Simon's Master Plan

Mostly I'm growing into a happy go-lucky kinda guy. I'm spacing out my meals more and every once in a while I even throw my mommies a bone by sleeping 5 hours in a row (that was a couple of nights ago- now I'm back to 2-3 in a chunk. I like to keep those punks on their toes).
But sometimes Mommy Laura catches it on digital film that I am in fact hatching an evil plan to take over the world. No, not the world..the universe...yes, the whole universe shall be mine. Mwaa haa haaaa.
Peas out to all my fans.
SLFJ

New Pictures of Simon Lev- Lookin' Goood

Look at me Folks!! I'm learning, growing and getting my smile on.

Losing it just a little

Here's a funny little story about how sleep deprivation affects your powers of perception.

Last night Laura and I were in the living room, watching American Idol on DVR while she nursed Simon for the last time before he went to sleep. We're about halfway through the show when she said, "pause it for a minute" and cocked her head like a dog. I paused it and said, "what? What are you listening for?". She didn't answer me, kept listening intently, and then whispered, "I thought I heard Simon". I thought she meant she heard him making some weird, scary, trying-to-die noise from her lap. I looked at her, quite concerned, and the realized she thought she heard him from the bedroom.

Trying not to laugh at her, I said, "um, Babe...he's in your LAP. On your BOOB".

She looked down and then, shaking her head said, "Shut up. Shut up. Don't even say it".

We burst into our old familiar hysterical laughter and finished watching the Davids duke it out.

Welcome Hysteria, Sweet Sister of Sleep Deprivation

Last week Laura and I met Hysteria.

It was about 8:30 pm and we were just trying to settle down to go to bed. I was so tired I was literally almost drooling. I was exceptionally desperate to sleep because I needed to wake up at 10:40pm to go pick up my dear friend Abby from the airport.

Laura had just gotten Simon to sleep and put him down in his co-sleeper. I was sliding down the delicious off ramp to sleep when Laura's voice brought a halt to my journey.

"Do you want to sing to him?", she asked so sweetly.

Let me explain. Many a well meaning infant care book and website has talked about the critical need to develop a "bedtime ritual". Give a bath, sing the same lullaby, have a little catch phrase- whatever you do, do the same thing every night. Makes sense, right?

This is all well and good unless bathing your child makes him scream so hard he turns into a purple faced creature that looks like something Pixar developed for Monsters, Inc. We DO always manage to get our phrases in. Mine is "Sleepy time, little boy" and Laura's is "Lila Tov, Simon. Sweet Dreams". Super easy to squeeze in as you're losing the capacity to speak English/Hebrew due to exhaustion.

But the singing. Last week the singing prompted hysteria.

Laura says, "Do you want to sing to him?" I respond, "Isn't he already asleep? which probably sounded like "mrflegurfl". Then I fast forwarded to Simon in therapy at 20 saying, "I remember Mommy singing to me every night, but where was Mama?". Fine.

Laura takes a breath to start singing and suddenly my mind is a complete blank. You could have offered me $1 million dollars at that moment and I couldn't have told you what our lullaby song was (James Taylor's "Close Your Eyes") nor sung you the first line. The song finally starts to sound familiar and I chime in after a verse. Then I whisper to Laura, "I forgot what the song is!". Mind you, we've sung this song every single night for almost a month at this point.

Laura starts to chuckle. I start to chuckle. Suddenly I am hysterically laughing. Laura tries to soldier on with the song. I am gone, now laughing so hard I am silent. Despite what they say, losing one's mind IS contagious. Laura's delightful song collapses into more hysterical laughter. I try to pull it together and start over. I fail. Laura tries. She fails. I start to feel like my head might explode as we try not to wake up Simon with our hilarity. I'm having flashbacks to moments of the uncontrollable laughter in church with my cousins in Texas. Is God going to strike us down for failing to sing a lullaby to this sleeping baby?

We finally stopped laughing, ditched the song (he was asleep already, OKAY?) and slept like the dead. For 2 hours.

Our Trick Pony

So our little Shimmy (his new nickname) has some really fun tricks up his sleeve these days.

Trick #1 (Our current favorite) being full of gas, both burps and farts, that won't come out so he's up all night (I got 3 hours and Laura got 2 hours of sleep last night- took turns sleeping in the living room). Not sure if it's sensitivity to dairy that Laura's eating or just typical gassy baby. It sucks a little but so satisfying when he lets one rip. Sometimes we cheer. Must be the sleep deprivation.

Trick #2 Waiting just until you're about to fasten the diaper and then peeing everywhere. Bonus trick- after you clean that up, have changed clothes and are about to fasten diaper #2, repeat pee trick.

Trick # 3 Burping so loudly that Laura thinks it was Jaime burping.

Trick #4 Sleeping with hands up by head, most often in a "oh the world is so cruel, I just can't take it anymore" position. (See photo for example)

Trick #5 Losing his baby hair so he now REALLY looks like a little old man with a receeding hairline. (See photo for example) Sometimes, when he's sleepy and his eyes are rolling around in his head his movements are slow and uncoordinated looks like a drunk old man. His little old man name is Irving.

A little field trip to CHO

We had to take Simon to Children's Hospital Oakland today for a follow up blood test (nothing major-just following up on a slightly high reading on one of the standard newborn metabolic panels). It was such a great experience in some ways- I had none of the usual anxiety I usually feel in hospitals. It's so well designed to be kid friendly and not feel super clinical.

On the other hand, it was very painful to be surrounded by sick and disabled kids. It is almost unfathomable to me that every day people deal with the combined stress of having a newborn and dealing with it/them being critically ill. I honestly don't know how parents of multiples (or anyone!) that have one or all kids in the hospital ever make it through that experience. I was so grateful today to have a healthy baby...

Simon is getting little leg creases and a belly but he still sort of looks like a grumpy old man named Irving. But sometimes he looks like a sweet little baby named Simon :-) More photos coming soon...

What's The Return Policy on This Thing?

Those were my exact words last night, *mostly* kidding, after Simon was still fussing at 3 am. He's developed this cheeky little pattern of being inconsolably unhappy for about a 3 hour block sometime in the night. Used to be from 2-4:30, last night it was from 10:30 to 3:30. I guess he's trying to make sure we're paying attention.

Methinks the honeymoon is wearing off and sleep deprivation is setting in :-) He sure is cute when he's sleeping, though. And he's gained over a pound (he was 6 pounds 7 ounces 2 days ago which is a great weight gain), so his waking up to eat every hour and a half is at least yielding results.

Sometimes I can't believe the human race has been perpetuated for thousands of years. This whole thing is insanity. Although, people say once they smile at you for real you forget all the sleepless nights...he better have one hell of a grin!

All kvetching aside, we're still having fun and are so glad he's here. I mean seriously, how cute is this?

Ha ha, Universe, very funny

As many of you know, after much debate and hard talks, Laura and I decided to have a bris (circumcision) for Simon on Thursday night. It was more intense and less traumatic than I thought it would be. I'm sure I'll write more about it later. However, something happened this morning that is so ironic, I can really only laugh.

When then Mohyl (Rabbi who does the circumcision) came and was explaining the process, he kept using his left pointer finger to show us how the procedure would be done and what it would look like after. He kept using his first knuckle as the marker for where the cut would be, etc.

I took Roxie for our morning walk with the baby in the sling. Roxie, after about 5 minutes of walking, found a delicious chicken carcass to eat on the street. As I was trying to get it out of her mouth (thinking, "this is a really bad idea") she accidentally chomped my left pointer finger. Hard. Like, all the way through my nail and the whole top half of the nail came off and munched on the bottom.

Needless to say, I rushed home, a bit in shock and had poor Laura rush out of the shower to help me cut off the dangling nail, get me neosporin and Arnica to help deal with the shock. I have to go to urgent care this afternoon so they can look at it. I don't think there are stitches to be had, just a really ugly finger for a while.

So now I'm missing the top half of my nail and my finger looks...kind of like it got circumcised. Seriously.

Simon, I have one thing to say...touche

Update: Almost had to get 5 stitches but it stopped bleeding so they just put steri-strips and bandaged the hell out of it. Have to take antibiotics for 10 days and go back tomorrow. Crazy freak accident that probably was no accident at all.

Simon's Fan Club

Grandma Nola


Auntie Cathy

Auntie Molly

Uncle Skeeter

Auntie Saun-Toy

Auntie Abby

Cousin Talia

Auntie Leah

Auntie Sej and cousin Trevor

Auntie Anna

Auntie Alicia

Auntie Anne

Grandpa Bruce (Jaime's dad) holding the Little Man

Grandpappy Eddie (Jaime's stepdad) and Mamaw (Jaime's Mom)

Great Aunt Ellie (Laura's Father's Sister)

Amy, resident Fitch-Jenett photographer

Auntie Sonya

Auntie Dre

Mamaw (Jaime's Mom) and cousin Diego (Jessica's son whom Jaime accidentally caught at home about 7 years ago).

Jessica (Jaime's friend)

Auntie Karen

Auntie Jen (Laura's sister)

Uncle Reid

Auntie Leah

Grandpa Bernie (Laura's Dad)

Auntie Amanda

M.M. (Mom's Mom aka Laura's Mom)

What Happens When Politics Meets Biological Necessity aka It Takes a Village

So Simon is a tiny little peanut, 6 pounds 2 ounces at birth, and it's been hot. The result is that as of yesterday, he'd lost about 12% of his body weight, (down to 5 pounds, 6 ounces) and both the pediatrician and our midwife wanted us to supplement and give him some water with a dropper.

We met with our pediatrician first (she whizzes in for a 5 minute meeting when she comes), and she suggested formula to help get him through until Laura's milk came in. It would just be for about 24 hours and only 1/2 an ounce after he feeds, she said, and added, "I know you think I'm Satan, but it's just a little bit, it won't hurt him and he'll be totally on breastmilk in a day or so". I laughed because I do, for the most part, think formula is evil, but I also knew that biology was dictating that we do something, quickly and our doctor was telling us she really wanted us to do this!

We had some friends bring some organic formula and, with some caution, fed him a bit after he was on the breast. He did okay, but we both felt a little funny about it. A few hours later, we talked to our midwife and she was such a great voice of reason. She came over and spent 2 hours with us, weighing him on the scale he was weighed on when he was born, reassuring us that he was not steps away from death and coming up with a plan to feed him 7 minutes on the breast (he was burning too many calories with the 45 minutes spent getting skinny colostrum) with a supplement chaser every 2 hours. She suggested what at the time felt like the most radical, brilliant ideas I think I've ever heard. Using breastmilk from one of her clients or one of our friends to supplement instead of formula. DUH! Of course!

We called a lesbian family we know who consists of 2 breastfeeding moms and 2 babies, 3 months apart. They were out of town so we called one of Laura's friends from college who has a 1 year old. We did a feeding with formula, with the blessing of our midwife and then the friend brought milk over later that night. Tonight she brought over frozen milk from her downstairs neighbor who had even more than she had.

The whole concept makes me tear up...this is what women have been doing for centuries. We, especially Laura, I think, were feeling we weren't doing something right, that this wasn't natural, etc and then I thought...babies losing too much weight just after birth is NOT a new issue. What must women have done 300 years ago? Use a wet nurse to tide them over, of course. We just happen to have a phenominal community of wet nurses. We're thinking of working the college friend story into Laura's submission to her alumni quarterly :-)

It helps me remember that the most obvious solution to a problem is rarely the only solution...

p.s he looks a lot less like a starved little chicken and more like a cute little boy, as you can see

Yesteday with Auntie Jen

Today, looking very laid back and 4 ounces heavier

Photos the day after his birth

Amrit checking his "walking" reflex about an hour after birth

Mamaw meeting her grandson

Mommy snuggling with the little guy

Mama snuggling with Simon Lev

Simon's Birth Story

Jaime:
Laura and I had been convinced that our Little Man would arrive early, as all the babies in Laura's family and our donor's 2 kids came early (1-3 weeks). With an April 1st due date, we figured sometime early to mid-March. Boy, were we wrong!

March came and went. April 1st came and went. The entire first week of April came and went! On Tuesday April 7th, one of our homebirth midwives, Amrit Khalsa, sat us down to talk about next steps since he was going to have to come out eventually. We decided that to start down the road with a series of less invasive interventions. We already had an appointment with our backup Ob on Wed just to check in and Amrit thought it would be a great idea to have him strip Laura's membranes (basically wiggle a finger around in her cervix to separate her amniotic sac from the cervix, which often is enough to stimulate labor. If that wasn't enough, we'd do some testing on the baby on Friday and if he looked strong, do castor oil on Saturday (very not fun, so we hoped to not get to that).

Wednesday April 9th, at 3:30pm we met with our Ob who said Laura was 1 cm dilated and 70% effaced. He stripped her membranes (uncomfortable but not horrible, Laura said) and strongly encouraged us to make an appointment for an induction at Alta Bates hospital for the next Tuesday night in case he didn't come by then. We resisted, because it meant we wouldn't be able to have a homebirth, but we were most interested in having a healthy baby so we made the appt.

Laura :
Within five minutes, I began feeling that different kind of contraction (lower and more menstrual like) that I had felt before but not consistently. These continued and started picking up in intensity on our drive home and through our 20 minute dog walk. From the very beginning, we were timing them at 5 minutes apart and 45-60 seconds long!

When we got home from the walk at about 4:30ish, I just needed to lie down and rest through these new contractions.

Jaime: Laura began vocalizing to cope almost immediately because they were pretty intense so I called Lior, our other midwife. Lior encouraged us to keep watching them but mentioned that they could just be a reaction to the stripping and might not be real labor.
Laura:
At this point the contractions seemed to follow a bell shaped curve with a clear start, peak and then mellowing out. The vocalizing that I was doing was about matching the curve and felt really good.

Jaime:
I was pretty convinced it was the real thing but we waited for about 2 hours at which point I started making phone calls (we had a phone tree and we needed to get Laura's sister, Jen, to fly up from L.A. to be our other support person). Jen asked to talk to Laura during our call to her and when Laura not only refused but started to vocalize during the phone call, Jen decided to get herself on an earlier plane.

Amrit was due to stop by after an 8:30 appointment so we labored together alone for about 4 hours. It was a little scary at times but also so empowering to see that we could do this together.

In the middle of the bed labor, Laura threw up and then shortly after lost her mucus plug while on the toilet, so I was pretty darn sure this was the real deal. It was amazing to have something so definite happen. It was clear that it was a mucus plug and not much else too. Holy big loogie looking blob!

Laura:
After about 3 and a half hours on the bed, with the intensity of the contractions incrementally increasing , I suddenly started getting cold and shivering the same way that I did during my days immediately following my head injury. It was weird to feel that energy coursing through my body to the point that I just needed to flex my arms and legs during the breaks in between contractions.

Jaime suggested that I get in the hot tub we had rented for labor. I immediately relaxed, although my contractions continued to increase in strength and were getting slightly closer together. The contractions continued to follow the bell curve rhythm but being able to completely float in the water meant that I was able to ride them in a much more present way. Oh yeah, then I threw up again.

Jaime:
At about 8:30, Amrit came through the door and I felt an immediate sense of relief. I knew labor was moving fast and I wasn't sure if she was going through transition with the puking. I'd already caught one baby at home by accident (my friend Jessica who had a 90 minute labor with her 4th child) and I was hoping not to have to do that again!

Laura:
At one point shortly after Amrit arrived I remember feeling the contractions begin to change during the peak time. I started to be very aware of my lower back during the peak time and as soon as Amrit asked me how they were going, I was very clear they were really picking up in sharpness in particular at peak time in my lower back. As soon as I mentioned that to Amrit she said it was time to get out of the tub. I had about a second of thinking "but I like the tub" and then remembered that more important was "giving up" to the process and the incredible wise woman that I knew had so much wisdom.
Jaime:
Amrit checked her at 8:30 and found her 3 Centimeters dilated with a bulging bag of waters. Shehad Laura get out of the tub and onto the floor and showed me how to apply counter pressure. We (mostly Amrit) did this for about 30 -45 minutes and then Laura had to go pee. We sat in the bathroom for a bit and I realized I was STARVING so I went in the kitchen for a minute to get food. Those of you who know me know that little comes between me and food when I'm hungry, but I only managed to get half a cheese stick and a few bites of pasta in my mouth when Amrit called me back. Laura really wanted me there with her which felt very sweet and also a little intense because it meant things were really picking up. She'd been fine when I'd stepped away for a minute or to before but this was different. While we were in the bathroom, she started sounding a little different during the contractions- in the middle it sounded like she was sobbing. I thought it was really starting to hurt and maybe she was touching on some old stuff from her motorcycle accident. Amrit told me that she was going to go to her car to get all her gear, so I figuered were were in a new holding pattern and that things had settled enough for her to take a break and get her stuff.
Laura: When I got to the bathroom it felt so nice to be sitting and holding my tumm up. That lifting really helped with the contractions and having Jaime right there next to me with more physical contact was awesome. I didn't realize until she went to get something to eat that closeness was huge as I headed into the next phase (that I had no idea I was heading into). It was in the bathroom that I first experienced the change in contraction from that consistent curve to something else (now we know it was transition). It was during the peak of the contraction that all of a sudden I lost my focus and felt this "lifting" and not being able to continue my vocalizing. Hence the sobbing that Jaime thought she was hearing.
Jaime:
Before Amrit came back to the house, Laura wanted to move to the floor by our living room where we had pillows covered in a canvas tarp set up. At 9:40, jJust as Amrit walked through the door, Laura started moaning with another contraction, but halfway through made a really gutteral grunting noise. I looked up at Amrit in shock, because I distinctly remember that noise from when I caught my dear friend Jessica's baby. Laura was already starting to push and it was only about 6 hours into labor!!!!! Amrit just smiled and nodded and said, "oh yeah, we're going to have this baby soon". I started giggling in total disbelief that we were already at this stage. It had felt like a fast labor but I didn't have a real schema for how long it could take and also was in a total time warp.
Laura: Once I lay down on the floor I had a few more contractions where I felt that shifting during the peak of it and then all of a sudden there was this one contraction where not only did I catch my breath and feel the "lifting" even beyond the peak of the tightening, but there was an involuntary push!! Dude!! It's so crazy. When I think about "pushing" (anything.. a door open, a baby out..etc) I think of a deliberate action. A decision is made in the brain and then the body follows directions. Not this. This was something that felt just like a wave and it came over me and there was nothing to do but ride it.
Jaime:
Amrit checked Laura and she was at 6-7 cm dilated. Amrit asked her not to push but to try to "blow out a candle" breath during contractions so that she wouldn't push against her cervix before it dilated completely. If she did, it would swell up and stall labor. She did this for about 10 minutes and I was trying to coach her myself but couldn't really help her that much in getting the breath right. Amrit was busy trying to lay out her essentials because she knew this baby was coming FAST. Amrit called Lior, our other midwife, and said the baby was coming and that she needed to get here as fast as she possibly could. At about that point I realized how imminent the birth was- Lior only lived about a 15 minute drive away, so if she needed to book it, it meant this kid was barreling through.
Also, at about this point, I realized Jen still wasn't here. She was going to take an 8:30 flight from L.A. which would have put her here at about 9:30 or so and then her friend Saun-Toy was going to pick her up. I couldn't call her or text her to tell her to hurry up because Amrit had just let me know that I was going to be her lovely assistant for this birth if Lior didn't get here in time. Hey, I'd done it before with my friend Jessica and the last time I'd only had the midwife on the phone coaching me- this time I had a midwife in the flesh!
At about 10:30, Lior walked in the door. Laura was hyperventilating a bit in her rapid breathing, so Amrit had Lior get a paper bag and some oxygen so she could get things settled down. After that, Laura started to be able to push and about then I realized that her water had never broken. We looked and this yellow balloon was starting to appear at the opening (the amniotic sac, completely intact!). She kept pushing and before long there was a 4 inch in diameter bulge of her sac, which I have to say, is one of the most incredible sights. Right about then Jen walked in the door. It took her about 2 seconds to take stock and she got right down on the floor by Laura's head. She kept looking at what was coming out with a look of complete puzzlement and I explained that it was the intact amniotic sac.
Laura: At this point I had the blessing from Amrit to push and get that baby down. It was like something clicked in my head about not only riding the wave of the contraction but in fact joining in. It felt incredible to feel the momentum that my body was producing on it's own and then add in this powerful feeling of intention along with it. With hindsight now it is amazing to me that at this point in the labor, as the little man was really heading into my pelvis and it needing to do it's thing (move and widen) I was feeling nothing but groundedness in this part of my body that had been through so much trauma.
Jaime:
I got down by Laura's right leg (she was lying on her left side) and Lior got on the other side and pulled out the doppler to check the baby's heartbeat. Amrit had checked it numerous times throughout the labor and they just wanted to make sure everyting was good as he was going through the most narrow part. Lior kept trying different locations for about 3 minutes but couldn't find what she was looking for. I felt a little nervous but figured that it wasn't a huge deal. Then I heard Amrit's tone. She told Lior to give her the doppler and she tried. They couldn't find it. She told Laura in a very calm, but very firm voice that we couldn't hear the baby and that we needed to change her position. We rotated her, which was uncomfortable for Laura, and they tried again. They got the heartbeat but it was a bit all over the place (dropped from 120's-140's beats per minute to 90's to 100's) which can be a sign of fetal distress. At 10:45 pmAmrit decided to rupture the membranes so she could check the amniotic fluid for meconium (the baby's first poop) which can also indicate if the baby is in distress.
The fluid was clear which was a really good sign but something was not right. Amrit made Laura breathe through *3* contractions and not push. It was one of the hardest things I've ever seen anyone do...but Laura did it beautifully. Jen and I just looked at each other over Laura's body. I mentally tried to prepare myself for the possibility that we could lose the baby. It was horrible. It's amazing how completely you can imagine an entirely different life in 2 or 3 minutes. I felt cold and had the shivers and just tried to stay calm and watch the midwives and soothe Laura. It all felt completely unreal.
Laura: At this point I had no idea that anything serious was going on, only that I was not supposed to push for a little bit. There was no question in my mind about whether or not to listen to the instruction only the question of "how the frick do I do that?!" Jen really helped me breath and not bear down during the next three contractions by speaking right to me about "in through the nose and out through the mouth" over and over again.
Jaime:
I watched Lior as she used the doppler to check the heart tones again and she broke into a small smile and nodded her head. Amrit told Laura that the baby was doing well and that she could push again. (Later she said that if we'd been in the hospital, they would probably have done an emergency C-section at that point instead of waiting a smidge to see if he recovered. She also said that he recovered immediately because he wasn't medicated- if Laura had narcotics on board, he really would have needed a C-section because he wouldn't have had the same reserves.) She said that he was probably a little in shock from coming through so fast and then later, when we saw how the cord was positioned, figured that it was getting a bit compressed at the tightest part of the canal.
Laura: When Amrit said that I could push again on the next contraction I felt a resounding Hosanna in my body and gave it my all for the next few contractions. It felt so amazing to be able to join in with my body again, I felt some stinging and wondered if he was coming through the "ring of fire". After just one more contraction I felt the stinging subside and thought "I guess not" but then Amrit said something about his head being right there.
Jaime:
Laura was pushing like a champ when Amrit said to me, "Are you ready to catch your son"? I started grinning. She and I switched places and she started dumping olive oil on the opening and I placed my hand at the bottom to support her perineum. Black hair started to appear and I began to realize that it was all about to really happen. After about 8 pushes, at 11:15 pm, his head started to emerge.
Laura: I heard Amrit say that if I was ready and if I wanted to work the next push I could get him out on the next contraction. I felt this surge of energy and bore down and felt his head come out. I heard Amrit say "keep going" and there was no way I was NOT going to do that so with one more breath and a huge push I felt the rest of his body slide out from what felt like the very core of me. Totally sureal and amazing.
Jaime:
All of a sudden there was a head out, facing me, with a squished, alien looking face! At 11:16 pm, within the same contraction, he slipped out, slick and wiggling. Amrit said, "catch your baby" and I tried to lift him and then we all realized that he was completely tangled in his cord in what they called a "bolero". The cord was loose but was wrapped around the back of his neck, over his shoulders, behind his back and then his belly. They tried to lift it over his head but it was not long enough so they brought it down over his shoulders.
I believe the first words out of my mouth were, "Dude! He's alive!". Laura said something similar to "It's a baby!" It's a totally surreal experience to have a living creature come out of my wife's body. I think it was a bit surreal for Laura to have a live baby come out of her body too :-)
We moved Laura to the couch where she got started breastfeeding and we began making phone calls. After about an hour, we moved Laura to the bed where they could repair the 2nd degree tear (minor) and check the little guy's weight and length. He weighed 6 pounds 2 ounces, was 19 inches long and his Apgars at 1 minute were 6 out of 10 and at 5 minutes were 8 out of 10. He was a little shocked from the fast birth, the midwives said, so it took him a bit for his lungs to completely clear and his color to really pink up but he was great.
Overall, it was almost exactly the birth experience I'd dreamed of for us (minus the 5 minutes of scary). I'm so beyond thrilled that we chose to have a home birth and that it was the happy, healthy, safe experience I knew it could be.
I am also eternally grateful to our beautiful, strong, brilliant, kind midwives for all the support they gave us before, during and after the baby's arrival. I realized, as we started putting interventions on the table, that the homebirth experience isn't about where you technically have the baby. It's about the wraparound love of the midwives, the knowledge that no matter what happens they would support, protect and guide us and the belief that we are advocates and active participants in the entire process. For this we, all three of us, are eternally grateful to Amrit Khalsa and Lior Mayer.

Simon Lev Fitch-Jenett Arrives!

Born at home at 11:16 pm after 7 hours of labor on April 9th, 2008, Simon Lev weighed 6 llbs 2 oz and was 19 inches long. His two mommies, Laura and Jaime, are so excited to have him here on the outside and to meet him!