I have sat down to write this post SO many times. I write and re-write and never seem to get to the finish line. The day Mico was born was one of the best days I have ever had, if not the best, so I want to do the day justice but time is slipping away and I need to get this written before I forget all of the little details.. so here it goes!

This is a first official blog post of many to come but let me give you a quick incite into life before Mico.. I have always wanted to be a Mom, ever since I can remember I had dreams and hopes of reaching that goal. I am also a lover of all things natural and have always had an interest in natural birth. When I found out I was pregnant I was living in a foreign Country and was stoked to have the opportunity to give my son Dual Citizenship and birth him in the same Country that his Dad was born in. Giving birth in a foreign country gave way for some interesting events that I will definitely share in another post. I did some research on births in Guadalajara, MX and found out that it was one of the cities ranked for the highest number of cesarean births.  When I found these facts it made me a little hesitant but I was still excited, anyway.

I really loved the idea of giving birth naturally and possibly even being able to give birth in my home. In the beginning that is really the only “research” I did on birth and made a personal decision to not read anything else about pregnancy or the birthing process itself. I did read one book on Hypnobirthing when I was 37 weeks along and I am so glad I chose to do that because the techniques helped SO MUCH. I am happy with my decision to not read a lot about other experiences because I really wanted to not have any expectations and to let the day unfold how it was supposed to happen.

When I was around 38 weeks my midwives and ultrasound tech began to get a little worried about the size of the babe and weren’t sure if he was really progressing any longer. They wanted to monitor me closely to make sure he was continuing to grow and that it wasn’t doing damage continuing to be in the womb.

At 39 weeks the midwives asked me to get another ultrasound and together with the Doctor decided it would be best for me to be induced the next day. That night was one of the craziest nights of my life. I didn’t get much sleep and I remember feeling so giddy and also slightly nervous that the next day was going to be the day I had waited for, forever. We got a call from my midwives the morning of the 16th letting us know that they had another girl going into labor and asked if I wanted to push back the induction so both of my midwives Maria and Francesca could both be at the birth. After being filled with nerves waiting all night I didn’t feel like pushing it off would be the right thing to do, so I told them I would like to continue with the induction and if they  needed to leave to attend the other birth Ricardo and I would make it work with the Doula. So off we went in our Uber to Casa Aramara – the cutest little birthing center in the heart of Guadalajara..

After arriving at Casa Aramara (a 7 minute drive from our house) we got settled in and the midwives took off to check on the other girl and Ricardo took off to take care of a few things back at home. I had the next hour or so (felt like ten) to reflect, meditate and prepare for what was about to come. Although I wasn’t too stoked to be alone in the moment, I think this really helped prepare me for the events ahead. I built up an appetite and ordered myself some Uber Eats (uber eats ftw) turned on Home Alone and chilled out waiting for everyone to come back to the house.

EVENTUALLY, RICARDO, FRANCESCA AND MARIA ALL MADE THEIR WAY BACK TO THE HOUSE AND SHORTLY AFTER THE DOCTOR ARRIVED TO INDUCE ME. I WAS INDUCED AROUND 11 THAT MORNING AND STARTED HAVING CONTRACTIONS SHORTLY AFTER. IT WASN’T LONG BEFORE THEY STARTED GETTING PRETTY INTENSE AND MY WATER BROKE AT 12:57. AFTER MY WATER BROKE CONTRACTIONS GOT A LOT MORE INTENSE BUT NOTHING I COULDN’T HANDLE. HYPNOBIRTHING USES DIFFERENT BREATHING METHODS WHEN EACH “SURGE” COMES AND HELPED ME WORK THROUGH EACH ENERGY SURGE. (IF YOU ARE LOOKING FOR SOMETHING TO HELP WITH A NATURAL BIRTH I DEFINITELY RECOMMEND TAKING A HYPNOBIRTHING COURSE OR READING UP ON IT – THE ONLY PREP. I DID FOR MY BIRTH AND I AM SO GLAD I MADE THAT CHOICE.) FOR THE NEXT FEW HOURS I WAS ABLE TO STAY REALLY CALM, COMPLETELY IN MY OWN ZONE, BREATHING THROUGH EACH SURGE. I SPENT A LOT OF TIME IN THE SHOWER LETTING THE WARM WATER RUN OVER MY BODY AND THIS WAS A GREAT DISTRACTION. THE DOCTOR CAME BACK AROUND FOUR TO SEE HOW I WAS PROGRESSING AND THIS WHERE THINGS GOT A LITTLE CRAZY…

 I was really in the middle of heavy surges and wasn’t paying attention to anything or anyone around me but from what I remember, Ricardo came and whispered in my ear that things weren’t progressing and the Midwives and Doctor felt it was time to be transferred to a hospital. I was super confused as everything on my end seemed to be going perfectly fine but they loaded me up in a car and off we went. The next hour or so is a complete blur but basically what happened is the Doctors decided my baby was at risk and I needed to have an emergency C-section. One of the major bonuses giving birth in Mexico was at this point I was able to completely turn off the Spanish around me and ignore EVERYTHING that was happening. I had NO IDEA they were bandaging me up to be taken into surgery. As I continued working through each surge the nurses at the hospital proceeded to bandage up my legs and wheeled me off to another room. I didn’t know where I was, what was going on, where my Husband or Midwives were but I continued to ignore it all and continued working through each surge. The next thing I know the Doctors are preparing this GIANT needle and pulling out all these tools, I stopped and asked what is happening and where was my Husband? I couldn’t think to be able to communicate in Spanish so I was asking in English hoping one of the Doctors would understand me. The Doctor explained that he needed to give me a muscle relaxer to help my body relax because I was shaking like CRAZY. All I know is they sat me on a table and stuck some needles in my arms and I continued through the surges. After what felt like FOREVER my hubby and midwife came into the room and explained that they had to leave for the surgery. This is when it all clicked and I realized what was happening. Surgery? I didn’t understand. I still hadn’t had the opportunity to push. I was surrounded by Doctors and Nurses I had never met, all speaking in a foreign language, getting ready to slice me open. I turned to my midwife and said WAIT! Can’t I push first? She looked at me surprised and said OH! If you feel like you have the urge to push, please try it. She got in front of me and took of her scarf, wrapped it around her waist and gave me the two ends to pull while I pushed the baby out. Within three minutes little Mico Finn was born.

Something really unique about giving birth in Mexico (not sure this would have been possible in the States) was that I had my team of midwives and they had their own team of Doctors (they had asked me previously if I wanted to meet them but I said no as I had no plans or intentions of giving birth in a hospital) but anyway, the unique thing about this was that when we did transfer to the hospital I arrived completely with my own staff of people who all knew I wanted to do things as naturally as possible. The Doctors and Nurses that worked at the hospital all had to kind of just stand around and watch my team of Doctors handle everything. I loved this because after giving birth I was still able to do a lot of the same practices in the hospitals that I would have done at Casa Aramara. I was excited to do delayed cord clamping and not cut the umbilical cord until it had completely stopped pulsing. This was a hard moment because the umbilical cord was so short that Mico could only go half way up my chest and I couldn’t bend down to kiss him. After waiting for me to naturally birth the placenta and wait for the cord to stop pulsing, Daddy got to cut the cord. (If you don’t know much about delayed cord clamping and the benefits I definitely suggest looking into it. It’s not something that is often practiced in traditional hospitals but us Momma’s are going to be the ones to change that.)

After waiting to cut the cord they all went to weigh and take measurements. I was left with two of the hospital nurses who were going to wheel me back to my room. Here I was moments after giving birth, naked, alone and extremely vulnerable and these nurses (maybe thinking I didn’t understand Spanish) proceeded to talk crap about how I just birthed my baby naturally and without any medicine or following through with the C section. It was a really difficult moment for me but also a realization of how much work I had to do to bring to light the beauty that is “Natural Birth”. These nurses were so conditioned to medicine and intervention that they were actually offended I didn’t use any of their “tools”. It was upsetting but also a very empowering moment for me as a brand new Mom. I waited alone for a while dwelling on all the crazy events that had just unfolded, sitting, waiting, wishing.. and then in came my little angel.

We couldn’t decide on a name my entire pregnancy. We had worked on it for so long and it had become the running joke in the family, a new name every time we talked about the babe. When I held Mico in my arms for the first time, Mico Finn came to mind and I asked Ricardo what he thought. We both said it aloud a few times and knew that was our little boys name. It felt so perfect, so right and from that moment on he was Mico Finn Camacho. Born December 16th, 2016 at 7:03 PM. Weight exactly 2.55 kilos at 18.6″ long. The moment my world changed forever.

I AM HAPPY I FINALLY HAVE GOTTEN THIS POST WRITTEN. I LOOK FORWARD TO SHARING MORE ABOUT MY PREGNANCY, PARENTHOOD, BEING A POST PARTUM MOMMA AND OUR FAMILY ADVENTURES. FOLLOW ALONG @HALIEMEG FOR OUR TRAVEL AND LIFE ADVENTURES. IF YOU READ THIS WHOLE THING, YOU’RE A CHAMP. THAT’S ALL FOR NOW.

XO,

HALIE