At long last, I've squeezed out a few moments to write the birth story! I've been eager to get my thoughts down before I lose them, but I really think the experience becomes stronger and richer in my memory each day. There is nothing on earth like bringing a child into the world!
To begin with, I had no idea I was in labor for the first 11 hours. I'd had strong, regular Braxton-Hicks contractions for three weeks, and on May 29th, I told my midwife, Cyndi, that they'd been coming three to four minutes apart for three days. She had seen me on Tuesday the 27th, but sent me home to bed. Sure enough, the contractions stopped as soon as I went to sleep. Same thing the following night, though I *did* lose my mucous plug on Wednesday morning. I tried not to get my hopes up, but I did feel pretty frustrated on Thursday morning when nothing had happened. I decided to take a good, brisk walk around 9 a.m. to "help things along." The contractions kicked in at four minutes apart shortly after that, but they still felt like Braxton-Hicks. I called Cyndi when I noticed I was leaking some clear fluid. She worried that it might be amniotic fluid and told me to call back after two hours. By then I had realized it was just the last of the mucous, and I told her so. Darn. I was ready to have this baby!
I tried to get my mind off birthing by making a dress. That kept me busy for three hours and took up the afternoon. My husband, Matt, came home for dinner to find me energetically attacking the kitchen sink with a scrub brush. Then I decided to organize my dresser drawers (a perennial favorite chore during my pregnancy!). Just before 9 p.m., my midwife called. "Hey, kiddo," she said. "How are you doing?" I replied that I was fine. "Still having those contractions?" I affirmed that I was. "Well, how about lying down for me to see if they go away like before. I'll call back in an hour." Curious about Cyndi's "checking in," I lay down on our guest bed, while Matt worked on the computer a few feet away. We chatted away for about ten minutes when I felt a strange popping sensation (I could almost swear I *heard* it, too), and water began running all over the bed. I cried out, "Oh, oh, OH!" Matt jumped up and asked what was wrong. Laughing, I yelled, "MY WATER BROKE!!!" Matt grabbed a bunch of towels, and I waddled down the hall to the telephone. "Get down here!" Cyndi commanded when I told her what had happened. (We used a non-hospital birthing center since we live too far away for the midwives to drive.)
My mother was going to be one of my birth attendants, so I called her next. She'd had her car packed for weeks, so she jumped in and sped over. We piled all our things into her car (bigger than ours) and headed out to rendezvous with our birth assistant, Kelly. We had to stop for a bathroom break and finally made it to the birthing center at midnight (after a torturous ride over bumpy roads--the worst part of the whole labor!). Cyndi met us at the door and escorted us up to the birthing suite, a beautiful room decorated in forest green and rose and dimly lit with two electric "candles." I settled onto the bed, lying on my side and sleeping as much as possible. Contractions weren't very intense. Matt lay down with me. Labor continued like this for two hours (seemed like 20 minutes to me). Matt, Kelly and Mom fed me cheese and crackers and filled me with cran-grape juice. I got up to do some walking, which helped the contractions intensify. I'd drop to all fours and do pelvic rocks or squat through each contraction. When Cyndi took my blood pressure around 3 a.m., she found that it was unusually high. I didn't have a headache or swelling, so she didn't jump to the toxemia conclusion. Instead, she had me get into a very hot shower. I ended up staying in there for an hour. That lowered my pressure, but it went up again shortly after I got out of the shower. Cyndi told the others privately that I would have to be transferred if the BP didn't go down dramatically. (I knew none of this, thankfully. I just labored in peace.) Shortly after this, Cyndi picked up a homeopathy book she had brought and looked up remedies for high blood pressure. The recommendation was to put Belladonna (an herb *homeopathic belladonna*) under the tongue and get into a hot bath or shower. The Belladonna did the trick, lowering my blood pressure like someone had turned a switch. Each time my blood pressure rose, the Belladonna went under my tongue. A lifesaver!
When Cyndi examined me at 6:30 a.m., I was only 2cm dilated. I was devastated, thinking I had come so much further than that. I lay down on the bed and wanted to cry. Cyndi told me that if I didn't give birth by 3 p.m., I'd have to be put on an IV for antibiotics (routine if membranes have been ruptured more than 18 hours). I continued to labor peacefully, breathing deeply and groaning softly as Matt massaged my hands and feet. At 12:30 p.m. Cyndi told me she was thinking of leaving, since her shift was up and she had been awake for over 50 hours straight. Marcia would finish the job. I told Cyndi that was fine. Then the railroad train hit! My contractions piled on rapidly and forcefully, steamrolling until 3:50 p.m. I went from 4cm to 10cm in a very short time, squatting with Matt, Cyndi and Kelly for support. (Marcia joined us around 1 p.m. and stayed through the birthing.) Transition actually felt empowering to me, since I knew we were really getting somewhere now. I continued the deep breathing and groaning, never feeling overwhelmed. The "pain" of labor really felt like hard work. I didn't hit the brick wall until pushing stage. Then I just "checked out," telling everyone I was too tired and the baby was not going to come out anyway (I had always worried about crowning). Well, 1 1/2 hours and three changes of position later, I birthed our six pound, six ounce son into his father's hands, crying out, "It's a boy!" as Matt handed him to me. Crowning was no piece of cake, but it wasn't the horrific experience I had thought it would be. I tore slightly but didn't even feel that. John Nathan was born with his hand next to his face, explaining the long pushing stage and the tear. The placenta came out intact just eight minutes later. Altogether, labor and delivery lasted 31 1/2 hours, but it seemed much shorter to me.
The exhilaration I felt upon delivery is indescribable. I had done it! The slippery, warm baby on my chest proved it! John Nathan nursed immediately, turning his head to look at me when I talked to him. He also turned to see Matt and my mother. He was alert for two hours, looking around the room, lifting his head and amazing everyone. Non-medicated babies are incredible. Since John Nathan's birth, I have heard nothing but amazement from people who notice how attentive and well coordinated my son is. I just smile.
I don't know about others, but my birth experience is very precious to me--more so every day. That first week postpartum, I found myself getting teary-eyed when I talked about it, and I wanted to keep everything that had been a part of the birth (my laboring clothes, the tape measure used on John Nathan, etc.). Today I feel peculiarly proprietary when I talk about the birthing. It is my unique experience, a treasure no one can take away. I am ready to do it again! Here's to truly natural childbirth and the JOYS of laboring peacefully and without intervention!
Copyright 1997
Used by permission of author
If you would like me to include your birth experience on my Childbirth page,
please mail me at mykidzmommy@hotmail.com. Let me know if
you want your name and/or e-mail address included!
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