Milton Leon Silicki IV “Milo”  * Due Date July 3, 2011

The entire pregnancy lil milo was measuring a few weeks ahead, a lil big.. so I wasn’t sure we would hit the due date. But it came and it passed.

July 4, 2011. A really great day. We went to the Palisades Parade and thanks to our friends  Jen and Glen who hosted us at their house with drinks, food and a potty! Saylor loved the parade. She waved the red , white and blue! We had a nice time at the Palisades Park after and then went home to nap. it was delish. We headed back out to Aunt Chry’s BBQ and enjoyed friends for the afternoon and evening.. heading home to watch fireworks in bed.. I had some cramps at this point, but nothing too unusual. I went to bed early and slept well.

July 5th, 2011 I woke up with cramps and felt a bit tired and out of it. I thought it was from all the energy and activity that had happened on the 4th. Saylor was a little over a week late, so I was prepared to be late with lil Milo too..  I dropped Saylor at camp and ran errands. Went to the container store for something for the studio.. went to the studio to drop something off.. went home to check some emails. I noticed that I could read the emails but was having trouble responding. I was tired, felt out of it. really out of it. I called my best friend  ( meredith ) and asked her to come over and play with Saylor when she got home from camp, so I could sleep. I was thinking.. if I wake up and am still cramping then I am in labor. If I sleep and they go away, then it’s false labor OR I ‘m just SO tired from the 4th! A 3 hour long nap.. and I woke up.. still cramping. Called Mel and told him what was going on, and prepared Meredith to go home and get her stuff. ( she was our on call person for Saylor). Mel came home and grilled hot dogs for Saylor and I had a bite of one.. little did I know that would be my last food for a long time.

7-8pm - Meredith was home, showering and packing up. Mel and I put Saylor to bed regularly. My “cramps” were intensifying. Saylor went to bed so easily this night.. which was not like her! By 8pm things had intensified. Called Ursula ( the doula) and I told her I wasn’t sure if I was in labor or it was just cramps... was hard for me to tell the difference. She told me to get in the bath, see if they went away and call her back. I texted Whit ( the midwife) to let her know what was going on and give her a heads up.  saylor continued to sleep.. the bath took some intensity away for about 10 minutes. The contractions/cramps in the tub were not as intense but then I needed to get out and move around a bit more, things were happening fast.. We called my dad in Boston and told him so he could make his way here from Boston. ( to help with Say)

Ursula arrived and I was in the living room, laboring on the ball in a squat, moving around the house. Meredith arrived. Everyone was really quiet, whispering, the house was pretty dark and calm. Ursula started timing contractions, helped with my bags and let Whitney know we were on our way!

10:00ish- We arrived at GW. I had a contraction in the driveway to ER.. an ambulance was coming in.. got up to the room and was greeted by Whitney and Laura. I was 5 cms when we arrived and Whitney did some Fabulous midwife technique  “ manual cervical realignment “ and I was 7 cm’s. THey put me in the shower! It felt great, and was a nice break for a bit. ( 20 mins or so) . I couldn’t get enough Tea Tree oil .. I was inhaling it on a washcloth ( don’t ask.. been addicted to this scent the WHOLE pregnancy) , had some rescue remedy and did some laboring on toilet.  My water broke on the toilet which was very convenient.

Things were not really progressing. I could tell that he wasn’t moving. I was OVERWHELMED with nausea .. this had been going on most of the pregnancy and since earlier in the evening.. but it got SO bad..

I remember at some point during this time, looking up at Ursula and saying” please help me” .. I think this was when I “hit the wall” I remember storming around the room, saying I could’t do it.. and just kind of getting frustration out of my system.

Shortly after, Whitney and I had some alone time in the bathroom. Lights off, quiet room, Laura brought me an icy cold coke ( when was the last time I drank soda??) which gave me the energy to move/progress forward.  Things get a bit foggy here..

July 6, 2011
There was some time on all 4’s.. some time on my side, some figure eights with my hips, some squats.. lots of breathing and yoga postures. Eventually lil buddy moved his head, and we were good to go..  shortly after Milo was born.  He was born “sunny side up” ( What does it mean when a baby is in the "posterior position"? When a baby is head-down but facing your abdomen, he's said to be in the occiput posterior (OP) position — or posterior position, for short. The term refers to the fact that the back of your baby's skull (the occipital bone) is in the back (or posterior) of your pelvis.- baby center)  and asynclitic. ( Asynclitism is a term to describe a tilt of the baby's head. The asynclitic baby has their head tilted as if listening?  Instead of the crown coming first, the parietal bone aims first. The diameter of the head is bigger this way. The vertebrae in the neck aren't lined up well with the head and the baby can't help to get born as well as the asynclitic baby- found this online!!!)

Then while still connected, Milo was with me. He laid on me.. covered in our own fluids, but there he was.. all 8.5 pounds of him was breathing and opening his eyes and being so perfect.. ( sort of .. look at pics!! ) . We were still connected. There was the cord, on my belly, shortly after, I cut the cord myself.  ( Saylor’s cord had disconnected from placenta in her birth and so we did not share this experience).

All I can say about my birth team is wow.. these woman are amazing. So patient, so confident, so loving.  they are the ones who helped support my natural birth- with no interventions. They were  fantastic.. so professional and safe and supportive.. I can’t say enough about this team...Ursula, Whitney, Laura, and Megan ( Nurse at GW).


It was the hardest thing I have ever physically done in my life.  Glad to get it off my "bucket list" and so glad to feel our family is complete. I do feel so strong, so empowered. Recovery has been so fabulous, easy, NATURAL... The Yoga postures were really helpful, the breathing got me in and out of mental blocks that surfaced.   I have had 2 VASTLY different experiences and feel SO blessed to have these 2 healthy, happy babies.  I’ll write more about the differences between OB birth and Midwifery birth in the future..to be continued!