My second son, Angus Lee, was born on July 25, 2015 at our home in Crestone, CO. His birth was just as intense as my experience with his brother, though different in so many details. Angus’ birth story has two distinct chapters - his birth at home, and the trip he, his dad and I made to the NICU in Colorado Springs 24 hours later. Twenty-four hours after that, we were home again, never more grateful for the comforts there.
The last few weeks have been a total blur… Charlotte Allison McArthur Maupin was born one week ago today, 29 minutes from now. Thank God she is here… thank God I am here to. I don’t know where to begin with my birth story. The due date (being February 28th,) obviously came & went without any indication of imminent labor. We tried everything we could to stimulate labor, we went four wheeling & hiking, we made Love, we rubbed acupressure points, & stimulated nipples, I ate spicy foods…
We also just tried to relax & enjoy our last few days of being just a duo. We had an amazing diner at the Harvest Restaurant with Alycia (our midwife & very dear friend.) While Steve, another dear friend & ridiculously talented musician, was playing that night. It was bliss to listen to Steve’s acoustic jigs, reels, laments and love songs, while savoring the lamb shank that simply melted in my mouth. I won’t even start on the chocolate decadence cake… We played a few tunes with Steve too; banish misfortune, kid on the mountain, star of the county down... It snowed a light fairy dusting, and was a magical night.
The next night, Alex (my husband) heated water to fill the bath tub in the greenhouse, (as we currently have no plumbing.) He filled the bath with nasturtium flowers and leaves- like lily pads, lit candles all around the green house, and made me feel like a fairy princess in a woodland pool! He built a camp fire in the driveway, and we watched a crescent water moon descend upon the horizon. We ordered pizza (local, organic… really,) and had it delivered to our fire. Then he warmed up my woodland pool, and I sank into the waters of fairy princess again. We rented lots of classic comedies in those last few weeks, (Monty Python, Woody Allen, Mel Brooks…) and laughed allot! The energy was beautiful, I laughed at everything, I felt amazing! I sang all the time.