Friday, April 12, 2013

The Birth

WARNING: this is a long one! It was originally 5 pages, but I cut it down to 3 :)



3-22-13. I felt so good my whole pregnancy, except this day - I felt crampy with a lot of Braxton hicks. So I worked from my bed that day and tried to take it easy. In the evening we headed to the birth center for a quick exam. The night before I had felt a gush of water down below, but couldn’t be sure if it was my water breaking or my mucus plug. So my midwife, Brittany, wanted to do an exam to be completely sure (if it was my water breaking, then they wanted me to be in labor within 72 hrs). She checked my blood pressure, heart rate, and then we listened to the baby’s heart – she still sounded perfect (always a relief to hear). She then did the exam and discovered it was just the plug! She also noticed I was only dilated about 1cm. So we all went home thinking the baby could still come whenever but none of us were thinking it’d be too soon.

As soon as we got in the car I had strong, what I thought, were Braxton Hicks. Didn’t hurt, but they were strong enough I had to use my Hypnobaby techniques and go to my “zone”. They kept coming and coming, but again, they didn’t hurt. Just strong pressure. So I didn’t think anything of them. We then ran some errands and spent rest of the evening watching Hulu and chilling on our computers.

I continued to have strong pressure in my abdomen. At about 9PM Trev was encouraging me to call Brittany just to give her a heads up before it got any later. I really didn’t want to call because I felt like I’d been calling her non-stop, and at late hours, for the past couple of days. So I decided to time the pressure for a bit and then call. The pressure waves were about 5 minutes apart lasting 1 minute long, which is the time they told us to head into the birthing center. Well, I finally gave in and called Brittany at 9:30PM. I sheepishly told her what was going on and how I’d been feeling strong Braxton Hicks or contractions, since we had seen her but I still felt good. She was super nice about me calling late but suggested that I drink something warm and head to bed. Since she had seen me just a few hours before and I had only been 1cm dilated, she was pretty sure that I was not in labor yet and so was I. And even if I was in labor, I was probably only at the very beginning stages and it was going to be awhile – since most first pregnancies are!

So I went to bed, put on my Hypnosis Deepening track on repeat, and tried to fall asleep. Listening helped, but wasn’t helping as much as I’d hoped it would. I was feeling so frustrated because the track wasn’t saying the relaxing/deepening cues when a pressure wave was occurring. The cues being “relax” “peace” “deeper and deeper”. I NEEDED to hear those cues during the waves. After about an hour and half of listening to the track, Trevor woke up. He held me and said the cues through each pressure wave. That made all difference! I instantly felt relaxed and comfortable again. As Trevor said the cues I focused on relaxing and breathing deeply. It took a lot of work, but I was able to do it. This was around 1AM. I don’t know how far apart the pressure waves were, but they were strong and often. They made my body shake.

At about 1:45 I wasn’t comfortable to lie down anymore, so I hung on Trevor. I held my hands behind his neck, bent my knees and rocked. It felt goooood. He continued to time the waves and speak the cues. At this point the pressure waves were right on top of each other. And for some silly reason we still didn’t think I was in labor. Ha!

About 2:20 I started to feel a lot of pressure down below and the urge to push…I sat down on the toilet and my body took control and started pushing. I started making loud grunts and moans (sorry neighbors). After one push I sternly told Trevor, “Call the midwife NOW.” He called Brittany and she told us to hurry down to the center. Trevor then ran around the house trying to gather everything while my body continued pushing. Everytime a push started he’d run over to me and try and comfort/help me. But I would push him off and say, “NO! Don’t touch me! Get our stuff and let’s get OUT of here!” He gathered our stuff then tried to get me to put clothes on since I was almost naked. But the idea of getting dressed seemed ridiculous to me. So we just threw on my robe.

We then sped off to the birthing center which was 20 minutes away. I kept having the pushing sensation and tried my best to stop them…but it felt so good to push I couldn’t help it. My body had completely taken over. My water broke on the drive down. I reached down and could feel her head! I was beginning to think we were going to have this baby in the car. That was probably the worst part of it all – the fear of Trevor and me delivering the baby alone on the side of the road. We arrived to the center and no other cars were there, meaning we still had to wait for our midwife. I about lost it there.

Thankfully, another car pulled in. Someone I didn’t recognize stepped out, and went to unlock the door and said, “Get her inside quick.” I moaned back, “But I can’t move!” Even though I wanted to be inside, it seemed impossible. You can’t walk when a baby is coming out of you!

So she ran over and pulled me inside with Trev’s help. Somehow they got me inside while my baby was crowning – no joke. I went to the yellow room, which was my favorite. My body started pushing again so I leaned over on a dresser. She told Trevor to get me undressed and on the bed on my hands and knees. She seemed a little frantic (understandably), but I trusted her. Now these beds are high, but somehow I got up on it, on my hands and knees and felt another push. And then a BAM a head came out! Bright blue! I was stunned. I could not believe it. I kept saying, “oh my gosh, oh my gosh”. I could hear Trevor in the background getting emotional too. The woman suctioned the mouth and nose (later she and Trevor said that her eyes were wide open when her head came out and just stared at them for a minute). I pushed once more and she was out. Our baby girl was out. Right then Brittany walked in. And they all helped me lay on my back and handed my sweet baby to me.

The cord was kind of short, so she could only lie on my stomach. Trevor was at my side, hugging and kissing me. And together we stared in AWE at this little life we’d created and brought into the world together. I was so amazed. I couldn’t believe it. The pressure and discomfort immediately disappeared. It was like I was never in labor! We chose to delay the cord clamping, but once it was ready Trevor cut the cord.

The woman who delivered our baby girl was one of the student midwives. We had never met her before and this was her first time delivering alone. She later thanked us for letting her be a part of the experience and said, “Oh, by the way, I’m Katy.” Ha! Nice to meet you and thank you for catching our baby!!!

My birth room

The midwives did just a quick check on her while I held her then left the room for a good hour or so while our new little family got to know each other better. We all just stared at one another. She was so alert and so calm. Later the midwives came back in and stitched me up. While Brittany stitched me, Katy and Trevor did the newborn exam on Rosie.



They did the exam right next to me on the bed, so I could still reach out and touch her if I needed to. She was 20” long and weighed 5lbs 14oz! Trevor got to weigh her. Even though she was so light, she was an average length. Obviously she belongs to us – long and lengthy!



The midwives kept commenting on how calm she was. I’ve read that that’s a common thing to hear with Hypnobaby babies. She only squeaked twice, and that was right after she was born. Three hours later we headed home. We left just the two of us, then came home with Rosie! Weirdest/coolest feeling ever.

It took a while for the whole experience to soak in. I mean, I didn’t know I was in labor until right before she was born. Even though it wasn’t the birth I had planned, I’m still so so so happy with the experience. I really wanted a water birth and we both wanted Trevor to catch her. But that’s ok because it all turned out perfect in the end!


I loved my midwives, they were amazing. I'm so grateful they were there to help us through that wild night! I’m also sooooo thankful for Trevor. He was the PERFECT birth partner. I honestly couldn't have done it without him.

6 comments:

  1. Wow! I can't believe Rosie came so fast! I would be screaming hysterically in the car .... Especially a 20 minute drive! I'm glad you had an amazing experience with a midwife. I wanted to go to one for our first but Ryan thought it would be better to do it for our next... Since we will have an idea of what to expect. I love how private and personal the experience is for the mom/dad/baby. :) next time though, for sure a birthing center!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Oh my goodness! Congratulations you guys! I can't believe your crazy night! I'm so glad you made it through and she came safely. She is an absolutely beautiful girl. I can't wait to see her in person someday.

    ReplyDelete
  3. This story is awesome, freaky at the time I'm sure, but awesome! I wouldn't tell Kell anything about it because I wanted him to read it himself. I can't believe you didn't feel much pain at first. That is lucky but maybe not so lucky so for first time when you don't know how your body reacts with labor. We'll now your know! Ha.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Love it! I can't believe you made it on your own at home for so long! That is fabulous... and a little scary! That room is gorgeous too!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Yeah! Love it! So glad you had a good experience! I love HypnoBabies too! Rosie is beautiful and you are beautiful as well!

    ReplyDelete
  6. What an amazing story!! I love you!! Thank you for sharing with me. :) you are SO awesome! Isn't it amazing that our bodies just know exactly what to do? I love that picture of you gazing over at her with that big smile! Ohhh,,, and yes... I cried through this!!! :)

    ReplyDelete