Monday morning, December 5th I went in for my 40-week midwife appointment (actually at 39 weeks, 5 days). Over the weekend I had experienced some signs that labor was coming and my body was already preparing so I asked her to strip my membranes which she agreed to do – I was determined to have a baby this week! Afterward she said she fully expected me to go that night or the next day. After my appointment, things never stopped. I felt crampy all day and fairly consistent early labor contractions started sometime in the afternoon. I tried to stay busy with final preparations and making English Toffee, anything to stay on my feet and keep moving around so I didn’t end up on the couch counting contractions all afternoon. By about 6:30pm I decided that they definitely weren’t going away so I called Johanna, my dear friend and doula who was going to drive up from Cincinnati to be with me for the birth. I told her I really didn’t think I was going to make it through the night without needing to go in, and she agreed to head our way (it’s a good thing, too!).
I continued to have early labor contractions all evening but I hadn’t phoned the midwife yet to let her know what was going on. I didn’t want her to tell me to come in right away in order to get my antibiotics going (I was group B strep positive) before my mom made it home from California that night!! But by 9:30pm I couldn’t ignore them anymore. They really started to pick up in strength so I called my mom to check in with her and she agreed to come over to stay the night with the girls (she had just gotten home from the airport – hadn’t even unpacked!). I called the midwife and sure enough she told me to come right in to get the antibiotics going so I didn’t have to fuss with it during real active labor (too late!). Then I called our pastor’s wife to ask if she would come and sit with the girls till about midnight when my mom would be arriving. And finally I called Johanna to have her meet us at the hospital in Southfield instead of coming to our house. By about 10:20pm we were on the road!
We got to our room at 11:15pm and learned I was 4-5cm. It turned out this would be the only time the nurse or midwife would check my progress. She got the IV going, but the antibiotics that had been ordered had not yet arrived up from the pharmacy yet (you have to order them from the pharmacy when they’re the “nuclear bomb” antibiotics I had to take because I’m allergic to all the other ones they would normally use!). After lying in bed for a little while I decided I needed some hydrotherapy, so we tried to get things going in the tub but for whatever reason that just wasn’t coming together for me. Johanna arrived at a few minutes after midnight and she helped me get to the shower where I labored on my hands and knees, draped over a towel-covered birthing ball for a good 30-40 minutes. At 1am they finally hooked me up to the antibiotic. I then spent about 40 minutes laboring sitting on the birthing ball in the shower with Johanna or Alan spraying warm water down my back all the while. When Alan was doing the water Johanna was massaging with lavender scented lotion. I was pampered as I breathed and focused through each growing contraction (praying my water would pop to really get things moving! I didn’t feel like things were getting strong enough, fast enough, even though I was working pretty hard).
At about 1:40am I finally said, “I’m worried I’m too comfortable!” I thought the water in the shower might be relaxing me too much and it was preventing things from moving. So we got up and walked for just a couple of minutes, then Johanna suggested I get into a certain, rather uncomfortable position on the bed to see if we could get my water to break. (The fact that I had labored this long with waters intact was so foreign to me after my previous two labors began with water breaking and no contractions for hours!) At 1:50am Johanna arranged me on the bed and with my next contraction my water broke and I felt a tremendous amount of pressure. This caught me off guard as I didn’t gradually make it to this spot and I had to work very hard to refocus my attention breathing the baby down through the contractions and allowing the pressure to work for me. Talking to Johanna later we wondered if I kind of skipped over the transition phase of labor (the most intense part before the pushing phase) and just went straight to the baby making his way down the birth canal.
I got on my hands and knees in the bed and draped the top half of my body over the birthing ball. Not sure how long I was in this position but it was until I could no longer feel my legs under me because they had fallen asleep. Everyone helped rotate me to my side (the same position I birthed Evelyn in – and we were in the same room actually, and at practically the same time of night!) and I breathed through contractions, burying my face in Alan’s shoulder (my nose is bruised!). At some point during this time Alan reminded them to remove my IV completely so I could relax better. I honestly have no recollection of this, so I guess I was really in the zone. (Later my midwife asked me if I had taken hypnobirthing courses because that’s basically what I was practicing with my breathing exercises throughout labor. Nope! I said, “Actually, you’ll never believe what taught me deep relaxation like this at first: High School Marching Band!!”)
I continued to feel a lot of pressure but didn’t want to get my hopes up that things were coming to an end, so I just continued to breathe through contractions, trying to give into the pressure and kept asking, “Is he coming?” Everyone would say, “He’s coming!” which I didn’t know exactly what that meant but it renewed my strength and encouraged me! The whole team – Johanna, Alan, Mary (midwife), Ruth (midwife student) and another Mary (nurse) were so fantastic and encouraging the whole time. They did whatever I needed, they were patient when I was in a contraction and ignoring their questions till I could answer them, they interfered minimally with my process, and said all of the right encouraging things that kept me focused and empowered. Such a great team!
At this point my body gave me a nice long break. I don’t know how long it was but it was several times longer than the period between contractions that I had been experiencing for the last hour at least. No contractions – just peaceful rest. My body knew what was going to happen next! I looked at Alan and said, “Our baby’s coming. We’re going to meet him. I love you.” With the next contraction I felt the head coming down and I thought, “I’m just going to let it come. This will be over faster if I simply succumb to the pressure and let him come.” So I did. And sure enough the head came down, crowned and emerged all through a single contraction. (Mary the midwife later told me, “You hit the eject button!”) The next contraction pushed the rest of him out and he was in my arms at 2:33am. There is nothing like that feeling of emptiness (literally!) and relief when that baby is out and the joy and elation when you hold him and can’t believe he’s actually there, laying on top of you after all the hard work you’ve done! And even more amazing to me this time? I never pushed. Not once. All I did was breathe through contractions, succumb to what my body wanted to do and he came right out. So unbelievably satisfying.
His apgars were 9 and 9. He nursed like a champ at 1 hr and 4 minutes old. He was finally weighed and measured at about 2 hours old – 8 lbs 4 oz., 20”. So now we’re getting to know each other. I’m totally in love :).
And the worst, aka most uncomfortable part of the entire labor? The darn IV in my arm! My wrist was the only thing that was sore the next day!
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