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warning: contains detailed information about birth, and all that it entails.
deflection: for a much more hilarious and well-written description of the same event from Stephen's point of view, see here.
Our baby was due on 10/10/10 so we were hoping for that day. We were encouraged because the previous midwife appointment had revealed I was 2cm dilated and 50% effaced already. The night before the 10th, we had chinese food and I went for a walk. On the 10th, I had lots of very mild contractions but nothing ended up coming of them. My family also visited with thanksgiving leftovers but didn't get to be there for the baby. The contractions died down around bed time, and on the 11th it was the same deal - lots of irregular ones (mild, but a little more than the day before) but never went anywhere. Again they died down before bed time. On the 12th, we had a midwife appointment, and Nikki checked and I was 3-4 cm and 80% effaced. She swept the membranes and I had lots of bloody show and cramping for the rest of the day, more intense than either of the previous two days but still irregular. Stephen had work that day but he worked from home after the appointment. We went to bed earlyish (because he had to get up early for work) expecting the same thing to happen again.
At around 1:30am on the 13th, I got up to pee (no shocker there!), but after I did, while I was reaching with the toilet paper, I felt a popping sensation and a small amount of fluid came out onto my hand. It wasn't a huge amount so I wasn't sure if it was actually my water breaking. We called Nikki and she said if it is the water breaking, it will keep coming out, so call back in an hour if it is. Right after we hung up, I started getting real contractions. Now I know the difference between pre-labour and labour ones! They were getting closer and closer together and very intense, so I got into the bath, which helped a little. We called Nikki before the hour was up because it was clearly going pretty quickly. I actually had to throw up because of the pain. The contractions were right on top of each other and I kept saying "I thought there was supposed to be a break in between them! Where is my break?"
Nikki arrived around 3 and really helped calm me down. I was letting the contractions get ahead of me instead of anticipating and breathing through them. Some (where the baby moved during them) were much worse than others but I squeezed Stephen's hand in the bath and managed. She checked me right away and I was 5-6 cm, then less than an hour later I was fully dilated (10 cm)! No wonder it was so intense! My body had been doing work gradually over the last 3 days so this part went really fast. In Nikki's words, my contractions were "getting on like a house on fire".
The last contraction I had in the tub, I had an irresistable urge to push with it. I tried not to but there's just no way to stop the body from doing it. Nikki called for the backup midwife Anne (to help deliver the baby) and told me it was time to get out and push. We tried lots of different positions: side-lying on the bed (both sides), squatting, semi-sitting on the bed, sitting on the toilet (that sucked the most!). After an hour, Nikki and Anne were concerned with the lack of progress I was making. I knew I wasn't doing the best job pushing, the first two pushes or so on each contraction were too much yelling and not enough actual bearing down, but it's hard to know exactly what to do. So we tried more positions, and finally the position that got me there and was the most painful was Stephen sitting on a chair with me squatting in front, leaning on his knees for support. The pushing was so intense, my whole body was shaking and I felt like I was ripping in half. After not too long at that, they told me it was time to get onto the bed so they could deliver the baby!
A few more pushes and the head crowned. They told me to slow down for a sec, but pop! out came the baby's head. One more and the bundle was laid on my belly, red-haired, purple and very awake, and crying (not loud, but without us having to poke). The baby began to pink up almost immediately, and Stephen and I sat there marvelling at it. I say "it" because we still didn't know the gender! I asked, and they said I should check for myself, and it was a girl! It was 5:50 am, only about 4 hours after my water broke.
The rest of the birth I didn't really pay much attention to, since we had our little girl to look at. The placenta came out no problem, I got a shot of oxytocin to help my uterus contract (expelling a giant blood clot!), and Nikki stitched up a couple of tears I had. (Interestingly, not in the perenium, which is usually where tears happen, but in the labia.) Our little angel latched on pretty well to my breast and got a little bit to eat (I had been leaking colostrum for weeks, instilling much jealousy in the midwives).
Anne did the physical exam of the baby (we still didn't have a name for her at this point) and Nikki cleaned up. Anne had a meeting at the hospital at 7:30, so she left at around 7, taking the placenta with her. I got to check it out before she took it - it was really cool! I could see all the blood supply holes where it was attached to the inner wall of my uterus (about the diameter of straws) and the tiny amount of calcification that had started to occur, meaning it was starting to "wear out". Nikki stayed until about 8:30 helping us get settled. Stephen took the baby and I had a shower, and eventually we settled down to rest, all three of us in the bed. Family was called, we decided to name her Naomi (and let her pick her own middle name eventually), facebook posts were hastily made, and then we went to sleep.
After going through the experience of a home birth, I can't possibly imagine any other way. Just the thought of having had to go to the hospital while experiencing those first set of contractions (after my water broke), not having been in a familiar place, and worst of all, having had to actually travel somewhere in a car to get back home fairly soon after the experience to rest and recuperate, are just horrifying to me. I don't mean to be preachy, everyone needs to make the decision that's right for them, but I strongly recommend considering home birth if you are planning to have a baby and have a low-risk pregnancy. The midwives were wonderful and the whole experience, while certainly painful, was made so much better by being in my own space and not having to worry about going anywhere. A good friend of mine commented that the photo of me right after having the baby looks like an advertisement for home birth. I can only hope that the photo, in combination with this story, might "sell" some mothers-to-be on the idea.
deflection: for a much more hilarious and well-written description of the same event from Stephen's point of view, see here.
Our baby was due on 10/10/10 so we were hoping for that day. We were encouraged because the previous midwife appointment had revealed I was 2cm dilated and 50% effaced already. The night before the 10th, we had chinese food and I went for a walk. On the 10th, I had lots of very mild contractions but nothing ended up coming of them. My family also visited with thanksgiving leftovers but didn't get to be there for the baby. The contractions died down around bed time, and on the 11th it was the same deal - lots of irregular ones (mild, but a little more than the day before) but never went anywhere. Again they died down before bed time. On the 12th, we had a midwife appointment, and Nikki checked and I was 3-4 cm and 80% effaced. She swept the membranes and I had lots of bloody show and cramping for the rest of the day, more intense than either of the previous two days but still irregular. Stephen had work that day but he worked from home after the appointment. We went to bed earlyish (because he had to get up early for work) expecting the same thing to happen again.
At around 1:30am on the 13th, I got up to pee (no shocker there!), but after I did, while I was reaching with the toilet paper, I felt a popping sensation and a small amount of fluid came out onto my hand. It wasn't a huge amount so I wasn't sure if it was actually my water breaking. We called Nikki and she said if it is the water breaking, it will keep coming out, so call back in an hour if it is. Right after we hung up, I started getting real contractions. Now I know the difference between pre-labour and labour ones! They were getting closer and closer together and very intense, so I got into the bath, which helped a little. We called Nikki before the hour was up because it was clearly going pretty quickly. I actually had to throw up because of the pain. The contractions were right on top of each other and I kept saying "I thought there was supposed to be a break in between them! Where is my break?"
Nikki arrived around 3 and really helped calm me down. I was letting the contractions get ahead of me instead of anticipating and breathing through them. Some (where the baby moved during them) were much worse than others but I squeezed Stephen's hand in the bath and managed. She checked me right away and I was 5-6 cm, then less than an hour later I was fully dilated (10 cm)! No wonder it was so intense! My body had been doing work gradually over the last 3 days so this part went really fast. In Nikki's words, my contractions were "getting on like a house on fire".
The last contraction I had in the tub, I had an irresistable urge to push with it. I tried not to but there's just no way to stop the body from doing it. Nikki called for the backup midwife Anne (to help deliver the baby) and told me it was time to get out and push. We tried lots of different positions: side-lying on the bed (both sides), squatting, semi-sitting on the bed, sitting on the toilet (that sucked the most!). After an hour, Nikki and Anne were concerned with the lack of progress I was making. I knew I wasn't doing the best job pushing, the first two pushes or so on each contraction were too much yelling and not enough actual bearing down, but it's hard to know exactly what to do. So we tried more positions, and finally the position that got me there and was the most painful was Stephen sitting on a chair with me squatting in front, leaning on his knees for support. The pushing was so intense, my whole body was shaking and I felt like I was ripping in half. After not too long at that, they told me it was time to get onto the bed so they could deliver the baby!
A few more pushes and the head crowned. They told me to slow down for a sec, but pop! out came the baby's head. One more and the bundle was laid on my belly, red-haired, purple and very awake, and crying (not loud, but without us having to poke). The baby began to pink up almost immediately, and Stephen and I sat there marvelling at it. I say "it" because we still didn't know the gender! I asked, and they said I should check for myself, and it was a girl! It was 5:50 am, only about 4 hours after my water broke.
The rest of the birth I didn't really pay much attention to, since we had our little girl to look at. The placenta came out no problem, I got a shot of oxytocin to help my uterus contract (expelling a giant blood clot!), and Nikki stitched up a couple of tears I had. (Interestingly, not in the perenium, which is usually where tears happen, but in the labia.) Our little angel latched on pretty well to my breast and got a little bit to eat (I had been leaking colostrum for weeks, instilling much jealousy in the midwives).
Anne did the physical exam of the baby (we still didn't have a name for her at this point) and Nikki cleaned up. Anne had a meeting at the hospital at 7:30, so she left at around 7, taking the placenta with her. I got to check it out before she took it - it was really cool! I could see all the blood supply holes where it was attached to the inner wall of my uterus (about the diameter of straws) and the tiny amount of calcification that had started to occur, meaning it was starting to "wear out". Nikki stayed until about 8:30 helping us get settled. Stephen took the baby and I had a shower, and eventually we settled down to rest, all three of us in the bed. Family was called, we decided to name her Naomi (and let her pick her own middle name eventually), facebook posts were hastily made, and then we went to sleep.
After going through the experience of a home birth, I can't possibly imagine any other way. Just the thought of having had to go to the hospital while experiencing those first set of contractions (after my water broke), not having been in a familiar place, and worst of all, having had to actually travel somewhere in a car to get back home fairly soon after the experience to rest and recuperate, are just horrifying to me. I don't mean to be preachy, everyone needs to make the decision that's right for them, but I strongly recommend considering home birth if you are planning to have a baby and have a low-risk pregnancy. The midwives were wonderful and the whole experience, while certainly painful, was made so much better by being in my own space and not having to worry about going anywhere. A good friend of mine commented that the photo of me right after having the baby looks like an advertisement for home birth. I can only hope that the photo, in combination with this story, might "sell" some mothers-to-be on the idea.