Birth Stories

So you've read Story Number One where I became a mama,

     Story Number Two where my traumatic birth was redeemed, even down to the details,

Story Number Three where Esther arrived before the midwife even did...

     and Story Number Four where our precious baby boy was born two years ago now!

Each story is unique and magical and I am honored to have been blessed with each of these little ones to love and care for.  I realize its been slow on the blog - I'm still here.... just working on Story Number Five, to come in October!  :)  I enjoy writing, and am balancing my online time with homeschooling my kiddos and spending time loving on them.  I'll squeeze in a quick post whenever I have time, and of course stay tuned for Story Number Five in October!!

Story Number Four

Hm... where do I begin?
Well, first of all, here are Story One, Story Two, and Story Three.

Now that you've read those, you know that Julia was 2 weeks and 2 days early, and Esther was 10 days early (and 9lbs at that!).  My midwife and I both suspected that I would go early; my body just makes babies a little faster than the typical 40 weeks.  Of course we had no way of knowing when baby would arrive, but looking back I feel like I had a good idea of what my body was doing.

The week before baby arrived, we managed to get through a bit of extra schoolwork and wrapped things up nicely.  We finished our read aloud story and worked ahead in a few subjects.  I rested on the couch most afternoons, but was feeling well.  The week before that had been spent running errands and finishing my big grocery shopping trips.  Everything was nested and ready; I was trying my best to be patient.

Ross' birthday is March 3rd.  He suggested having the baby that day, but baby must not have heard him.  We had family over for cake on Sunday afternoon, March 4th.  My wonderful mother in law brought all of the food and did all of the clean-up, we just hosted the party at our house so that I wouldn't have to go anywhere.  By the end of the day I was having quite a few Braxtons (pre-labor contractions, not painful), more than normal.  I laid on the couch much of the evening and had a little crying fit to Ross about how the waiting was getting to me.

Sunday night I had some painful sporadic contractions that kept me up from 1am - 4:30am.  I had to drive 40 minutes away Monday morning for my midwife appointment and wasn't sure if I should go.  My mother in law watched the girls for me and I set out.  I took two beach towels along, one in case my water broke, and the second to wrap the baby up in if I ended up giving birth in the car!  Along the way I had two or three sharp contractions.  I remember thinking that these were not the Braxtons that I was used to, and wondering what my body might be up to.

Yolanda (my midwife) didn't seem to think much of the contractions.  She said that if I had been up the night before, I was probably just tired and feeling the normal Braxtons more than usual.  We chatted about when to call her and what labor might be like.  She had mentioned that if I had a boy, labor could be very different than it was with my girls.  Everything was great at my appointment.  We made another appointment for next week Thursday, but I told her I was not coming to that one!  (Meaning I knew I would have the baby before then.)  As I walked out of the office, I half-jokingly told her that I would call her that night.

I walked down to Ross' office and told him I was still having contractions, but that Yolanda didn't think anything of it.  I told him to stay alert in case I called him later that day.  I continued to have strong contractions the rest of the day, about two an hour.  I tried to drink plenty of water and napped on the couch, but they were consistent.  It felt like my body had started something and wasn't going to stop.  At this point I was happy for the progress.  Even if the contractions had stopped, I knew they were pushing my body closer to labor.

We had a friend who was in town over for dinner that evening.  He was going to be here until Saturday. As he left, I told him to come back later that week for a photo with the new baby.  (Keep in mind, this is only March 5th and my due date was really the 23rd.)  Around 10:30 pm, we lay down for the night.  I had a few contractions 12 minutes apart and then had quite a bit of bloody show.  I told Ross that he wasn't going to sleep and that we were going to have a baby.  I called Yolanda just to let her know what was going on before it got too late.  She said to call her in the morning unless I needed her before then.  Eventually I sent Ross to bed and tried to lay down too.  The contractions came every 10 minutes and were strong enough that I could not sleep through them.  Laying down actually made them hurt worse, so I sat on the exercise ball and tried to distract myself by checking email and Facebook.

I posted "boy? or girl?" on Facebook, with most people responding "boy".  We suspected I was having a boy, but had not had an ultrasound at all.  At the same time, I had already had three girls, so another girl would not have surprised me either.  I saw a discount code to OldNavy.com, so I window shopped and picked out boy clothes that I liked, just in case.  I tried to rest a few times, but each time it felt better to be sitting up.  The contractions were strong, but I wanted Ross to rest and didn't think Yolanda needed to come yet.  Around 3am they crept closer to 7 minutes apart.  At 4:30am they were still 7 minutes apart, so I woke Ross and called Yolanda to come.  She had said at my appointment that day, contractions 4-7 minutes apart for two hours meant to call her, but that I should call a bit sooner given my fast labors.

Ross woke and started filling the tub for me.  I was afraid to get in until I knew Yolanda was almost here.  I didn't want to relax too much and have the baby come too fast.  Eventually I did get in the tub for a while.  Yolanda arrived around 5:30am.  I got back out of the tub and spent time walking around, leaning on the exercise ball, and leaning over the couch during contractions.  Yolanda was great with helping suggest positions to try and pressing on my back for pain relief.  I was really tired by this point and just wanted things to be done.

Yolanda checked and told me I was about 8 centimeters.  My water had not broken yet, and I kept wishing it would and thinking things would move along faster if it did.  At one point I saw light coming in the bathroom window and realized it was morning.  That gave me hope that baby would arrive soon.  I worked through several more contractions and things began to speed up.  I was saying "I don't want to do this!" and thinking in my head that I sure hoped this was transition and that I could be done soon.  The girls were sleeping through all of this, and finally we decided to call Ross' mom and have her come over to be here when they woke up.  She arrived at about 7:30am.  Ross, Yolanda, and I had moved into the bedroom and I had started to push.  Yolanda said that the cord might be around the baby's neck and that I was really going to have to push hard to get him out.

It took me a while to figure out how best to push.  My legs were sore from all of the contractions and when I pushed it tensed them up more and hurt soo much.  I kept saying that I couldn't push!  At the time it felt like the hardest thing in the world.  As I was pushing, my water finally broke.  I switched positions a couple of times and ended up on my knees, leaning over a stack of pillows.  I pushed for about 45 minutes total.  When the head came out, Yolanda had me reach down and feel it.  She had me push slowly and she carefully checked for the cord.  Ross caught the body as it came out.  Isaac Ross was born at 8:10am on March 6th.

I quickly asked "Is it okay?  Is it a boy or a girl?" almost without a pause between the two sentences.  Even though they told me it was a boy, I think I asked a few more times because it just wasn't sinking in.  He was purplish, but Yolanda said he was fine.  She decided that the cord had not been around his neck, but strapped over his shoulder, holding him back a bit.  After a few minutes, Ross cut the cord, the placenta was delivered, and I tried to nurse a bit.  He weighed 7lbs 9oz and was 19 1/2 inches long.

Grandma and the three big sisters came in to visit.  They had been in the living room coloring pictures for the baby.  The girls were still in a bit of shock, having woken up to find Grandma here and all that was going on.  Everyone took turns holding Isaac.  We actually hadn't decided on his name yet at that point.  The girls left with Grandpa and Grandma to spend the day at their house and go shopping for boy clothes.  We called them later on that morning to tell them the baby's name.

Isaac is almost two weeks old already!  We've spent lots of time just snuggling and nursing.  The days following his birth have been sunny and warm, prefect for sitting in the rocking chair by the window.  I've had lots of help and been able to rest quite a bit.  Isaac is nursing well, and is already back to his birth weight.  We are all thrilled to have a baby brother in the house!

Homebirth: The Birth Box

We are very excited to be having our second home birth!  You can read my other birth stories on my blog: number one, number two, number three, ... and number four soon to come.  I had a difficult hospital birth with my first, an unmedicated hospital birth with my second, and an amazing (fast!) homebirth with my third.  Ross and I both loved the homebirth and are excited to have the experience again.  He ended up catching Esther because I gave birth so fast, and this time around he wants to catch the baby again.  I love this!  He is NOT one who does well with blood or even talk about blood.  There was something special about him being the one to catch Esther though, and the midwife agreed he could catch this time around as well.  She commented that if she catches the baby, she is wearing gloves.  If Ross catches the baby, his skin is the first thing baby touches.  Hopefully he and the midwife arrive on time.  They are both about 45 minutes away from me during the day, and last time my total labor was not much longer than that!

Anyway, on to the birth box.  If you saw my post about our "nursery", I mentioned the birth box sitting in the corner of my bedroom.  This contains all of the items necessary for the birth that I have gathered together.  Some of these are required by our midwife, others are things that I added for my own comfort.

I have:
lots of disposable bed pads
disposable padded underwear
(in the bathroom I also have Seventh Generation pads for use after the birth)
gauze pads
olive oil (for perineal massage as baby is crowning)
trash bags
gloves
comfrey leaves (for soothing afterwards)
Emergen-C packets
baby nose bulb
a tennis ball (for massage during labor)
two old towels
washcloths
receiving blankets

squeeze bottle (from the hospital, for rinsing after the birth)

after-ease herbal tincture for after pains

newborn outfit, diaper, and hats

Earth Mama Angel Baby stuff, soo nice to have on hand:
postpartum bath herbs
nipple butter
bottom balm
bottom spray
booby tubes

Other/ not pictured:
waterproof bed pad
set of old sheets to put on the bed
small mirror
arnica tablets
arnica massage oil (Weleda brand)
large water bottle with a straw

I put witch hazel on a couple of maxi pads and put them in ziploc bags in the freezer.  These will be for postpartum use and soothing those sore parts.

We have an exercise ball in the living room that I will use for getting comfortable during labor.

My bath tub!  Esther was born in the tub, simply because I couldn't get out and she was coming fast.  It made clean up easy and birthing in the water was quite comfortable.  I think I will end up going that route again, depending on how fast things are moving.

Is there anything else I should have on hand?

Story Number Three

If you haven't already, you'll want to go read Story Number One and Story Number Two before you read this one. I also wrote a post with some of my Thoughts on Home Birth a couple of weeks ago. So, Story Number Three begins...

We were planning a home birth this time, and I had been seeing a midwife throughout my pregnancy. I really enjoyed the personal care, focus on a healthy pregnancy, and just the overall view of pregnancy as healthy and normal rather than it being a medical event. Ross had been to most of my prenatal visits with me and was completely supportive. I was excited and a bit nervous.

Towards the end of my pregnancy, all of the unknowns really started to get to me. Aside from (of course) not knowing when the baby would arrive, we didn't know the gender of the baby since we hadn't had an ultrasound. Ross was looking forward to the surprise this time, but it was driving me a bit crazy not to know. Both times previously, my water had broken quite dramatically, so I kept wondering when and if that would happen. I told my mom I felt like a walking water balloon, ready to pop any minute! Not having had a home birth before, I didn't feel like I had a clear picture in my head of how things would go, what position I would give birth in, or just what it would all be like. Julia was 2 weeks and 2 days early, so that was my date to have everything ready by, but it also made the wait beyond that date feel so much longer. I had to try very hard to remain patient and calm with all of this swirling through my head those last few weeks!

There were a couple of days in my 38th week where I had some contractions and felt pretty achy, but for the most part I was just feeling normal end of pregnancy stuff. Ross had some time around Christmas where he was able to be home from work and we spent our days in pajamas playing with Lucy and Julia and relaxing. We kept wondering if this would be the day for baby to arrive, but he/ she seemed to be pretty comfortable in there. Ross went back to work on January 4th, and I started to get nervous. I was almost 39 weeks at that point, and he worked 45 minutes from home. Incidentally, his office is in the same building as the midwife, so they would both be pretty far away if I went into labor during the day.

At a couple of my appointments I told Yolanda (midwife) that I was nervous about her arriving in time when I was in labor. Julia's labor was just three hours total. She reassured me that if I was having a fast labor it would be much better to have her on the phone and on her way to me than be trying to rush to a hospital and have the baby in a car. At home I had all of my supplies gathered and she could talk us through anything we needed. She did mention that if the baby were coming fast, she tells the mom to lay on her side with a pillow between her legs. A standing position or squatting would only encourage the baby to come faster.

I think I called Ross every afternoon that week, wanting him to come home early. On Thursday he did come home a bit early. That night I had a bit of bloody show. I ran to the computer and Googled "bloody show how long until labor starts", and asked friends online if they remembered how long until they went into labor. Some websites said that it could mean labor would start within 24 hours. I knew that my body was very ready at this point, so I told Ross not to go to work the next day. When Yolanda had done her home visit before Christmas she checked and said that I was already 80% effaced then.

Thursday night we watched a movie and I sat on an exercise ball and tried to relax. I didn't have any hard contractions, maybe a few extra braxtons, but not much. I went to bed - laying in the direction facing the bathroom so that I could jump up if my water broke. I slept all night and woke up around 7:30 am with some braxtons rather close together. I got up and started having a few contractions. Ross was home and getting the girls breakfast while I kneeled in front of the exercise ball for a bit. Around 8:00 am I told him I thought this was it and he called Grandpa and Grandma to come pick up the girls. I was having more bloody show and around 8:30 my water broke. It broke just a little bit at first so I wasn't sure, but it soon started to pour out. We called Yolanda and she said that she would be on her way in about 15 minutes and to call her back if anything changed. Pretty quickly my water was gushing out and I decided to get in the bath tub to help with the painful contractions.

Ross had been busy getting Lucy and Julia breakfast, calling his parents and Yolanda, putting old sheets on the bed, and reassuring me in between all this. As soon as the contractions had started they were intense, close together, and very painful. I kept telling Ross to call Yolanda back and tell her to hurry. He kept telling me that it was fine and she was on her way. The warm water in the tub helped with the contractions, but they were still quite powerful. At one point I thought "Forget all this, I want an epidural!" ... and another part of me thought "That's what people say when they are in transition!" ...yet another part of me thought "Calm down, people don't have babies in ten minutes. I can't be in transition yet. This is quite painful, but the baby has to come down, I have to dilate, etc. Yolanda will be here soon." I was anxious for Yolanda to get there because I felt like I didn't know what to do during the contractions and wanted help figuring out what position to be in and how to get some relief.

I started to feel like I needed to go to the bathroom and was trying to figure out how on earth I would get myself to the toilet through these intense non stop contractions. I didn't want to sit on the toilet though for fear of making the baby come too quickly. Just as I was trying to figure this out, I realized that my body was pushing with a contraction. I told Ross that I had to push and he replied "No you don't. Its not time to push yet." I told him that I couldn't help it and he told me to "get in that position that Yolanda told you to." I sort of laughed and replied that I was, I was laying on my side in the tub and there was nothing else I could do. He asked if I wanted to get out of the tub and I said no, that I couldn't. He went back out of the bathroom and I had another contraction and felt my body push again. I reached down and felt the baby's head coming out. Ross came back in the bathroom and I told him that the head was right there. He reached into the tub and caught his baby girl with the next contraction.

I remember thinking as she came out that she was huge. I told Ross to check around her neck for the cord and he said she was fine. Ross pulled her up onto my chest and we rubbed her back a bit to get her to cry. He covered her in a towel and had Yolanda on the phone giving him a few directions. After a minute we checked and found out that we had a baby girl. We just looked at her and snuggled her for a few minutes until Yolanda arrived. She helped Ross cut the cord and delivered the placenta (at which point Ross started to get queasy).

I moved to the bed and held Esther and nursed her for a bit. Yolanda checked her over and said she was perfect. She weighed 9 lbs even and was 20 1/2 inches long. She had been born at 9:28 am, just one hour after my water broke, an hour and a half total of labor. I had only been in the tub about a half hour before she was born. It was amazing to feel my body push her out, to reach down and feel her soft head. Even though the contractions were incredibly painful and intense and I was worried about Yolanda arriving in time - when I realized that I was pushing, I was amazingly peaceful. I only tore very slightly (although I did end up with a very sore bottom that took quite a while to heal up).

For the next few hours Yolanda was there writing up the birth paperwork and checking on Esther and I. We eventually called Lucy and Julia at Grandma's house to come meet the baby. We didn't tell them it was a girl until they arrived and met her. They were both thrilled to have a baby sister. Ross and I were both kind of in shock for the next couple of days - amazed that we had a healthy new baby girl and trying to process the crazy birth events.

Esther Joy is beautiful. She came out with a head of dark hair quite unlike her sisters. She is a calm little one and has already smiled a few times in response to Mommy and Daddy talking to her. She turns her head to find her Daddy when she hears him talking. We are in love with her and in awe. Welcome to our family, little one. We love you!

Thoughts on Home Birth

I'm 37 weeks and 3 days today. Lucy came the day after her due date and Julia was born at 37 weeks and 5 days, so we're just playing the waiting game now. Either way, baby will be here very soon! I'm mostly ready, there are just a few little projects around the house that I'm trying to finish up. My midwife did her home visit here the other day and we have the birth supplies all ready to go. If you read Story Number One and Story Number Two, you know that with my other two labors my water broke (and gushed out of me), so I'm of course wondering if and when that will happen. At the wedding shower I have to go to on Tuesday? At church? In the car? Of course this labor could be completely different...

So why on earth am I planning a home birth? The idea was completely foreign to me with my first pregnancy. By the second time through, even though I knew several people who had home births, I still wasn't even close to considering it. Of course I haven't actually had a home birth yet, but thought I would share some of my thoughts about it with you.

My second birth went a long way toward helping me see that birth is a natural event. Preparing for the birth with Bradley classes and succeeding in my goal of a drug free birth were both great confidence builders. With Julia's birth, we denied almost everything the hospital had to offer - no vitamin K, no eye ointment, no drugs or IVs, no vaccination for baby, waited to cut the cord, waited to bathe her until the next day, and kept her next to me in my bed the whole time. While I understand that each of these are personal choices, at some point it occurred to me to wonder why I went to the hospital just to deny everything. The hospital was great about respecting my wishes, but even so, I felt a bit on guard and Ross had strict instructions to watch Julia like a hawk any time a nurse entered the room just to be sure nothing was done to her that wasn't in our plan.

Around the time I was newly pregnant with Julia, I had a friend who had just given birth in a hospital. She picked up an infection and ended up very sick (diarrhea, etc) for almost three months while trying to care for her newborn baby and toddler. Hospital germs come from such a "clean" environment that they are often super bugs that are hard to get rid of. I'm not a germaphobe by any means, but having a baby at the same place sick people go started to seem a bit odd to me.

I used to say that my pregnancies were very normal and uncomplicated so that's why I birthed in a hospital. I realized that is the exact reason I should have my babies at home! Interventions can happen so quickly in a hospital, even with an otherwise healthy pregnancy - if you're in labor "too long" or otherwise hit hospital protocol you may be subject to a cascade of unnecessary procedures. Example: Your labor isn't progressing quickly enough, so they break your water. Once the water is broken the clock starts ticking again. If you're still not progressing fast enough you'll need Pitocin, which will require an IV and restrict you to bed. Once you have the IV you end up with an epidural, catheter, and maybe even suction assist to help the baby come out. It seems like these stories happen in one way or another all too often.

I'm not against hospital interventions when necessary, and am thankful that these things exist. It just seems that Pitocin, IVs, epidurals and more have simply become too routine and a doctor wouldn't think twice about using these even during a normal birth. I'm also not saying anything negative about women who choose to use pain relief measures in labor. I'm more talking about those who enter the hospital hoping for a natural birth and are pressured into this series of events because they somehow or another don't fit hospital protocol. In a normal birth, I don't want to end up pressured into anything and it seems like that can quickly happen. On the flip side, if I were in a situation where medical intervention seemed necessary, I would rather have someone who is natural minded helping me consider all of my options.

I learned that midwives are actually prepared to deal with emergency situations and can stabilize both mom and baby while transport is arranged to a hospital if the need arose. The midwife that I am seeing has been in practice for 28 years and has delivered close to 2,000 babies. In my prenatal visits with her she has focused on me and my pregnancy as an individual case. I feel like a normal healthy person, not a medical case to be helped. Yolanda (my midwife) explains what she is doing and why. From checking urine samples to explaining what blood pressure means and why good nutrition is important, I feel like I've learned quite a bit.

When Ross and I first met with Yolanda, I was still a bit nervous about a home birth and thought that Ross would have to be convinced. After we left that meeting I asked him what his reaction was and he simply said "It seems like what we want." I wasn't prepared for him to react like that and it took me a week or so before I actually called Yolanda and told her yes. I've worked through some nervousness along the way, but overall am confident that this is what we want. Ross is very supportive and at this point we are both excited about the home birth.

Some of the things I am looking forward to include:

- No rushing to the hospital while in labor, not having to be lay down and be monitored, no need to strip down and wear an ugly hospital gown, no packing a hospital bag and trying to bring everything along with me.

- Yolanda comes to my house, all I have to do is make the call and then I can hop into the shower or do whatever I want to. I can use my birth ball, stand, sit, use the tub for pain relief, and give birth in any position I choose.

- Having Yolanda there for the birth to guide me a bit rather than a doctor who rushes in just to catch the baby.

- Snuggling in bed with Ross and the baby after the birth. In the hospital, Ross always stayed with me, but he ended up across the room in an uncomfortable chair trying to sleep. I'm looking forward to having him next to me in our own bed.

- No interruptions with doctors and nurses coming in all night long to wake us up. (Although Yolanda does stay and make sure that mom and baby are stable and doing well before she leaves.)

- Not having to be on guard against nurses that might give a bottle or otherwise do something we aren't planning on.

- Welcoming the new baby right into our home rather than bringing it home from the hospital. On a similar note, I don't have to expose my girls to all of the hospital germs in order to visit the new baby. They can meet the baby in the comfort of our home.

Having friends share their home birth experiences with me helped me see that a home birth can be a normal, natural, safe event. I don't intend to say that everyone should have a home birth, but rather just enjoy sharing my experience and thoughts along the way. Hopefully very soon I will be able to share my home birth story with you as well. If anything, let it inspire you and encourage you towards believing that birth is a natural event. If you're interested in reading more about birthing naturally, one of my friends has a great website that includes her birth story and lots of articles she's written on the topic. Check it out here.

On a funny note, Ross' Grandma came over the other day and jokingly said "I thought you might be in the hospital by now." implying that I should be giving birth. The first thought that went through my head was "Hospital? I'm not sick." and then "Oh, yeah, that's where most people go to have babies." Funny how thoughts can change.

Story Number Two

You have to read Story Number One first before you read this one!

Lucy's birth was traumatic for me and now that I was pregnant with baby number two, I was torn about what to do. I had learned so much about natural birth and its benefits and knew that it was important for many reasons. I did not want to end up screaming and freaking out for an hour again, so I was debating whether to take natural childbirth classes or sign up right away for an epidural.

I chatted with Jill, the Bradley method instructor, and Amity, one of my La Leche League leaders, and told them my story. Their compassion and understanding went a long way toward helping me feel better about it all. One of things that stood out to me is Jill saying that every birth is different. She suggested that maybe my water wouldn't break again and that might help labor not to be as fast and intense. We decided to go ahead with the Bradley classes knowing that I had to at least try again for a natural birth. I convinced myself that this second time could be different and maybe I could make it through.

The classes were wonderful. I learned so much about nutrition, exercise, and pregnancy. Each class left me feeling more and more like pregnancy was a normal natural event and that my body could do this. Ross felt more prepared this time and learned how to help me relax. Having him attend classes each week helped me to feel very supported. Jill even offered to come to my birth if I was starting to freak out and felt like I needed her there. Ross and I talked about the birth a lot and he was great about building my confidence.

Then... 2 weeks and 2 days before my due date, at 5:00 pm, my water broke. All I could think was "here we go again." I called Jill and told her that my water had broken and we were on our way to the hospital. She was headed to a boy scout event with her kids and told me she would call and check on me later. We called my mother in law to come watch the girls. She didn't believe I was in labor at first because none of us were expecting a baby this soon! From here, things quickly got intense again.

My labor was hard and fast, not at all the different that I had hoped for. Ross was great about helping me through the contractions. I got in the shower for a while, and asked to use the hot tub or birthing ball, but both of those were in use. The crazy thing was that I had not discussed my birth plan with my doctor yet, and we had some things planned that I wasn't sure were going to be okay with the hospital. (We wanted to deny the vitamin K shot, eye ointment, etc.) My doctor was not on call, so I had his partner whom I had never even met. In the middle of my intense labor Ross and I were trying to explain to him that we want to wait to cut the cord and other things about our birth plan. He said that he normally doesn't do that, but was willing. Another funny thing is that I ended up with the same nurse that I had slapped away from me during my last birth. I mentioned something about it to her and said that I would not slap her this time. She was very sweet and when we talked about our birth plan with her to my surprise she was fine with everything on it.

Labor continued to be very intense with contractions coming hard and fast. At one point when things were just too much for me to handle, I told Ross to go ask the nurse if I could just start pushing. To my surprise the nurse checked me and said that yes, I could go ahead and push. Julia was born just three hours after my water had broken. I did not have any drugs or medical interventions other than a tear being stitched up afterwards. When it was all over and Ross and I were enjoying our baby girl, the phone rang in our room. It was Jill calling to check on me. Ross answered the phone and told her I was doing great and asked if she would like to talk to me. I told her that I was holding my new baby girl and that I had succeeded in my goal of having a natural childbirth! She was bummed to have completely missed the birth, but excited for me.

In the end, I'm glad that my second labor was so intense. It was very redeeming to go through almost the same exact scenario as the first time (water breaking at 5:00 pm, intense hard labor, same nurse, etc.) but to have made it through. The Bradley classes and preparation this time around had really helped. I felt much more in control of this birth and was happy with the choices we had made.

My third birth will be different still. We are planning a home birth with a midwife. After denying everything in the hospital, I started to wonder why I even went there to birth at all. I have several friends who have had home births and there is a wonderful midwife here in the area who had delivered almost 2,000 babies over 28 years of practice. I've loved all of my prenatal visits with her and am excited for the birth. Check back in the next couple of weeks for Story Number Three! I'll also be posting more of my thoughts about home birth soon.

Story Number One

With baby number three wiggling away inside of me and planning his or her exit very soon, I thought it would be fun to share my two birth stories with you. The second story is quite different from the first, and this third story will be different yet from the first two. Here is story number one...

When I was pregnant with Lucy, Ross and I prepared by taking the childbirth class at the hospital. Ross had to wear the big 30 lb pregnant mommy belly, we practiced breathing techniques, and learned about all of the hospital procedures. At the class the instructor talked about the possible interventions and had us think about what we would like to avoid and what we felt was important. (things like an epidural, induction, breaking of water, etc) Ross and I both agreed that we did not like the idea of an epidural and wanted to try for a natural childbirth. I was surprised that a few of my friends wanted to sign up ahead of time for an epidural. I had no idea what labor was going to be like, but wanted to at least try it before I begged for drugs. My pregnancy had been very uneventful and normal so far and I thought that labor would be the same.

The day after my due date, at 5:00 pm, my water broke. My parents were visiting from Texas waiting to meet their first grandbaby, and Ross was home from work helping my dad fix a pipe downstairs. My mom yelled down that we had broken water up here and it wasn't a pipe. I had felt the baby kick and felt a pop and ran to the bathroom when water started pouring out of me. It didn't stop. I waddled into the hospital with a big soaking wet beach towel between my legs. I did not feel any contractions until after we were settled in our room and then tried walking around a bit. As soon as the contractions hit, they were hard and fast and furious and all I could do was curl up in the bed. I asked for Stadol, thinking that some pain medication might help me get through without an epidural, but that just made me feel slightly out of it, and in just as much pain.

I ended up asking for an epidural because the contractions were just way too intense and not stopping. I remember looking at the monitor thinking that the contractions couldn't get any harder or closer together, they would spike as high as the monitor could even record and were coming every minute or less. The anesthesiologist was not answering his pager, and I ended up completely freaking out and screaming at the top of my lungs for an hour while I waited for the pain relief. There was nothing Ross or anyone could do. A nurse tried to remind me to breathe and I ended up sort of slapping her away from me. (This is sooo not me if you know me at all...) As soon as I got the epidural I had immediate relief; they turned out the lights and told me to rest.

About an hour later the nurses and doctor came in and told me it was time to push. I was a bit confused as to how they knew this when I myself could feel absolutely nothing. I pushed for 20 minutes and ended up with the suction assist being put on Lucy's head because she kept going back up in between pushes. Eight hours after my water had broken, I gave birth to a beautiful baby girl. She was perfectly healthy and I still remember her sweet little face as she looked around and responded to her Daddy's voice. She started to fuss and when he spoke to her she quieted right away.

Although Lucy was perfectly fine, I was traumatized. It took me quite a while to even think that I wanted to ever have another baby. When we did get pregnant with our second baby, I debated long and hard about my birth plans. I had been attending La Leche League and had learned so much about natural childbirth, why it is important, the benefits to mom and baby, etc. At the same time, I didn't want to go through anything like my first birth ever again. I knew of a mom in the group who was a Bradley method instructor and I couldn't decide if I wanted to take classes with her or just sign up ahead of time for an epidural and get it as soon as possible. I knew that it was an important decision and I was torn.

Story Number Two coming soon...