I wonder as to exactly when labor for this baby really began, I had contractions that went on for weeks, but nothing uncomfortable, just annoying because I was always thinking maybe it is time…or its close to time. Those contractions were 8-12 minutes apart and lasted 1½-2½ minutes long.. At my appointment on my due date baby was still floating up high, but I was 4cm and 90% effaced. So at least all those contractions were doing something! Although, my due date came and went, which was something that I’ve never dealt with before. I can’t count how many people I’ve expressed how unimportant that special due date day is…because it is just the day of an educated guess, but still I hadn’t ever gone past mine. Actually the closest I’d ever gotten to my due date was 3 days before, so it seemed even later! The day after my due date I was frustrated with silly things and weepy. I didn’t know what was triggering it, so I figured it must be my due date passing. Eric was great and just let me cry on his shoulder and didn’t even try to help me “fix” it. I spent the weekend doing some extra walking with my mom. That first day of walking seemed to cause one long contraction. I called my midwife to make sure I wasn’t just wasting my time making myself more uncomfortable. I didn’t want to cause all these contractions if they weren’t likely doing anything but irritating my uterus. She said keep up the good work! So we did. I tried to go for a couple short walks each day. Sunday I had several hours of contractions and hoped that since they kept up that it meant something, but they didn’t get closer together or stronger, even though they went on and on and on for about 8 hours. I only timed them sporadically, so I’m not sure if it was a full 8 hours of contractions, but they finally puttered out around midnight and I got some rest.
I woke up around 4:30 on Monday…3 days past my due date. I went to the bathroom and had the always occurring contraction that I get when I change position or my bladder is full. I had another one 10 minutes later and another… I was so tired of the 10 minute apart contractions and figured it was more of the same thing. The next one jumped to 5-6 minutes and the next one was about 4 minutes later, then they stayed there and were a bit more intense. At 5:20 I went ahead and called my sister and told her that Josie (my niece that I watch during the day) should go to grandma’s house this morning. I called my mom right after that and told her Josie was heading over to her house this morning and I thought I was in labor. I sent my DH to the store for an enema because I was tired of feeling like I needed to potty. I’d felt like I needed to go since the night before, so I was positive it wasn’t baby making me feel like that. I called one of my friends who were on my labor team at 5:30. My friend suggested calling after the midwife checked me…which at the time seemed like a decent idea, though not to long after that I realized I should have had her come strait over.
I had several more contractions that were 4 minutes apart and after about 6-8 of them I gave my midwife a call at 5:50. I remember telling her they were getting stronger and I was tired of timing them and didn’t want to have to focus on the clock anymore, I was DONE…I think this was the real cue that I was in true labor.
My DH got back home and the “pottying” was taken care of and I felt much better, and the contractions remained strong. I called my other friend that was on my labor team at 6:00, but she had to teach and so far hadn’t been able to find anyone to cover her classes. I may have gotten into the tub at this time, but I really don’t remember. All I know is that I filled it up and if I got in it I was too hot to be in the warm water…
At 6:05 I called my dad to see if he could pick up the kids. The plan was to have him come around 7:15-7:30 after their normal wake up time.
So, since neither of my labor team was there my hubby grabbed the last minute to-do list. When I made it, I did not consider that I’d be in hard labor. I had Eric (DH) put my music on and I listened to Grace Toninato, which I loved. It helped calm and focus me…Its amazing how music with God’s word will do that for you. It’s the same CD I listened to when I was in labor with Corban. As the second CD came on, I had him turn it off…I did NOT want to listen to Supernatural Childbirth commentary, I was very impatient about getting it turned off. I think it was at this point that I was becoming irritated with everything going on around me. Eric kept working on the last minute prep work and trying to being my labor support all in one. He did a great job, though I didn’t make it all that easy, I remember being frustrated at wanting stuff done, but wanting him at the same time, but I couldn’t have it both ways. He did a great job dealing with me lovingly though.
I did a lot of walking in the hallway and talking my body into submission. I remember repeatedly speaking for my body to relax in the name of Jesus and every time it made a difference. I remember Eric asking if I should be saying that…I’m pretty sure he was referring to my body relaxing, maybe he thought I meant for the contractions to be less intense…I think I muttered something about God knowing what I meant…contractions strong, the rest of my body relax release tension and let my body do it’s work. I also went through the other things I needed my body to do, baby to move down, water to break (one of the reasons I stayed in the hallway…linoleum!) cervix to open, body to stretch.
I called Eric over to me, because I felt like it was too much keep up with it all and I think the “I can’t” words escaped from my mouth. Eric recognized this for what it was, while I just felt like he was being overly positive and encouraging. As I walked the hall I did have a few contractions where I remembered I had the urge to push towards the end of it. I still didn’t realize that it could be because I was in transition…until way after the fact…Eric was right, I was close.
Eric got the sheets on the futon in the living room and I laid down on my side. Corban our 15 month old woke up around 6:30 that morning and was sitting in his little chair at the table eating his oatmeal breakfast. Eric called my dad at 6:50 and we told him he needed to get here NOW instead of waiting till 7:30, he still had to go back home and trade cars so he would have a car seat for Corban. I’m not sure exactly when the midwife and her team arrived…we were thinking it was around 6:45 but now that we look at the call log we’re pretty sure that they were not here yet when we called my dad. They had a bit of a chaotic morning. My midwife woke up to find that her car had been broken into and they took her prenatal/birth bag. The assistant with the back up instruments had already left her house, thankfully she’s also the closest in location. She brought over what she had and then immediately left to go back home for the Doppler and other things. The team ended up streaming in pretty much one after another around 6:50. Corban was smiling and waving to everyone as they arrived, he’s our little greeter! The first order of business was to turn off the ceiling fan and the AC so cold air wouldn’t be blowing on the baby after he was born, then to see how far I had progressed. After waiting for the contraction to subside my midwife checked me…I was a 10 and my bag was bulging, but really thick. She said I could start to push with the contractions if I felt the need to. I was so ready to be done with it, I’m not sure if I really needed to…but I wasn’t going to let that stop me! I was still laying flat on my back, and as I half heartedly pushed through the contraction while the midwife asked me if I wanted her to break my water. We decided to go ahead and break it when the next contraction ended…but as I finished pushing through that contraction my water busted and everyone exlclaimed. The midwife was able to partially dodge the spray, which ended up going across the room nearly 10 feet. Eric had taken Corban back to the kids’ bedroom so Perry could help watch him during the birth. Evidently Parker and Libby had already awaken sitting wide eyed on their beds and Perry was snoozing away. When Eric heard all the commotion he rushed back into the living room at everyone’s exclamation over the water burst. He sat behind me and propped me up and I started to really push through the next contraction. This time around I do remember feeling a burning sensation during the pushing stage. The assistant had to give the midwife her other glove as she’d only taken time to put one on when she checked me. After that first push we were told baby had lots of dark hair and with the next contraction and 2 pushes the baby was here. There were only a few minutes between my water breaking and Clayt Daniel entering this world at 7:05am. I never expected that he’d be such a big baby. I don’t know how many people I told…”He’s not big. He’s just got a swimming pool of water in there”. He weighed in at a whopping 9lbs 1 oz, 37cm/14½inch head circumference, 19½ inches long, and apgars were 9/9. He had a perfectly round ”C-section baby” head, no time for molding such a short labor, and lots of dark brown hair.
I wish I’d have tried a different position for birth, but I guess ended up doing what I’ve always done. I experienced a bit of “birth shock” afterwards. I’d never heard of it before, but my midwife said it was due to such a quick labor (2 hours and 35 minutes from the time I woke up to the birth). I remember I half held Clayt across my tummy and was feeling really drained, hot and wanted ice. My midwife’s assistant fed me ice until I cooled off. I ended up with a skid-mark tear, but nothing that needed even a stitch. My placenta delivered very quickly…I’d guess within 10 minutes and my bleeding stopped almost immediately. I wonder if this was due to all the red raspberry leaf tea I’ve been drinking. I wouldn’t know how quickly it stopped in the past births because I was always given pitocin and torturously given a uterus massage in the hospital. It makes me mad to know how totally unnecessary that was. We waited until the cord stopped pulsating to cut it even though the placenta had already been delivered. It wasn’t long before I was feeling much better. I’m not so sure how much my sense of time can be trusted, but I imagine it was with in 15-30 minutes.
At about 7:15 my dad walked in and we announced…baby is here! It’s not like he could have missed it since I was in the middle of the livingroom, naked, with a baby laying on my tummy instead of inside it! We let the kids take a peek at the baby and give mama a kiss before they headed over to grandma’s house for a while. At 7:55 my friend called for an update on the labor progress…and she was super surprised to hear that the baby was already here and been here for about 45 minutes…and really bummed because she could have been here because her class didn’t start for another hour! If I had realized that her class didn’t start until 9:00 I probably would have told her to come on over in the first place! Next time we will know better!
We are so happy with our homebirth experience. It was so nice to not be attached to machines having cords dangling everywhere and holding you down. I had lots of plans that didn’t get carried through because even though I anticipated a quick birth, my plans didn’t reflect it I think it’s because Corban’s birth was so different at the beginning. I was not in labor and we had a few hours to prepare for it before arriving at the hospital, then they broke my water and everything started after we had prepared….while this time that wasn’t so! I had done a lot of preparation, but there was quite a list of last minute stuff that just couldn’t be done early. A lot of the stuff I wanted done wasn’t even necessary and our labor and delivery was lacking nothing, and went very smoothly.
Labor was much more intense than I realized it would be at the beginning. I think in my mind I thought the intensity would hold off until after my water broke. This was my first completely intervention free birth…FINALLY! I think laboring on my own and walking the halls not knowing how much progress was the hardest part…not necessarily that I was constantly wondering about it, but I think I could have handled the intensity better if I’d had realized the progress I was making. On the other hand it I think being here with out all the extra people may have been the best part for my mindset. I wasn’t sure how I would react to standing on the Word, speaking to my body and reminding God of His promise for me with people all around. I tend to get quiet (yes on occasion) and lean on and rely on others’ faith, especially Eric’s, and let them lead instead of standing up for myself. I’m thankful I was put in a place that helped me stand up and not leave my blessing on the table.
