The birth of Hosanna!

Hosanna!
Born February 11, 2009
Written May 31, 2011

Praise God for giving me my dream birth. After two complicated births, I was so blessed to experience what going into labor naturally and giving birth naturally feel like. Empowering, awesome, amazing. I knew then, and I know now, that if I could have go through a natural labor and birth, then I can do anything. The sky's the limit.

My husband and I, after having two boys, and seeing what it was like to raise children, definitively decided we didn’t want to have any more children. But God had another plan. Hosanna (remember all the children shouting Hosanna and waving palm fronds when Jesus rode on a colt into the city?) is similar to Hallelujah. Thank you Jesus. It symbolizes that we expect Him to come back soon. I became Christian the year before Hosanna was born. Her story starts before conception, because at a certain point, we really REALLY wanted a girl. Ha. Who planted that seed in our minds? And so we started trying.

At a certain point, I knew I was pregnant, but could not get confirmation. That tested my faith. I prayed a lot during the pregnancy. I did everything I knew I should – water exercises, ate well, enjoyed my children. I was pregnant in Ethiopia where I was indulged in everything that I wanted. I had plenty of household help, but not enough fresh veggies. When I decided to go back home to the Bay Area to have my baby, I felt relieved.

I knew I wanted a water birth. I had tried with my first two boys, but it just didn’t happen. In Elijah’s case, I was inexperienced, thought I knew everything and was totally unprepared. I labored for three days at home and finally went to the hospital with a terrible infection, was pumped full of pitocin (horrendous pain!) all night and then God mercifully granted me a natural delivery. The second time though, I had to have surgery. When Noah was handed to me a few hours after he was born, I didn’t have enough energy to hold him. The drugs knocked me out. He is turning 5 in September and we are still having bonding issues.

So I knew I wanted a water birth. I wanted to experience going into labor. I wanted support. I wanted my husband there. I wanted this baby girl to come out into the world in the most natural way possible. And I love water. I was very clear from the beginning about what I wanted. God did the rest. He guided me to Judi. I just made the cutoff for accepting new patients when I called her.

Everything happened like clockwork. But let me get to the birth story.

That night we went to court. We got home from San Francisco about 8pm. At 12:30 am I woke up with flu like symptoms. It was strange. I timed my contractions and I was 10-15 minutes apart. I called Judi and she told me to take a shower. I loved the shower and the only reason I got out was because I was getting too hot. The contractions got stronger. I woke up my husband and said “Time to go”. It was 1:30 or so.

To my dear husband Kale: My dear, I’m sorry I yelled at you every time you hit a bump in the road and didn’t pour the juice perfectly. I was in full blown labor. I pushed my hands on the seat and the tightening continued. They felt like bad cramps. But really, they were not that bad. Not what you would expect watching movies. Judi said that I would “go quickly” since Hosanna was my third. And I did. We got to the Birth Center and I was 8 cms and fully effaced. I almost ran (waddled, really) to the room and I remember quite clearly saying “Can I get in the tub?” Judi’s reply was “Let me put water in it first!”

I just had time to do some cats and dogs when my doula Jessica came in. She applied pressure on my back, but my baby was ready to come out. There was no time to waste.

I remember stripping off my nightgown (I did not care who was in the room -- I was in dreamland because of the natural hormones coursing through my veins) and carefully climbed into the tub.

I tried different positions, but found comfort floating on my back. Judi asked me to tone. I did and she said “bring it down, channel it through your bottom” and I did. Pushing was the most natural thing. I just had to get out of my body’s way. It knew what to do.

Judi said “reach down – you’re going to catch your baby!” I couldn’t believe it. It was all so dreamlike and it was already over! My husband was supporting me, standing right behind me and encouraging me. It was a miracle. Hosanna! She was born about 3:30am – just three hours after labor had started. I held her in the water a bit and she floated. I brought her up onto my chest.

We stayed a few hours and then went home. She was great, I was great, my husband was tired, and our family just wanted to sleep.

Thank you Judi. God Bless You.

Praise God. He listens, and he grants favor to those who seek his face. He granted me what I wanted.


PS Hosanna is a uniquely healthy, happy, bright, full of light little girl. She brings a special dynamic to our family. I think it’s because she was born in water. She loves swimming and water. I took her to the Kenyan coast at Christmas and she was so happy lying on the beach in the waves. She’s 2.3 years old. She is playful and eats well. She is a blessing and a favorite in her school – Hosanna Preschool. Yep, she’s my boss!

Tiffany & Tsugi's Birth Story

OKAY! Finally some time to let you all know that on February 3rd, 2009 at 12:30AM little Tsugi Meila arrived into this world in a most peaceful way. My labor began around 8:45pm on February 2nd. My midwife was waiting for me to arrive at the birth center in San Francisco (I live in the east bay) as we approached the birth center, the first thing my midwife wanted to do was check to see how far I had dilated. I was 4-1/2 cm dilated and 90% effaced, and at that point I decided I needed to get comfortable at the center, so we unpacked my bag and pulled out the heating pad and made use of the birthing ball.

Two hours later, I was still trying various positions, with my partner by my side and the doula, Lindsay who was great at assisting and adjusting through each contraction with me. At one point, I began having hot and cold flashes, and then I puked up the spaghetti dinner I ate earlier in the evening. By the time midnight struck I was ready to push, my adrenaline had already kicked in, and I was about 10cm and 100% effaced when I ran out of other laboring positions to try to work through the next big contraction. I told my midwife 'I don't know what else to do!' she said, 'lets get into the tub' her apprentice added warm water to the tub and I climbed in.

At that moment, in the middle of a most difficult contraction, I was stepping into the tub. As the contraction ended, I sat down into the birthing tub of warm water, and my body totally released itself. I was able to completely let go of all tensions and relax through the next contraction, I began to push and a little head crowned and came out. On the second push, little shoulders and body emerged. As baby floated to the top of the water in the tub, my midwife grabbed her and placed baby on my chest, immediately, I began nursing baby. Everyone asked me, 'well is it a boy or a girl?' I was so out of it, I didn't bother looking to see the sex. So I looked down to see that the little baby that was growing inside me for 9 months, was in fact a little girl.


1 week later, we named her Tsugi Meila, which means Next Born Child and Wisdom, respectively. Tsugi weighed 8lbs 7oz, and was 20" in length. Now that she's 2 weeks and 5-days old, she's a little over 10lbs and is about 22" in length. She's so peaceful, just as she arrived, and remains to be. I'm so thankful to have another little girl!