Jane Baird Reiter

Baby Jane Baird Reiter was born on Saturday, October 2, 2010 at 9:14 PM at home!!!  We did it!  Daddy's idea (homebirth) came to fruition.  But not without some hard work and lots of help.  More on that in a minute.

The day started out with mommy feeling some contractions, but not totally positive if they were "for real" or not.  So, we decided to go run some grocery errands and see what happened.  Well, contractions just kept on happening.  When we got home, Michael did this with the deflated exercise ball.  

Yep, that's right.  Daddy said, "Hey you gotta see what he's doing."  And this was it.  He laid himself on the floor, and pulled the ball on top of him.  Then just stayed there playing with the ball and laying on the floor.  

We called the midwife and doula and said, things aren't stopping.  They all planned to arrive.  Somewhere in there, we phoned my parents, also.  Everyone started to show up.  I won't bore with details of the entire labor and birth.   

However, I will say that I had an EXCELLENT birthing team!!!  Here they are!  

From left low, that's Andrea (assistant to the midwife), Toni (midwife), next to me is Jenni (awesome doula), then me with Jane, Tony (my most excellent husband-coach-awesome man), and my sister Ellen.

I have to give specific acknowledgement to Ellen, first.  None of us (me, Tony or Ellen) had discussed or planned for Ellen to be here.  Personally, I thought Ellen would help with the Michael-watching duties with my parents.  But instead, she stayed here at the house.  In my labor haze, I don't know if this was by my request or if it just happened.   But, Ellen played some vital roles during the labor and literally held me up when Jane was born.  I would also recommend my midwife and doula to ANYONE!!!  Awesome people.  Words cannot describe...(or at least my postpartum, sleep deprived brain can't think of them).

 Here's the happy family.  

 Jane's first birthday cake, made by the doula's children.  They watched Michael for several hours before my parents arrived.  Thanks guys, cake was great!!!!  Exactly what I wanted!!

First visit with Dacy Grandparents.  Baird is Dacy Grandmother's mother's maiden name.  :)