Vanessa's Birth of Lola

Vanessa's Birth of Lola

This is a Hypnobabies birth story! 

http://www.Hypnobabiesblog.org

Most people do not know how long we waited for your arrival, but it was much longer than the standard nine months. After an ectopic pregnancy in 2005, I was left with only one uterine tube, which could have led to fertility issues. But we were expecting Autumn within a few months, so it did not seem to be impacting us. In 2009, I found out I was pregnant just a few months after we had decided we wanted another child. I was delighted, but a few days later found out that I was again having an ectopic pregnancy that had to be ended with Methotrexate. I was devastated and my sadness was compounded by the news that future pregnancies would likely end the same way. The doctor told me that my remaining tube was probably blocked and if we wanted another child our only option was in vitro fertilization. We do not have private insurance and since IVF was financially impossible, I gave up hope of a third child and decided to go back to school.

Dear Lola, imagine my surprise (and fear) that Friday nearly three years later, when looking at my calendar, I realized that I was “late.” Imagine my delight (and terror) when the second pink line appeared after I peed on “the stick”. I kept you, my delicious secret, for about a week, before telling your dad. And we waited another month, until we could see you growing safely in my uterus via ultrasound, until we told Mimi and Pap (then the rest of the world on Facebook.)

So you are very special to us: A wish granted unexpectedly and a joy unlooked for.

After an uneventful, complication-free, healthy pregnancy I headed into the weekend before I reached 37 weeks with the expectation of at least another week or two of pregnancy. In retrospect, I did a lot of nesting that weekend. I bought several last-minute baby items, paid all our bills, filed papers, made a to-do list and a number of appointments.

On Monday, April 30 I woke at 4 a.m. with a dreadful feeling about my appointment with the backup obstetricians that I had scheduled for May 1. The head doctor had called me several time the week before, wanting me to come in a sign yet another liability waiver for my homebirth plans. It was starting to wear on me and I was concerned about what awaited me at the clinic. I woke up Hal and cried to him because I felt that I was being sucked into the hospital agenda, that I would not go into my birthing time naturally or would go beyond 42 weeks. He calmed me down and I slept for several hours, missing my usual 6 a.m. 3-mile walk.

The girls and I enjoyed our first day off from homeschooling. We shopped at the Girl Scout Council store and bought some books for next year and patches. The security guard teased me about when my baby was coming and I wanted to have a Braxton Hicks in front of him to really scare him, but instead we smiles and went on our way. Our next stop was Trader Joe’s for our weekly groceries. I noticed that I was having fairly frequent practice waves and so I used my “Peace” Hypnobabies cue as I drove. Once at TJs, I was having to go to the bathroom with nearly every wave. So we finished shopping fast and I decided to skip my planned stop at Whole Food and ask my mom to pick up the gluten-free pizza crusts instead. I wanted to get home to eat, cook dinner and relax in case “this was it.”

After cooking, I had a sudden burst of energy, so I decided to channel it into my usual walk. The girls went with me for awhile, but mostly I was on my own, listening to my Hypnobabies Pregnancy Affirmations. A neighbor who recently had a baby, teased me about trying to get the baby out. At this point, I was still in denial that the baby could be coming sooner than later.

By the time I got home, Hal was there with the girls and we sat down to eat dinner together. I did not have much of an appetite for the stew and sitting on the hard kitchen chair was not comfortable. During dinner, I started using my lightswitch actively, even though I thought I was still have practice waves. I figured that if they turned real that I would be very relaxed from practicing and if they stopped, I would have gotten a lot of practice.

Finally, I felt like laying down, so I relaxed on the couch while Hal took care of the girls’ bedtime routine. They asked me to join them in Madeline’s room for bedtime stories, but I could not find a comfortable position to sit in, so I ended up wandering around her room impatiently until it was time to turn the lights off. 

I brought down the big laundry basket of baby clothes and homebirth supplies. Hal looked surprised, but I insisted that it did not mean a thing- I was 37 weeks and felt it was important to have them out now. He suggested that I lay on the couch and relax and time some pressure waves while he worked on his final paper for his degree. It was due on Friday and both of us thought he had time to finish it before the baby would be here. But when I timed four waves, I found that they were 2-3 minutes apart and lasting 45-60 seconds. Hal exclaimed, “This baby is coming, isn’t it?!?” I smiled and said I still was not sure. But he was.

When I headed into bed, I decided to call Ellen and give her a heads up. I also emailed my doula who was still in California for her Hypnobabies training. I slept very deeply, listening to the Deepening track, alternated with other ones, like Fear Clearning and Special Place. Using my lightswitch and peace cues all day made it easy to sleep through this early part of birth.

I alternated between the birth ball and sleeping in bed. Hal feverishly worked on his paper. Around 10 or 11 p.m. I decided we should call Ellen. I was afraid of having the baby too fast and my waves were becoming much more intense. I made Hal go to bed in case I needed him later in the night, I did not want him up all night working on his paper and without energy to support me. When Ellen arrived at 12:45 a.m. she offered to check me, but I declined. I had not lost much mucous plus and was worried that meant I was not dilating. She assured me that many women have babies without ever seeing their plug, which made me feel better. I decided to go back to sleep after a snack and a tour of our house. She offered me something to help me sleep, but I did not want to be groggy if the baby was born in the middle of the night. Ellen slept on our couch and I alternated between sleep, birth ball and eating chicken soup on the toilet. All the while, I was listening to my Hypnobabies CDs and using my finger drop to stay totally comfortable through each pressure wave.

At 6:45 a.m. I asked Ellen to check me, as my pressure waves were still not lasting over a minute consistently and we knew we needed them to grow in intensity to bring the baby. At first, she thought I was not dilated at all, but quickly realized that what she thought was the other side of my closed cervix was really my extremely bulgy bag of water hanging out of a very stretchy 5 cm dilated cervix.

The girls got up as usual at 8:30 a.m. and were very excited to know that the baby was probably coming today. Hal made us all breakfast and I ended up sleeping until 9 a.m. Love that Hypnobabies!

Ellen thought that we should take a walk, so Hal and I went around a nearby street with a nice big uphill. We walked and talked. It was such a lovely day. Whenever I had a wave, I would lean on Hal and he would tell me to “relax” and “let go”. I started feeling double-peaking waves and I think I may have entered transformation at this point. But it did not matter. I trusted totally in Hal’s support and with each wave, I would imagine myself floating on a wave, in my special place. The water was my anesthesia and as the wave peaked in my uterus, I would envision the wave peaking and carrying me to shore. This visualization along with Hal’s voice giving me cues was so powerful that the sensations literally faded away and became exquisitely intense rather than uncomfortable.

We came home and I napped again, listening to Hypnobabies CDs. The waves were feeling much more intense and it was harder to find comfortable positions to rest in. I was really just listening, deeply relaxed and getting up to use the toilet in between nearly every one. I was still worried that I was not losing much mucous plug and concerned that the baby was still in the left occiput transverse and was getting stuck on my pelvis. I was feeling each pressure wave, first in my abdomen, then again radiating through my pelvis into my birth canal. It was more intense than I remember feeling during either of my previous births.

At 11 a.m. we decided to go for another walk, even though my waves were extremely intense. They were nearly constant, only 30-60 seconds rest and lasting well over a minute and a half. It took us at least an hour and a half, maybe longer to walk around the same street that it usually took us 10 minutes to go around. People stopped us occasionally to ask if our baby was coming. I would take a few small steps (all I could manage at this time) and I would have another wave while leaning on my husband and having him give me verbal cues for anesthesia.

We got home and I decided that after that walk, I deserved to finally get into the birth pool. It felt heavenly. I leaned into the side, listening to Easy First Stage and holding on to the handles. The girls brought me a posy of wildflowers and I looked at it. They poured warm water on my low back, which helped me focus. I talked to you, our baby, telling you that I was ready for you to be born.

After an hour, I got out to use the toilet and asked Ellen to check me again. I was 8-9 cm, but the baby was still high because of my incredibly resiliant, bulgy bag of water. She declined to rupture it, due to the risk of cord prolapse, but encouraged me to do it myself. But I just was not able to get the power I needed with each wave to push yet. And I was starting to feel a little grumpy and impatient.

Ellen asked me to get out of the tub and do squats or walk our stairs. The squats did not feel like they did much. But the stairs... oh my... walking the stairs was perhaps the single most intense experience so far. I did it once and began to cry for Hal, my rock who kept me in hypnosis and helped me focus on maintaining my anesthesia. He did two more rounds with me as I cried and swore like a sailor. Ellen took the girls into their bedrooms to explain what I was doing and that I was okay. They are so sensitive to my feelings and I did not want them to feel scared. After the third time, I refused to go further and decided to sit on the toilet.

I began to have a pressure wave and in that moment, I decided that I was going to push the heck out of it, whether I felt like it or not... I did not care. I let out the loudest sound Hal has ever heard me make. A roar, while I pushed as hard as I could and broke my bag of water. There was so much fluid that it splashed out of the toilet and all over the bathroom.

Upon the bag breaking, I immediately felt you move through my cervix into my birth canal. Ellen came running with Chux pads, intending me to birth in the bathroom. Hal knew I would be sad if I did not make it to the pool. He looked me in the eyes as asked, “Are you ready? We are going to walk to the pool. It isn’t far.” I did not think I would make it, but I did. It was the hardest thing I had ever done. Later, Hal told me that he had planned to carry me down the hall to the pool, if I had refused to walk.

Once in the pool, I freaked out because the urge to push was so intense, but Ellen simply reminded me to reach down and feel your head to center myself. I did that and instantly, instinctively, I remembered to push between waves and said “Peace” to myself as I eased your head out. I called out for help as I felt your shoulders emerge, one at a time and then your body as I knelt in the pool. I sat back, brought you up to my belly. You were blue at first, as waterborn babies are, but your heart rate was strong and you were quietly alert, looking at me, your dad and your sisters, who were present for the whole thing.

I reached down to check and found you were a girl! Madeline was crying in joy and I started crying, mostly because I was happy to finally be finished.

We got out of the tub and snuggled together on the bed. It was so amazing to go from having a baby to resting in my own bed at home. It felt so right and wonderful. You recovered from birth quickly, pinking up with the help of a little oxygen and massage and you started nursing immediately. Your sisters will never forget watching their baby sister enter the world. I feel so lucky that we all were able to have this experience together as a family. Your dad’s support created a level of trust between us that will never go away.

Initially, I felt like I had really let go of my hypnosis towards the end. That I should have worked harder to stay comfortable... then I realized that there was no way that I could have spent over three hours (or more, who knows!) at 8-9 cm with a bulgy bag of fluid in transformation if I had not been using my hypnosis. The intensity that I experienced was only matched by the power of my mind to stay in control and working towards the goal of giving birth. I also initially felt caught off guard by the length of time I was birthing because it was so much longer than Autumn’s birth. However, when doing the “Visualize Your Birth” script, I always imagined my birth starting at night, going through the morning and you being born in the late afternoon. This was exactly what happened! I just had not imagined the intensity of the experience. Having gone through it, with only my husband’s support, I feel stronger as a person, wife and mother.

Photo credit: Danielle of Tiny Toes Portraits

Enjoy more amazing birth stories and information here on the Hypnobabies blog:

http://www.Hypnobabiesblog.org

Tags: birth, birth stories, birth stories on demand, natural birth stories, home birth stories, home birth, water birth, water birth stories, birth stories with pictures, hypnobabies, Positive birth stories, 

Amber's Birth of Mia Chloe

Amber's Birth of Mia Chloe

Mia Chloe Jasmine

The Birth of Maia Chloe Jasmine

The story of my labour starts a couple of weeks before Maia actually arrived. It was a Thursday night, I was 37+6 weeks pregnant, and I began to have regular contractions. They were still mild, but I knew they were real contractions. For a few days before that I had been losing bloody show and the mucus plug. I called my friend Charlie who was going to be my doula, and she came over about 10pm. We watched “The Business of Being Born” and I could tell the contractions were getting weaker. Cora had vomited earlier in the evening so I wondered if that had made my labour stall. I went to bed after midnight and woke up at 2:30am. Everything had totally stopped so I told Charlie she may as well go home.

Over the weekend I kept losing more bloody show. This hadn’t happened at all with the other two until labour was fairly imminent, so I really thought it would happen soon. The days kept passing by with no sign of anything happening though. On Monday (38+3) they attempted a stretch and sweep. I was in agony because of my SPD and couldn’t walk very far at all. They don’t usually do them so early without a reason. However my cervix was unfavourable, it was very posterior and completely closed and firm. The midwife called in the head midwife for some reason, and they kept telling me how unusual it was for a 3rd time Mum to not have a slightly open cervix at this stage. We agreed I would come back in a week and try again. So the next Monday I arrived for my check to be told basically the same thing, except that my cervix was quite soft this time. But the midwife said although it didn’t look as if anything was imminent, she was hopeful I wouldn’t make it to an appointment a week later, on what would be 40+3. I went into active labour with Cora at 40+2 (40+4 from scan dates), and with Calvin at 40+5. So I was hopeful that a sweep at 40+3 would work.

My due date fell on a Friday. That’s the day that Cora and Calvin have swimming lessons, so I arranged a taxi to take them there and decided to go a little early so we could swim together first. Then I could stay in the big pool while they had their lessons in the small pool. We did that and had fun splashing around and playing with a few bath toys they had brought along. When they went off for their lessons I just swam gently from one end of the pool to the other and relaxed. Sometimes I floated, sometimes I tried to stretch a bit without the pain that I normally felt on land. I had a few contractions while I was in the water by myself. They weren’t anything too serious but felt like a bit more than braxton hicks.

The next day I was having regular braxton hicks almost all day. I must have been in early labour because I frequently got annoyed when Calvin would try and press on my bump during a contraction. These contractions throughout the day felt similar to the ones at 37+6. More than braxton hicks but not active labour yet.

After the kids went to bed around 7pm the contractions slowly started to get more intense. Charlie called at 8pm to see how I was doing. I had a few contractions while on the phone, and although I could talk through them, it was easier not to! After I got off the phone I was just sitting on my chair and eventually realised I couldn’t sit there through the contractions. I pulled out the birthing ball and sat on that instead, it was where I had spent most of my labours with Cora and Calvin. I still wasn’t incredibly comfortable, but I wasn’t sure why. I asked Aaron to try lower back pressure during contractions, which again was wonderful during labour with the first two. It really didn’t help, which surprised me, so I asked Aaron to stop.

I decided to get in the shower. With Cora and Calvin’s labours I had taken a shower and the contractions intensified. The contractions were about ten minutes apart. I had the shower and the contractions remained constant. No more intense, but no less either. I decided to try to lay down. If it wasn’t real thing I hoped it would stop so I could sleep, because it was gone 9pm by this time. I laid down and 10 minutes passed, no contraction. Just when I decided they had stopped one began, and I realised I could not lay down through it. As fast as my SPD would let me I rolled over and got up onto my hands and knees. Then I made my way downstairs and told Aaron I couldn’t lay down through a contraction so I thought it might be it, although I was still in denial. I asked him to call Mum and give her a heads up, so he did. Then I called Charlie, I couldn’t talk through contractions this time and she said she would be over in about half an hour.

Aaron and I started to prepare the room for birth, tidying up and moving the table and chairs around. During contractions I leaned forward against something (anything!) and asked Aaron to try hip pressure. The first time it wasn’t really in the right place or hard enough, so before the next contraction I showed Aaron how to apply hip pressure on me. It worked wonderfully on the next contraction. I would lean against the table and sway my hips while Aaron swayed with me and applied the pressure. Hip pressure is not something I ever needed with the other two, but I was glad I knew about it because it felt good.

Just before 10pm I called Mum and said she should head home from my brother’s house, and pack up the car then ring to see how things were – just in case they stalled! I also had Aaron call the midwives to let them know I might be in labour, but that I didn’t want anyone to come out just yet. I think that perplexed them! The midwife at the unit called back shortly and I talked to her and she asked me if I was really sure I didn’t want anyone to come out yet. I said I knew I still had a while to go so I would call back later on. Before too long Charlie arrived. She made herself busy doing dishes and things, and as the next hour or so passed she began to help me through the contractions along with Aaron. Aaron was shattered so I told him to go to bed and that I would wake him up later.

Charlie and I were going to watch some videos online when she got done with the dishes, and in the meantime I kept tracking my contractions on a website made for that. It was a bit distracting trying to remember to hit the button when a contraction started. I was really unsure when to call the midwives, I didn’t want to call them and still have 12 hours to go. I hoped that logging my contractions would help me make the decision. By midnight the contractions were only about 6 minutes apart and much more intense. I decided we should call the midwives, so I asked Charlie to call them. She did, and then we started to sort out the birthing pool. Charlie vacuumed and we laid down the floor sheet. Mum arrived and began to help set up the pool too. We kept having to look at the instructions to check which bit to inflate next!

I went upstairs to wake Aaron up, suspecting he might already be awake because of the noise of the pool pump. He was sitting up in bed, and I walked around to his side of the bed when another contraction hit me. I leaned over the bed and asked Aaron to help but he was so sleepy that by the time he had got up and started to try and help the contraction was over. He got dressed and came downstairs with me. Contractions were still about 4-6 minutes apart and 45 seconds long. Shortly afterwards the first midwife arrived, around 12:30am. It was S from the local maternity unit. She asked me about the contractions a bit and said “We usually do an internal just to assess things, is that OK with you?”. I said I’d rather not have an internal. I was thinking that if I was only 2cm or something I would be discouraged, even if labour was progressing fine. S seemed a little bit unhappy with that but didn’t say anything. We soon noticed that my contractions were about 3 minutes apart now, still 45 seconds long. The pool was inflated and lined, and Aaron sorted out the hose and started filling it. At one point I went to the toilet and decided to check my own cervix, just to feel if it was any different from earlier that day. I was very glad to feel that I was definitely somewhat dilated (although I have no idea how much) and I could feel the bag of waters bulging. That made me happy because I was still thinking “what if it’s false labour?”! That’s something that was similar to both of the other labours, I was in a sort of denial until something proved that I was in active labour.

The other midwife T arrived about 1am. She is actually the Consultant Midwife for our trust, and I had met her at our Home Birth Group a few months back. I was glad she was on call because I trusted her judgement, knowing how supportive she was of normal birth and home birth. I was very happy to see that she wasn’t wearing uniform. Another local midwife had called earlier in the day to introduce herself in case she was on call, and one of the things she asked was if it was OK if she didn’t wear uniform. I was thrilled at the thought! Home birth is about being relaxed and comfortable and uniforms don’t really have a place in that in my opinion.

Contractions continued at about 3 minutes apart and 45 seconds long. They were becoming more intense and the pressure I felt during them was increasing. I remember at one point Aaron putting pressure on my hips, Charlie was holding a warm pack against my lower abdomen because that helped too. Aaron and my Mum were talking and laughing and it was so distracting I just blurted out “Shut up please!”. I felt like that was really rude of me but I didn’t care, I just wanted them to not talk during contractions. Eventually the pool was full enough and the right temperature, and I went upstairs to change. I put on my bikini and dressing gown, had a few good contractions while upstairs. I told Aaron I may need him to come into the pool with me if I couldn’t manage as well without the hip pressure, so he put on his trunks and a t-shirt. When we came downstairs they had a quick listen to Maia’s heartrate before I went into the pool. All was fine and I climbed in just before 2am. It felt wonderful! I felt supported by the water and enjoyed having my own space in the pool that no-one could encroach upon really. When contractions came I leaned against the side of the pool while I was on my knees. Between contractions I would sit back against the edge of the pool.

After a few contractions I felt a funny sensation and a gush of water, followed by another gush a few seconds later. I said “My waters just broke!”. Based on my previous labours I expected to feel like pushing on the next contraction, but I didn’t. It was much more intense though. I think at this point I said that someone should go and get the kids, because I expected to give birth soon. Mum went to get them and returned with a sleepy Cora, but Calvin had refused to wake up. Cora was very excited that Maia was on the way and had a huge smile on her face.

I had quite a few more contractions and realised I was in transition because I felt so immensely tired between contractions, just as I had with Calvin. I kept expecting to feel the overwhelming urge to push, like I had before, but it didn’t come and I was slightly confused. I started to feel a little bit like pushing during contractions, and I said I felt “a bit pushy”. With each of the next couple of contractions it got a bit stronger and eventually I just decided to try pushing. I didn’t keep pushing with the first contraction because it didn’t feel like it was doing anything, but the next one was different. I pushed and that made the urge to push stronger, and I felt her moving down. She began to crown and I reached my hand down to touch her head, and it felt odd. It felt soft and there was a dimple. I kept pushing and felt something pop free. I said “Is she breech?”, then I reached my hand further down and ran my hand over her hips. It must have been seconds but it felt like ages. I couldn’t understand. I had been told by so many people that she was head down, and how far engaged she was. I just couldn’t believe she could be breech at all! After I felt her hips I said “She is breech, those are legs!”. In those seconds I felt ignored and like no-one believed me. However I think in reality people were just springing into action. The midwives were looking, Charlie was turning on the light and Mum was grabbing the camera.

T said I was doing great and just to wait for the next contraction and push her head out. It felt like a long time but it came and I pushed. It was odd because it was crowning all over again. I was feeling her head as she crowned and I felt myself stretch beautifully. As she was fully born I turned over and brought her up to the surface with T’s help. The cord was wrapped quite tightly around her neck, twice, and T quickly unwound it. Maia was very blue but wide eyed and looking at me.

I was talking to her and rubbing her to try to get her to breathe, but she wouldn’t. So T called out to S and they quickly clamped her cord and laid her down to give her some oxygen. She started breathing shortly after they cut the cord, and she pinked up very quickly with the oxygen. I wasn’t worried about her at all but I think Aaron was. I knew she was fine.

After she pinked up the midwives said I could get out and sit on the couch so I could hold her again. I stood up to get out and could feel something pulling on the cord. I grabbed the cord and pulled it up and it was the cord clamp! I stood there for a second and felt the placenta moving down so I paused. I had handed the cord clamp to S to hold while I got out and I told her the placenta was coming, as I said that a big clot fell out then the placenta did. I was very glad, less mess and much easier than delivering the placenta on the couch! I walked over to the couch and sat down and Maia was handed to me. I held her skin to skin and had my robe over us. We had lots of skin to skin time. Charlie went to get Calvin and he was thrilled to see his new baby sister, but the first thing he said was “I wanted you to wake me up when she was born!”. I told him we had tried but he wouldn’t wake up, he was very disappointed but still glad to see her.

S went back to the maternity unit to get the scales. When I was ready she weighed Maia and pronounced that she was 2660g. She lifted her off then pressed the button to change it to pounds and ounces, and it read 5lbs 6oz. I was surprised that she was so tiny, she looked about the same as Cora to me and I had guessed maybe 5lbs 13/14 (I can’t remember which I guessed). We later found out that the scales must have malfunctioned because she as definitely 2660g which is actually equivalent to 5lbs 14oz! She was 21” long, compared to Cora’s 20” and Calvin’s 20.5”. The midwives explained that they were going to stick around a little bit longer than normal because she had been breech and had the cord around her neck, just to make sure she was fine. The kids went back to bed very happy. I think Mum and Charlie left at around 4am. T then checked me and I had no tears, not even a graze! After cleaning up and collecting all the stuff, they left at around 4:30am. Aaron and I took Maia upstairs and all got into bed and had a much deserved sleep before Cora and Calvin woke up again the next morning. It was bliss.

The whole labour was really enjoyable for me, I was so excited to finally meet Maia! I can honestly say that my entire labour and birth was pain free as well. The contractions were intense but enjoyable and I would do it all again in a heartbeat. I count my blessings every day that she was an undiagnosed breech, because if they had discovered that prior to birth I would have been pressured to have a caesarean – even vaginal breech hospital birth is rare where we live. Instead I had an amazing home water birth, I couldn’t ask for more.

Amber is a Doula! Please check out her website here: http://gentlerbeginnings.invigorated.org/

Tags: birth, birth stories, birth stories on demand, home birth, natural birth, birth stories with pictures, meconium, water birth, positive birth stories, midwife, midwife stories

Courtney's Birth of Natalie Joy

Courtney's Birth of Natalie Joy

My baby girl was born on April 13th, 2012 at 7:13 am.  

Here is her birth story!

Early in the month of March, I started having strong Braxton Hicks and some pretty intense contractions. I don't remember how many times I thought I was in labor, but one thing I do know is that it was one too many times. I'd get excited and hopeful that "this was it." And then everything would stop and I'd feel that "woosh" that you get in the bottom of your stomach when a chair gets pulled out from underneath you.

Emotionally, it put a lot of strain on me and my husband. We were already going through some stressful situations and the added stress of "is this labor" just kept us on this ever rolling, never stopping roller coaster. 

I often found myself praying, asking God for grace to make it through just the next minute, the next hour, the next day. My hormones were going absolutely bonkers and every little thing grated on my nerves; if someone didn't agree with me, they were like the worst person in the world. If something dropped on the floor that wasn't supposed to, I'd cry. Etc, etc. You get the point. It was just one of those hormonal times where my brain didn't function the way it was supposed to.  I got kind of depressed, because I felt that I was frustrating everyone with my attitude, yet I felt completely out of control of what I was feeling, thinking and saying. One of the worst "symptoms" I had was speaking my mind before I thought about what I said. Then I'd regret it later, but the damage had already been done. Hormones are just plain horrible, to say the least.

So I had about 3 1/2 weeks of this prodromal labor, where every day to two days I'd think I was going into labor and then wouldn't. Another thing that I went through with the prodromal labor was feeling like something was wrong with my body. After about 2 weeks of going through the prodromal labor, I began to think that my cervix was incompetent. I thought that maybe it just wouldn't open anymore. I thought that maybe I had cancer. I thought and thought and thought and thought. It just kept making me more and more uptight, and I felt like a failure. The emotions that came with that weren't all that positive, of course. I started to loose faith in God. I started to question Him and I began to wonder why He was allowing me to go through all of this. I felt completely alone and abandoned.

Then on April 12th, I had an appointment with my midwife where she checked to see if I'd progressed at all, because 2 weeks earlier, I had been at 3 cm, and was at least 80% effaced. Sure enough, I was at a 4, almost 5. I was so excited. She asked if I wanted my membranes stripped and I said "yes!" I just wanted to get this show on the road.

All that day I had some contractions, and they were actually pretty painful, but they were no where near long enough, or close enough together to say it was labor. I just thought it was more prodromal labor. So around 11 pm, I took a warm shower to loosen my muscles and went to bed. Around 2 am I woke with a start. I think I woke up moaning...and I can't be sure, but I believe it was my moaning that woke me up, more than the pain. But once my brain realized why I was moaning, the pain became apparent. I remember sitting up in bed and thinking, "wow, this is really, really intense!!!"   But then it passed and I laid back down, curled up under our down comforter, pulled my leg pillow back between my legs and settled back down. I think I drifted off, but once again, the whole process happened again. I just kept denying the fact that I was in labor! After the 2nd bout of moaning, waking up, realizing the pain and trying to settle back down, I realized that this wasn't stopping. It was getting more intense by the moment.

I got out of bed and went to the living room where my husband was trying to get some things done. I told him I was in a lot of pain and didn't know if it was real contractions or not, but that they were certainly pretty bad. He knew by the look in my eye that I was really serious and that the pain was pretty bad. So he offered to run me a warm bath; an offer I didn't turn down! 

Moments later, I sank my pain racked body into warm blissfulness and tried to rest. But the bliss lasted all of 2 seconds. I gripped the side of the tub with both hands and just moaned. I felt this sharp pain rippling through my stomach, all the way down into my thighs. My husband reached over and massaged my back for a while but then another one hit. I gripped his arm as hard as I could (later on, I had to check his arms to make sure I hadn't left them black and blue with bruises. I hadn't, but I certainly gripped him like my life depended on it all the way through the whole birth). I moaned very loudly the whole contraction. I was afraid I'd wake my 18 month old son and my mom who were sleeping in the other room. But I couldn't help the noise.

My husband told me, "You need to call the midwife. Now."

I remember shaking my head and saying, silly enough, "No, I don't want to call quite yet. What if this isn't real labor? I'd hate to wake her and find out it's nothing and just fake labor again." 

My husband looked at me like I was crazy! "Honey, you just about ripped my arm off with that last contraction. You need to call her now."

So I called. I ran into some complications getting a hold of her, so I moaned and groaned my way through 30 minutes worth of contractions. They were getting closer together and more intense. I could feel with each contraction the pain intensifying. Finally, before we could get a hold of my midwife, the contractions were so intense and close together, my husband decided we just needed to leave, head for the birth center in hopes she'd be there.

Finally my midwife called me back and we met her there somewhere around 4:30 am.

She checked me as soon as we got in there and I was at 6 cm, almost 7. I remember feeling completely relieved and was able to just relax my body to go with the contractions. I think I was slightly holding myself back because in the back of my mind, I kept thinking that this might still be fake. When the midwife told me I was definitely in labor, I was able to relax and let go.

Around 5:15 am I was on my hands and knees, throwing up with each contraction when the gush happened. My water broke! Things progressed very fast from there. The midwife had me try sitting on the toilet, but with each contraction, I stood up, unable to stay seated. They wanted me to try to make it through one contraction sitting down, as they said it would help open the cervix faster, but the pain was way too intense for me. I kept going high pitched with my moans and groans, and they kept trying to have me go "low" with them. Didn't work for me. LOL...I'm a squealer through pain like that. After trying to sit on the toilet and then a few minutes in the shower, I couldn't stand anymore. I crawled into the tub of warm water and felt the pain almost wash away from me. I was able to sleep for just a couple of moments, but the contractions just kept coming, harder and faster, to the point where I couldn't tell where one started and one stopped. My body started pushing.

I remember saying, "I'm pushing! I'm pushing! I'm pushing!!!!!" and of course, the squealing continued. My husband was with me every step of the way, allowing me to use his arms as my anchor to grip onto through each intense contraction. He said he was moaning through each contraction too, because my grip was sooo tight and strong. (in his words, "I didn't know you were that strong!") I pushed 2 times and got her head out. I remember being completely surprised that the ring of fire (also known as crowing) wasn't more painful and that it actually felt "good" to know she was right there. The ring of fire gave me the strength to push through the pain and just get her out.

I had another contraction and pushed with all my might, yet nothing happened. All of a sudden my midwife said, "We've got to get her out of the tub, now." And I was being lifted and pulled out of the tub. Waddling over to the bed, they got me on all fours and told me "PUSHHHHH" and I pushed with all my might. I felt my little girl come out and saw her beautiful little form laying on the sheet below me. I started rubbing her back and crying all at the same time. I remember looking up into my husband's face and seeing his smiling eyes!

"We did it! I did it! She's here!"

They told me I started pushing at 7:03 am and that she was born at 7:13 am. If her shoulders hadn't gotten stuck, I would have had her out in 3 pushes!

Tags: birth, birth stories, birth stories on demand, natural birth, natural birth stories, birth center, midwife, midwife stories, primordial labor, long primordial labor

Mary's Birth of Julia

This is Mary S.  a 29 year old sahm with aspirations to become a midwife someday. here's the story of my first baby's birth.

I wrote this story down on the first anniversary of Julia's birth. I'm overjoyed to have the memories of this past year, but the memories of the birth itself weighed rather heavily on me for the entire year after I gave birth. Since writing this, I’ve been able to let much of the weight go and don’t dwell on it nearly as much.

I got pregnant 6 months after my wedding, and while we weren’t trying hard, I had stopped my birth control but still was fairly surprised that it all “worked” and I was pregnant. I took a test the day I was supposed to have my period because I just felt different, and pregnant I was! Dave was a little miffed at my delivery. I came out of the bathroom and announced that I had taken a pregnancy test and in 4 minutes we could go in and see the results. I think he could have used a little more warning than that.

For the summer we were staying at a friend’s beach home and I spent about an entire month laying on a couch feeling terrible and reading every single book in the library related to pregnancy and birth. As fall came closer, we got ready to return to our home, which needs some explaining. Dave was the high school teacher and I was a cook for Holden Village, a Lutheran retreat center constructed out of a former mining town located in the cascade mountains of central Washington.

It was remote! To get there, you got on a ferry that took you 50 miles up a long, narrow lake, a trip that took about 3 hours. You were then dropped off at a landing and school busses from the village were waiting to take you the 11 miles up switchbacks into the mountains to the village. There was no road connecting us to the outside world. You could hike in, but it was a several day-long hike over snowfields and glaciers in all but the peak of summer. The boat ran once a day in the summer and every other day in the winter.

I knew that being pregnant in such a setting was going to be a little bit interesting. I did some research and found a birth center in Wenatchee, an hour’s drive from the boat landing, and made our first appointment for the day before we went up to the village. We sought the care of midwives, because I thought that would be the best way to get the sort of care I wanted. I didn't want a typical hospital birth.

I wanted no drugs, and I didn't want to be hooked up to a fetal monitor and IVs, and I definitely didn't want to be epesiotomied or to have a c-section. If possible, I wanted to labor in a tub and have the option of a water birth. I had to explain the circumstances of our location and they agreed to work with us. There was two midwives working in the birth center, they alternated appointments and either one could be the one on call during the birth.

I had monthly appointments that I had to travel out of the village for. Dave couldn’t accompany me to most because of his obligations to work. He was able to attend our ultrasound, around thanksgiving, and we found out that we were going to have a girl! (I had felt that she was a girl, but was still surprised to be right!) Everything went smoothly, except my weight. I gained a LOT! I started about 175 and ended at about 240! At about 8 months, the midwives nicely said that I should stop gaining, and that was a wake-up call. I stopped indulging and my weight stayed pretty steady for the last month! Too bad I hadn’t noticed how huge I was sooner!

The last month was when it was no longer such a good idea to be so far from medical care. My only option in an emergency from the village would have been a medical evacuation helicopter ride! I moved downlake to a house owned by the retreat center for downlake staff to live in. There was nobody in it at the moment, and it was an ideal place for me to wait for the baby. The only not-ideal part was that Dave still had to work. I was due the 24th of March, and his spring break began the 20th. In addition, he had a week of paternity leave. As long as the baby wasn’t early, we were set. If the baby was early, we had a friend with a boat who agreed to get Dave and bring him down. It wasn’t a perfect plan since Dave would need 4-6 hours notice to get there, and in March, there could be bad weather further

complicating the plan, but it was the best we could do. I had a string of family and friends lined up to stay with me the last two weeks, in case I needed a driver and labor support but we all hoped that wouldn’t be necessary. Thankfully, the wait was uneventful, Dave arrived on the 20th, and labor had not begun.

I spent my days napping, walking, knitting, and reading up on birth and listening to pregnancy podcasts! I seriously read about 45 books on the subject. The reason I wanted a birth center birth instead of a

homebirth was 1, that the birth center would have a tub for me to try, and 2, that we were a long ways away from medical care, if the need were to arise. At an hour’s drive, we were right on the edge of the distance the midwives would go for a homebirth, but I thought I’d be fine with a drive in early labor.

The midwives suggested that I write a birth plan, but I ignored that suggestion, thinking that the midwife model of care would be in line with my wishes. They provided good prenatal care, and things were fine until about my 39th week, when they said that the baby was posterior, or face-up. This is

not necessarily concerning, as the baby can flip to the better face-down position at any time, but they did suggest I spend time on all 4's, supported by pillows, and to spend as much time resting on my left side as I could, for the benefit of my suddenly slightly elevated blood pressure.

I did these things, napping on my left side, and spent 5-10 minutes at a time on all 4's, but after the fact, I did some research and found a lot more things I should and should not have been doing. For instance, I went swimming, to exercise and relax and feel weightless again, but I should not have been doing the breaststroke, which with the frog leg motion encourages the baby's head to settle down lower, making turning less likely. I also spent time squatting, having read in many books that it is a good position for pregnant women to be in. That also encourages the head to settle. I should have been spending hours and hours on all 4's, and even should have spent time lying in an inclined position with my butt higher than my head to encourage her to float higher and turn. I could have sought a manual turning of the baby, (by a trained professional pressing on specific parts of the belly.) I could have gone to see a chiropractor, to see if being adjusted would help the baby to turn. I should have avoided being reclined on my back, and instead labored in specific positions to encourage turning. Now, a lot of that seems pretty obvious to me now, but at the time, I presumed that the baby would turn when she needed to and that it would all be fine, so I didn't research it, didn’t ask a lot of questions and didn't think about it.

On the 21st, I had felt some intermittent contractions, but they were not painful, and I thought it likely that they were false contractions. Later that afternoon, I mention it to Dave, who got a tad worked up that I hadn't told him sooner, but I was pretty unconcerned, since my due date was the 24th, and

tons of people told me that "the first baby is ALWAYS late." That day, my sister Caroline was visiting, and

our friend Lee. Caroline was going to drive back to her college the next morning, but stated that if I was

actually having the baby that she wasn't going anywhere. Lee stated that he wasn't really keen on

participating in the birth, so if we left, just to leave him a note.

That evening, I noticed some mucus tinged pink when I wiped after one of my many trips to the bathroom, and thought it was probably my mucous plug coming out. This isn't necessarily a sign of immediately impending labor, but I decided to call the midwives anyway. I got ahold of Dzahn, who was on call that night, but she told me that she wasn’t concerned about it, and since she was coming down with a cold, not to call unless I was REALLY sure that I was in labor so that she could get a good night's sleep. Now I think back to that and wish I had asked her to turn me over to the other midwife's care, since it seems very possible that her job performance was affected by being sick, not to mention what a bad idea it would be to expose us and the baby to illness. However, I worry much to much about pleasing other people and not making a fuss, and so I agreed not to bother her unnecessarily and went to bed.

About midnight, I got up to go to the bathroom, and when I was climbing back into bed, I felt a small pop, and a small gush of fluid. Maybe a cup’s worth. I sat there a minute, a little bewildered, wondering if I had just peed, before realizing it was my water breaking. The midwives had told me to call if my water broke, so I told Dave, and went to call again. I didn't have any contractions at this point, so it was sort of weird to know that the baby would be here soon! No extra 15 days of pregnancy for me! My midwife told me to go back to sleep, and to call again when things were picking up, defined as contractions that were about a minute long and 5 minutes apart. I went back to sleep for a couple hours, and by 3 30 am or so, I was feeling contractions pretty solidly. I didn't want a lot of commotion, so I went upstairs alone with a clock and a piece of paper, and timed things myself for a bit, but it soon became apparent that contractions were 30 seconds long and 2-3 minutes apart! The exact opposite of what I was looking for as the sign to call again! It was feeling pretty intense at this point, and I felt like throwing up, so I woke up Dave and Caroline, and Dave called the midwife again. She told us to go ahead and start driving, since we had an hour's journey to get to the birth center.

Dave and I got into our new Subaru and Caroline followed in her car. About 20 minutes along, and a deer ran out into the road! Dave braked hard and the deer ran by. He started to speed up again, and at the last second, the deer turned around and jumped in front of the car, hitting the left fender! Dave said some colorful things, and got out to see what the damage was. I was in a laboring state of unreality. The deer ran off somehow, leaving a good chunk of fur behind and a dented fender. Things looked drivable, and I was still in labor, and moaning pretty loudly, so we kept going. Looking back, the what-ifs of that moment alone are incredible. We were in an extremely isolated stretch of road that had no cell phone reception. What if Caroline was not following us, and we had been alone? What if the car had been un-drivable? What if Dave or I had been badly hurt? Where could we have gone for help? The nearest house was probably 2 miles away… I try not to think about it now.

We got to the birth center about 4am, and I was in such an introverted, intense state of mind that the outside world was pretty much lost on me. I got inside and made a beeline for the toilet dropping my pants along the way. The midwife suggested that I move to the bed so they could check and see how I was progressing, so I heaved myself off the toilet and flung myself down on the bed, butt in the

air, dealing with a contraction, and could have cared less who was seeing the show. There were two

midwifery students who were actively hands-on-learning, and I can't remember either of their faces. I do

remember that the tub had been filling with water, and I remember asking twice if I could get in yet, but

somehow that request was never accommodated, and I was soon too far gone from reality to remember that my own birth wishes included laboring in the tub. After my butt-in-the-air-contraction was over, the

midwife asked me to turn over so she could see where we were. The checking showed that I was 9 cm

dilated so it looked like my labor was barreling along and that the baby might be there quite soon!

I soon felt the urge to push, and then my brain was really gone. I was lost in the intensity of the pushing, and between contractions I tried to relax as much as I could, to help manage the pain. Time passed, and I stayed on my back. My logical mind knew that the back was the least helpful position for a woman to labor in, but my logical mind was far away, and the idea of voluntarily moving seemed impossible. I do know that eventually the room was bright with sunlight, and somehow I became aware that I had been pushing on my back for about 3 hours.

At this point, the midwife suggested we try a birthing chair, which I found to be incredibly uncomfortable. I then moved to the toilet, which was way comfortable, but after just a few minutes the midwife asked me to go back to the bed so she could check me again. (I wonder why she didn't check me right there on the toilet.) Very soon after moving back to the bed she gave me a nasty tasting herbal concoction, but I can't remember what it was supposed to do. Perk me up, probably. I was trying very hard to relax in between and during contractions, and I think this made it look like I was exhausted.

Soon after this, she said that the baby was still posterior, and since my pushing wasn't getting us anywhere, she brought up the idea of transferring to the hospital. I wasn't able to ask questions that I normally would have, or I would have asked what she could do about it, what was likely to happen at the hospital, what our options were. Instead all I could think was that if we had to go somewhere, I wanted to get there fast, before things got worse. Someone put pants on me, and I somehow got out the door and into our car. I don't know why the midwife didn't put us in her car, but I do know that Dave was pretty white-knuckle about the drive.

I felt like there was a bowling ball coming out of my butt from all the swelling so there was no way I

could sit on a seat. Instead I kneeled on the seat with my butt to the windshield and I have a clear memory of the seat belt warning dinger going off repeatedly and obnoxiously, but did not have the mental capacity to fasten the seat belt beneath me to stop it. I also have a clear memory of the oddness of seeing people driving normally, doing normal thing, while I felt like my world was out of control.

We got to the hospital, just a few minutes away and pulled up to the emergency room entrance. Instead of being met with orderlies and a rolling bed, like in the movies, we had to walk ourselves in, and I remember leaning on one of those retracting line-forming railing posts, pushing, (I couldn’t not push) while I heard the counter attendant asking Dave questions like "are you the father of the baby?" and "are you two married?" It was so surreal. There were tvs blaring the news that Obamacare had passed, but I was so self-absorbed that I didn't learn about it until much later in the day. I wish I had started screaming and stripping off clothes to get people moving faster, because the wait was agonizing.

The midwife brought a wheelchair up, and since I couldn't sit in it, I kneeled while we went on what felt like a tour of the hospital. When we got to the delivery room, it was a buzz of activity. People took off my clothes and put on a gown, they somehow got me into a bed, and attached a fetal monitor to my belly, and someone put in an IV for pitocin. We hadn't been there more than a couple minutes before the doctor arrived, and she told me that she was going to reach in and turn the baby. And she did, which was VERY painful, but everything else was so painful too that it didn't really register that much. I do remember thinking that all I wanted was for the baby and the pain and everything to all just go away.

Then the doctor and all the nurses were telling me to push, and after a minute the head was crowning. Someone held a mirror, but at the wrong angle, so I couldn't see it but I could feel it. The head came out, then the whole baby was there, put on my stomach. It was 10:35 am. It was truly surreal. I knew that I should be feeling happy, but I really just felt a fuzzy sense of relief but I did things I thought I should like smile at my husband (who was crying) and look at the baby.

She looked huge to me. Her head was pointed from the extended time in the birth canal, and she was kind of purply greyish. Her eyes were dark, and sort of swollen, and she had a lot of dark hair. Her hands were really big! She stayed on my belly for a little while, maybe 10 minutes. The doctor said that she would have thought I had an epidural from how little pain I showed. The midwife offered the comment that we were lucky to get the doctor we did, because anyone else would probably have given me an episiotomy and vacuum extracted the baby. Then the midwife left. I did have a small tear, and they put in two stitches. They also kept pressing hard on my belly, which hurt a lot, but served to help my uterus contract properly.

I think I tried to offer a breast to the baby, but I don't think she really nursed at all. They took her over to be weighed, and since she was 8 lb 15 oz, they said she was at the edge of the "normal" limit and had to be tested for gestational diabetes. I was still not in my right mind, or I would have protested. I was 8 lb 14 oz, and Dave was 11 lbs 7 oz. We would naturally have a large baby.

Getting tested meant heel pricks, and she cried. A nurse came with a bath cart, and right-minded me would have protested that too, since amniotic fluid scent helps a baby to nurse and bond, and the cottage-cheese vernix left on her skin could have been rubbed in to keep it moisturized. But shell shocked me was fine with the idea of a bath, and Dave was helping, so the bath happened, and she cried. The blood test established her glucose levels and the nurse told me something like

that if it didn't go up in the next half hour, she would have to have a feeding of formula. Another heel prick, and I guess it was decided, because while another nurse was having me stand up and walk to the bathroom to see if I could pee, someone else was sticking a tube down Julia's nose and putting formula in her belly.

I can't believe that I didn't protest that. I don't even know if I could have refused. The midwife was gone, and when you are in a hospital, they act with an air of authority that is very very hard to question. Julia promptly spit up that formula, which secretly made me pleased, and somehow her blood sugar tested fine the next round of pokes, so we were thankfully done with that ordeal. We moved to a recovery room, and recovered. I wish I had asked that everyone leave us for an hour right after birth before all the poking began. I would have liked more time to accept and welcome Julia with Dave in the moments after birth.

In recovery Julia slept and nursed, which I was anxious about. Was she latching properly? I wanted to avoid bleeding nipples and knew a good latch was key, but how do you know a good latch? A lactation consultant peeked and said she looked fine and left, but I was still anxious. This was something I planned on the midwives helping with. At some point, my midwife had told us that since we were now hospital patients, they wouldn't do the postpartum follow up visit at home on day 2, and day 10. They could see us for the 3- week check up, but in the mean time, we had to find a pediatrician for follow up care.

We stayed the night at the hospital, and thankfully they let Julia room in with me, and sleep with me in the bed. She got less swollen and more baby-like as the night went on, and I started to feel more in love with her. Dave and I decided on her name from a long list of possibilities, Julia North. (Funny story, about 3 days later at a grocery store someone asked me what she was named, and I totally forgot! I had to think a looong minute, and the woman gave me a really odd look!)

The next day, we got our ok to check out, and to help us do so was a hospital volunteer. But first, she told us, we had to bring in the car seat to make sure Julia fit it properly. This was a little interesting, since I found the car seat manual to be a bewildering piece of literature, I had found a trained fireman to install it for me. Dave had been up in the village while I was figuring out that project, and so he had no experience installing or uninstalling it, and for him to have to go out and uninstall the seat probably involved much swearing and ended up involving cutting at least one piece of plastic. We didn't buy one of the typical bucket-style seats that detaches from the base. Figuring that Julia would have outgrown it before we left the village, (no cars in the village = no carseats either!) we bought a large "convertible" car seat that was supposed to fit her from birth to huge. Our new car came with The Latch System which turns out to be an incredibly poorly designed system involving unseen latches way back in small crevices next to other latches that are incorrect, and the hooks you are supposed to hook onto the unseen latches are next to impossible to open once they have closed, especially in an unseen area of 1 inch x 2 inches. We have since switched to using the regular seat belt instead of the latch system, but

in the moment, it was an exercise in extreme frustration for Dave. He managed to get the thing out of the car and inside and we dutifully put Julia in it, and la, everyone said that she fit. Dave picked up Julia in the car seat, and I sat in the wheelchair, and before we could get more than 10 feet, we had all the nurses in a commotion. Apparently we couldn't carry the baby out in that sort of car seat. Neither could Dave take her out of the car seat and carry her in his arms. He might drop her and sue. About 10 nurses had a back room huddle while we sat there in the hall and waited and eventually it was decided that I had to sit in the wheelchair and hold Julia (though they weren't too thrilled with that, because what if I dropped her and sued?) Dave could carry the empty car seat and the volunteer could wheel us out. I wonder what would have happened if we just kept walking? Dave brought the car around, and then the fiasco of re-installing the car seat ensued. The volunteer informed us that she was not allowed to help us install it for liability reasons, and so we drove off into the morning with a beautiful baby in what was likely an incorrectly installed car seat thanks to hospital bureaucracy designed to protect themselves in the name of protecting babies.

That is the birth story. While I am absolutely happy and grateful that I was able to have a drug-free vaginal childbirth and that our baby was healthy, there’s a few more things I wish had happened differently. I wish I had hired a doula. A doula's role is to support the laboring mother and to advocate for her wishes. I thought that Dave could take care of that, and while he was very supportive and wonderful, he was not at all experienced in labor. I also didn’t cound on my own brain being so messed up, to the point that I couldn’t advocate for myself at all. I can't help but think that a doula would have filled some of the gaps that I perceived in my labor care.

I wish I had not spent so much time on my back and more time in good posterior turning positions!

I really wish I could have tried laboring in water. I wish I had been able to ask the midwife to turn the baby herself. I asked about this at the 3 week follow up and I was told that during one of my pelvic checks the midwife tried very gently to see if she would easily turn, but that flipping the baby internally is on the border of what they are really comfortable doing. I can understand this, but in the midst of labor, there was no discussion about it being a possibility, and I really wish we could have avoided all the trauma of transferring to the hospital, or at least discussed the option.

I also really wish that I had done my own reading up on posterior positioning, as there are many things I

could have done that might have caused Julia to turn on her own, resulting in a much easier labor. (If she hadn’t been posterior, she might have been born in as little as 4-5 hours from my water breaking! So much for the oft repeated “first time mothers having long labors”…)

I wish the midwife had taken us to the hospital in her car, as that drive was scary for Dave.

I wish the midwife had stayed longer at the hospital and perhaps been able to help me avoid or discuss the

gestational diabetes testing and to establish breastfeeding with less stress.

I wish someone had taken a video of the birth. I wish I had specifically asked my sister to be the media

person. She said later that she didn’t want to do anything against my wishes, but you can always delete and you can’t go back and catch it on film later!

Finally, I really wish the midwives had done the 2 and 10 day follow up care. Even though breastfeeding

went fairly smoothly, It would have been much less stressful for me to know that there would be skilled

help checking up on me, and it would have saved us several long drives into Wenatchee for pediatric care and the stress of finding a pediatrician. (I didn't really care for the first one we chose, the one who came recommended by the midwives and ended up switching to a different one who was much more personable)

I wish I had made a birth plan, if only to lay out for myself and Dave what our wishes were, especially once we went to the hospital.

 Tags: Birth, birth stories, birth stories on demand, birth story, posterior, posterior position, midwife, birth center, hospital transfer, rural setting, 

Lara's Birth of Cooper

I just came across this website and would love to share the birth story of my son who is now 9 months old...

From 11 weeks i new something was ‘off’ about this pregnancy (my second) as i started to get Braxton hicks at 11 weeks which worried us and our doctor because it was unusual for them to start so early.. i had some tests done and it turned out i had irritable uterous symdrome, which ment that any pokes, prods, baby kicking, constipation ect would set off small contractions... i was told to just keep an eye on my cervix by feeling it daily.

I continued through my pregnancy perfectly doing this, the Braxton hicks got worse and worse as bub got bigger and started kicking but i was no longer stressed about it. We found out at 20 weeks we were having a boy and named him cooper...

At 27 weeks i was going for a walk with my inlaws when i felt a sudden drop and lots of pain around my bladder... off to the doctors we went and Cooper had engaged but we were told not to stress as it can happen and bubs still don’t come till their due date, during my cervix check i could feel his head moving around through the wall of my vagina... this was very odd feeling!! At 33 weeks i started to lose my plug but again my doctor told me don’t stress ect ect.... i could feel something was off though, the tightening got worse and would ripple up through my back, but still my doc would send me on my way every time i would go see him... i swear he thought i was full of it...

At 35 weeks and 4 days i was in so much pain and could hardly move so off to the doctors i went again with my then 18 month old daughter who was tired and cranky cos she was due for a sleep. I had to have her on my lap while waiting at the doctors, i was in tears cos i was in so much pain.... the doc  called me in and i explained to him what was happening so he put me up on the bed and had a feel of my belly and while he was doing this i got a contraction which he brushed off saying ‘wow you have really strong Braxton hicks’ (UMMM DERRR i have been telling you this for AGES now loser!!!) anyway... he told me i was over reacting and sent me on my way once again... i got home and called my hubby in tears and explained it all... he told me to llay down and get some rest, but an hour after getting home from the docs  i got a sudden burst of energy and started the house work... i lent over my bed to change the sheets and *POP* waters broke all over my bed.... they were gushing out... so i called my hubby but got through to his boss who sent him on his way and called my mother in law who lives in Darwin and was ment to be at the birth... she hopped on a plane but didn’t make the birth... i had no way of getting to the emergency so had to wait an hour for my hubby to get home from work. We then went down to the emergency room and my doc got called and when he walked in his face dropped and he was profusely apoligising... all i could say was ‘i told you!!! You should have listened!!’ and still they insisted on doing a test on the liquid coming out of me to make sure it was my waters and not urine, when they told me this i was in shock, i said to them um i don’t think i can wee for 2 F%#@&@ hours!!!!! And low and behold,,,it was my waters....

 so they gave me some drugs to slow the labour down and into a ambulance we got for the 2.5 hour drive to perth....

got to my hospital and things started back up and got moving, i was about 7 cm dilated and Cooper was right down in my pelvis when the little bugger got hiccups!! OMG worst feeling EVER whilst in labour!!!!!! I got the urge to push when this happened and the pressure was unbearable! The midwife wouldn’t let me push though but i didn’t listen so she had to get her hand in there and stretch me a further 2 cm and when she did this he just slid out... lol...and we welcome our perfect 5 weeks early exactly 7 pounder to the world...

the next few days he spent in ICU due to having some fluid on his lungs but we got out of hospital on day 4....

J we had a stressful run... but this story tought me something.... ALWAYS TRUST YOUR INSTINCTS!!!!!

tags: birth, birth stories, birth stories on demand, natural birth stories, premature, 35 weeks, NICU, irritable uterus, negligent doctor, child birth stories, birth stories with pictures