Cleo and Dad.27
by Kevin Witschel
During the labor, I supported Kyla with her contractions—holding her, dancing with her, and pressing points on her back. Although I wanted to be there to support Kyla, I also had lots of stress, worries, and fears. Stress about money, and worry about not being a good father for our baby or a good partner for Kyla. The contractions stopped and started, stopped and started. The labor lasted thirty-six hours overall, and lasted through two nights. Kyla was tired and our dream of having a homebirth started to disappear from her murky vision. Her water had broken the first morning and our midwife told us that if we didn’t have the baby soon we would have to go to the hospital. Kyla wanted to go, prompted by her feelings of not wanting to go through so much pain any longer. She thought it would be easier at the hospital. I told her I really wanted to have the birth that we had wanted and that we could do it. It was at that point that Kyla, our unborn baby, and I lay in our bed. Together we cuddled, bonded our love, and prayed for what we really wanted—to have our baby at home in water.
After our lie-down, we ate dinner. Then, within minutes, Kyla started active labor and it didn’t stop! At 5:30 a.m. the next morning, Kyla told me the baby was engaged and that she could feel it and our baby was on its way out. I got in the birthing pool with her and watched in a little mirror that faced her vagina so I could see our baby come out. When I saw the head coming out, suddenly all my fears, concerns, and worries had washed away. I couldn’t help but be completely present in that moment. Pure Bliss took over me and I never felt so in love with another being in my life. Our baby girl came out at 5:51 a.m. on February 25, in our home, in water. When she came out, she lay on Kyla’s chest. She bobbed her head up and down with her eyes open. She had lots of hair. She was beautiful, and I cried. We lay there until Kyla birthed the placenta, then I cut the cord. We named our daughter Cleo Melody Witschel. She is a Pisces and loves the water.
I was inspired to feed Kyla her placenta. To make it go down easier, I ground up the placenta in a blender, dehydrated it for two days, then ground it again into powder and put it into capsules. I could feel deep in myself how important regenerating Kyla through her placenta was. I had been hesitant at first, but when Kyla asked me to do it during her pregnancy, I was honored. I’ve now done this for five other families, and it has become a deep passion of mine in contributing to healing women after childbirth.
Cleo and Dad.27
Kevin is a visual artist and sheetmetal roofer living in Victoria, BC.