Thank you for the Miracle of Life!

I had the great honor to be a part of the birth of my dear friend, Jen's little boy, Krew Michael on Saturday, October 10th. Not only did I get to be a part of the birth but I gave him his middle name, which has my name in it spelled backwards.

What an amazing experience it was. Jen wanted to have Krew naturally, after I had Avery naturally. We both had epidurals for our first three....why not go out with a bang I guess we both thought. I have never been on the other end..no pun intended there, of birth but I will say that it was a very neat experience. I am grateful for those who choose the medical field as a profession, including my wonderful & amazing sister who is a Nurse practioner and my stepmom who is the charge nurse of the Emergency room. Thank you! I think I like being a labor coach better than I would a nurse. I really thought after have 3 different doulas/labor coach myself, I was much different then they were, (no offense if you are reading this). I never said more positive, affirming things as I did for those 4 hours.....last night as I was going to bed, I was like you can do this Leah, close your eyes, its ok, breathe....in out.... allow yourself to sleep now LOL!

When Krew finally arrived I thought, he is gorgeous and I mean gorgeous. He has lots and lots of dark brown curly hair. That must have explained the bottle of Tum's Jen wouldn't go anywhere without. He was also huge....for a natural birth 8 lbs. 14oz. WAY TO GO JEN and only 2 pushes.

Jen said with every contraction, she visualized Krew sitting on a cloud surrounded by all of those relatives that have passed, waiting to push him off the cloud into the loving arms of those waiting below. I can't tell you how that touched me, I know my little Avery is up there amongst her other family and friends doing the same thing, cheering them on and telling them to say hi to her mommy and daddy. Avery was there on Saturday not only helping Jen but helping me to be ok with this process and not scared or angry, too continue processing lossing her. It was a healing experience. I had tears in my eyes when I saw Krew's head coming out but when I turned toward Jen and saw her face look like it was going to blow up, I had to refocus quickly, that was until I saw little Krew's finger when he was in the warmer.......I cried again because they looked exactly like Avery's fingers, when she held my finger in her warming bed. Symen, Jen's husband, put his arm around me, no words were said, just peace felt.

Jen, thank you for this chance to continue to heal my own heart and be a part of this new beginning, it's beyond words. I love you and am grateful you are part of my life. Thank you again for allowing me this opportunity to witness the miracle of birth. Your a stellar patient!