “om” sounds. Staying on top of my birthing sounds was a game changer this time around. I was super mindful of the tone of my sounds. My last birth my voice and screams were high pitched and all over this place. I was constantly trying to escape the pain. This time i would catch myself if I felt that coming and stayed low and slow in my sounds. I leaned in and moved toward the pain. I wasn’t afraid of it. And i had a COMPLETELY different experience this birth because of this ✨ I was on hands and knees this entire time. Resting in childs pose in between waves. Circling my hips in a spiral motion when the waves would come. My midwife and I had been texting and i was sending her screenshots of my contractions. She called at 7pm and I still was unsure if I was in labor at this point 🤣 I remember saying they could just be cramps😂 I didn’t want her to drive 45 min if i wasn’t really in labor! I was having a major case of labor denial. Haha. She said “im coming” and I’m so glad she did! That was also one of my affirmations - That my birth team would know exactly when to leave. I texted my doula after that and told her to head over. She got here at 7:20pm. I was grateful for her help. She knew exactly where to touch on my low back and had heating pads up my whole back while i was on hands and knees. She’d run tennis balls on my low back during waves and it was so lovely. I felt like i needed to go to the bathroom so I asked for some privacy. I didn’t know if I needed to empty my bowels or throw up it was the weirdest feeling. But then it hit me and i started projectile vomiting probably 4 or 5 times. It was all over the toilet. I didn’t want to ask anyone else to clean it up so I wiped it down as thoroughly as I could in active labor 🤣 she came back in and we assumed our positions back in the closet because we definitely had a vibe going that i wanted to keep. We continued laboring in the closet with senna and my mom coming in to say goodbye. Dom coming in attaching the hose from the shower to the birth tub to fill up. Checking on me gently and sending me love. My midwife arrived around 8 and told me what a great job I was doing. Without checking me or anything she said “you’re having a baby soon. let’s move to the bed” I remember feeling like I needed to pee but I couldn’t. And she said “babies like to come out on toilets” 🤣 we moved to the bed and dom and our doula intuitively knew to trade places- she grabbed our camera and started filming and dom joined me on the bed. It felt so good to have him close and holding both of his hands. I was starting to push. My midwife wanted to check me to make sure I wasn’t pushing on a cervix that wasn’t ready yet. I was 9.5 cm and I had a little anterior lip. She could also feel my intact bag of waters. She asked if I could try not to push and breath through these next waves to try and get the lip out of the way. It felt impossible to not push. At this point baby’s heart rate dropped- there was so much pressure on his head from the intact bag of waters and me pushing and i wasn’t getting much resting time between waves. They gave me oxygen to get to baby and asked me to breathe. It was still low (I heard them say 80) and she asked if she could break my water to give baby some relief. I agreed as I thought it would feel good for me also. She did and I felt a giant waterfall like rush. Fluid was clear. And baby’s heart rate got happy after that and they removed oxygen. I was still on hands and knees at this point and I was starting to crown. I feel like she slightly moved the lip out of the way so I could fully push. But I don’t remember exactly. I did a couple pushes during contractions on hands and knees and wasn’t making any progress. His head felt huge. She asked if I could lay on my side holding my legs back to help get his head to come through. In between contractions I would rest and close my eyes. Waves came and I pushed as hard as I could trying to remember in my head that I didn’t have to rush. Couple more waves came and it didn’t feel much progress. I remember thinking in my head “they are going to have to cut me” cuz i wasnt tearing or stretching at all it felt like. I got cut with Senna (which now i realize made me doubt my body 🙅🏼‍♀️😢 and I think I had scar tissue that prevented me from tearing on my lower perineum part.) I eventually started to tear on my side and top and I could feel progress coming:) Everyone was so encouraging and sweet and calm to me. Telling me how amazing i was doing and how strong I was. With 2 or 3 more waves I felt his entire head come out and it was thee coolest feeling. I looked down there and saw this giant bluish purple head! My baby!!! He let out a little cry with the rest of his body still inside. It took probably 2 more pushes to get the rest of his body out. Everyone kept saying what a big baby he was! My midwife immediately passed him to me and I brought him to my chest and my heart completely burst open. It’s you!!! Seeing your baby’s face for the first time is truly indescribable. I felt ecstatic. Truly in another place. All the sensations floated away and all i felt was pure ecstasy and unconditional love for this new little person. I heard dom to my right saying “You did it!! He’s here!!” And I looked up at him and saw his beautiful giant smiling face with tears streaming down his cheeks. 🧡 He was feeling the exact same feeling I was. I gave him the biggest kiss and felt so much love in my heart for him. I love creating humans with that man!! Eves was crying beautifully and I noticed that they gave me a shot in my leg of pitocin. I guess a loottt blood came out with and after baby. I trusted that my wise midwife knew what was best and I know she doesn’t use pitocin often so i trusted her instinct. I delivered the placenta about 10-15 min later while holding my little boy. The gals cleaned up a little bit and left us alone with baby. For about an hour and half! It was bliss. Dom and i just blissed out staring at our baby. I found it very interesting that at literally the moment the last person walked out of our room Eves latched on to my breast. It’s like he felt it was just us. We nursed and googly eyed over him and chatted. It was just so lovely. I started to get the shakes from the pitocin. While i was nursing Eves took a major meconium poop! Like 2 cups full. It was all over me and I could care less :) After our golden hour and half my midwife came back in and wanted to check me out to see if I needed stitches. Dom and Eves did skin to skin while she stitched me. I tore in a very sensitive area! She stitched me up and then they began to get things ready for baby things. We got pictures of him still attached to placenta and then Dom cut the cord :) it was completely white and limp! Made me very happy that he got all of his cord blood:) then Dom weighed him and everyone was guessing he would be 9 lbs. he was 8lb 12 oz but my midwife thought he was for sure 9lbs before his big poop 😂 he had a 15 in head which she said is one of the bigger she’s seen 🤩😳 they helped me get up to pee and wipe off a bit and get a pad and mesh underwear while they removed the top layer of sheets. I couldn’t pee from the stitches but I eventually did on my next try. I came back and snuggled into fresh sheets with my new babe in my arms and it was heaven. They finished cleaning up and said goodbye and just like that it was just Dom and I and our new little boy and we were on cloud 9. It felt like we were living someone else’s life being alone in our room with no Senna and a new baby! Haha like we were cheating on her something 😂 but i was grateful we had that night to ourselves with just Eves to adjust and get use to nursing before Senna and Zoey joined us in our bed. We crashed and had a good night. We woke up and dom made coffee and hash browns✨Dom and I enjoyed coffee together in our bed while Eves slept and we waited for Senna and Grandma to arrive. She got here and I heard her so excited to meet her new baby brother!! They brought me flowers and I saw my moms eyes tear up. It was such a special moment. Senna held him and kept saying “I’ve never held him before!” With a giant smile from ear to ear. My mom brought be a plate of food and it looked sooo delicious. My first meal 😍 (I did have a Laura bar and a banana before going to bed) My breakfast was hash browns, avocado and lots of berries 😍😋 that day we just enjoyed newborn bliss. It was lovely. And that is the word I would use to describe this labor and birth. Lovely. Absolutely lovely. ✨🧡🌿🦋

Eves Scott Nielson was born on 9:13 pm on February 16th 2020. He is a 4/6 Splenic Projector ✨ he has an Aquarius Sun, Sagittarius Moon and Libra Rising 🙏🏼✨🌞🌕🙏🏼

Every day since with Eves has been bliss. He is such a snuggly sleeper! He loves to nap and when he’s up he looks around so intently and sticks his tongue in and out like a little lizard 😍 he has the sweetest most gentle presence. He is nursing like a champ and co sleeping is going amazing. We bed share with Eves Senna and Zoey and I wouldn’t have it any other way! It feels so right. Sometimes Dom sleeps in guest bedroom if we are being too loud for him 😂 we are so happy and adjusting well to having two kids. The hardest part is my healing. I have felt very very sore and a lot of pressure in my perineum. It will feel so nice to be able to walk around and stand with no pain! And be able to cook and clean! Here’s to healing and babies bringing indescribable blessings ✨🧡✨