Larissa

April is a popular month for birthdays. Our third child's birthday is the beginning of the month, and our first, Larissa, is the end of the month. In fact, her birthday is tomorrow, the 28th. Four years old. Wow, the time just goes so fast. I thought I would write about her birth as well since I did Charlotte's. Alaina's will have to wait until October. Lets see.....four years ago tonight, my labor started. Larissa is the only one that I experienced back labor with. Thank goodness! That is exhausting in itself, and then you have the contractions to deal with as well. I was up most of the night with back labor. I sat in the tub off and on, scared to death of what was to come. This was my first baby, and we were having her at home, so as you can imagine, all kinds of possibilities were playing in my mind. I don't think it matters where you have your babies, I think most mothers go through a time when they are scared or unsure of what will or could happen. Eight the next morning my contractions started to be five minutes apart. So we called our midwife, and she arrived about ten. I labored all day. And it was quite intense. My poor husband pushed against my knees everytime I had a contraction to counteract the back labor I was experiencing. I think he was as tired as I was the next day! Finally, at seven, Stephanie checked me and I was a ten, so she broke my water, and I got into my beloved birthing tub to start the last phase. I pushed for an hour and twenty minutes. I was so exhausted till Larissa arrived. One side effect to my being in labor is that I throw up anything with sugar in it. So I cannot eat or drink anything but water. This drains your energy levels considerably, so by the time she arrived, I was exhausted. But there is no feeling to describe holding your first baby ever. The miracle of birth is one that I will never understand or be able to find the words to express. It is just amazing and breathtaking. We named our firstborn Larissa, which means happy and cheerful. Which she is most of the time. She is the only whose name we agreed on from the beginning. For some reason we have a problem finding girls names that we both like, and we only have girls! Go figure. But I just remember after the midwives got me settled and Larissa dressed and weighed, they put her in bed with me and the three of us, now a family, just laid there. Nate and I just staring at her, and Larissa just sleeping peacefully away. Our lives were never going to be the same again.