Baby Makson

Yes, we did have the baby! (almost 6 weeks ago) He was born Sept. 24th at 5:00 A.M weighing 7 lbs 2 oz.

Makson was # 5 and final child to enter the Runia family for real this time! :)

Makson was also the only child delivered naturally with a midwife and no pain meds. No, I did not go crazy and yes it was a conscious decision. About 2 months before my due date, I looked into a place in St. George called the Birth Sweet. It is an old pioneer home only 4 blocks from the hospital that has been turned into a birthing center. I talked to one of the midwives there, Liz Smith, and couldn't help but feel drawn to trying it all natural. I went to tour the Birth Sweet and met with Liz. She is a certified midwife with tons of birth experience (over 1200) and was highly recommended. Plus, she really put me at ease and made me believe that I was strong enough to do it natural. I really felt at peace with it, and even though I was TERRIFIED of the pain that surely awaited me, I made the decision to just do it!

So of course, 2 weeks before my due date in the middle of the night, contractions started. By the time we called the midwife and Tyler's aunt Linda to babysit, the contractions were coming strong. I got to the Birth Sweet at 3:45. Makson was born 1 hour and 15 min. later. It was a good and bad thing that he came so fast. Good in that I might have demanded an epidural if it had gone on any longer, and bad because when labor goes that fast, you have no time to prepare physically and emotionally. It was definitely painful, but so worth it! Not only did we save at least $5,000 but I got to give birth to the sound of a rooster crowing instead of monitors beeping. I got to go home after less than 4 hours after birth and sleep in my own comfy bed with no nurses waking me up or blood pressure cuff constantly going off. And I got to experience something really amazing. I got to know what birth feels like, and what it was like for the pioneer women...holy moly they were tough chicks!! I got to feel so close to death while bringing in a new life. (no I was NOT close to death, but sure felt like it and sorta wanted to be there at the end!) :)

It was an experience I will never forget nor regret.

Now, life with 5 children is a whole other story.......lets just say the house, my hair, and our schedule is a MESS, we don't do much of anything including grocery shopping, the Wendy's down the street has been benefiting from our lack of groceries, and sometimes I do daydream about the "good old days" when we only had 2 or 3 kids.....But all in all we are extremely happy and Makson has been a delight!