It's a Girl!

It's hard to believe that it's been almost 2 weeks since my daughter Clara was born! I know many of you have been asking Renata for details, so here we go!
I was 11 days overdue when Clara finally decided to show up. For me the wait was intolerable. I had been doing all the methods knows to encourage labor, but as the midwives kept reminding me, sometimes babies have their own timeline. This was certainly true in our case. It may have been the fact that our house hadn't sold yet and my younger sons birthday was looming, because Clara waited until the day after Lucian's birthday AND a house offer came in before she showed up! She was finally born on Valentine's day!
I went into labor around 3:30am. We called my parents to pick the boys up, and then we called the midwife to tell her to be on standby. Within 20 minutes I realized my contractions were getting intense, so we called our midwife Andrea back and had her come to the house. We prepped all our things for the homebirth, and let nature take over. With this pregnancy I really wanted to try laboring in the tub, which I finally had a chance to do, and I must say it was WONDERFUL. The warm water caused the contractions to feel less intense, and this was my method of pain management until the last stage of labor, when it became too intense to stay in the tub (roughly 6cm dilated). My entire active labor was 2.5 hrs by the midwives calculation, and Clara was born a healthy 9lb 13oz which surprised us all - she was larger than both my boys! I feel extremely blessed to have had three successful homebirths, and I must say I couldn't have done it without the help of the extremely capable and knowledgeable Barrie Midwives - I have absolute confidence and admiration for this group of wonderful women.
I am now enjoying my short maternity leave with my little girl and my family, and am feeling well - each day feels a little better as I get my energy back and fall into a 'new' routine. Thank you all for your kind words and well-wishes! I'll be seeing you back at the clinic shortly!

Dr. Anna Falkowski HBSc, ND.
Naturopathic Doctor & Clinic Director
Vitality for Life Health Center
www.vitalityforlife.ca

Vitality for Life is an integrative health clinic in Barrie, Ontario. We offer the services of a Naturopathic Doctor, Chiropractor and massage therapists.

Dr. Anna Falkowski HBSc, ND
Naturopathic Doctor, Clinic Director
info@vitalityforlife.ca
www.vitalityforlife.ca
Twitter: @NaturoDoctor
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