Jasper Francisco Bodhi Groves

I want to tell you a story
The story of a mama
The story of a baby
The story of a family 
and 2 very long, but amazing days in November...


So, at 35 years old, i found myself pregnant with a 3rd child.  I already had 2 boys, ages 7 & 9, and thought we would just be a family of 4. 
But....sometimes, the universe has other ideas for us......
Since i'm writing this from the heart and the place of wonderful, yet very real memories, i must insert here, that this was a time during which, my children's father and i were in the midst of a wave of one of our "difficult few months".
So, when my body began to change, and my boobs began to ache and fall out of my bra, i knew i was expecting.  
After a heartfelt conversation with Josh, we decided to "give our marriage another try" and welcome another addition to the family.
After i hit the 6 week mark, i began to feel that oh, so wonderful thing called morning sickness.  Only with this child, it was NOT just morning, it was 24 hours a day.  Throwing up only twice a day was a good day.  This went on for about 4 months.  Well into my 2nd trimester.  Then, it finally wore off and i was able to ease into being pregnant~*~

The remainder of the pregnancy was seeming ly normal.  Having been a vegetarian for the majority of my adult life though, toward the end of my pregnancy, i had become so low on iron, that i devoloped something called Pica

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pica_(disorder)

I was literallly craving dirt~i wanted to smell wet dirt so bad i bought a bag of potting soil to sniff.  

Come to find out, my blood count was severely low and as a result, i was told by my midwife that unless i brought it up over 7 points, she would not be attending my home birth because if i bled out, she would loose her license.  Well, i'm a stubborn little chica, and i refuse to give birth to my children at a hospital, so, for the sake of my baby and a healthy homebirth, i began to eat meat.  Not only did i eat meat, but i had friends bringing me high iron snacks and meals, such as bone marrow stew.  Josh decided to grill a steak for me for dinner every night untill the baby came.  i was cooking everything on my iron skillet and juicing beets and greens like they were going out of style.  

It all paid off and a week later, i got bloodwork done and i had brought my blood count up to a safe number.

The morning of Saturday, November 29th, i woke up around 4 am and knew that that was the day.  i began to get things ready, get out baby blankets, pull out the kit for the midwife, make sure sheets were clean and the bath tub was clean because i had planned to have him in water like i had his brothers.

Around 7 or 8, i began to have very slight contractions, more like menstrual cramps, about every 20 minutes or so.  We had been invited to a birthday party that day, so i figured i'd take the boys.  We went, and i remember that everytime i'd laugh, the contractions would increase, which was difficult to not do around this group of friends.

That evening, things had not progressed, so, i took the boys to the light parade downtown.  just having to stand still every 10 minutes or so to move through a contraction.  I figured the more walking and staying in an upright position i did, the easier the birth would be.  I'd studied and worked as a doula for a few years and would recommend this to my clients.

Well, that night came and went.  Contractions about every 10 minutes, and absolutely no sleep.  

The next morning, josh came home from work and my midwife and doula showed up.  They checked me and figured i still a way to go.  by late morning, the contractions had progressed to about every 3 to 5 minutes and were getting too intense to stand through.  Thank goodness for yoga balls.  i spent the majority of the day between sitting and rocking on the yoga ball and soaking in a warm bath.  

Dani, my midwife, Meg, my doula, and josh were all very attentive and helpful.  They brought me small protien filled snacks, rubbed my back and put cool clothes on my face.  By nightfall, i still had not had this baby.  In fact, my water had not even broken.  i was tired and frustrated and in pain.

i believe that around 6:30 or so, my midwife decided to go ahead and manually break my water.  After this, i went to my bed, and decided i was not going to get out of it again.  i had become somewhat delirious from the length of this birth and the lack of rest.  I remember crying and telling my midwife to just "get this damn baby out of me"

Finally at around 7:35 or so, i had the urge to push.  I sat up in my bed and josh and meg held me upright in an almost squatting postion and then finally, after about 10 minutes, the sweetest little fuzzy baby boy made his way into the world, "sunny side up" and open eyed.  His big brothers even got to watch the phenomenal experience of this little child coming into the world.  

He was handed to me immediately, and i layed his naked, fuzzy, vernex covered little body on my naked chest and smelled his sweet little head for the first time.  Smelling your babies freshly born little heads is like taking an amazing drug for the very first time.  I still get dizzy just thinking about the intoxicating qualities of it~*~

And that is the story of how Jasper came to be.

30 November 2011 7:48 pm

Jasper Francisco Bodhi Groves, You are, simply put, one of the most amazing people i have ever known.  You challenge my brain, you make me laugh, you give the best smooches and you warm my heart every single day.  Your personality can fill an entire room and your smile can light up the night sky.  My heart grows everyday because you are in the world.  Thank you for being in my life.

I love you baby boy, punkin head, cupcake, beetlebug and bugaboo!!!!!!