The Birth of Jameson Edward

Late Sunday morning, 8/21/2011, I was having contractions I could tell were real, but they were far enough apart. They didn't really hurt but I could tell that they were at least wavelike with a peak in the middle. I figured that they would lead to "the big deal" later in the day. By the afternoon, they were coming closer together (6-8 minutes apart). I was still able to get through them without people around me knowing I was having contractions (I was at my grandparents' house). I decided to go home around 4:30. At this point, contractions were 5 minutes apart. Things began to pick up shortly thereafter. I finished up some last minute things around the house (like laundry). I noticed that I was urinating quite often and I figured the baby was getting lower in the pelvis. Around 5:45 or so, I had bloody show. I knew then for sure that my baby was coming because I had bloody show the last two times only when I was in active labor. I called my mom over because my kids were driving me up the walls and my house was a mess, and Rob was gone with his brother, and I just needed someone there. She came over and swept the floors, did the dishes, made supper for the kids, and folded my laundry. I didn't ask her to do any of this, but that's just how she is and she said she didn't want me coming home from the hospital to a mess. She was just so excited to know that her newest grandbaby was on the way. During contractions, I went into the bathroom and sat on the toilet. It was what worked for me in the past, and it helped this time around too. Plus then I could lock the door so I could breathe through the contractions distraction (kid) - free.

Around 8:00, I sent my mom home with the plan that she would pick me up when it was time to go to the hospital. My mother-in-law also came over to stay with the kids. It was shortly after 9:00 when contractions were 3-4 minutes apart and my mom took me to the hospital. At this point I was still breathing through them and didn't feel the need yet to "ah" through them. I got checked around 10:00 p.m. and was 4 cm, 90% effaced, and 0 station. I was glad I was at the hospital because last time, I went from a 3/4 to an 8 in just 2 hours. I really thought that birth tub sounded enticing!

I got into the tub just before 11:00 p.m. Ah, instant nirvana. Amazing. Contractions continued to come every 3-4 minutes and I "aaahed" through them, as I did last time. The reason why this works so much better is because then I am slowing down my breathing. The tendancy when blowing through a contraction, at least for me, is to take more breaths. I kept my voice low to allow myself ultimate relaxation. The midwife on-call was not my regular midwife but she was very nice. She kept the lights low in the tub room and basically just let me be. My mom served as my "doula", telling me "good job" when I got through a contraction, and feeding me ice chips. I got out of the tub around 12:30 a.m. and had to use the bathroom. Prior to, I felt the shaking that I knew meant I must be in transition. After using the bathroom, I had the midwife check me and I was at 8 c.m .Yes! Transition! Home stretch, baby! I knew within 2 hours I would know the gender of my baby and have him or her in my arms finally. The nurse used the handheld doppler a few times thoroughout the labor, but that was my only "monitoring". The heartbeat sounded great and she told me the baby was definitely moving lower as things progressed.

Within a half hour, contractions started lasting 2 minutes, then three. When they were consistently lasting 3 minutes and I could feel a little more pressure, the midwife stayed close, but still continued to allow me to do things on my own and get through the contractions. Loose jaw, loose bottom was my mantra. I was using cold, wet washcloths to rub my face down because I started getting a little warm, and it helped to distract from the pain. Just before 2:00 a.m., she checked me and I had just a lip of cervix left. The bag of waters was still in tact. I was all "game on: let's go" so I had her break my water. After an intense contraction, I felt it. The urge to push. The baby pushed lower and I could feel that pressure in my bottom as my eyes watered. I heard the midwife tell me to push whenever I wanted to. She told me blow out in short spurts so that I could prevent tearing ("who-who-who"), so I did this and started pushing at 2:10 a.m. I felt the warmth and pressure as the baby crowned. Crowning! I was doing this! There was no turning back! "Push, push", I could hear them say. "The head is out!", I heard next, and then, "push again -- get those shoulders out!" I knew I had to just do this one more thing and my baby would be here. "Reach down and grab your baby!"

2:12 a.m.: My baby was out! Oh my God -- my baby was out. My hands grabbed the slippery, warm body and I pulled the baby close. "What do we have?" "I moved the cord out of the way and announced, "It's a boy!" My son. Jameson. He was here. Nothing else mattered in that moment and time seemed to stand still for a few seconds as I gazed at him and took him in. I held him close to my body and he cried out for a moment, but for the most part, he was just content in the water and close to his mama.

Another amazing waterbirth. The moments after labor are almost surreal.
---------------
Jameson Edward: 6 lbs, 13 oz. and 20 inches long., 8/22/2011

The birth story of Elise Maya

First, I'd like to preface this by saying that I didn't go natural to "be a hero", as I so often hear when people talk about birthing. I just wanted my daughter to be free from medication and also, I didn't like how "out of control" I felt the first time around (medicated labor). I had confidence in my body this time around and was determined to trust my body and instincts.

Short: Elise Maya was born at 11:02 a.m. via natural water birth. She weighed 6 lbs, 12 ounces, and was 19 3/4" long. The labor was 9 1/2 hours from start to finish, including 13 minutes of pushing. Apgar's 8/9.

The long story: I started having some random contractions on Friday, 2/26/2010 but they really were not anything I could time. Occasionally, I would have a painful one, which made me think that maybe tonight would be the night. I went to bed around midnight and had a few contractions that were spaced out and then I woke up at 1:30 a.m. and started having contractions that were 4-5 minutes apart. They were starting to hurt a little. I went to the bathroom and had bloody show and then I knew this was it.

I was so excited to be in labor! I was going to try and sleep through some contractions but I realized that wasn't going to happen, so I went out to the living room to get on the computer so I could time the contractions (I sent the hubby into the bedroom -- he had been sleeping on the couch. I wanted him to rest up because I remembered how long my last labor was -- 22 hours of active labor).

At this point, the contractions were about four minutes apart, and sometimes three. I started packing my hospital bag (which was already packed for the most part, but I needed to add a few essentials like my toothbrush, contact lenses, camera, etc.). Every time I'd get a contraction, I'd try and sit on the toilet because it just felt best being in that position. I breathed through them (sometimes swearing, but not too loud because I didn't want to wake up Andrew) and then I'd hop off the pot and continue packing. I even had to open a package of SD cards so I could put one in the easy-to-use camera (I wanted both cameras on hand -- my fancy one can be hard for people to use, so I like having the point-and-shoot too). I charged up the camcorder, too, because the battery was dead.

At 5:00 a.m., I decided to call my mother and let her know I was in labor. I figured the best plan of action would be to have her take me to the hospital and check me in and we could see where I was at before having Rob take Andrew over to his mom's (last time, labor progressed so slow). Honestly, I just wanted to get into that birthing tub! I kept thinking of how good that warm bath would feel. My mom was excited for the call and said she'd be right over (I told her not to speed and just to take her time).

My mom arrived about 20 minutes later and loaded my bags into her car. We drove over to the hospital and my contractions were still three minutes apart (sometimes two). I remember at one point trying to turn off her radio because I didn't want to hear any noise during the contractions.

When I arrived at Labor & Delivery, my midwife, Glenda, was waiting right where we walked in (well, my mom walked and so did the attendant who wheeled me in). I gave Glenda a wave and said, "told you I'd make it in on your shift!" (we had both talked about Friday overnight until 8:00 a.m. on Saturday). I had tears in my eyes because I was so happy to see her. She said, kiddingly, "you better be uncomfortable!"

I got checked into the birthing suite, which is the big room with the adjoining small room with the birthing tub. I got my gown on and went to the bathroom and then they set me up first in the bed. They got the heart monitor on and we listened to the heartrate for a little while. Of course, it dropped a little when I would have a contraction (completely normal) but they had me lie on my side to see if that helped, and it did. They got the IV of penicillin in (I'm Group B Strep positive). Glenda came and checked me around 6:00 a.m. and said, "you're at a 3-4 and there is no cervix left -- completely effaced, which is a change from Tuesday" (when I was at a 2 and still pretty firm). She asked where my husband was and I told her that he had to arrange for childcare for Andrew, and she said that he should probably get there because she had a feeling I was going to progress quickly (this delighted me!).

After a little bit, I went into the bathroom to sit on the toilet to get through my contractions. It felt the best to be in that position. I was in there for probably a half hour, and finally asked them to fill the tub for me (they said they usually liked to wait until closer to the end of labor but I though that was silly because the tub has a drain and a faucet to add more hot water if need be).

When I finally stepped into the tub and sat down, it was instant relief. The water felt so good and I almost pretended I was on vacation somewhere and was just in the hot tub. As a contraction would come, I would breathe through it, turning on my side because that position felt the best. In and out of the small tub room were my midwife, who had to go at 8:00, because it was shift change -- so then the next midwife, another nurse who was training to become a midwife (she was awesome and "hippie" like me -- I really liked her), the nurse who did most of the monitoring, her helper (CNA, maybe?), my mom, and eventually my aunt (Labor & Delivery RN who was off duty), and my husband.

The next time I got checked (8:55 a.m., I think), I was at an 8. I was amazed. I had progressed from a 3-4 to an 8 in just under three hours. I could not believe I was officially in transition! At this point, I started doing the low moaning that I had only seen in other natural birth videos. I kept thinking I didn't want to be like that, but it really helped with the pain relief. I was like an animal, and at one point said that the mooing would eventually scare my baby out. I said, "I'm going to survive this, right?" but it was more of an affirmation or a statement of the truth than a question. The nice midwife-to-be told me what a great job I was doing. I asked her if when I got to a 10, if I'd still have breaks between the contractions or if they'd all be right on top of each other, and she assured me I'd still get breaks in between (for some reason I had it in my head that it was all just going to hurt so much).

At some point, I decided I had to pee so they warned me I'd feel 1 or 2 very intense contractions as I stood up in tub. Boy were they ever intense! However, I walked quite a ways and made it to the toilet, peed for awhile (tossing the hot towel off my back -- the one the nurse wrapped aroundd me), got through a few contractions, and headed back to the tub. The staff had let some water out and added more hot, so it felt awesome to get in and get back into my zone.

Things started picking up and I got a little bit crazy. The padded headrest behind me kept falling off and it was pissing me off, so they started putting towels behind me. I was reclining for the most part, but when I felt a contraction come, I'd turn on my side and put my head on the towels, moaning through the contraction (more of an "oooooooooooh", long "o" sound). Every once in awhile, the nurse would put the doppler in the water and listen to the heartrate through a few contractions. A couple times it dropped low, but I knew this was normal and pretty much just tried to ignore the nurse, who sometimes asked me questions during contractions. The nurse who was training to be a midwife, Erin, was my favorite. She was quiet and after I'd get through a contraction, she'd whisper, "good job". She, at one point, told me that she birthed her son in a tub, at home! How awesome.

Anyway, the towels would fall in the water and I would toss them over my shoulder -- I honestly didn't care about the mess I was making! I also liked a cold washcloth for my head, and I would rub it over my face during a contraction to distract from the pain. At one point, I had a pretty strong contraction and I whipped the washcloth over my shoulder as well! Later on, I found this all to be funny.

I got checked again shortly before 11:00 a.m. and I was complete. This was it. I was almost there and soon my baby would be in my arms. I had more contractions where I started to feel pressure -- "the" pressure they talk about where you know it's time to push. I would be breathing/moaning through a contraction and when she'd push down, my voice would say, "uhUUUHuhUUUUHuh" (if that makes sense). I wasn't quite there yet where I felt that I had to push, so I kept moaning through the contractions, and I noticed the contractions were much longer and here and there, my voice would get a little higher when the pressure would happen, but Erin would tell me to keep moaning low because it helps with the pain (and it's true, because it did). I could hear my friends cheering me on in my head, telling me I could do this (Andrea in New Mexico and Jules, especially).

I finally said they could break my water when I was at a 10 and the bag was bulging (see? I knew I wasn't the type to have my water break spontaneously early on in labor). I felt some more intense contractions after this and they told me that when I feel the urge to push, to just do it.

I had to change gears and go from breathing out to taking a deep breath and pushing (with my bottom and not my face). A couple of times, I remember saying, "oops, let me get another breath" because I'd let that one out. I had my eyes shut during all of these contractions, but I could hear my aunt telling me to bear down and PUSH with my butt like I'm going poop -- this would immediately get me to focus because I kept trying to push with my face. When they told me they could see her head and her hair, I waited for the next contraction, and then I pushed and kept pushing, feeling some minor pain, but honestly, it wasn't as bad as the contraction pain. When they said the head was out and to keep going, I took another big breath and pushed, pushed, pushed (I could hear myself and I sounded like an animal), until my whole baby came out. They told me to look down and grab my baby! I had my eyes shut and glasses off and it was dim, and oh, the washrag was over my eyes so I commanded, rather like a Nazi General, I later decided, for someone to take the washrag off my eyes so I could see my baby.

I held my beautiful baby for the first time. Her eyes were open and blinking at me. She was beautiful. I couldn't stop saying, "oh, oh, oh" and I kissed her and held her close and said, "she's little too, just like Andrew was". I then realized I had done it. "I can't believe I did it", I said, and I looked over at Erin and with tears in my eyes, thanked her and told her that this was so amazing and I couldn't believe I did it. I announced that her name was Elise Maya (I even checked her parts to make sure she was still a girl as we were told in our ultrasound; she was). I asked if someone had noted the time, and they told me 11:02 a.m. was when she was born, after 13 minutes of pushing.

Everyone was in awe and they all said how amazing I did. It was honestly so much easier than I had envisioned. Prior to this, I had only based natural labor on what I had seen portrayed on t.v., and that really isn't a good depiction. It was amazing, empowering, and less painful than I ever could have imagined. The pushing felt good and was less painful than the contractions.

I told them to let the cord pulse, and then my husband cut the cord. They told me the placenta should be ready to come out soon. I asked if I had to wait for a contraction, and they told me just to try pushing. I did, and that was very easy. After all, my beautiful little girl was in my arms, healthy as could be.

I got out of the tub then, and we went over to the bed. Within a minute, I had Elise latched on. She had a perfect latch and continued to nurse for an hour-and-a-half. She has been doing beautifully ever since.

Erin came to see me the next day and said she was so glad to have been part of my beautiful birth. I told her that I was so glad she was there. We had this connection that I can't explain, but I feel like she was this angel sent to help me achieve my goal. (Update from August, 2010: I got in touch with her later -- a little bit of stalking on my part -- I sent her this birth story and some pics and she responded with a nice letter so we then started e-mailing. I later learned that she had 10 years of experience as a doula -- how awesome is that?! She also let me know that she passed her boards so she was now a certified nurse midwife. I am so proud of her.

-------
I promise to get some pictures up soon -- I need to upload them to my photobucket.

Two years ago...

Two years ago, I was in active labor on this day. I woke up at 5:00 a.m. with contractions that were 5-8 minutes apart. By 11:00 a.m., they were 4-5 minutes apart and starting to become more painful. I couldn't really eat anything all day. By 3:00 p.m., they were 3-4 minutes apart, and I was having trouble talking through them. I was mostly on the couch, but walking around some of the time. After talking to my mom, she urged me it was time to go in. So, off to the hospital we went. They checked me in triage and I was at a 2 and 90% effaced. They confirmed that my contractions were 5 minutes apart, and said I would definitely be back later, but to go home and labor some more there, because I'd be more comfortable (why, in the appointments do they tell you to come in when they're 5 minutes apart, then? Oh well).

So, I went home. Two hours later, I was lying on the couch watching Thirteen Going on 30 (giggle), one of my favorite girlie movies, trying to distract myself, when I felt a gush. I thought, oh good, it's my water!

But, it wasn't my water. I went to the bathroom and it was blood. It was really gushing out. Like, I had to use some pads and I was going through a few of them and just peeing it out (like a heavy period day). Uh oh. My belly felt hot to the touch, and I was so scared. I was on the phone with my mom as this all happened, and she said to call the doctor or go in.

I called and the nurse was like, "well, it's probably just bloody show, but you can come in if you feel like it". Um yeah, we're going in. I am not chancing this!

I was in tears in the car, so afraid something horrible had happened, like my placenta detatching. We get there and they ask me if I want a wheelchair for the ride up, and I take one simply because I have a super pad on, but feel like I am going to gush over all over the place.

I get in triage and now I'm at a 3 and 100% effaced. They monitor my contractions and my doctor comes and checks me (yes, my doctor was the one on-call that night--yay!); he doesn't seem to be concerned at all about the bleeding and says it's probably from dilating. ?? WTF ?? I finally get admitted around 7:00 and they take me to my birthing suite.

Wow! It was gorgeous! They had recently remodeled, so we're talking hardwood floors, a very large room, a big-screen t.v., a couch for the hubby, a rocking chair, and a nice bathroom with a deep bathtub. I was very impressed. First I got settled in and then they hooked up my I.V. (I was GBS positive; the only "downfall" of my entire pregnancy, but really no big deal) and then told me I could walk around if I wanted to. So, we did. I went down the hall because I knew my friend's mom was working in the nursery. I said "hi" to her in-between contractions. One of the nurses showed me how to grab the handrail when I was having a contraction and squat and push through it (I felt like such a dork). I had to go to the bathroom and had this, and I'm not kidding you, over foot long clotty thing come out of me. I had more blood. Come to think of it, I should have motioned the nurse to come into the bathroom and see, but I flushed it because I was in pain from my contractions and if the doctor said I was okay, I must have been. I walked around for awhile and then headed back to the room.

After a little while, Dr. M came in and asked how I was feeling. He checked me and I was at a 4 at this point? I think? He asked if I wanted my water broken, and I said, "sure" (why not get the ball rolling; I had been in labor now for 16 hours). He said, "you have a tough bag! It took a couple attempts with the hook thing, but he got it. It seemed to bring on more frequent contractions, but I didn't really notice.

Around 11:00 p.m., I decided I wanted to labor in the bathtub. Maybe the hot water would help. I spent two hours in there. At one point, I yelled at DH because he was sitting next to me, smacking his gum (I kid you not) and asking me questions DURING the contractions. After I yelled at him (barely), he said, "I'll just go home if you're going to be like this". I was like, "no, it's not that! Seriously, just don't smack your gum, and don't talk to me during a contraction because I need to focus and get through them". The nurse came in a couple times and told me what a good job I was doing!

At 1:00 a.m., Dr. M came back to check me. I was now dilated to a 5. A five. Seriously? I had now been in labor for 20 hours and I was to a 5. Wow! So, I asked for the epidural. They came right in and inserted it. Why are people so scared about the needle? I mean, when you're in a ton of pain from the contractions, a needle is the least of your worries (a little advice to those who haven't been through labor yet, LOL, I know this was one of my concerns pre-labor). Instant relief. I felt nothing, literally, after about 60 seconds of that being in. The nurse told me to get some sleep, but I was too excited about labor! I could not sleep a wink. I was glad DH got to get some sleep; he was on the couch. The next time they checked me, I was at an 8. The nurses were coming in seriously every 10-15 minutes, maybe because one of them was a student nurse being trained (she graduated from my high school in a tiny town, two years after me--funny how you don't mind having someone you sort-of know seeing your girlie parts on display, not to mention being completely naked in the tub).

So, finally I was to a 9. And then, still a 9. And still a 9, and my contractions had basicaly stopped (not that I could feel them either way). You know how when you have an epidural, they have to keep checking you to make sure it isn't up too high (they had ice in a rubber glove)? Well, I couldn't feel it wherever they put it. I was numb up to my clavicles, and I could feel my neck starting to tingle. They elevated my upper body then. This was when all the chaos went on, because it was all of a sudden time for them to give me pitocin to get my contractions started up again (mention of the "P" word elicited fear in me because I was afraid of ending up with a c-section), but it worked. The contractions started up again. Then my blood pressure crashed to 88/30. I started shaking really bad, uncontrollably. I threw up my ice chips (all I had eaten all day, so it wasn't very much). They had to give my epinephrine to get my BP back up. There was chaos in the room, so this part of the story is hard for me to remember.

Eventually, I was to a 10 and it was time to push. This was at 6:30 a.m., 25.5 hours after my labor had begun. I couldn't believe it was finally time to push! The only thing was, my legs were dead weight and I couldn't feel when a contraction was coming (even after they turned down the epidural twice. Why in the world didn't I tell them to just turn it off? I didn't know it was an option, that's why. Oh well, live and learn). The nurses told me when a contraction was coming, and then I would push with these muscles I couldn't feel. Very strange! I was also coughing the entire time because I was on the tail end of this horrible cold. Every time I would cough, it helped him come out a little more. He was crowned for what seemed like a long time! I used the mirror and I would rub his little head. So, this went on for 1.5 hours and at 7:53 a.m. on August 25th, 2007, Andrew was born.

He had a squeaky cry! "Uwaah-squeak...uwaah-squeak!" His little mouth was quivering and at first, his little nostrils were flaring. He was so little! That was my first thought. I said, "wow, he's tiny!", and he was. He weighed 6 lbs, 6 oz., which I found out later. First it was time to snuggle! They got him on my chest skin-to-skin and helped me get him latched for the first time. They wrapped us in a heated blanket and I just enjoyed snuggling with him. He was so cute and small! OMG, I couldn't believe it. Later, I asked DH what he thought when he came out, if he was freaked out, and he said he was more amazed that something that (seemingly) big could come out of there!

Our first family picture:


The rest was history. We had a ton of visitors because it was Saturday. At one point, it was like a zoo in there and I seriously wanted everyone to shut up for just a second (the nurse came in and asked, "do you need some water?", our code for "get these people out of here--but I was cool with it; I knew they'd eventually leave). My perfect little guy roomed with us (our room they gave us had a double bed, so DH stayed there with me). He liked my body heat, and a couple times the nurses would get him all burrito wrapped in his basinet, and they would put heated blankets on him, but as soon as the heat wore off, he would be crying. Both of us got up with him and comforted him the first night. By the time I went to sleep, it was 1:00 a.m. on SUNDAY, so I had now been up for 44 hours straight! I couldn't do it anymore. I remember rocking him in the rocking chair and my head kept nodding. I was thinking, "this isn't safe". My aunt was working that night (Labor & Delivery nurse) and she came in and said she'd hold him and snuggle so I could get some sleep. She took him and brought him back early in the morning. I slept like a zombie, especially after I got my cough drops (they had to bring me some from the pharmacy because I was literally coughing all night). I loved nursing him, and it really clicked after the first couple of times of having the LCs help me.

Finally on Sunday at 11:00, it was time to check out. I got my cutie into his carseat (OMG, so tiny) and we went home. The newborn outfit I had as his going home outfit was too big on him; luckily, one of my friends bought him a couple preemie outfits. When we left the hospital, he weighed 6 lbs, .5 ounces (by his 2 week check-up, he was all the way up to 7 lbs, 5 oz.; amazing).

Wow, if you read this all! :) I hope the next labor is shorter (haha, 27 hours is a bit long) and I am not getting the epidural for sure. I am not sure about other pain relief via an I.V., but I hope to go natural.