My mom came into town on the 2nd of December as baby's "due" date was the 5th. On the 1st (39 weeks and 5 days, the exact date at which her brother arrived) I began having contractions. They were irregular, 5-10 min apart for oh, about 20 hours. Yes, 20 hours. Well, fast forward a week and still no baby. Just lots of contractions on the road to nowhere. My mom was due to leave on the 11th, but decided not to chance it and switched her flight to leave a few days later. By the 9th, contractions were picking up again and they seemed "different" somehow and I debated whether to have my midwife come out or not. I ended up in tears on the phone with her because I just couldn't decide if this was "real" or not and definitely didn't want to waste her time. Up until about 39 weeks I had been good and patient and not at all ready for baby to arrive. It was the contractions tricking me day in and day out that started to wear on me to the point where I finally decided I WAS ready and needed baby here pronto. Well, after hearing my tears, my sweet midwife arrived at my door with a brownie and ice cream. We also decided to check my cervix (until this point we had done no checks) and I was dilated to a 2...we felt comfortable with everyone getting some sleep and checking in the next morning.
Well, by 3 am the contractions had picked up enough that I felt ready to call in the team. My girlfriends had all had very brief second labors and I wasn't taking any chances that my support would not be here!
Uh..."short" for me turned out to be 8 hours, not the 1 or 2 my girlfriends all had. During labor I actually mentioned this to my midwife and MAY have called these girls a not-so-nice name...maybe...
Like my labor with my son, I vomited. Unlike that labor, I was encouraged to eat (which I did not want to do) and drink (which they forced me to do) and they held peppermint oil under my nose to stave off the worst of the sickness. My doula reminded me at one point to just focus on the contraction at hand, not to worry about the ones to come. I didn't say anything but inwardly I thought, "There's going to be ANOTHER contraction?!" I had all the intentions in the world of studying hypnobabies (a self hypnosis technique to help with relaxation during labor) but never found the time to complete the program. I guess I picked up enough of it though because in between contractions I would drift off into a deep rest. It wasn't quite sleep, but it helped.
The funny part of all this is that 5 feet away, our son was sound asleep in our bed. When he awoke at 7am to a room full of people he was completely unphased. He said hello to everyone and then went to find my mom who kept him busy all morning. Occasionally I heard him in the other room and later found out that my mom had told him I was "singing" and so he also decided to "sing" to baby to come out. Too cute.
Around 8am things picked up for me. My poor husband...every time I needed to use the bathroom I would nearly cry because standing up I would have a contraction, have another on the way to the bathroom, another before I sat on the toilet, would have to stand up WHILE I was on the toilet to have one...the whole time gripping his shoulders with my life yelling at him to push my back, which he said he was doing but I totally couldn't feel it. Sidenote: the next day I had horrible aching in my back from all that counterpressure I "couldn't feel."
I hadn't slept since I had been awake with contractions, so I decided to lay in bed and just ride the contractions out there...they slowed a bit and again, I drifted off between contractions that I got enough rest to make it through, thank goodness. I remember at one point looking at my doula and almost panicking, saying, "I'm getting a break. Why am I getting a break? I don't want a break because it will suck soon!"
My midwife asked me to get up from the bed because clearly my labor progressed faster when I stood. I went into the bathroom and at one point was holding onto the faucet thinking how mad my husband would be if I pulled it off because I remember how expensive and hard to install it was. Eventually, I somehow ended up on all fours. Apparently I made a different sound because all of a sudden my midwife, who had been in another room, was there asking if I wanted to have my baby in front of the toilet. I had been getting SLAMMED the last few minutes with contractions and couldn't see an end in sight, so I really didn't know why she was asking me that, but I logically said, "Well, THAT doesn't seem sanitary!" It was strange because I still had not lost my plug nor had my water broken. On all fours, though, I was involuntarily pushing at the end of the contractions and could feel a strange bulging which I assumed was my bag of waters.I got into the tub and on the second contraction there was a POP and my water broke. Then my midwife started giving my husband directions on how to catch the baby...I remember thinking, REALLY? NOW? I had worked so hard for so long, though I refused to look at the clock, but was somehow surprised that it would actually be over soon. I pushed for 10 min and yelled, "COME ON BABY!" and out came my 8lb 12oz baby girl at 12:15 pm. My husband caught her, actually describing her to me as she came out, telling me she had hair and that he was touching her nose. Everyone told me I should try to look...but I couldn't because I was clinging to the side of the tub with everyone behind me and I was afraid to let go in fear I couldn't get my balance, mental or physical, back again. As soon as she was out we called my mom and son in, who said, "Hi baby!" He was so excited!
Holding my baby in my arms for the first time washed away any tiredness I had. What an amazing rush!
The moments after a homebirth are like nothing you can ever experience in a hospital. No mayhem, no bright lights. More importantly, I was never made to feel scared that my baby's heartrate was dropping or threatened with a c-section if things didn't progress on an abstract timeline. Lying in my bed, I suddenly looked down and said, "I have a BABY!" I gazed into my baby's eyes and she gazed back and I was so overwhelmed that I began to cry...shortly followed by my midwife, her assistant and my mother. It was truly one of the best moments of my life.
If you are pregnant or planning to become pregnant I highly recommend watching The Business of Being Born and reading Ina May's Guide to Childbirth. Be educated on your choices!
If you are pregnant or planning to become pregnant I highly recommend watching The Business of Being Born and reading Ina May's Guide to Childbirth. Be educated on your choices!
<3 SO glad you got your idyllic birth story!
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