My labor began early in the morning on Wednesday March 7th,
my due date, at 12:30 AM. Contractions initially were 20 minutes apart and they
kept me up the entire night. After noticing the pattern of contractions for a
couple of hours, I woke up LJ at 5 AM and told him the news. At this point
contractions were irregular but were 5 to 10 minutes apart and lasting 45
seconds. We were anticipating active labor to begin at any moment, so we got out
of bed and watched an episode of New Girl.
Contractions were still about 5 to 10 minutes apart for 2 more
hours. Feeling tired, we decided to rest
at 7 AM. After laying down and soaking in warm water, the contractions began to
space out more. Feeling discouraged
about this, we spent the rest of the day walking around the neighborhood,
visiting the coffee shop, and watching a couple of movies at home. During this
time, the contractions were irregular and were about 30 to 60 minutes
apart. Later in the afternoon, we lied
down for some rest and took a 4 hour nap, which felt great considering the
little sleep the night before.
I was feeling anxious about why my labor had slowed down so
I told LJ to help me relax. At 1:30AM, I told him to help me imagine a tight
rose that is slowly opening up its peddles.
I journaled to release whatever fears I might have about my labor and
what I was experiencing "not being normal". This is the point when things started to
happen for real. All of a sudden I was having stronger contractions that were wrapping
around my body. These contractions were initially 5 to 6 minutes apart but they
seemed to be more regular and as they progressed, the got more intense and
closer together. We had stopped timing
the contractions because they had been so irregular, but LJ started timing them
again. At 2:45AM, LJ called the doula
and told her that we were getting ready to head to the hospital. As we were getting ready for the hospital,
the contractions were about 3 minutes apart they started coming fast and
intense.
Around 3:15 AM, we drove to the hospital. I couldn't sit in
the seat, so I rode in the trunk of the car on my hands and knees. At about 4
AM the midwife came to check my cervix. Amazingly, I was already at 6 to 7 cm.
They moved us to a different room, which had a water birth tub, so that we could
have a water birth. During this time, the contractions were increasingly
painful in my lower back. I didn't even realize it until then that I was having
back labor because Henry was in a posterior position. While in the tub, my Mom and the doula were
applying pressure on my lower back and hips and LJ was helping me through the
contractions by helping me breathe.
After a couple of hours in the tub, my water still hadn't
broken and there was some mention that breaking my water would help with the
back labor and speed things along. I got out of the tub and then went to the bathroom.
For the next 30 or so minutes, I was laboring on the bathroom floor because it
was too difficult to leave. At 7:30 AM, I got into the bed where the midwife checked
my cervix again. Disappointingly, I was still around 7-8 cm, so we decided to
have my water broken by the midwife. After my water broke, the midwife noticed
that there was some light meconium, which meant that a water birth was no
longer feasible. After my water was
broken the contractions were extremely intense with no rest between them. I had
to have two people place pressure on my lower back and hips with each
contraction. Transition lasted about 2
hours and I was close to giving up on natural birth. Thankfully everyone around
me continued to support me during this time, telling me that I could do
it. Towards the end of transition I
started bearing down w/ each contraction and feeling the urge to push. When the midwife checked me again, around I
was at 10 cm! During the monitoring of
the baby's heart rate, the midwife noticed that Baby's heart rate was
decelerating after contractions, so there was some concern that the cord could
be wrapped around the neck.
During pushing, we tried several different positions - hands
and knees, squatting with the squat bar, on the bed, but it was ultimately me
on my back which led to me pushing our baby out. They had a mirror at the end
of the bed so that I could watch Henry come out. After several strong pushes,
the midwife was able to touch baby's head, so she could attach a heart rate
monitor to the head for more accurate monitoring. After more pushing, Henry's sweet
forehead/face started to emerge first!
Concerned about the cord and his heart-rate, the midwife told me that
they would have to do an episiotomy if I didn't get out baby out on the next push.
That was enough motivation to have me push extremely hard the next time around.
I pushed so hard that I popped a blood vessel in my right eye. Baby's head came
out, and the midwife removed the cord, and then the rest of his body came
sliding out and was put directly on my chest.
After about 30 seconds of joy and laughter, I asked is it a boy or
girl? The answer was sweet baby boy
Henry. Born at 10:28am, March 8,
2012. 6lbs, 9oz, 20 inches. =)
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| Our first sights of him, before we even knew if he was Henry or Rose! |
