60 Seconds in the Life of Sydney!

Sisters! with Daddy.

More pics!

The boys before their soccer game


eating Cheerios, just like mommy!


Allegra helps give Sydney a bath





Tiger helps too


And Rory

Clean and cute!


The big kids roughhouse with Daddy.

New pics!

Sydney, born at home!

Sydney was born on 10-14 at 2:32am after 90 minutes of labor -- which was preceded by 2 days of prodromal labor after my water broke. She was born at home in the birth tub and caught by yours truly! She was 8lbs 7oz and 19in, and kind of resembles a sumo wrestler.

However, after her birth, I did not get the placenta out and I had a hemorrhage, so we transferred to the hospital. Charlotte was awesome, she came to the hospital as a "friend who attended my planned unassisted homebirth" and she kept me calm. It was a little scary for a while, but all is well. I had a manual removal of the placenta and a bunch of pitocin and fluids. I feel much better today.

I completely expected the hospital staff to treat me terribly, even call CPS on me (as I've seen it firsthand with clients) but everyone aside from the first nurse was really nice. When asked about my pregnancy and birth, I basically told them everything that they wanted to hear and explained that I'd had a provider in a different state and I had records if they wanted them, blah blah blah. And that was it. I refused vit K, eye drops, vax, and a bath for Sydney, and it was not a big deal at all. We were released after about 24h and now we're home.

Me, during a contraction


Just after her birth (with the back of Charlotte's head)


Allegra and Sydney

I will post more pics later. I'm off to go BREASTFEED! HOORAY!

Newest member of Team Gebhardt

Sydney Michelle Gebhardt was born last night (Oct 14) at 2:32am at home in a homebirth tub. Erika was a champion and really kicked butt. Strong labor started around 11PM and she delivered Sydney without any help from anybody. Sydney weighs 8lbs 7oz, and is 19" long. Erika had some problems delivering the placenta and was bleeding pretty good, so we ended up rushing to the hospital for a manual placenta removal. I think this was just as physically hard for Erika as delivering Sydney. And I'm sure it was a mental letdown to have to go to the hospital. But in the end, all is right. Mom and baby should be home in a day or so.

I'm beginning to think that in order to finally see Sydney as soon as possible, I could walk to the Pacific Ocean and swim to Australia.

Nothing yet on the baby front. I'm really looking forward to my 2 weeks off, along with Bubbie's arrival after that.

Some Recent Pics

We're still a family of 5. We keep waiting for Er to go into labor. It's kind of like Christmas Eve. You keep thinking that tomorrow Sydney will be born. Except on Christmas, you get a pay out. With baby Sydney, we repeat the whole process over again on a daily basis.

Everybody went through a day or two of sickness recently. Allegra has the worst of it and has been snotty for several days now. All she wants to do is cling to you and watch videos. Boy, she really knows how to twist my arm, eh? :-)

The boys first soccer game ended with an ambiguous score. I recall the score being 4-3, with their team winning. However, I reviewed the video and I only count 3 goals for and 3 against. hmmmm. The other parents don't know what to say. Oh well, team pictures are this weekend and practice was canceled yesterday and Monday, too, I believe.

Charlotte (the midwife) and her two kids arrived a week ago. All of the kids get along very well. Samuel, her oldest, loves video games and has been on my computer constantly. I guess this is what it was like with me while I was younger. And I suppose that this is what I have to look forward to with my own kids.