In Good Health

Hey there, :-) Thank you for all the well wishes; Levi’s birth was beautiful . . . fast, hard at times, but just beautiful. I feel relaxed and am happy to be with my family at home.

Ruth, our family practice took care of Levi’s PKU (newborn exam and blood test) though there was confusion at first . . . we needed to visit a nearby lab and were not informed of this extra visit ahead of time (much to our frustration). My husband and I are finding that our baby is receiving good care and the services we require for a healthy home birth and follow up care have been met; sometimes however, we are observing that some individuals in medical services are not familiar with how they need to respond to families who make decisions that are not necessarily in the mainstream (like choosing to birth a child in the peace and safety of one’s home); this is sad, but the good (I see) in these experiences is that I am learning more and more about what a good parent needs to do (make choices in the best interest of their child even when society, friends, and family too do not understand the reasons or are not educated about the alternative). I am so happy that we chose homebirth for Levi; having watched his birth last night and watched Annabelle’s birth too (the hospital induction at 37 weeks), I cried my eyes out watching how my daughter had been handled at her birth. I plan to birth all my other children in our home (with a healthy, low risk pregnancy). Having to navigate medical services as a homebirth family takes a bit of confidence, education, and straightforwardness. And the good news is that our son and daughter (both children receive alternative vaccination schedules) are receiving excellent medical care, are in good health, and shucks, are happy (Levi seems to be pretty content so far . . .)

There was a bit of chaos on the second day of Levi’s life: On the same day that we took care of Levi’s (doctor) newborn exam (the first one was performed by the midwife), we received an urgent call from our mothers telling us that Annabelle woke up from her nap with a fever of 105. Having not slept and reacting from a place of fear, my husband and I called our new family practice and asked what we needed to do (give her tylenol and then take her to the E.R. if her fever did not go down). With no tylenol in the house and the fear of Annabelle having a high fever (though in retrospect I have to say that Annabelle has had high fevers before and she’s been fine . . . a fever being a healthy way to fight off infection), we told our mothers to meet us at the hospital since we were on our way there for Levi’s lab tests.

By the time we arrived at the hospital, Annabelle’s fever was down to 100.5 and she was walking around, wanting to play and acting completely normal. Phew! Still I felt worried about having her in close contact with her brother, so for 2 nights she enjoyed slumber parties with her grandmothers downstairs; meanwhile, my mother-in-law and I disinfected the house (she insisted I let her do it but I felt an overwhelming urge to just do whatever I needed to do to protect both my babies and keep the home healthy). By the next afternoon everyone was feeling good; my husband and I got good rest and what felt like an unbalanced home (for a day and a half) returned more to what my husband and I’ve worked hard to create: a peaceful and quiet home for our children.

I write to you from that place right now. My babies are sleeping, my mother-in-law is resting and likely catching up with our family in Connecticut (love to you all and to our family in Maine and all along the Atlantic coast), and my husband is either trying to work from home or is reading. I ought to be napping and resting too (Levi is cuddled up in my lap), so I think I better sign off here and check back in a few days. Again thank you for all the well wishes; I hope to post more photographs soon.

Love and peace,

Jessica