Life Within the Cuckoo's Nest: Jura's First Baby!

Best friends holding our first babies. Such a special moment!

The baby shower was done, her maternity leave had started, and baby Juliette was a week over her due date. Jura went into the early stages of labor on Friday and the baby wasn't born until Monday afternoon. This little princess is going to be a stubborn one! I was so excited to be a part of everything. Jura and I have been best friends since we were ten years old and I feel like this amazing experience somehow made us even closer! She called me at 1:30am Monday morning because the contractions were starting to pick up and things were looking more serious. I stayed up that entire night with her, rubbing her back, arms, feet, and holding her hand through every contraction. Her husband and older sister took advantage of my presence and went to sleep. I wasn't annoyed or anything because that gave us some special time to just be alone and talk in between contractions. Her midwife had given her a sleeping pill so not everything she said was coherent and she was being brutally honest about some things that she doesn't remember saying now but I thought it was fun :).

I had to leave at 5:40am because Josh would be waking up soon and I had to be home for Austin when he headed off to work. I called Sadie and asked her to come babysit and after she showed up I headed back to Jura's house. Sadie didn't mention that due to her recent breast implant surgery she can't lift anything over 10 pounds so she called me while I was with Jura and informed me. That had me super stressed out because now I had to find someone to go help her if she couldn't lift him out of his crib and down the stairs! After I made a bunch of phone calls and finally got something set up, I called Sadie to tell her the plan and she told me she had already lifted him and everything was fine..... I was a little peeved at that moment. But I was grateful that she was helping me out so I couldn't freak out on her.

At this point, Jura was in the final stage of labor and it was pretty intense. She was having a home birth in a birthing tub which is like a mini swimming pool. I had never experienced birth outside of a hospital so this was all so new and so fascinating to me. I give home birth two thumbs up and would recommend it to anyone! It was a million times better than a hospital and the midwife was amazing. However, you don't get an epidural when you have your baby at home and I just don't think that is a commodity I could live without. But if you are looking to go the natural route, check out midwives and home births. I promise, it makes a world of difference. You don't have the pressure of the hospital constantly telling you that you aren't progressing fast enough and that you need Pitocin. You also have a warm, quiet, comfortable setting where you can labor in peace without a million doctors and nurses coming in and bothering you all the time. You aren't hooked up to monitors and your midwife actually sits there with you and coaches you! When do you ever hear of an OBGYN doing that? Umm, NEVER! But like I said, even though it was the perfect way to go, I don't ever plan on putting myself through that kind of pain again.

She pushed and pushed in that tub for what seemed like forever and then the time came when the midwife told her to reach down and pull her baby out! It was so amazing I started crying! I was in charge of pictures and I took a million of them. The whole experience was perfect. Jura was amazing and showed so much strength. Adrien (her husband) did a great job of being there for her and helping her through it all. And little Juliette was so tiny and perfect! There was almost a reverence about us as we watched the whole scene play out.

Pictures taken minutes after she was born. We all look super tired, but Jura looks so lovely after just having a baby!

My first time holding this sweet little angel

After we got Jura dried off and into bed with her little precious bundle in her arms, I left to go take care of my own little one. I couldn't wait to tell my sister everything, but at the same time, I was so tired I couldn't get the words to come out right. The next day I took Austin over to meet his new friend and to see how the new parents were getting along. Austin was all over the place (as usual) but he did stand still for a second to snap a few pictures with Juliette. I can't wait for them to grow up together! We are all going to have so much fun!