It's a boy!

On May 7, 2010 we welcomed our third child! A beautiful boy, Lachlan.



Big brother Maxwell (5 years old) and big sister Jessica (3 years old)  were very excited about the birth of their baby brother. We wanted a surprise for this baby so we didn't find out if it was a boy or girl (like we had with our other 2 children), so I think the kids were happy to finally find out if it was a boy or a girl after nearly nine months of waiting!

This birth I have to admit I was nervous, I knew what I was in for having done it twice before and I wasn't looking forward to the pain! Max was induced and was a long labour complete with all drugs available including an epidural. Jessica however was a very fast water birth with nothing but gas.

I wanted to be ready for this birth with all the pain relief options I could find. I looked into the Mama TENS machine which I ended up using for the first phase of labour. I was extremely surprised at how effective it was at managing the contractions. These machines are great as you can use them at home once labour starts and on the way to hospital you can have pain relief - this was very appealing to me! For anyone looking for drug-free pain relief the Mama TENS is definitely worth checking out. These machines are available for hire from Pink or Blue - www.pinkorblue.com.au.

Once my waters broke I opted for the bath (and unfortunately had to remove the Mama TENS machine). After about an hour in the bath our beautiful Lachlan was born. I ended up having a very similar birth to my daughter Jessica, water birth with gas. The recovery is so much better for me (the less drugs I have). Everyone is different so you need to do what you are comfortable with!

Lachlan has been a very content baby so far and I feel blessed especially having 2 other children to care for.

Thank you to all of you for the lovely well wishes and gifts and I look forward to giving you updates on Lachlan's progress over the next few weeks. And also a very big thank you to my family especially my parents who were such a great help to me in the weeks before and after Lachlan's birth!

Amanda

P.s. Click on the image below to visit Pink or Blue for more information on the Mama TENS!