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Amber-bug at 3 weeks

~*~*~*~*~* Amber Marguerite *~*~*~*~*~
I may have come early
but that's alright
I came in the middle
of a December night
I surprised my Mum
and Dad you know
I wasn't supposed to come
for a few weeks or so
they learned how much they love me
that December night
everything felt good
everything felt right
they can't imagine life without
the way I smile
or the way I pout
and as I grow
they love me more
their life with me
is wonderful
and that's for sure
[Rhianon Bruss... January 2007]


On Wednesday morning, December 20th 2006 at around 12.20 my daughter Rhianon gave birth to her first child, Amber Marguerite Bruss... Amber weighed in at a tiny 5lb and 18 long with a full head of dark hair, but she was big in spirit with a good strong cry at birth.

I had been away for twelve days and Rhianon and Ben had been house/animal/ Stephanie sitting for me, so they decided to spend one quiet night in a motel without my puppies waking them through the night to be let out. At about 11.30pm I awoke to the phone ringing and Rhianon saying "Don't freak out, but I think I am in labor". I asked her to time the labor pains and she replied "it's not pain, just uncomfortable", so I asked that she time the uncomfortable sensations and sure enough they were three minutes apart. I was stunned, knowing my own birth experiences three minutes apart was within an hour or so of delivery. My trailer was still hitched up to the truck and it is almost impossible to turn it around at night so I was stuck until our midwife friend Jenn could get me on her way to the motel.

I didn't want them to come back here since the motel they were staying in was within minutes of a hospital in case of an emergency. The one thing that had bothered me about a home birth here was that we are half an hour from any hospital.

We were in phone contact most of the time with me talking to Ben about how labor works and with Rhianon to see how she was feeling, I became concerned at one stage she said that "I can't stand this" and talked about the transition to her and Ben, wondering if her changed tone was in fact indicating that she was in that stage of labor. A few minutes later at around 12.15 Rhianon phoned to say that it was too late because the baby was coming, she said that she needed to push and handed Ben the phone, he was too overwhelmed to talk to me again and hung up. A couple of minutes later Ben phoned, he was said "The baby is here, what do we do?", I didn't need to ask if the baby was breathing because I heard her wonderful newborn cry, loud and full of vigor, so I asked "is it a boy or a girl" to which Ben replied "I don't know", so I said to look and he said "It's a girl, we have a beautiful baby girl", his voice was so full of emotion when he said those words. He asked "What do we do" and I said that he didn't have to do anything, and told him not to cut the cord. He passed Rhianon the phone and told her that "Your Mom says not to do anything"... she was feeling great, and I told her to try to get the baby to nurse and to leave her attached to the placenta after it came away so that she would get all the good cord blood.

about half an hour old

warming up while Mom showers

I was anxious, I tried again to back my truck down to the barn to unhitch the trailer so that I could get straight there, but I came too close to hitting the barn so I knew I just had to wait. I phoned Jenn again and she told me that she was almost here. I phoned Rhianon and she told me that the placenta had come and that she had the baby against her and had a towel over her to keep her warm, that she hadn't nursed and was sleeping. She asked about Stephanie and Madeleine coming too and I said that Stephanie was asleep and she said "well wake her up." so I did that and just as the girls were dressed Jenn arrived.

We arrived a little over half an hour after the baby was born and we were very happy to see the baby's healthy pink color and warm except for her hands and feet. The cord was white indicating that the blood was out of it, so we boiled the forceps and a piece of shoe lace for about five minutes, Jenn tied it off at about nine inches long and then I cut the cord [Ben was too nervous to cut it so we told him that we he could cut is shorter later]. I took the baby to the other room to warm her by the air vent and Rhianon had a shower.

back to Mommy

Hi Daddy

Rhianon's story goes that she had no pain so she really didn't think that she was close to delivering, she had been in and out of the bathtub and was lying on the bed when she felt that she had to go to the toilet. When she sat on the toilet her water broke so she got back into the tub and knelt down in the hot water and with one push delivered her baby without assistance, holding her head and gently lifting her out of the water as she was born.

Amber finally nursed very well at about six hours old. At motel check out time Amber had nursed several times, her breathing was strong and clear, her skin a perfect newborn color & her extremities warm, Mother looked like nothing uneventful had happened to her, almost back to pre-baby size and feeling great, however Father was still trying to recover from the ordeal!!

Amber's fan club

ready to be weighed

first feed

Mom and Dad more relaxed now that Amber has nursed

Aunty Stephanie

Aunty Madeleine

Daddy, Amber and Mommy

Jen holding Amber

The reason Amber came early!

Amber - three days to six weeks
Amber - six weeks to six months