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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Lisa-Marie

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Lisa-Marie

Round two of this story starts in the early am hours of April 1st. My first thought on my contractions starting was I cannot have this baby on April Fools day and second thought was Dr. Terryberry is out of town until the second, I have to wait until tomorrow.

I told Jeremy what was going on and he started timing contractions. They were always between 3-5 mins apart but only lasting 20-30 seconds. I figured it was still too early. Once my contractions got to a constant every 3 mins we finally headed to my parents house just in case (we live about an hour away from the hospital…my parents are less than 10 mins from the hospital). Finally after staying at my parents house for a few hours and saying if I go they will only send me home I agreed to go to the hospital.

Around 8:00pm I was admitted for observation. I had to pee in a cup and put on a gown. The nurse checked me and I had only dilated to a 3. She hooked me up to 2 monitors. I also found out I was dehydrated. They kept bringing me juice to drink. After being there a little over an hour the nurse checked me again..still just a 3. She then called the Doctor on call. He said being a first time mom I had a good 12-14 hours more before I would deliver. I was sent home. I knew I would be. The nurse said she didn’t feel right letting me go. She loaded me up with juice and told me to work on breathing and focusing and I would need it when It was time to push.

We went back to my parents house to get our little dog. They tried to get us to stay with them just in case. I was hard headed and just wanted to take a hot bath in my tub (the hospital told me I could) and sleep in my bed. We got home around 11pm. I took my bath and decided to sleep on the couch in the living room. I couldn’t get comfortable in bed and my little dog was so worried about me he keep pacing and kissing me. Jeremy had to work the next day so I told him to go on to bed I would be fine. It had to be around 11:55pm when he left me on the couch to go to bed.

Here’s where the fun begins… The contractions were still just 3 mins apart and I really do not believe they were getting stronger. I was a little mad my hot bath hadn’t seemed to help the back pain. I would dose off to sleep between the contractions. I was getting about a 3 min nap between each contraction. Finally after suffering through these “not labor yet” contractions I decided maybe I needed to empty my bladder. I was also thinking “if this isn’t labor and it only going to get worst… Elizabeth will be our only child”.

Once I got to the guest bathroom I never left. I can remember the back labor being so painful I would dig my fingers in my back and massage it during the contraction and then lean over on the sink and take my little nap. I’m not really sure how long I did this, I just know there was one point I woke up the contractions had stopped and I felt the urge to push. I remembered reading pushing too early was a bad thing so I tried to fight the urge to push. My body took over and I had to push.

I remember looking down and my belly had dropped almost like it wasn’t there anymore. I pushed a few more times and realized this has got to be it. I stood up to go get Jeremy and that is when i noticed the bulge between my legs. The head was not out yet but it was time for this baby to come. I knew I had to get Jeremy. I made it to the door of the bathroom when I felt the urge to push again. I started to back up to the toilet knowing I would probably pass out like before. I was standing when I pushed. It was then my water broke and out comes Elizabeth. It all happened so fast. One push a gush of water and there I was holding Elizabeth. By the grace of God I caught her, threw my legs together, and sat on the toilet.

I flip her over, the first thing I notice is she looks just like her daddy. Then I calmly call down the hall “Jeremy….the baby is here”. I hear him get up. He tells me later he thought I meant I needed him to take me back to the hospital. He turns the corner and there is Elizabeth sitting in my lap wide eyed.

Jeremy then calls 911. They ask him all these questions and walk him through tying off the cord (which he did with a spare pair of hot pink shoe laces). The EMT’s were there in less than 15 mins. I had delivered the placenta while waiting for them. The EMT’s cut her cord, put her in a little blanket bag and we were off to the hospital. I got to hold her and nurse her the whole way there. I was soooo exhausted…excited..yet relaxed and calm. Jeremy followed behind with our bags and dog.

Once I got to the hospital, I saw the nurse from earlier. She told me when they got the call that a female from the beach that was 39 weeks along had delivered her baby at home she knew it was me but was hoped it wasn’t because they had sent us home.

Elizabeth was born April 2, 2007. She weighed 7lbs 1.5ounces. She was 19 inches long. The approximate time of birth is 2:30am.We weren’t sure of the exact time of birth, but judging by the time of the 911 phone call was made (2:38am) they guesstimated that time of birth had to be around 2:30am.

Tami

I went from planning on making supper around 4:00, to sending hubby out to get McDonalds and my sister around 4:20, to them arriving home an hour later and 10 minutes after that hubby calling for my sister to come and catch while he was on the phone with 911.  The midwives were about 20 minutes out, but there was no way to know that I was going to go that fast.

I took a bath after hubby and our son left, and then went and laid down to see how that would feel.  The contractions had been about 10 minutes apart until about 4pm and then went to about 3 minutes but totally manageable just after that.  Once I laid down, I realized that I wasn’t getting back up again.  I didn’t have the phone to call the midwives or hubby, and the contractions started coming one on top of another, about 2 minutes apart and I was having trouble focusing on anything else.  Hubby and my sister and our son arrived and my sister got him into the kitchen for supper.

It wasn’t long after that my water broke, much to my surprise.  We called the midwife back to let her know, and by the time she called back (a couple of contractions later) I felt the urge to push and couldn’t stop it.  So she told hubby to call 911.

My sister came into the bedroom, but poor Little Mister was strapped in his chair in the kitchen.  He could hear me yelling and all, and I could hear him in the kitchen.  “Get me down from here!!!!  Mommy!  Are you okay?!  Get me down!!!”  He was mad.  LOL

So the baby’s head came out, but I forgot how to push properly.  She was stuck for a few minutes until I regained my focus and pushed again.  I got a second degree tear from her shoulders, but at least she came out.  She didn’t breathe right away, but after some vigorous rubbing she started to.  She’d aspirated meconium and had a lot of goo in her respiratory system, but she was okay.  Apgar was roughly 9.

I took the phone and the 911 operator was telling us to clamp the cord, but I didn’t want to yet.  I wanted to wait, so I told her that and that I had to clear the line so that I could be available for the midwives if they called.

The paramedics arrived about 5 minutes after she was born, and the first midwife right after.  The second arrived about 15 minutes later.  All was good, I didn’t need to go to the hospital.  I did have to get a shot of oxitocin for the bleeding, but otherwise I was fine and so was the baby.  She’s now a very happy and healthy toddler.

Mama B

With both Sinéad and Regan, I felt my first signs of labour when I had a “high up” menstrual cramp that slowly moved down during the day. As they increased in intensity and duration, I realised this was probably the real thing, and chatting with Kim on Trillian, I told him that it seemed to be starting, but he didn’t need to come home yet. Even when I did get him to come home, I did not think it would be for a while.

I had a feeling-after reading some information about how the likelihood increases of post partum haemorrhage with more pregnancies-that I should prepare in the event of it, and so put some Shepherd’s Purse tincture on hold at a local health food store. I told Kim he should start planning to be home by about 3 pm so he could pick it up. However, before he did get home I was feeling stronger and more frequent sensations, needing to concentrate and focus each time. I phoned a friend and asked her to pick it up for me, which she did! She is wonderful.

Kim arrived shortly after three and I was in intense labour. I had the bed ready and everything we needed for the birth, put some essential oil on (lavender) though I do not know if it calmed me or not, but oh well. The children, I kept occupied by letting them watch more TV than they ever do (usually two shows a day max, and they are not long shows!). Sinéad had finished all her schoolwork early enough, I had washed the floors (as planned) done my yoga and done other necessary housework, so I was ready anytime!

I got out my big exercise ball and was using that to labour on and it really helped to rock back and forth with the sensations. Still no bloody show and that actually did not happen until very SHORTLY before Aisling was born. Through a few of the sensations, I held onto Kim, and I vocalised as well. I really needed to do this. This really helped. Kim is such a wonderful support to me when I am birthing; he is so calm and focussed and supportive and completely there for me. He’s marvellous.

After a while, I felt the need to get on the bed and did so, hands and knees again, leaning against all the pillows I piled up. Labour was becoming so intense, it was difficult for me to feel centred through them and I even realised then I should have worked on more relaxation, but did a lot of self-talk, which always helps. I was sweating an incredible amount too, and could feel when I hit transition. My body and our baby were sure working hard. Vocalising (very loudly, I am not sure what the downstairs neighbours thought but I did not bother to go and explain later. Sinéad for one, turned up the TV, she told me later).

The sensations were coming right on top of one another, of course, with very little time in between. My waters released (somewhat) and she still had not descended fully (I checked) but I knew it would not be too long. A couple of more sensations and then my water gushed out and there was meconium, it was old and light green though, so there was not a need to worry; however, I did, as I expected it to be fully clear!

I wanted the baby out very soon and began to push (feeling that urge) and Kim thought I was pushing too hard, but I didn’t feel like I was (and didn’t tear at all anyway) and a short time later, Aisling was born. She came out quickly, almost all at once. As always, it was a wonderful feeling to birth my baby. Kim told me we had another girl, and I turned over to take her.

Because of the meconium, I got Kim to suction her, but there was not any need; she was clear. She started to cry right away and we realised that the cord was rather short. I had to lean down to try to nurse her (she was not interested) and wait for the placenta to come out (which it did about 45 minutes later. We clamped and cut the cord about a total of 1.5 hours after she was born, which gave both Aisling and I more freedom of movement.

There was a fair amount of blood after the birth, and my suspicion is that the cord being so short, Aisling pulled it away a bit as she was descending. Nevertheless, it was still intact and everything was fine with it (the placenta).

A little while later, I went to wash off in the bathroom and after doing this and getting out of the tub, I was feeling rather light headed and did pass out, still feeling rather off. Kim helped me to the living room and I lay down with my baby and took Shepherd’s Purse tincture and cayenne in water. They were definitely helping, but I was still weak and so it took awhile to recover from that. (This surprised me somewhat because I did recover so quickly after both Sinéad’s and Regan’s births).

Aisling is a little doll. We are thrilled to have her with us. The birth was very intense, but very satisfying as well.

Mary