It's taken me 7 weeks of one handed typing or stolen moments here and there, but here is Isabelle's birth story...
Around 12:30 a.m. on Monday, May 18, I woke up to a contraction. As I shifted around I felt an unmistakable “pop!” I waited for a minute or so for the telltale gush of fluid. I had a towel next to the bed and put it under me. I lay in bed doing some HypnoBirthing breathing and waiting for the contractions to start. The “popping” sensation immediately took me back to the night I went into labor with Madeline. I remembered how intense the contractions got after that, so I was a little apprehensive, but trying to stay focused and relaxed. Mostly I was excited that this was going to be the night. About 15 minutes later I had my first “real” contraction. They started coming about every 3 minutes after that. I stayed in bed doing my relaxation until about 1:30 a.m. At that point I called my mom so she could get here in plenty of time if we had to leave for the hospital quickly. Then I woke up Al. He started hurrying around packing bags and getting things together. I don’t remember when I called our doula, Angie. Around 2 or 2:30, I think. So many people had told me this one would go fast given how fast Madeline’s birth was. I had a feeling, though, that it would be longer. Still I wanted to be prepared.
I stayed in bed doing the relaxation exercises until about 4 or 4:30. At that point things seemed to kind of slow down. I think Angie suggested I try something else. I felt like walking, so I just walked around our bedroom. Things picked back up and the contractions got stronger. I knelt by the edge of the bed for a while. I stood up and leaned against the dresser. In these two positions, especially the last, I could really feel the baby moving down. I started to feel some pressure and decided it was time to go to the hospital.
When I got in the car there was a huge gush of fluid and I sent Al back in the house for some towels. With more fluid gone, I was really feeling more pressure and started moaning with each contraction, which made Al drive faster and faster. We got to the hospital around 5:30 a.m. The staff was great. They had read our birth preferences in advance. They had a room all ready for us with the lights dim and music on. They admitted us quickly and left us to do our thing. I stayed in bed for awhile still doing my HypnoBirthing. I’m not sure why, but I didn’t want to listen to the HynpoBirthing CD. It just didn’t appeal to me. The midwife, Cari, came in around 6:30 and checked my progress. I was 5 cm open. I had been hoping it was more, but I knew I hadn’t gotten to transition.
The nurses changed shifts and our new nurse, Karen, came in. I had been a little nervous about getting a “good” nurse who would understand and respect our preference for a natural birth. Upon meeting her it was obvious that she was a natural birth supporter and I was able to let go of that worry.
My memory is a little foggy here, but at some point after Karen came in I got on the birthing ball, resting my head on the foot of the bed. Karen was either still there or came back and started asking me the seemingly hundreds of inane questions they have to ask upon admittance. As it dragged on I got more and more annoyed and had a hard time staying focused on my HypnoBirthing. My contractions started coming further and further apart until they had all but stopped. Finally we were done with the questions and we went for a walk. The contractions picked up right away and I was stopping every few steps, hanging on to the railing along the wall as I breathed and swayed through each contraction with Angie and Al encouraging me.
By the time we got back to our room, things had gotten much more intense. I felt a need to retreat to somewhere dark and quiet. I went into the bathroom, kept the lights out and labored there for quite awhile standing, holding on the railings with Angie at my side. Eventually, I got tired of standing and needed to change position. I tried a few different things, but just couldn’t get comfortable. Finally, I knelt on the bed leaning over the back. My mom and Madeline had arrived and Al brought Madeline in to see me. Madeline had expressed an interest in being there for the birth. So we thought we’d bring her in and see how she did. I was able to talk to her between contractions and was still pretty relaxed during them. But she decided she’d just wait with Grandma in the family lounge until the baby was born.
Kneeling on the bed wasn’t working for me. Angie or Karen suggested I try a shower. I got undressed and Angie set up the shower with “flameless” candles. Angie stayed in the bathroom talking to me while I labored in the shower, dark except for the candles. My legs were still tired from how long I had been standing before. After a few minutes in the shower I got out and got on the birth ball at the foot of the bed. While I had been fairly relaxed and comfortable up to that point using HypnoBirthing techniques, I had been in labor for about 10 hours and was well into transition. I was tired and it was getting more difficult for me to stay on top of my contractions. I threw up and was wondering how much longer I could do this. I knew about the time you start feeling like you can’t do it anymore the end is near. I said something along the lines of “I can’t do this” but I remember feeling like that wasn’t true I just felt I needed to say it. At that point, Dawn, my midwife suggested she check my progress, that it might give me the encouragement I needed to make it the rest of the way. I agreed. I was 8 cm open, but my cervix was not dilating evenly, meaning one side was completely out of the way, but the other still had a couple centimeters to go. She gave me a few options of positions to try to get the other side to open up. I did not want to move again so I opted to stay in bed lying on my side. It was extremely uncomfortable and by far the hardest part of my labor. Instead of the deep moaning I had been doing during contractions, I was whimpering and begging for help. I was having a very difficult time staying relaxed during contractions. Everyone was encouraging me and telling me how great I was doing. I kept thinking, “You are all lying; I am not doing great, I’m a total basket case.” Fortunately, it wasn’t long before I started to feel a lot of pressure and the contractions changed as my body started moving the baby down the birth path. I was determined not to push and let my body do the work. My support team could all tell what was happening and kept asking if I felt like pushing. I’m not even sure I answered. I had my eyes closed and was totally in my birthing place, though I was completely aware of everything they were saying and had an internal monologue going on. They kept saying to each other in hushed tones, “It looks like she’s pushing.” And I was thinking, “I am not pushing!” I was saying things like, “When is this going to be over? I just want this to be over” so my midwife asked again if she could check me. Again I agreed. My cervix was fully open except for a little lip which she massaged out of the way. I was still insisting that I did not want to push, but Dawn said the baby was right there and if I would just push a few times she’d probably be here. I so wanted the baby out and to be done with labor that I said okay. I took me a couple contractions and “practice pushes” to get in a good position—still side lying. Once I did I felt the baby crowning on the next push. A couple more pushes and her head was out. After her head was out, though, baby did not turn. Dawn told me I was going to have to push really hard to birth her shoulders the wide way (which, incidentally, is how Madeline was born also.) I did and she was out! When the midwife caught her, she said, “She must be 9 and a half or ten pounds!”
They put her on my chest right away. The first thing I noticed was her curly hair. ☺ They wiped her off a little and we marveled at her. Once the cord stopped pulsing, the midwife clamped it and Al cut it. I really wanted to let her find the breast on her own. So we put her tummy-to-tummy with me. Just like I had seen in videos she started sucking/smelling her hand and “crawling” toward the breast. Once she got close I helped her a little get into position, but she latched on all by herself and did it perfectly. It was so amazing! She nursed for the next two hours, through the placenta detaching and being expelled, through all the clean up, through meeting her big sister.
As soon as she was on my chest, the previous couple of hours were a distant memory. Overall, it was a wonderful experience and a beautiful birth. It was everything I hoped it would be. I had awesome support from Al, my doula, my midwife and my nurse. Despite not getting any sleep the night before and being in labor for 12 hours, I felt fantastic, so empowered and inspired.
