Blessingway

My wonderful friends threw me a birth blessingway on Saturday (the day before I delivered). I arrived to see a lovely post luck lunch of all my favorite foods, a henna artist and a great group of friends to help me celebrate my upcoming birth. My doula, Cynthia, gave me foot massage which set off a ton of contractions. I got the most beautiful belly henna with a hamsa which is my good luck charm ( I wore one during the embryo transfer too). They each brought beads to make me a necklace to wear in labor so that I had them there with me in spirit. Everyone made me a birth affirmation so I could see their words of wisdom, love and even some smart ass comments because they knew I'd appreciate that.  I was honored by these women whom I had helped them through their labor as the doula, worked along side me at births, or whom I had thrown blessing ways for in the past. These lovely ladies made me feel safe, loved and put me in the right frame of mind to have this baby with confidence in myself and my body.

All the while I was having prodromal labor but didn't let on. I knew the next day would be the big day so I went to my chiropractor for an adjustment and got some rest.

39 weeks

Look what I made!

Sweet baby Joaquin was born June 22nd, 2014 at 4:20pm weighing in at 6lbs 12 oz. (The same as my oldest son) I got to watch Vanessa's (IM) face as he entered the world and it was one of the most wonder feelings ever. Birth story to follow but here are some photos of Sweet baby J that I've gotten over the last few weeks since his birth.

I cry happy tears every time i see this picture. It reminds me why I did this in the first place. 

1 week old!

1 week and 5 days old!

35-39 weeks and counting....

35 weeks

36 weeks

37 weeks and we've dropped!

38 weeks and Sammy photobomb

39 weeks
Belly henna for my blessingway that my wonderful friends threw for me.