BIRTH STORIES

The Birth of Nadia Rose, February 17, 2010 . . . . . . . by Leah Major

My due date was February 22^nd so I wasn’t really expecting her to come just yet.  When I look back on it now, I should have known by the burst of energy I had the day before labor started.  I did a lot of walking and a lot of lifting and organizing that day and, in general, had a lot of energy.  I went to bed that night and but woke up at 4:30am with a very strong Braxton-hick contraction.  At first I didn’t think much of it since this happened frequently at the end of my pregnancy and 4:30 was a usual time for me to wake up to go to the bathroom.  But then, another contraction came right after and I heard a noise that sounded like a pop and felt a small sensation, like someone flicking my belly followed by a gush of fluid.  My water broke!  I ran to the bathroom and sat on the toilet as a milky fluid flowed out of me. As more and more minutes passed and the fluid continued trickling out I started to comprehend that labor had begun.

As fate would have it, my phone had died the night before and I hadn’t charged it.  I had been having some irregular mild contractions that felt something like strong menstrual cramps but still felt that I had plenty of time before things got going. Even though I was alone, I felt calm and decided to pack up my stuff so it would be ready when it was time to go to the Birth Center.  At 5:30, an hour after my water broke, I drove to my Mom’s house.  As I was getting into the car the contractions were getting noticeably stronger and I began to feel excited. I made some phone calls – called my Dad in Tucson so he could get on a plane and then a friend and my sister in Olympia and Seattle.  They all said they were on their way.  At that point I decided I better time my contractions and counted through 10 contractions and determined they were 3 and 4 minutes apart and lasting almost a minute long.  I called my midwife (Ann Tive) and let her know what was happening.  She asked me to continue timing contractions and to call her back in one hour.  I called her exactly one hour later to let her know the contractions were 1 and 2 minutes apart and lasting a little over one minute long.  She said she would meet me at the Birth Center.

I arrived at the Birth Center around 8am. I knew I would be getting into the tub but waited since I really wanted to get in toward the end of the labor as to get the maximum relief and I wasn’t sure how far along I was at that point.  My midwife checked me and said I was at 5cm!  I spent the next 2 hours sitting in the same spot, not moving, not talking and going very deep inside myself.  My Mom sat quietly beside me and handed me a cold washcloth from a bowl of ice water at the start of each contraction.  I would rub the cloth on my face and neck all through the contraction and then silently hand it back to her at the end.  This became our ritual for those two hours.  I mostly kept my eyes closed focusing on a small dot in my mind and concentrating on the only sound around me – my breath.

At the end of that two hour spell the contractions became more painful and I wanted to get in the tub.  As I entered the water I felt immediate relief.  The warm water comforted and relaxed me. The buoyancy I felt relieved so much of the pressure and I became unaware of every other part of my body but my belly.  It was easier for me to focus on my breathing after getting in the tub and my pain was decreased.  The contractions started to increase in intensity and I started to make noise with each contraction where before I had been silent.  Moaning loudly helped me not focus on the pain as much.  At this point, some contractions were a little more painful than others and I noticed that the really painful ones would cause the pitch in my voice to rise.  When I made more of a high-pitched sound I felt a little scared so I focused on lowering the tone and this helped a lot.  I was very inwardly focused and did not pay much attention at all to my surroundings.  At one point, I fell a sleep for just a moment and was jerked awake with the next contraction.  I think because I was not ready for this one it was hard and I thought to myself, “I can’t do this.”  In that moment I could really understand why many women opt for pain medication but I knew I did not have that option.  For the first time I was afraid and felt a bit hopeless, not knowing how much more painful the contractions would get or how much longer I had to go.  Soon though, I got myself back to a position of confidence, telling myself “you can do it” and refocusing my thoughts to stay positive. 

The midwife checked my cervix and told me I was at 10 cm with a small lip of cervix holding on.  She stretched my cervix with the next contraction and soon I felt an urge to push.  I told the midwife “I want to push.”  She didn’t tell me to push, she didn’t tell me not to, instead, she said, “Listen to your body.”  Every single fiber of my body went into pushing my baby out.  When I pushed I felt the contraction less intensely and that made the contraction much easier to handle.  I had long breaks between contractions for resting.  In the water it was easy for me to change positions.  For most of my pushes I was in a semi hands and knees position.  At one point my legs started getting numb from being in that position and I stood up then eventually moved into a squatting position.  After squatting the baby’s head came half way out with the next contraction and then just stayed there as I waited for the next one. This last rest seemed to last forever. I tried to relax and focus, breathing deeply and readying myself for what I had to do next.  I felt my perineum and vagina stretched and I knew I was going to tear but also knew there was only one way out of this.  With the next contraction I pushed as hard as I could and the rest of her head was born, her body following right after.  I sat back as she floated up and the midwife moved her toward me.  She was all pink white.  As soon as I saw her all pain was gone. A sensation of euphoria overcame me as I held this beautiful, tiny being I had created and with the realization of everything being okay, that we had done it, my baby and I, I felt tired and peaceful. When I think about my labor now, I still find in amazing how my body knew exactly what to do.

The day before my labor started I was rearranging the living room (nesting!) and was so tired I slept 12 hours straight.  I woke up at 11:00 am the next morning to a trickling feeling (kind of like I was peeing my pants).  I got up to go to the bathroom and there was a big GUSH, almost like a bucket full of water, which rushed out onto the bathroom rug before I could even make it to the toilet.  I wasn’t exactly sure what was going on so I called mom, mother-in-law, and my sisters and got no answer.  I called my cousin who said “call your midwife” and the neighbor girl who said “your water definitely broke!”  We had planned to have our baby at the Birth Center attended by our midwife.  Unfortunately, the cut off date for having a baby at the Birth Center is 37 weeks and I was at 36 weeks.  I knew I would have to go to the hospital. 

We arrived at the hospital at 1:30 pm.  At first my contractions were weak and just felt like little kicks from the baby.  Since labor started so early the Dr. suggested moving the labor along.  At 7:00 pm I was administered pitocin.  The contractions got stronger and I continued to labor.  Now the contractions felt like my belly was being rung out like a wet towel, tighter and tighter, and then it would loosen.   The birthing ball was fabulous during this time.  I would rock back and forth on the ball and the rocking motion helped.  For the most part I felt confident and empowered but I could hear a women in the next room screaming. For a minute I was very nervous that I would talk myself into an epidural if it ever got that bad - but I remained calm and focused and kept my voice in a low tone and was fine and managed my contractions very well.  The presence of my husband, TJ, was comforting.  I got a lot of support from the nurses - I really needed women around me because I knew they could empathize and that made me feel stronger. 

I was surprised when, at dinnertime, the nurse brought me food.  I had assumed that I would only be allowed to have ice chips and was planning to have TJ sneak me some food.  The nurse said I should eat since I needed energy for the labor!  At about 10:45 pm I threw up and the contractions were very, very strong in my lower back.  I was rocking back and forth on a birthing ball making a weird, low guttural moan through my contractions.  I had breaks between contractions from 30 seconds to 5 minutes in my transition stage.   The nurse said that she thought the baby may be “sunny side up” and suggested I lay on my side on the bed.  I did and immediately the baby turned and dropped about 4 inches down the birth canal.  The nurse checked my cervix and I was 9 cm. 

Just then the doctor came into the room.  She was snuggled up in a blanket like she had been sleeping.  When she heard that I was at 9 cm she threw off her blanket and went straight to the sink to put her cap and gown on and scrub up - the baby was coming quick!  I started pushing.  After each push I was able to calmly recollect myself, breathe deeply for 1 – 5 minutes then I would look at the Dr. and she would ask if I was ready to go again.  TJ, my husband, was stroking my hair and one of the nurses, Trene, took on more of a doula role, coaching me through the pushing stage.  With each push I would stare into her eyes, which kept me focused.  I pushed only 20 minutes – about 6 pushes – and she was out! 

The doc had TJ tell me the sex of the baby and I was elated to hear it was a girl!!!!  The respiration specialist was standing by in the room along with a lady from the nursery just in case the baby needed incubation or wasn't breathing.  But when Carrington came out and cried immediately, the two of them were out the door within a minute of her birth.  We asked to keep the placenta and it is in our freezer waiting to be planted with a tree in our yard. :) 

The Birth of Owen Anchor – Alana Mey

It was the day of my “due date” and my husband Ashton and I were working on a studio we were building in our back yard.  It was about 12:00 in the afternoon and we had just been saying we’d feel good if we just get the floor in before the baby comes.  I was kneeling as we were putting in the last piece of flooring when I felt the warmth of amniotic fluid dripping down my leg.  I knew right away that my water had broken and I had a moment of shock and felt a little like a deer in the headlights.  I told Ashton that my water had broke and he answered, “What does that mean?’  I answered, “It means we’re having a baby soon!”

I called my midwife, Winni McNamara, and told her what was going on.  She asked about the color of the fluid (it was clear) and told me that labor might not actually start for a while.  She told me to get some rest and to keep in touch.  Knowing that the baby was coming soon lit a fire under Ashton and he got busy and finished all the trim in the studio while I tried to take a nap.  I was too excited to sleep.

Instead of sleeping I got online and updated my blog, letting people know that labor had started and that we would have a baby soon.  After that I ate a bit of lunch and tried to occupy my mind. I had been trying to buy a chair off Craigslist from someone in Lynden and was actually contemplating whether or not it would be a good idea to drive out there and get it.   As I contemplated the drive, the contractions began to pick up.  As a little time went on I realized
a ride to Lynden was probably not such a smart idea after all.  The contractions started getting stronger.

By 6:00 pm I was having regular contractions.  I was timing them on an app from my ipad and they were lasting a full minute and were about 4 minutes apart, yet I was able to talk and walk through contractions and didn’t think they were as strong as I thought  they would be. I was able to cope by just getting through each contraction one at a time. Now I realize those contractions were stronger and more powerful than I let myself realize when they were happening.  I was very surprised how quickly they became 4 minutes apart.

By 8:00 pm the contractions were stronger and I again talked to the midwife.  She said she could come over now and check me if I wanted but since I could still talk through the contractions we both thought it wasn’t time yet.  She said, “Let’s talk again at 9:00.”  At 8:30 pm, right after I hung up with Winni, I changed my mind and wanted her to head over. I could tell things were really happening inside me! I mostly stayed on my hands and knees, leaning over the couch until my midwife arrived.  Prior to her arrival I threw up 2 or 3 times – so much for that lunch I ate earlier.  My midwife arrived by 10:00 pm and checked me and we were all surprised when she said I was at 7.5 cm already.  She was surprised because she said I didn’t give her the impression over the phone that things were progressing as fast as they were. It was time to go to the Birth Center.  

We called our doula and had her meet us at the Birth Center.  When we got there Winni was filling up the tub.  I got in, relaxed a little and very quickly I was complete – 10 cm.  I did not notice transition as markedly different from the rest of the labor and was still coping well with my contractions. However, I do remember being very internal and just getting through each contraction as it came to me. Even though, at times, the contractions felt like an overwhelming wave of pain I knew that each one would pass in a minute to a minute and ½ and that kept me going.  Ashton got in the tub with me.  He and the doula applied cold cloths to my face. I was aware of people speaking and the things that were going on in the room. This surprised me because I thought I would be in more of a daze. I also thought, from class and from hearing other women’s experience, that I would want silence and that I wouldn’t want to be touched but I didn’t feel this way at all.  

At about midnight I was ready to start pushing.  I still had a little lip of cervix left and Winni tried holding it back while I pushed but after a few pushes it would come back. This was uncomfortable.  After a while I got into a good rhythm of pushing but wasn’t making progress.  Winni could tell that the left side of the baby’s head was presenting and his head was cocked sideways.  This was preventing him from coming down. We tried to get him to straighten out.  We tried several different positions: hands and knees in the tub, sitting on the toilet and the birth stool, and the sling.  My back was hurting a lot, especially when I was lying on the bed but we kept trying different positions.  With each new position the midwife would say, “Let’s try this for 45 minutes.”  We did this for hours.

By 5:00 am I had been pushing for 5 hours.  I started to get shaky and the contractions slowed way down and weren’t as strong. At 5:30 am the midwife said she thought we should go to the hospital and Ashton and I agreed.  We had tried everything we could and the baby was still not moving down at all.  

It took about ½ an hour to get all signed in at the hospital and then a doctor came in to talk with us.  He looked at my chart and decided (without checking me) that I needed a c-section.  We asked that he check me to see how far down the baby was and after checking he agreed that I should keep pushing.

Soon after I opted for an epidural.  I was really nervous about the epidural and didn’t like the idea of the needle.  The anesthesiologist, Dr. Wender, was excellent.  She explained exactly what she was going to do, what I would feel, etc.  She also said, “I know you don’t want to be here and I know this isn’t what you planned.’  Her words were comforting to me.  After the epidural I rested for about an hour.

By this time we had a new doctor as the other one was off shift.  The new doctor checked me and agreed I should start pushing again.  By this time my contractions were much weaker and farther apart so I was given pitocin.  It seemed that the baby was moving down (I had even passed a little stool – a good sign of progress I was told) so the room was made ready for delivery, warmer on, etc. and we were getting ready to welcome our baby. I was excited to meet my son, but also nervous because I knew that soon I would be pushing a baby all the way out! This scared me a little, even with an epidural.

Time moved on, I kept pushing, and still the baby was not moving down much.  I pushed with all of my might, 4 times with each contraction, one after the other with no break. The doctor thought we could try vacuum extraction but only 1 or 2 times as it could be hard on the baby.  This was the doctor’s last resort before a c-section would be necessary. She tried the vacuum twice and the baby did not move even a centimeter.  We had exhausted all our possibilities and knew it was time to agree to a c-section.  I had been compete for almost 24 hours by then and had pushed for over 10 hours.

I know it was hard for Ashton to be with me during the surgery.  He was very worried but stayed by my side.  The baby’s head was truly stuck in my pelvis and the surgeons had to really work to get him out.  He was not coming out vaginally or coming out cesarean. I distinctly remember Ashton crying as he sat next to my head. Finally, they were able to dislodge the baby from my pelvis and at 1:17 pm, our son, Owen Anchor Mey, was born.  Immediately the surgeons knew that Owen needed positive pressure ventilation and called for 2 additional pediatricians to come running. (Later we learned that they indeed literally ran to the operating room).  I saw them working on my baby who was not crying (despite his vitals always remaining strong through out the entire labor and delivery). I remember thinking, please just let my baby be okay. Mere minutes later Owen was crying and scored a perfect Apgar score. Everyone in the room was so excited! They stitched me up and I went to the recovery room for a little over an hour. Ashton went with Owen to the nursery for some follow up monitoring because of what he had just gone through.

Owen nursed as soon as I put him to my breast and had a perfect latch from the beginning.

Having now experienced a hospital birth, although not what we planned, I do sincerely feel that you can still have a natural birth with a planned hospital delivery with the right birth team by your side. We found the staff to be accommodating to our desires to try for a birth as natural as possible. Because we entered non-emergent and Owen's vitals were strong, we were allowed to labor in the hospital for 5+ hours before we knew he was not able to descend further. Having two days in the hospital where we could rest and let the staff take care of everything else ended up being very nice for us. I wanted to share my story and give my encouragement to others to make a birth plan that makes you most comfortable and to remind you that there is still hope of having a great birth experience even if you need to be transferred to the hospital. Best of Luck!! May you all have happy, healthy babies!