October 23, 2004

Dear Michele,

I won’t have time to finish this all the way through now (Malia will want to eat again soon, no doubt), but I’ve been wanting to write you all week to express my deepest, most heartfelt gratitude to you for helping us bring Malia into the world. I hope I can give you at least a sense of how appreciative I, and we, are.

You were amazing! Thank you first for urging me to pump and take herbs in order to stimulate the contractions (since I was 8 days overdue), and for loaning me the pump to do that.

And thank you so much for all the incredible work you did for the birth itself. It was wonderful how you kept getting me to change positions. But before that, the next huge thing was using manual massage to open up my scar-tissued cervix.

I’ve told my birth story to several people and they’ve all commented that doctors in a hospital probably would not have even tried that, and might have sent me straight for a c-section! And to think I have birth only 4.5 hours later—what a waste that would have been. So thank you for that.

Also, thank you for the excellent words you had for me when I needed them—I especially liked, “push harder than it hurts.” That really worked well. There were others too—for getting through the contractions—but in my sleep deprived state I can’t remember them right now!

I also really appreciated some of the great tips you gave us after the birth—most importantly getting us nursing side-by-side right from the start. Although breastfeeding has been challenging, it’s starting to go pretty well, and we’re having pretty decent nights thanks to the side-by-side position.

I hope this letter adequately conveys my gratitude. You will have a special place in our family “heart” for always—

Best wishes,

Anna, mom to Malia Rose born 10/15/2004 at 4:40am