That Friday we had a BPP (biophysical profile) test scheduled, which includes an ultrasound and a non-stress test, where they check all of baby’s stats and make sure everything is still OK. They look for baby’s movement, breathing, fluid levels and muscle tone, and then hook you up to a monitor to make sure baby’s heart rate is increasing with movement, etc.

Annnd….we kind of failed the test.

Baby was in the middle of a nice long nap during the ultrasound, and was NOT interested in coming out to play. Thus he got a big fat ZERO in the movement box, and a big fat ZERO in the breathing box, because that was also way down.

Luckily he came out to play for the non stress test, and they recorded lots of movement there.

However, since we technically failed the test, the midwives asked me to come back the next morning to repeat the whole shenanigan all over again.

Goodie.

My midwife assured me it was nothing to get concerned about, since they saw lots of movement eventually, and that lower breathing rates can actually be a sign of a baby getting ready to head on out, but it was another day of waiting, and another drive to the hospital the next morning.

Or not…

We went home, I promptly got on the elliptical and went for a nice long (but slow!) walk. Ate 1/2 a pineapple. Then got up to some shenanigans of our own later that night.

Something seems to have worked!

At 3:30 am, I woke up feeling those telltale cramps. By 4am, my contractions started. They were regular from the get-go, coming about 5 minutes apart, but only lasting about 30 seconds or so. I stayed in bed for the next two hours, determined to rest and let the family keep sleeping, and knowing full well that my 3 year old son Griffin would be up at 6:01, and there was no chance of anyone sleeping in. I started to make lists in my head…lists of all the things I had to do when I got up – strip the good sheets off the bed, blow up the pool a bit more, pack the last of Griffin’s things, oh and muffins…wouldn’t it be nice to have fresh muffins this morning?

Just before 6am I woke my husband Steve up to share the news.

The first few hours of the morning flew by in a haze. We called Grandma and Grandpa to come pick up Griffin, called my mom, called my friend Gretel who was coming to be my doula, and finally, called the midwives, all while my contractions sped up to about 3 minutes apart. I took a shower, and spent about an hour sitting onto the birthing ball and just breathing through the contractions.  Things slowed down a bit for that hour, maybe because I was so relaxed…and maybe because upon coming to check on me at one point, Steve found me trying to move the changing table to plug in the heating pad for when baby was born, and in no uncertain terms told me to sit back down and chill out until the midwives arrived.  The stress of having me in labour and Griffin being very hyper was a bit much I think!  (However, I did get those muffins made!)

At 8:30am, everyone seemed to converge all at once. Grandma and Grandpa arrived, just in the nick of time, because we were starting to lose patience with the 3 year old Captain Full O’Beans! The midwives arrived. The dog went crazy. Gretel arrived. The midwives checked me and declared me 4 cm dilated, and in active labour, all while Dudley the dog barked madly in the background.

And then suddenly, it was quiet again.  Griffin, Grandma and Grandpa were gone, thankfully taking the dog with them, and I had the go-ahead to get in the birthing tub.

Ah the tub! It was warm, I was buoyant, it was all good. And those stories you read, about water birthing, and how getting in the birthing tub just makes the pain of the contractions “melt away?”

Um….not for me!

Don’t get me wrong, it was relaxing as stink to hang out in the water all day. It was easy to change positions, it was soothing and warm, but there was nothing melting about my contractions!

The midwives encouraged me to get out of the tub fairly regularly, as walking around sped things up. I got out for the first time around noon I think, just around the time that my Mom arrived. Another check found me at 6cms, and we decided to break my water just to keep things moving along. (I’m kind of with the “lets just get this over with” school, that says bring on the pain, if it means it’s over quicker!)

I think it was shortly after 1pm that I got out of the tub again. The contractions had seriously intensified, and I could no longer get comfortable in the tub. Buoyancy was suddenly unwanted, I wanted something solid and supporting under me that I could lean on, and I knew push against when the time came.

And the time came sooner than I anticipated. We moved to our bedroom, the walk there having stepped things up another notch.  I knew we were close.  Steve snuggled up on the bed next to me for a few delightful minutes while I worked through the next few contractions.  Suddenly I started to feel the pressure in my bum, and the urge to push became overwhelming.  The midwife quickly checked me, and I was glad to hear that we were good to go, everything was dilated and effaced and all the other things they needed to be. So suddenly we were pushing. And just as suddenly, it was over. I think maybe a grand total of 4 pushes and a few tribal howls later, I was holding my beautiful new son in my arms.  They brought him right up to my chest and he let out a few gurgle-y cries.

Now, aside from all the “technical elements” of the story, I want to tell you a bit about what I remember about the beauty of being able to have this experience in my own home. Our house, which is full of windows facing in all directions, was flooded with the most beautiful sun light all day long…I’m not sure I’ve seen a more beautiful day so far this winter. Despite the fact that there were 6 people in the house plus me, it was silent, almost reverent, all day long. It was an amazing feeling to be surrounded by familiar things, familiar people, all of whom obviously held a deep respect for what they were witnessing. I hardly felt worthy of the respect as I lounged in the water and later howled on the bed…heck, most of what I was doing was breathing. However, here in the afterglow, holding a stunning little human being in my arms as I type, I fully understand the importance of the event. It’s life giving…it’s giving life.

I really don’t know where everyone was or what everyone did all day long, but the one thing I do know is that Steve never left my side – he was amazing, strong, and I couldn’t have done it without him. Gretel too – she did leave my side, to make sandwiches and take pictures and do all kinds of other stuff that I’m certain I have no idea of the breadth of, but every time a contraction hit she was right back there at my side, pushing on my back, or not, depending on my mood at the time. I’m so thankful they were a part of the day.

I’m also so glad that my Mom was able to be there. My Mom arrived on time for Griffin’s (hospital) birth, but ended up going back to our house to grab a bit of rest, as we thought it was going to be hours before Griffin arrived. Griffin surprised us all (including the second midwife who arrived in barely enough time to catch him!) and my mom missed the big moment. I’m glad she didn’t miss it this time!

Corben is, in a word, perfect. He weighed in at 8lbs, 8 oz.  He is a totally chilled out baby…very little phases him. Even when he’s hungry he gets a bit worked up, but it’s nothing like the end of the world cries that my first son had when he was a baby. The only thing he hates is being cold, and thus, being naked or anywhere even close to partially undressed. Other than that he’s eating all day, waking only once or twice in the night to feed, and generally being adorable.  We’re all very much in love!

Jenn
Proud Mama to 2 beautiful boys.  My husband and I are just a couple of folks (with a dog) who decided to leave our little apartment in downtown Toronto for greener pastures (literally!) and to start a family.  We now live on a 2 acre slice of paradise on the “Roof of Ontario” – the highest part of the province.
You can follow our adventures at www.lifeontheroof.blogspot.com

I had bloody show on Friday, and contractions in the morning. After running some errands and shipping my boys off for a pre-planned out of town trip, my contractions stopped. I slept well that night, and they picked up again on Saturday. I laid around the house all day, watching Ugly Betty (great noncommittal TV programming!), snacking, baking, and blowing up my birth tub. I liked being alone, just me and my baby. I wrote her a letter, telling her about all the good things, cloth diapers, a birth tub, nursing, big brothers, etc when she decided to come and be born. I was ready.

Around 8pm, I felt my contractions picking up in timing and somewhat in strength, but it wasn’t anything to get excited about. I timed them for about two hours, and they were 3 to 5 minutes apart. I could walk through them and stand, I mostly stood and laid down when I felt I needed to.

I posted my times to my personal journal and my birth partner took a look, gave me a call. I told her I felt OK through it all. I retreated to my bedroom where I labored from about 1030 until 1145. I rocked back and forth on my feet, knowing that gravity is my friend! They were intense contractions, but I didn’t want to call my birth partner and have her waiting around for me.

Around 1145 I realized that I said out loud ‘I can’t do this! Why did I sign up for this?!’ and of course the fbomb quite loudly after some pretty powerful contractions. I called my birth partner and said please come, and she hopped in the car straight away and drove up.

Two or three contractions after that, I was almost worried. The contractions were very powerful and strong, I had to comfort myself and remind myself to stay grounded, keep my verbalization low. I hit a high pitch cry and almost shed tears, but reminded myself again that I could do this. I didn’t watch the clock because I didn’t want to know how much time had passed.

I was working through a pretty tough contraction when I felt my water break. I realized that I was tensing my buttocks, I finally relaxed my muscles, It was an actual POP. Really loud, and fluid gushed down my legs. I was REALLY happy. I knew things would get a little better after that. The water breaking made me drop to my knees. I cupped my vagina, and knew her head was right there. There was tons of pressure. I relaxed my bottom, and felt her head slide right down. I braced my perineum, her head expanded the opening slowly, I breathed in and out slowly and made sure that I was slow and careful.

Her head totally crowned and birthed itself, I felt her little ears, and her face. She was posterior! No wonder I was having so much back labor. I felt for the cord, it was around her neck once, but very loose. With the next contraction, my body pushed her body out and onto the floor. I unwound the cord, she gave out a big shout! Like “Hey mom you said I was going to be born in a tub! Wth!”

I gave her the once over, and rejoiced in the fact I wasn’t in labor any more! I scooped her up and held her close to my body, she gurgled and grunted and yelled some more. She was completely pink! Not blue, or purple at all. She smelled wonderful, like birth.

I sat down on the floor, wiped off my hand, and gave my birth partner a call, she was IN THE DRIVEWAY!

My birth partner called me back a second later, and said that I had locked all the doors! I had to get up off the floor and unlock the back door to let her in. We settled in the living room on some chux pads, I birthed the placenta, it was LOVELY. My daughter latched on to nurse for a bit. She’s got quite the latch! A born nurser. I had my birth partner hold my dear new daughter  while I had a quick shower. I did not bleed much in the shower, a great sign.

My birth partner put us in bed and I weighed and measured my girl. My birth partner then made me a placenta smoothie. Ladies, seriously, if you have had PPD (post-partum depression) or might be prone to it, or hell, even if you’re not, I highly suggest making a placenta smoothie after birth. I could NOT taste it at all. All I tasted was strawberries and yogurt. Please please, if you can spare yourself the evils that is PPD, please eat your placenta! Its especially easy when you’re not watching someone prepare it!

My birth partner, spoon fed me the smoothie and we laughed and talked. She cleaned up the futon and mopped the hallway where I had dripped some blood when opening the door. My birth partner had me take some cramping tincture that tasted like ground up grasshoppers. Seriously, it was worse than eating placenta raw I’m sure! :lol But it does the trick. My after pains were quite strong, especially when my daughter was nursing. Did I mention she’s a pro?

My birth partner then turned off the lights in my room locked the door and left! I can’t wait to see her later today.

My daughter and I slept til about 7am, I changed her beautiful meconium diaper, it was thick and glossy. She nursed some more. I called a few east coast friends, and started sending pictures to cel phones of west coast friends. I feel amazing right now. No emotional distress, its actually been really interesting waking up alone with her, changing her diapers, walking around the house. I’m not sore. I’m starving though, so I hope someone shows up soon with some grub! I could eat a horse.

My mom and my boys are on their way back from their trip. My mom told them there is a huge surprise for them when they get home.  I haven’t named her yet, I’ve tried to have a couple conversations with her, but she keeps falling asleep. I guess a name can wait for now.

I knew that I was planning a UC (unassisted childbirth) with a friend here to encourage me, I didn’t plan on her not being here at all, but it worked out for the best. I wasn’t scared. I kept my head about me, removing the cord, making sure she was breathing, laying her on her side to spit out any yuckies.

It was such a different space when I was all alone. I was the one encouraging myself to continue, to stay focused. My body and my baby worked as the perfect team and we had a perfect birth. No one shouting, to push, no one making suggestions. It was all me and her. I cannot wait until she is old enough to hear the story of her birth and be empowered. To know that she was apart of something so magical and special that most women take for granted.

I have a DAUGHTER! a freaking daughter omg. She so cute. I can’t wait to put her in a dress!

Stats:
Born 8/02 at 1:00am
8 pounds
21.5 inches long
13 inch head

Noel
Single mother of three, graphic designer, birth and breast feeding advocate, working towards becoming a postpartum doula as a placenta encapsulation specialist. Author of the original Housepoet’s Famous Lactation Boosting Cookie Recipe.
www.noelove.com

Once I started cleaning, signs began to appear!  Bloody show?  Check.  Mucus plug? Check.  Nesting?  The baseboards looked great!

By around 11pm my contractions were about 10 minutes apart and felt like really strong menstrual cramps with a little bleeding.  I called my doula who told me that I was probably in early labor and that I should try to get some sleep because my baby was probably going to be born the next day.

I tried to lay down in bed to rest, but lying down made the contractions more intense and I couldn’t sleep through them, so I sat on the toilet for the first half of the night and later on my birthing ball and rested on against my bed while my husband slept.  I felt the contractions very strongly in my lower abdomen and upper legs.  Laying down was the worst, so I spent the entire night sitting on my birthing ball or the toilet.  I did that while listening to Hypnobabies “Easy First Stage” on repeat until about 5:30am, when I decided it was time to wake my hubby.  At that point my contractions were about 4-5 minutes apart.

Our doula arrived at 7am and at that time my contractions had slowed to about 6-7 minutes apart (my doula told me it is not uncommon for contractions to slow in the morning).  She was there while I labored by my bed.  Taking deep breaths at the beginning of the contractions and then mooing (yes, mooing) as the contraction peaked helped the best.  I vomited a couple of times but it didn’t bother me at all–I had been drinking flavored Vitamin Water, so it didn’t taste all that bad coming up.

At 10:15a my water broke with a monster contraction – it didn’t hurt (it was intense!), but I do think I sounded like some sort of animal in the woods as it passed.  At that point our doula said it was time to head to the hospital, which we did. The drive wasn’t too bad, I think I was in that “resting” period that comes before pushing.  It was a 30 minute drive to the hospital (thanks in part to Chicago traffic) and when we arrived at check-in I had decided that humming in the waiting from was the best way to deal with my post-broken water contractions.

When they checked me I was fully dilated, so they sent me up to L&D (with one of those kits on the gurney for in case I delivered in the elevator.  I began pushing as soon as I got to the room, on my hands and knees.  The doctor wanted me to turn and lay on my back (mostly because I was not positioned well on my hands and knees–I kept straightening my legs), but I still did not want to lay down, so I told him no way and my doula and the nurse helped me get into a better hands-knees position.

I pushed with each contraction that came (2 or 3) and my son was born in 15 minutes.  I was not at all prepared for what pushing would feel like, I don’t know how to describe it – overwhelming?  Otherworldly? It didn’t hurt, no ring of fire, but, wow, to feel a baby come through my pelvis.  Weird.  I felt his head, shoulders, and then his body slid out and I was done!  Incredible.

They placed his 8 pounds, 12 oz body on my belly.  It was pretty cool.  They delayed clamping his cord and I was only separated from him while they stitched my tear (he came out so fast!) but his dad held him skin-to-skin while the doctor tended to me.  My delivery was so fast that the attending physician did not make it to the room in time, and they pulled in a resident who was on his way to another delivery in to my room to catch my baby.

As I only spent 15 minutes in the hospital before delivering, my birth was completely drug free.  I even missed the antibiotics for my GBS, but the doctors weren’t concerned because baby’s delivery was so soon after my water broke.

I have to admit that I was a little nervous about delivering in the hospital, but I was really happy with the doctors and nurses who assisted me, and my doula was indispensable, my husband and I couldn’t have done it without her. (My husband was awesome, too, especially when he told the resident not to give my a cervical check–they had already determined that I was complete downstairs–my husband told him that we wanted to limit the hands in my vagina).  Also, I really liked the Hypnobabies preparation.  At the time I was convinced I wasn’t doing it “right”, but in retrospect I think it worked perfectly.

Laboring at home was key, I felt very comfortable there and suspect that if I had been at the hospital I may have been a little more on edge and progressed a little slower.  My doula said that I could have done the whole thing at home, and next time I just might!

Yay, new baby!

Danielle

On Sunday, March 1, 2009, my husband had an attack of labrynthitis (vertigo). It usually takes him several weeks to recover. Since I was already 40 weeks (or over, depending on the calculator), we knew there wasn’t going to be that much time, but I really hoped it was be at least a few days, otherwise he wasn’t going to be able to help much, if at all.

About 7:20am on March 2, I woke up to go to the washroom & felt like I was kind of damp. I stood up & gushed water all over the floor. Every step I took to the bathroom, I gushed more water. 3 labours, 3 times with my water breaking with no contractions, despite all my attempts to have it start differently. In the bathroom I quickly checked to see if I could feel any cord, since I didn’t think the baby was engaged. No sign of anything, so I figured it was fine. I put a towel between my legs, went out to the living room & called my friend, Jamie, who had offered to come to the birth, to let her know that I’d probably go into labour in the next couple days, since my water had broken. After I talked to her for a bit, I went back to bed & tried to get more sleep.

When I eventually got up, I was still leaking a little bit, but it only seemed to happen when I got up from lying down or bent over. I grabbed the fetoscope & listened for the heartbeat. It was nice & strong. I also started getting contractions around this time. They were fairly mild, I just had to pause briefly when I got one. The baby was quite active during them.They were about half an hour apart. I called Jamie again to let her know I was getting contractions, but still figured labour was a long way off, since I’d had to wait 3 days after my water broke with my second.

I spent the day mostly taking it easy; losing bits of plug all day. The contractions stayed about half an hour apart until around 10, when they started coming every 12-15 minutes. I decided to try to get some sleep. I realized it could be sooner than 3 days until labour really started, but was still hoping that I had at least another day for my husband to recover. By this point I seemed to have stopped losing plug & had a bit of blood.

I didn’t get much rest, the contractions got a lot more painful when I was lying down & started coming closer together. About 1:30am I couldn’t take it anymore. I was thinking that an epidural sounded like a lovely idea. My husband was still up, but I made him go to bed. I was still thinking it would be a long time. Getting up made the contractions hurt less, but they were still pretty painful.

Around 2:30, I couldn’t take it anymore & decided to try having a shower to see if the water helped with the contractions any. I had a waterbirth planned, the pool was all blown up, but it was in the bedroom with the sleeping kids & I really didn’t want to disturb them if I didn’t have to. So, I got in the shower. It was wonderful. Standing up was difficult, though, so I sat on the tub floor & just aimed the shower sprayer at my belly. By this point I had pretty much given up on Hypnobabies. It seemed to have helped a bit with the early contractions, but they didn’t really hurt anyway.

I stayed in the bathroom for nearly an hour. I knew the contractions were getting harder & closer together & I really wanted my waterbirth, but didn’t really want to get out. I kept hoping that hubby would wake up & come in so I could stay there while he got the pool ready, but he never did. So, I reluctantly got out of the tub, dried off & decided to try to move the pool into the living room. I wasn’t sure we’d have enough space, but was hopeful that it would fit. At this point contractions were coming about every 5 minutes, but picking up fast.

I rolled the pool out to the living room, discovered it would fit & went to grab the plastic & sheets to put under it. I woke up dh around 3:30. The thought of trying to dig out the hose & fill the pool was too overwhelming. I laid out sheets (for padding & warmth, my pool didn’t have an inflatable bottom & our floor was concrete) & put plastic over them; between contractions which were coming every 2-3 minutes by now. At some point in here (around 3:40am or so), I also called Jamie & told her the contractions were about 5 minutes apart. She said she was going to have a shower, then see if I wanted her to come up.

I thought about getting in while it was filling, but it seemed like way too much effort. When the pool was finally full (no idea how long it took, in our practice run it was 25 minutes, though) my husband encouraged me to get in. I had to go find a shirt to wear in it, since for some reason I felt really uncomfortable with the idea of being totally naked. The kids were awake by this point, not sure if it was me getting the plastic out of the bedroom, hubby getting the hose out of the closet across from the bedroom, or my moaning through the contractions that woke them, but at least it meant I could turn on the light to find a shirt. I finally found the one I was looking for & got in the pool. I think it was about 4:30am at this point, but I really wasn’t paying attention to the time anymore.

The contractions were really close together & very painful. As expected, doing the pool was about the extent of what dh was capable of doing for me with how awful he was feeling. I figured Jamie was probably on her way & just hadn’t called. Just before 5, she called to say she was on her way. I really had thought she’d be here any minute & was upset she was going to be at least 20 more minutes. H told her he thought I was in transistion. I wasn’t moaning through most of the contractions anymore, just screaming & begging dh to kill me. I was also giving deliberate little pushes on some of the contractions, just because it seemed to make them hurt a little bit less.

Ok, to be totally honest I was pushing quite hard on a couple of them. I just couldn’t handle the pain anymore. I was trying all kinds of different positions to try to get away from how much it hurt. I was really scared of a long pushing phase because I knew I couldn’t take this much pain for that long. I was also scared that I was pushing too soon since I’d only been in active labour for a few hours & I wasn’t feeling any kind of pushing urge, it just felt less painful.

I asked h to check me, since at least then I’d have some idea if pushing hard was likely to cause problems. He checked & said he couldn’t feel anything that seemed like cervix, just something jello-y feeling & possibly the head underneath. He figured the squishy thing was probably the sac. I started pushing with every contraction after he told me he didn’t feel any cervix, but I still wasn’t pushing really hard.

Sometime around here, Jamie arrived. It was about 5:20am Dh was relieved. He was starting to worry he was going to have to decide whether I needed to go to the hospital or not. In fact, just after she called, I’d told him that I was going to make her take me to the hospital as soon as she arrived because I couldn’t take it anymore.

The baby was obviously moving down.  At this point, I wasn’t even really thinking about the baby, I just wanted to get rid of that feeling. It’s horrible! So I started pushing really hard, several times each contraction. I was just concentrating on pushing & so, even though I felt it, it took me awhile to realize that I was feeling a burning sensation & a little bit longer to process what that meant.

I told everyone (the kids were watching from the hall, I think my screaming had scared them a bit, especially the youngest) that I thought I was crowning. Then I reached down to feel if I actually was. The baby’s head was partially out already, with the edges of the membranes floating in the water. What I really wanted to do at this point was to push as hard as I could to get his head out & stop the burning. I also really wanted to avoid tearing.

So, despite how much I wanted the burning to stop, I slowly pushed his head out. Push, pause, burn, push, pause, burn. After about 7 pushes, his head was out. I waited until the next contraction & gave a hard push & his shoulders came out. It almost felt like there was a ‘pop’ as they came out. I think Jamie said his arm was out even before I pushed out his shoulders, but the timing of everything is a bit fuzzy. Unlike with my second, who had just slipped out on the push after his head was out, I had to push again to get N’s body out after his shoulders.

He floated up to the surface of the pool, face down. I grabbed him out of the water & brought him to my chest, then checked to see if he was a boy or a girl. I was kind of surprised to find that he was a boy, but also relieved that labour was over. It was 5:35 am, only 4 hours from when I couldn’t handle the contractions in bed anymore, even though they had still been 10 minutes apart.

I leaned back against the side of the pool and looked down at him. He was a little blue & completely quiet, which freaked me out a bit. Then I saw him move his mouth & knew he was ok. He looked up at me, then promptly closed his eyes & went to sleep. Jamie grabbed a towel & covered him with it.

After waiting for a little, I started getting a few mild contractions and decided to try pushing again to see if the placenta was ready to come out. It took a bit more work then I was expecting & as it came out, Nick woke up & cried for the first time.

Before I’d gotten in the pool, I’d grabbed some containers for things, since I knew dh wouldn’t be able to find anything with as bad as he was feeling. He handed Jamie the bowl for the placenta, which she floated in the pool while I was pushing it out. Once it was out, it was put in the bowl.

The pool was very bloody at this point & I decided I wanted to get out. I gave N to Jamie & leaned on h to get out. Then I sat down on the couch with some towels under me & a big blanket around me & cuddled my new little guy. I tried to nurse him, but he wasn’t at all interested at this point. My older boys came over to see their new brother & h started draining the pool.

Eventually we cut the cord & confirmed something Jamie thought she’d noticed earlier; there was a knot in the cord. When I cut up the placenta to dry it for encapsulation, I took pictures of the knot. After we’d dealt with the cord, I went for a quick shower to get rinsed/warm & get dry clothes on. Jamie went home about 8:30 & h & I crashed for awhile. The kids were wide awake, so I napped on the couch with the baby while they played a game on the playstation. At some point my youngest had a nap on the floor, but my oldest stayed awake for the whole day.

I don’t know exactly how much he weighed at birth, I think he was around 6lb 6oz, maybe a bit less. 19 1/2 inches long & head circumference of 13.4 inches.

Lisa-Marie

In retrospect, I was feeling euphoric that weekend, walking outside was nice, and checking out this lizard that was crossing my path as I went to check the mail alone made me smile in this way that I knew something was up. I wasn’t going to give into it just yet, but subconsciously I knew. On Monday, August 21st, around 2 pm I was in the kitchen making some food for Aiden and myself, I felt a gush of fluid. Luckily I had on a cloth pad as I usually do because of a bout with incontinence. I went to the bathroom and peed, came back washed my hands, prepped the food some more and it happened again.

What’s up with this, I was thinking. I just kept going about my day, feeling a little crampy, nothing of note. I had already set myself up to have another 46 hour labor like I did with Aiden, so I knew that if this was indeed it, that I would have to eat and rest and not tell anyone what’s going on because I did not want anyone looking at the clock. So I just went about my afternoon, hanging out with Aiden and changing my pads. Thank goodness for my cloth pads, they rocked. The afternoon wore on and the contractions actually started picking up a bit.

I called poppy and talked to her for a little while before I called my midwife to let her know what I was thinking. I called Jill and let her know what was up, but not to get her hopes up. I was really concerned that my tub was still not here. The other midwife Nikole was supposed to delivery it the next day at our regular appointment. I just wanted to get it there now, I felt somehow that I would feel better and progress faster if the tub was there. I had no idea how true that was.

I let Shawn know what was going on since he had the day off and all.  He wasn’t instantly excited about the prospect of labor, but then again I wasn’t really either. Especially with the history that I have with long ones. But we pressed on.

We got the futon and the bed ready with plastic sheets and got the towels out and whatnot, just prepping. I did some more cleaning and whatnot…I took Aiden to the market and bought some food that I felt like eating at the time. Chicken friend steak? Really for a woman in labor. The store was pretty neat because I knew I was walking around being in labor and no one really knew. I was cool.

Nothing else exciting happened that Monday. Went to bed, contracted on and off all night long, though I did get a lot of sleep. I would wake up into a contraction and just tell myself, open open open and breath through it. I knew this was going to be long and I was alright with it.

I sent Shawn to work on Tuesday, he thought about staying home but I didn’t want him watching me all day. I tried cleaning, resting, talking on the phone a lot to poppy and other friends, trying to be as calm as I could be with Aiden.  He knew something was up and was very high energy and needy. I kept eating and drinking, stopping to deal with contractions that sometimes made me lose my breath. I was dealing, but I knew I wasn’t progressing fast but that was ok. I honestly got bored and wanted labor to pick up.

I got a call from the midwives and Nikole was coming to bring the tub around 2pm….I called Shawn around noon and asked him to come home. I felt like I needed him here, and we needed to move the table for the tub. Nikole talked to me about taking some homeopathic crap to ’get my labor going’ which I was not going to do. I didn’t want to take/do anything unnatural to this labor. Nipple stimulation, fine, spicy food, fine, kissing, walking, squatting great. But nothing extra.

I talked to Jill again later that day and she was going to come by at 4:45 to listen to the baby’s heartbeat and just see how I was doing, she too talked about augmenting the labor and the risk of infection. I know that as long as I’m not putting anything up in my vagina, I’m going to be alright. She stated that she would fully support any decision that I made and she had to just give me the information. Which is true, an educated decision is much better than a stubborn ’i want my own way’ one. Jill suggested that I take some echinacea and 1000mg of vit c to help prevent infection. Fine with me. I’ve taken all that before and it wasn’t a big deal.

Shawn came home and it was so nice to have him here. We cleaned up some more and were waiting for Nikole. We wanted to take a long long walk and do some curb walking too, which our birth instructor said is great for moving baby around and getting labor progressing nicely. Curb walking is walking with one foot in the gutter and one on the sidewalk. It looks funny, feels weird but I know it helps.

Nikole calls at about 330 and says she’s running late, and that it will be another hour and a half or so. We decide that we’re just going to go for our walk and get out of the house, and she’ll call when she gets closer. My mom also called and wanted to stop by, at this time, she didn’t know what was going on and I wasn’t sure if we were going to tell her just yet. She was going to bring by some papaya, some vit c and the ech.

So we walk and walk and walk, over to the park. Talking about weather or not we’re going to tell my mom if I am in labor, talking baby names, chit chat. I’m not having any serious contractions, nothing to make me stop, so I’m thinking that I’m just chilling out. We get to the park and we’re talking about names and we ask Aiden:

Aiden what should the baby be named?
(he pauses seriously thinking for a second)
umm….PICKETT!

No really, he said that. We laughed so hard that I had a contraction right then and there. HA. We get the call from my mom that she’s on her way, so we started heading back. We’re on the sidewalk when all of a sudden I feel a HUGE gush of fluid. You know how women are always worried that their water will break in public?  Yeah, well it happened to me. Just a huge gush of fluid and my cloth pad caught almost all of it. We get back to the house and I went ahead and told my mom what was happening, and asked if she could please come and get Aiden if I needed her to in the middle of the night. She was happy to do so. She leaves.

Nikole calls again and her car has broken down, and she’d like to know if Shawn can meet her at the service station to get the tub. Just then, Jill shows up and we have our talk about antibiotics and augmentation and whatnot. I tell her I really don’t want to do anything at this point, she listens and understands. She wants to do a Clindamycin dose every 8 hours for as long as I am in labor. This is also because I didn’t take a GBS test so she doesn’t know whats up with that. She’s not worried she just wants to be sure. She said that she knew this baby was fine and she trusted in my body to do what it needed to do. I agreed. I asked her to come back around 9ish and we’d talk again and see if I progressed any. She listened to the baby who had some great acceleration’s during my contractions, he sounded wonderful she said. She was kind enough to bring a doppler with headphones so I didn’t have to hear that canned heartbeat sound.

Jill calls Nikole to see what is going on and she tells Jill that she got a ride and is on her way to my house at that moment to set up the tub. Nikole shows up, sets up the tub and leaves. I get in the shower, and nice hot one, and let the water hit my back where I was having a lot of pain. Another concern of mine was that this baby was post. like Aiden was, and that labor was forever. I didn’t want that to happen again.  I did some nipple stimulation and had some killer contractions in the shower. I was moaning and it was really powerful.

I got out of the shower, dressed, and laid down with Aiden, this was probably around 7:30ish. I had another awesome contraction while laying down with Aiden. He fell asleep and that was the last I would see of him for the night. Shawn heated me up some miso soup that I had made. It was so amazing and good. Gave me energy again.

I was laboring well. It felt good. I just had on my sports bra and I leaned on my ball and Shawn put pressure on my back, pressed my hips together and I feel like that helped move the baby down a little. He kept telling me I was doing a great job and to keep it up. He said I was strong and soon we’d have our baby in our arms.

The lights were low, the music was on and it was just the two of us. Shawn was really great about getting up and coming to me when I started a contraction. I felt like I was actually making progress. I had made up in my mind at that time that I would go ahead and let Jill give me the antibiotics. Not because she wanted to but I wanted to stay the hell home. This way, I would be able to stay home for another four days if my labor was going to take that long. I would also be able to get checked out for my own peace of mind and know how much longer I would have to go. I was at peace with my decision. The contractions were long and close together but not as painful as the ones I had with Aiden which had breaks, but were stronger because of the pitocin. I was handling it really well. But they were GOOD and STRONG.

Jill showed up around 945ish, walks in the door, sees the scene and says ’this is great!’ She knew from all her years of experience that I was moving along. She asks if she can check my dilation because if I am moving along, then we’ll just skip the anti-bs all together. She checks me and says I’m 4-5cm and very stretchy, that she could stretch me to 7. I was so happy to hear that. No antibiotics. She starts setting up and I just keep laboring. This is 10pm.

I am ROCKING with contractions. They are hard and I’m feeling a lot of pressure on my perineum. I’m walking around the house, leaning on the ball, which is on the futon, so I just stand behind it and lean on it. Standing was the best thing ever, it was so hard to do, but I KNEW I had to do it to get this baby to come.

They really aren’t letting up, but it’s not like I am feeling out of control either while having them. I’m telling the baby that its ok to come out, and we’re all waiting for them. We have a cute shirt for them to wear. haha. Just positive energy and thoughts going to this baby to come out and positive thoughts to my body to open up. Just ooooooppppppeeeeeeennnnnnnn.

Jill calls the other midwife Mary, who I had not met before to come now. I joke with her that the first time I’m going to be meeting Mary, I’ll be half naked writhing around in pain on my futon. We all had a good laugh at that one. I’m still feeling some amazing contractions, and Mary shows up in the middle of one of them. Shawn comes over to rub my back some more and I look up at Jill and say ’I can’t do this any more and don’t tell me I’m in transition’. She laughs, Mary laughs too, and they both say, ’yes you are!’ It’s 10:45pm.

I laugh at them and say ya right. Another contraction hits, it’s good. Jill just says to go with the flow, where ever I want to be just be, if I want to squat, then do so. I just held on to the chair in the living room and braced myself for the contractions. Jill checks me again and I’m fully dilated to 10cm. No really. I couldn’t believe it myself. No one could. Well Jill and Mary could because they’ve been doing this for so long.

I said I want to get in the tub. Then another one hits, and I just stand there. I said it again, and it was really my only time to do it and Mary says to me, ok Noel get in the tub. I walk over get down on my hands and knees into the nice warm water. It wasn’t as much relief as I thought it would be at that far in labor, but I knew I wanted to be there to protect my perineum. Shawn was at my side, giving me encouragement all the way. Holding my hand and keeping me focused on low grunts.

I tried to sit on my butt and that was just not fun, so I got up on my knees again and held on to the side of the tub. Jill told me to reach down and feel for my baby’s head. I was scared. I didn’t want to, but I did. I could feel Mary’s hands on my perineum and I said, “Mary that doesn’t feel good!’ Which is funny at that time, I laughed even. That brought on another good contraction.

I reached down with my right hand and inserted a finger and couldn’t feel the baby’s head. I brought my hand out again, and just held Shawn hand with my left. I was really rocking and grunting and yelling. I was surprised that I didn’t wake Aiden.

I had another urge to push, I felt it deep inside me, Jill told me to feel again, and this time I could feel the head. It gave me so much encouragement. I told Shawn ’I feel the head! I feel the head!!’ He was so happy, I think that he was still in shock that I was already pushing.

I kept my right hand on my vagina and felt my baby’s head coming out. Shawn just held my left hand and rubbed my back giving me encouragement the whole time. Jill was saying encouraging words, and Mary was too.

I just let my body do the work. Mary and Jill were saying push, but it’s not like I was pushing when they told me to, my body pushed when it wanted to. I did however grunt and blow when Jill and Mary said to. I knew that they were there to help me keep my perineum intact. That was my goal as well and was happy to take blow grunt orders.

I felt my baby’s head crown into my hand. It was the ring of fire, but not as BAD as I thought it would be. I was scared. Terrified of this awesome power that I had within me. Birth is so insanely amazing, and to feel this power for the first time was unbelievable. I let someone else take my power with Aiden’s birth, and this time I was feeling it full force with my everything.

With one little grunt my baby’s head was born, I felt his head outside of my body. Its like nothing I can put into words. Then I pushed every so slightly, really a grunt again and his whole body slipped out, I felt his shoulders, then his stomach, then his hips, knees and finally his little feet leave my body. The midwives, handed him to me through my legs and I sat back and pulled him up out of the water.

He screamed at me, and pinked up.  I watched him pink up before my eyes. Jill and Mary just stood back and let Shawn and I enjoy the moment. It was amazing. Shawn was crying and saying ’I knew you could do it Noel!’ He was beautiful, and I was so in awe of the power that I felt. I just sat in the water admiring my baby, kissing Shawn and the baby. I fingered the umbilical cord, it was so cool feeling. I touched my baby’s head, his body, kept him in the warm water. Then I said, lets take a look! I looked between his legs and made the call….it’s a boy! Shawn was so happy!

I then wanted to get out of the tub, I was very ready. Shawn helped me stand up, and Jill helped me over the tub wall, and put a blanket on the baby, and a hat on his head. We walked over to the futon where chux pads were laid out and I got to RECLINE ON MY BACK! You have no idea how long I had been waiting to do that, well….9 months I’d say. Haha. It felt so good to have Shawn next to me, and my baby all wet and warm on my chest, reclining on the futon. I was handed a chocolate dipped strawberry, which is what I had been waiting for after birth my whole pregnancy. Shawn passed them around to our midwives as well, they both said it was the best they’d ever had.

Just then I head the familiar cry of another little one, and out came Aiden from the bedroom. He was a little startled at first with a new person in the house, Mary, not the his brother. So it took a little coaxing to get him out in the living room. He climbed on the futon with me and just looked at his little brother. He was in shock too and smiling and amazed. I laid there for a little while and then felt the pain of a contraction again. I birthed the placenta and it was lovely. I felt whole, it was placed in a bowl next to me and it got to chill out on the futon with us for a while.

Baby was making sounds and Aiden thought it was really cool. I made a couple calls to friends and my mom to let them know our little one was here. Jill assessed me and thought that I had a small tear that would require two stitches. I was not in the mood for stitches, so I asked her to check again. I handed our son off to Shawn and let Jill and Mary take a look. They both informed me that I could have stitches if I wanted to, or I could let it heal naturally, meaning lots of sitz baths and keeping my knees together for the next week or so. I opted to be a hairy arm pit hippy and forgo the stitches. *Crunch*

I got up and went to the bathroom and put on my cool mesh underwear and a sposie pad, man that thing sucked. I got into bed with a little help and Jill did the newborn exam right on the bed with Shawn and Aiden right there with us. No nurses bothering us, no hospital lights, no poking, sticking, drawing of blood, nothing. She just ran her hands along his body and checked him out. She dressed him in his cool hand dyed shirt and cloth diaper, remarking to Mary that it was so nice to be putting a newborn in cloth and not a sposie. I beamed. My little one was all decked out and ready to settle down for the night. I too was feeling tired.

Shawn brought us some peanut butter toast which was so good, and I had a big glass of water. The midwives left, and I feel alseep with my boys, in my own bed, in my own home, with no beeping, blinking lights, or thoughts of a nurse coming to take my freaking blood pressure in a half hour.

I have a lot of friends on the Internet, women that I will probably never meet in real life, but I feel like I have a connection to them through our words. Words have always been a powerful medium to me for many years. The phone calls, emails and journal entries that I’ve received and read over the past nine months, if not longer have helped me have the birth I had. I did this in honor of the women who have taught me through their own births, words, links, phone calls, what birth is about. I birth in honor of Tina, Jenne, Shanna, Lorrie, Morgan, Poppy, and all the women I call friends. I birthed in honor of you guys, because I know you were with me on this journey. I know you thought of me, prayed for me, sent good thoughts my way. You kept me strong. I know it. We all did this together. And when/if you ever have babies again, know that I too will be sending love, and strength your way as you all have done for me. I believe in you like you believed in me to birth this baby.

I feel whole today. I feel like a complete woman. I feel powerful. I want every woman to not be afraid of birth and the power of birth. We all posses it and we should guard it with our lives. It is so important

Stats:
Born 8/22 at 11:17pm
in water
7 pounds 4 ounces
21.5 inches long
13.5 inch head

Noel
Single mother of three, graphic designer, birth and breast feeding advocate, working towards becoming a postpartum doula as a placenta encapsulation specialist. Author of the original Housepoet’s Famous Lactation Boosting Cookie Recipe.
www.noelove.com

During the day on Tuesday, I would get an occasional contraction, but never more than about 1 an hour, sometimes I wouldn’t get one for several hours.  Wednesday was more of the same, although I was getting one almost every hour.  There were even a few that were closer together than that.  I kind of lost it on Wednesday night.  Between the leaking and the fear that I was looking at a repeat cesarean because labour would never start (which I know was completely irrational, but I was tired and desperate for it to start).  I lost it so bad I seriously considered going to the hospital.  My husband very bluntly asked me would I rather leak or be cut open again?  That quickly brought me back down.

About 10pm on Thursday, I went to take a shower (aka hiding out from my mom phoning to find out what was going on).  While I was in there, I also scrubbed the tub a bit, since it had been driving me nuts for days.  Near the end of my shower or just after I got out, labour suddenly kicked into high gear. From every twenty minutes or so (we weren’t really timing, except for one or two contractions occasionally), contractions moved to 15 minutes, then 7, then 2, in less than a couple of hours.

Sometime around 3/4am on Friday, I started getting pain in my back, too.  Until this point, all the contractions had been in a band extremely low down in my belly.  Once they started hurting in my back too, I just couldn’t take anymore and decided to try sitting in the tub and using the sprayer during contractions.  Unfortunately, we only had one and it didn’t stretch very far, so either my back or my belly got sprayed, and it was very difficult to get my back without standing up, which I didn’t want to do. My husband put a pillow in the tub with me and I alternated between sitting up and leaning back.  Sometimes one seemed to work, then the next time it would make it hurt worse.

I finally got my husband to put the plug in (I couldn’t reach and didn’t really have room to move) and let the tub fill while I used the sprayer.  Once there was enough water, my husband started using a cup to pour it over my back during contractions while I sprayed my belly.  The pouring didn’t really do anything to lessen the pain, but it did give me something that briefly distracted from it, which was nice.

By around 7 or a bit later, I’d been out of the tub for while and the only way I could endure the contractions was to push during them.  I don’t know if I was fully dilated or not and I didn’t feel what I would call an “urge”, but the pain was manageable when I was pushing and excruciating when I wasn’t.

Sometime after this, my husband checked me and said it felt like the baby’s head was jammed against my bones.  I think the baby must have been stuck for awhile, because on several pushes my husband and I noticed that my stomach was bulging out, which it didn’t do when I pushed later, after he was unstuck. I spent several contractions on my hands and knees, no idea how long, but when husband checked again, he said it seemed like the baby was even more stuck and had moved back.  I decided to try lying on my back for awhile to see if that made any difference.

I don’t remember if I did it because I remembered someone mentioning it, because it felt better or because husband had written to the ICAN list and a couple people mentioned it to him, but I started arching my back during the contractions, occasionally alternating with sitting up and leaning forward, which seemed to also make it hurt a bit less.

The arching seemed to be working, but I couldn’t really do it very well due to the problems with sciatica I’d been having for months (I was going to be going to the chiropractor that week, but never went because of the leaking). I had some pillows and a cushion under my head, so I got rid of the pillows, which helped me arch a bit better and I heard a slight sound kind of like bone on bone.

I knew then that the arching was probably making a difference and I wanted to be able to do more of an arch, so I left my cushion where it was and slid so that my head was on the floor (our bed was just a mattress on the floor).  I then planted my feet on the bed and used the cushion to help me get a bit more arch.  After a few times of this, there was a loud, several second long, sound of bone on bone.  I didn’t feel anything, but I must have noticed something, because I don’t recall doing much, if any, arching after this point.

During all this, my husband and son were in and out of the room and shortly after my husband came and lay down on the bed next to me.  I seemed to be getting a bit of a break between contractions at this point, though they were still extremely painful.  My husband was so wiped, he fell asleep for several contractions.  At some point, they must have eased off enough that I was able to sleep briefly, too.  I have no idea how long we slept, my husband seems to think he only slept about 20 minutes, but he actually fell asleep twice, once was when I was asleep too, so it was probably longer than that.  I woke up and dealt with a few contractions before they got bad enough that my moaning woke my husband up.

I continued labouring in the bedroom for awhile.  My friend, J, called around 12:30 to see how things were going.  We had planned for her to come watch our son if needed and maybe offer some reassurance to husband (since she had had a VBAC herself), but our son was doing really well and my husband had been coping pretty well, too, until it seemed like things were dragging on forever.  She managed to reassure my husband some.  Around 1pm, my son fell asleep on the couch in the living room, so my husband no longer had to go back and forth between us.

By this point, I was just thinking about the next break between contractions, they hurt so much.  When I was between them, I just enjoyed the relief and didn’t worry about the next one, didn’t think about anything.  There were several points, and this was one of them, when I really, really wanted my husband to just call the ambulance and let them make the pain stop.  I really didn’t believe I could take it anymore, but I did. [The first time I felt like that was when I was in the bath and started pushing the first time.  I also felt like I couldn't take it anymore around when I was arching my back, especially before I figured out that doing that would help.]  Changing positions didn’t seem to help at all, but I kept trying anyway.  I alternated lying down on my back, my sides, kneeling against a pile of cushions, sitting on the toilet, leaning against the wall and hanging onto my husband.

I decided to try the tub again for awhile.  I don’t know exactly what time that was, probably about 2:30 or 3.  I think it helped a bit.  I started pushing some again while I was in the tub, but I couldn’t really get comfortable in there and had to keep moving around.

My husband was completely exhausted and in agony, so when he talked to J again, and she offered to come over, he was very willing to have her.  She had to get someone to watch the kids and then she got stuck in traffic, so she didn’t make it here until about 5, at which point I was back in the bedroom and I’d been pushing again.  Just before she got here, husband checked me again and the top of the baby’s head was only about a knuckle in.

I can’t tell you how relieved I was that I was actually making progress this time.  I couldn’t feel him moving down at all, but obviously this time the pushing was working and he hadn’t gotten stuck again.

When J got here, my son woke up and my husband stayed with him for a bit while J came to support me.  I was pushing on the toilet when she got here and didn’t really want to move, but I also didn’t want to have the baby there, so eventually I moved back to the bedroom.

I alternated pushing in kneeling, hands and knees and reclining positions.  I couldn’t get enough leverage in either of the first two positions and it was taking forever.  Knowing I was so close, I really wanted to get it over with.

When the head was visible and not really sliding back anymore, I switched to a mostly sitting position, with a huge pile of pillows behind me.  J told my husband she didn’t think it would be very much longer, so my husband and son came into the bedroom, too.  We had promised our son that he could watch the baby be born, but he didn’t want to be around the rest of the time.

J suggested that I plant my feet on the bed against the bed to try to get a bit more leverage.  I did this for quite awhile and the baby was very slowly moving down more, but I still felt like I wasn’t getting anywhere.  J then suggested that I try holding my husband’s hands, since I kept grabbing at my arms to try to use my whole self to push.  Holding my husband’s hands really helped with the pushing, since I really yanked on him and I actually started feeling like I was making progress.

I reached down to feel the baby’s head and there was quite a bit out.  I couldn’t understand why it was taking so long to get his head out, but after he was born I realized that what felt like it must have been all of his head above the eyes was actually only about the top half of his head, it had moulded so much.

I kept pushing and I started screaming with every push.  I’m not entirely sure why, since it didn’t hurt that much, it just felt like the right thing to do.  Really surprised we didn’t have anyone coming to check on things here (apartment).  I was determined not to tear, so I regularly paused between pushes to have time to stretch.  It was uncomfortable, but I figured it was better than recovering from a tear, especially since I had no one to sew one.

It was really weird how I was thinking rationally, but I wasn’t able to articulate anything while I was labouring.

I finally felt his head come out and knew that one or two more pushes and I’d be done.  The cord was around his neck loosely, but I just couldn’t handle having anyone’s hands there long enough to unloop it, so I just pushed the rest of him out into my husband’s hands and J unlooped the cord.  Then I got to hold my new little boy!  He let out a little whimper and pinked up right away.  We didn’t suction him at all since he obviously was breathing fine on his own.

I found out later that he had come out facing my right hip and he hadn’t rotated at all after his head was out, he just came straight out the next time I pushed.

My husband got a towel to cover him and I sat there and held my new son for quite awhile, at least an hour.  J left right away, since she had only planned to come over for a little bit to give my husband a break and she had to get back to her kids.

Eventually my tailbone started really hurting from the way I was sitting, so I got my husband to come tie the cord.  He tied it off with a couple of shoelaces that had been boiled and then cut it with a pair of scissors that had also been boiled.

The placenta still hadn’t come out, so I got my husband to tie the cord again closer to my body and cut it short so I didn’t have to have it dragging around until the placenta decided to come out.  My husband took our new little boy and I went to have a shower.  I was a bit woozy, though, so I sat down in the tub and used the sprayer to wash myself.

Eventually we had some nuked chili for a very late supper, around about 9:30.  After that, I went to get ready for bed.  I went to the washroom and the placenta came out, about 4 hours after the birth.  It really stung coming out because it was huge.  We were all too exhausted to deal with it, so we put it in the fridge overnight, and then froze it.  Eventually, we’ll be getting a tree and planting it at my mom’s place.

We weren’t expecting the baby quite so soon, I have no idea why, when I’d been leaking for days, but we had no diapers.  We just kept the baby wrapped up in a towel until the next day, when my husband went and bought some diapers.  We didn’t dress him or bathe him until Monday morning, when I gave him a quick sponge bath to get rid of the little bit of blood that was still on him.  Except for a tiny bit in the creases, all the vernix got rubbed into his skin, like it’s supposed to be.

We weighed him by putting him in a sling and hanging it on a fish scale the day after he was born and he was 8lbs 8oz.  His head was 35cm and he was about 19 1/2 inches long.  Really hard to measure, though, since he was so curled up and not at all happy about me trying to straighten him a bit.   It turned out that the fish scale was off by quite some way, since when I took him to the health nurse at 10 days old, he was only 6lb 12oz.

Lisa-Marie

This method does not work well if you want a natural childbirth in a hospital. With Hemi I arrived too early to the hospital and “failed to progress” according to their schedule. As a result of my naiveté, all my fear and self-doubt buttons were pushed. I consented to four procedures (including an epidural) before Hemi was born.

In hindsight, and after reviewing the medical literature, none of these procedures were medically necessary to producing a healthy outcome. They were just things the hospital could bill insurance for.

So with Jack I read more on natural childbirth and reviewed the medical literature before blindly accepting what doctors or nurses said. The biggest help was “Natural Childbirth the Bradley Way” by Susan McCutcheon. In addition to not fighting contractions by tensing up, the most important thing you learn in this book is the emotional signposts of labor, which are far more telling than physical signposts (# centimeters dilated, position of baby, etc) of when the baby will arrive.

I had never heard of these. The first is excitement… “today’s the day!”. The second is seriousness… a woman can not be distracted, she need to full concentration to get through contractions and relax in-between. The final signpost is self-doubt… you don’t think you can do this.

My prenatal doctor is really a low-key and practical woman. Her biggest suggestion to have a natural childbirth was to stay home as long as possible, get most of the labor done at home and avoid the whole hospital scene. The plan was to go in when my contractions were about three minutes apart and at least a minute long (and in the serious emotional signpost).

On Wednesday, 23 September 2009, I was having strong but brief contractions throughout the night. When I woke in the morning, I went to work. While at work, I had more strong but brief contractions about eight minutes apart. It was not a bother.

I went home for lunch around 1:00pm. I decided not to get back to work at 1:30pm, my contractions were six minutes apart and only 30 seconds long. No sweat. I even “facebooked” that today might be the day. EMOTIONAL SIGNPOST: Excitement.

Sometime afterward I drifted into the serious emotional signpost. At 3:20 my husband called the doctor as we had to make sure there was a bed available at our preferred hospital. My contractions were 5 minutes apart and a minute long (below my threshold for going in). The doctor said we could come see her, stay home, or go to the hospital. I chose to go see her.

Before getting in the car, I had get my shoes on and stuff between contractions which had suddenly jumped to two minutes apart. I didn’t think I could do this. EMOTIONAL SIGNPOST: Self doubt. I knew I was getting wishy-washy, we called the doctor back and said we were going straight to the hospital.

The hospital is a 20 minute drive away. About 5 minutes into the ride, I began to have a pushing contraction. It was a tremendous urge… like your body wanting to push the biggest bowel movement ever out of your body. I thought I had “pooped” when the contraction was over and announced to my husband that I had… but then I felt wet everywhere and the sting of salty water.

I had pushing contractions all the way to the hospital, but I didn’t tell my husband as he would have freaked and anyway I was too busy trying to relax between contractions. I was too busy to recall what door we were supposed to go to so we pulled up to the emergency entrance. A volunteer was by the door with a wheelchair. I got in. The emergency room was on the opposite end of the hospital from the maternity ward.

All the way I was having strong pushing contractions. During one I felt my legs pull apart, I reached down and could feel a head. I announced, “I can feel a head!” as we approached the maternity ward. The nurse at the station said “She’s in Room 6.” “I don’t think we are going to make it to Room 6!” “Call a doctor!” “Doctor!” I was wheeled in to room 6, weakly stood up, pulled down my pants and pushed a 7.3 pound son out at 4:00pm! Amazing, only 3.5 hours of labor, including only 20 minutes of pushing!

Victoria

My first, born at 39+5weeks, was a long (35 hour), drawn-out process that involved waters breaking, contractions stopping, pitocin drips, 13 hours of hard labour, Dr talking c-section, and about a half hour of active pushing.

This one… just a wee bit different.

The prior Saturday, started feeling contractions that were rather strange. There wasn’t so much any tightening, as just a surge of energy that started in my belly, and flowed up into my sinuses making me light-headed.

That night, during my many trips to the potty, I lost my mucus plug. Figured things should really get going soon.

Not so much.

Nothing really changed before my midwife appointment on Tuesday finally arrived. She did an internal, and found I was 3cm, and she could stretch that to 5. She stripped my membranes while she was in there. Not a comfortable procedure, but not the worst. She set me up for a Verbena induction on Sunday, but honestly didn’t think I’d even make it thru the night.

5am Wednesday morning. Woke up to a small puddle between my legs. Assuming it was my water having sprung a leak (as was how my first started), went and cleaned up the small mess, and went back to bed. About 10 minutes later, the contractions started. Not overly painful, though it was concentrated down at the bottom, and it was like bad (at least for me) menstrual pains, not really anything resembling the full-belly tightening I had with #1.

They were about 5 minutes apart at first. Laid there debating whether to let DH go to work, or just have him stay home. By the time it was time for him to leave, they were down to 2-3 minutes, and getting painful, so he stayed home.

I finally managed to get myself something to drink, and quickly realized my thirst had been aggravating the contractions, as they slowed down.

Nothing really progressed throughout the day, contractions stayed about the same intensity, and went from 5 minutes, to 2, to 8 or longer. And I realized that I hadn’t really been leaking anymore, though there was an inordinate amount of mucus. Just after 4pm, decided to call the clinic to see what they thought I should do.

The on-staff Doula suggested I give it till after rush-hour, and if there’s still no change, to head to the centre, and get checked out. Worst they could do is send me home, right? She figured my “puddle” that morning was possibly a small leak that had quickly healed over. Or it might have just been a build-up of vaginal fluid coming out. Hard to tell.

As I was talking to her, my husband was kindly providing me with some nipple stimulation (he’s a boob guy), and it was causing the contractions to suddenly come harder, and as it turned out, faster too. By the time I got off the phone, they were down to 2 minutes again, and kinda painful.

Decided to have another bath, as the one I’d had earlier had provided quite a bit of relief. Went into the bathroom, sat down to pee, (which was tough thru the contractions) and as I was sitting there, feeling like I needed to poop too, I felt what to me felt like a bubble of gas popping thru (I’m sure we all know what I’m talking about), though I wasn’t 100% convinced.

Finally got into the tub, and had barely got myself seated when I started to feel a good gush. Because of they way I was sitting, it kinda felt like I was peeing, but it very quickly became evident that it was not pee. My water had burst, and I was flooding into the tub (thank the gods there, and not somewhere it would have to be cleaned up). This was shortly after 5pm.

Debated whether to hang around at home for a while more, but the 3 minute apart contractions, and the 40 minute drive to the centre quickly changed my mind.

When I got there a little after 6pm, we were down to 2 minutes, and painful, and turned out I was already 7cm. Could barely tolerate laying there for the 15 minutes they needed to take a strip, especially when they wanted me to move onto my sides. Moving at all was bringing on contractions at this point.

Finally got the clearance to get into the tub. I had a hard time getting over there, but managed alright. I wasn’t in there very long when the contractions were starting to make me push a little too. It also wasn’t long before the contractions were all but non-stop. I’d barely finish one when the next would start.

Seemed like it took forever, but the midwife finally arrived, and when she checked, I was easily 10cm.

It was about 7:30 when I finally admitted that the contractions were making me push. I wasn’t really sure at first, cuz with #1 the pushing was a relief… it actually felt good to push. But this time, it hurt like hell. I decided that it wasn’t gonna get any better, so I started to just go with it, and started letting the pushes do their job.

It wasn’t till he was crowning that reality finally set in. Up to this point, even though I knew that I was having a baby, I still couldn’t wrap my head around the fact that in a few days (/hours/minutes) there would be a BABY there, and that our lives would suddenly be completely changed forever.

But, a few LOOOONNGGGGG pushes later, at 7:52pm, he was finally there. All 10 pounds of him, with his 39.5cm head. And though it was at 40+6weeks (we think), he apparently didn’t show any signs of being overdue.

I ended up with a 2nd degree tear. Better than the 3rd degree I had with #1, but sitting is still not comfortable.

The placenta was delivered a few minutes later. The midwives and nurses were amazed at the size of both it and the cord. It was apparently the largest placenta most of them had ever seen. They weighed it. 2lb 9oz. Most are around 1lb. And the cord was a rather large neatly wound spiral that they marveled over as well.

The part that took me by surprise the most, was the fact that I actually delivered in the tub. I never could figure that one out. We’re human, not cetaceans. It’s just not natural to me. But, being in there, knowing the kind of relief it had been providing earlier, and the pain I was in while in there, getting out was just not an option. Add to that the fact that there wasn’t time to get out, thanks to the constant contractions, I didn’t have much choice. And honestly, by that point, I just didn’t care. I put my trust in the midwives, and went with it.

All-in-all, I would say a good experience. It definitely hurt more than what I remember the first to be, notwithstanding the pitocin the first time. And it would have been nice to have had the chance to use the music I had ready, and the tea, and all the other stuff, but I did get to do most of the time-consuming work at home, and didn’t have enough time at the centre to really think about things. And I’m pretty sure nothing happened/didn’t happen that was contrary to my birth plan. YAY!

So, welcome to the world Calum. We’re happy to have you here.

Lisa

I had prodromal labor for months with him so it was nothing new when the contractions started at 8pm. I tried to sleep and for the first time they didn’t stop, but got a little stronger. I got up, took a shower and begged him to let me sleep a little. They slowed to about every 15min and I got a few (restless) hours in.

I had an appointment at 9am to strip my membranes and try to keep things going. Thankfully, by 9am, I was in hard labor. I had been sitting at 5cm for weeks so when I let her check me I was happy to find I was 7cm already!

At 10am I had a hep lock put in for GBS abx, we ran a cycle and then I got in the shower. I sat on the labor ball in the shower for an hour, got out and ran another cycle of abx.

She checked me I was a full stretchy 8 and wearing down fast, she suggest breaking my water and I happily agreed. With the next contraction she broke it and told me if I wanted another waterbirth I had better get in the tub NOW.

I got in and with the next contraction he was crowning. I pushed maybe 2 or 3 times and delivered my 2nd beautiful boy.

To manage the after birth bleeding I had with the previous birth, I took alfalfa supplements, and she ran some pit through the hep lock as I pushed him out. No problems this time.

Another perfect birth for me.

Richelle

We went back at 3pm and was still only 3cm, she sent me out again. Back to the hotel room where I was in and out of the shower, sitting on the toilet, moaning pretty strongly.

At 7pm Kris thought we should head back over there, she checked me again and I was still only 3cm. She had planned on sending me out again but thought I should try getting in the tub for some pain relief (7:30pm). Within 5 min of getting in, my water broke and I was an instant 5cm.

I relaxed in the tub and almost fell asleep between contractions, I was really focused on relaxing and feeling the baby move down. At 8:30 my body started pushing by itself and my midwife was shocked to see I was ready and he was coming, I pushed for maybe 20 min and delivered my big beautiful boy myself. I went from 3cm to delivering in 1hr 50 min!!! Man I loved that tub!

After the birth things got a little dicey, I lost a lot of blood. My midwife and her nurse assistant were grinding on my uterus and I had 11 shots of pit before they could get me to stop bleeding. There was an ambulance on stand by just in case they couldn’t get it stopped asap. I had no idea at the time it was so serious, they were perfectly calm and collected and I was none the wiser.

It was my perfect birth.

Richelle