The birth story of my first baby, born July 29th, 2011
I woke up at a little before three am on Thursday morning, with a weird sensation in my abdomen. I felt really nauseous, but I was too sleepy to think about it much. It stopped and I went back to sleep. The same thing woke me up again, and again, and again, minus the nausea, thankfully. At three, I finally decided to get up and see how far apart the contractions were. They were three to four minutes apart. I really wasn’t sleeping in between them, so I got up, ate something, checked my e-mail, took a hot shower, and drank a glass of wine. By that time Jay was awake and getting quite excited. I honestly just wanted to sleep!
The contractions continued regularly until I got up that morning, they got less powerful and more spread out the more active I got. We went to our already scheduled midwife appointment. She was excited to hear of my progress, up until then I hadn’t had any signs of impending labor. She wanted me to check in later, in case we needed to head up to Tennessee that night. Jay and I had a picnic and did some shopping. I tried to rest when we got home, but when I laid down the contractions picked up.
We went to bed early, hoping for a good night’s sleep. I woke up with pretty strong contractions at 1 am. I called my midwife and told her I couldn’t sleep, because they were three to four minutes apart and they hurt much worse in the bed laying down. I took a hot shower and drank a glass of milk, midwife’s orders. I ended up sleeping on the couch sitting up, breathing through the contractions.
When I got up the next morning, they didn’t get weaker, but started spacing out and getting stronger. By around ten, I couldn’t sit through them any more. I kept getting off the couch and walking around, swaying my hips. The midwife came by around eleven. She checked me and I was 100% effaced and five centimeters dilated! I couldn’t believe I was half way there, and it had been so easy. We started loading the car to head to Tennessee!
When we got to the home I would be birthing in the two midwives and their two assistants were there. Everyone was so supportive, right from the beginning. We got everything all situated, and I ate some cantaloupe. I tried laboring in the tub, the water felt wonderful between contractions. However, I couldn’t sit down during the contractions, so I had to get out of the water much quicker than I anticipated. I sat in between contractions, but when one came I would stand up and put my arms around Jay’s neck. I moaned and blew air out my mouth, making my lips flap. That felt wonderful, and really helped me stay relaxed. I sat on a birth ball and on the toilet for a bit. I munched on zucchini bread and had a popsicle.
Through the whole thing Jay was right there, offering me food or water, letting me lean on him, holding my hand.
I was on the toilet when I started to feel a bearing down sensation with each contraction, and I grunted more than moaned through them. I felt a little fluid and they told me my water had broken. I started to feel nauseous, and I threw up everything I’d eaten. Soon after that they could tell his head was coming down so they moved me to the bed.
I laid on my left side with my right leg pulled to me and pushed. My body knew exactly what it was doing, I couldn’t help but push when a contraction came. They said I looked like I’d done it before, I was proud of my body. My perineum was really stretchy at the beginning, I was so hopeful I wouldn’t tear. He crowned and I got to see his hairy little head in a mirror. I even reached down and felt it. It was amazing. I really liked looking in the mirror each time I pushed because I could see his progress.
Throughout the pushing stage, the midwives would monitor his heartbeat with a Doppler. At one point, his heart rate had dropped too low. I had to be put on oxygen and stop pushing for what felt like forever. It was so hard to fight those natural urges. His heart rate returned to normal, and I was able to resume pushing, with the oxygen mask on. I had to be careful to take in good deep breaths before each push.
Then the little guy seemed to be stuck. My perineum wasn’t stretching anymore, it was very tight around his head. I got on my hands and knees, but that didn’t seem to help much. The midwives brought in a birthing stool and helped me onto it. A few pushes later, and I was holding my beautiful baby boy.
Right after he was born, I started bleeding more than normal, so they had to quickly cut the cord and get me back on the bed. They laid little Isaac on my chest, I couldn’t believe how strong and alert he was. He made some really good attempts at nursing during that time. The midwives and their assistants were working really hard to stop the bleeding. I had herbs and shots, but it didn’t seem to be getting better. Just after we discussed a transfer, it stopped. I was so thankful.
I was worn out after pushing for 45 minutes, then losing about three cups of blood. They discovered that I had torn in three places, one of which was a third degree tear. I had to go to the hospital to get stitched up. As we were getting ready to leave they finally got to weigh and measure Isaac. He was eight pounds, six ounces and 21 and ¾ inches long. He had a 14 inch head. He had dark blue eyes and a head full of brown hair. I had my Isaac, the baby I had dreamed about for so long.
