Lucy Alice: The Birth Story
It's been 2 months since the birth already, but I wanted to get this out there before I continue with The House Story (you all won't believe the progress that's been made!)
At 12:30am the morning of August 26th, one day after my due date, I woke up to go the bathroom and my water broke. There was a gush that hit the floor and a wave of fear hit me in the stomach as I realized it was really going to happen, this birth thing, and there was nothing I could do to stop it. Ben and I called Kristen, our midwife, to tell her and she said to try and get some sleep and to call her at the first sign of contractions. An hour later I had a mild contraction, like an abdominal cramp, and I waited for 2 more to make sure that was really what I was feeling. I called Kristen again and told her they had started. She said again to try and get some sleep and to call when they got closer together. I was able to sleep in between the contractions, which were about 20 minutes apart, and breathe through the contractions fairly easily. By around 7am we both were awake. Ben made pancakes and we had breakfast in bed, very cozy, with me pausing every now and then to deal with my growing contractions. My initial fear had passed pretty quickly and we were able to enjoy this time, full with anticipation, not knowing how long a haul we had in front of us but knowing the end result would be meeting our little girl. Ben started preparing things around the house, like inflating the exercise ball and soaking washcloths in lavender water and putting them in the fridge.
By 10 am the contractions had become much more intense and I was having to turn more inward to deal with each one. We started timing them and found they were still a good 5 to 10 minutes apart. We called Kristen, and she said call again when they’re 3 to 4 minutes apart. I was sitting on the edge of the bed in our little bedroom and Ben would stand in front of me as I had a contractions and rub my back as I leaned on him. My mom arrived with some massage tools and coke cans to rub on my sacrum. By this time I had started sitting on the exercise ball and bouncing on it every time there was a contraction. The rhythmic movement really helped get through them- in a way it was distracting, having this motion to concentrate on as the pain washed over me. Ben was sitting right behind me on the bed and would rub my sacrum with the massage tool during a contraction as I would breath deeply, and when they subsided I would collapse against him and rest. I was like a rag doll at these times, conserving every bit of energy in me for the next contraction. Then it would come again, and build in strength. My mom helped me through a few when Ben was preparing stuff, and there were a few where Ben was behind me and my mom in front of me, doing double duty to get me through. They continued to grow more intense and Ben suggested we get up and walk to the living room. Such a simple thing, and yet the very act of getting off my ball and walking brought the next one on WAY stronger than they had been. I could barely stand up and started heading back to my cocoon of a bedroom and my trusty bouncy ball, but Ben urged me to stick it out. After all, nothing was going to make me feel better except the birth of my child, and that wouldn’t happen until the progression of these contractions reached their height. Ben called Kristen again, even though they were still more than 4 minutes apart, to tell her they were much more intense, and she suggested getting in the bathtub. She began heading over.
I got in the bath, which felt wonderful and calming as I slid in, but the next contraction came on hard and all of a sudden I was way too hot, followed by shivering as it let it’s grip go. It was hard to be in a reclining position during the contractions, so I ended up holding on to the edge of the tub in a semi-reclined position and grabbing on to Ben as hard as I could as they came and went. I’m not sure how long I was in the tub but all of a sudden my body spontaneously began to push and since Kristen hadn’t yet arrived, I got scared (as did everyone) because as much as I trust Ben, I didn’t want him delivering the baby. Not enough experience! The urge to push was so undeniable but I remembered reading that panting sometimes slows it down, so I gave up the deep breathing for quick short breaths and tried not to push. Ben called Kristen who said she was a couple minutes away. My mom set up the living room with a plastic shower curtain liner and a bunch of towels and we made our way in there. It was all I could do to stand up from the tub and walk into the living room, and I did it quick before another contraction could hit. I got on my hands and knees and starting panting fast, though a few pushes snuck through. Finally someone said Kristen was on her way up- she double parked and my mom ran down to park her car for her. She came in and listened to the baby’s heartbeat, then said I could push when I needed to, which I immediately did. The noises that came out of me were intense- deep and low and animalistic, and they helped immensely with the pain and the pushing. The burn and stretch sensation as the baby started to descend was crazy painful, more than I expected, but the massive urge to push, HARD, at least felt somewhat productive. Someone put a chair in front of me to lean on, don’t know who because I was completely within this birthing experience and not very conscious of anything else. Ben and the midwife were behind me and I did hear Ben say he saw the head coming- he sounded so amazed and it strengthened me for the next wave. Kristen told me to reach down and touch the head which I did and it felt kind of mushy and as if it had a long way to go before it was out. It hurt so much as it was I couldn’t imagine that I had to stretch that much further to get a whole head out. Thankfully Ben and I are both pinheads so we didn’t produce a big headed baby! The burn intensified and suddenly Ben said the head was out- and my thighs were shaky and tired at this point and I was dying to sit down, but of course I couldn’t lest a sit right on my baby’s head and squash it or worse push it back up inside. Kristen said I could switch positions to side-lying but I wanted to wait til after the next push which was coming quick, but that one pushed her right out. Ben caught her and passed her to me in a football pass (underneath me, between my legs) and I sat up cross legged as if nothing had happened, looked into this tiny pink miraculous face as she cried out these cute little mewling cries, and said “oh my god”. What a crazy crazy experience and here she was, all of a sudden not as foreign as she was minutes ago, as I had known her as a bump under my belly that morphed and wiggled, now a face with a little voice. Still a stranger but not.
We sat there looking at each other and making faces as the cord continued to pulse. Kristen didn’t clamp it until it had stopped pulsing in order for all the oxygen and stuff to make it’s last trip through the cord. We wrapped her up a few minutes later and I continued to hold her and stare until the placenta followed about 15 minutes later. Kristen showed us where it had been attached and pulled the bag apart to show us the membrane- quite fascinating to see. Then she clamped the cord and Ben cut it and showed us the 3 blood vessels within the cord where waste and nutrients had passed through. The three of us got back in bed and Kristen helped me to start breastfeeding, which went really well, she latched on with not much problem. Then Kristen weighed and measured her and did all the reflex tests and body checks, and all was in the right order, thankfully. We all hung out staring at this new little one for hours and ended the day with my Mom and Dad and Ben and Lucy and me cramped in our tiny bedroom eating take-out Mexican and marveling at Lucy and the ease at which she entered this world. She slept for hours that day and spent a lot of the night alert and looking around, with us intermittently staring at her and sleeping fitfully. What an experience.
At 12:30am the morning of August 26th, one day after my due date, I woke up to go the bathroom and my water broke. There was a gush that hit the floor and a wave of fear hit me in the stomach as I realized it was really going to happen, this birth thing, and there was nothing I could do to stop it. Ben and I called Kristen, our midwife, to tell her and she said to try and get some sleep and to call her at the first sign of contractions. An hour later I had a mild contraction, like an abdominal cramp, and I waited for 2 more to make sure that was really what I was feeling. I called Kristen again and told her they had started. She said again to try and get some sleep and to call when they got closer together. I was able to sleep in between the contractions, which were about 20 minutes apart, and breathe through the contractions fairly easily. By around 7am we both were awake. Ben made pancakes and we had breakfast in bed, very cozy, with me pausing every now and then to deal with my growing contractions. My initial fear had passed pretty quickly and we were able to enjoy this time, full with anticipation, not knowing how long a haul we had in front of us but knowing the end result would be meeting our little girl. Ben started preparing things around the house, like inflating the exercise ball and soaking washcloths in lavender water and putting them in the fridge.
By 10 am the contractions had become much more intense and I was having to turn more inward to deal with each one. We started timing them and found they were still a good 5 to 10 minutes apart. We called Kristen, and she said call again when they’re 3 to 4 minutes apart. I was sitting on the edge of the bed in our little bedroom and Ben would stand in front of me as I had a contractions and rub my back as I leaned on him. My mom arrived with some massage tools and coke cans to rub on my sacrum. By this time I had started sitting on the exercise ball and bouncing on it every time there was a contraction. The rhythmic movement really helped get through them- in a way it was distracting, having this motion to concentrate on as the pain washed over me. Ben was sitting right behind me on the bed and would rub my sacrum with the massage tool during a contraction as I would breath deeply, and when they subsided I would collapse against him and rest. I was like a rag doll at these times, conserving every bit of energy in me for the next contraction. Then it would come again, and build in strength. My mom helped me through a few when Ben was preparing stuff, and there were a few where Ben was behind me and my mom in front of me, doing double duty to get me through. They continued to grow more intense and Ben suggested we get up and walk to the living room. Such a simple thing, and yet the very act of getting off my ball and walking brought the next one on WAY stronger than they had been. I could barely stand up and started heading back to my cocoon of a bedroom and my trusty bouncy ball, but Ben urged me to stick it out. After all, nothing was going to make me feel better except the birth of my child, and that wouldn’t happen until the progression of these contractions reached their height. Ben called Kristen again, even though they were still more than 4 minutes apart, to tell her they were much more intense, and she suggested getting in the bathtub. She began heading over.
I got in the bath, which felt wonderful and calming as I slid in, but the next contraction came on hard and all of a sudden I was way too hot, followed by shivering as it let it’s grip go. It was hard to be in a reclining position during the contractions, so I ended up holding on to the edge of the tub in a semi-reclined position and grabbing on to Ben as hard as I could as they came and went. I’m not sure how long I was in the tub but all of a sudden my body spontaneously began to push and since Kristen hadn’t yet arrived, I got scared (as did everyone) because as much as I trust Ben, I didn’t want him delivering the baby. Not enough experience! The urge to push was so undeniable but I remembered reading that panting sometimes slows it down, so I gave up the deep breathing for quick short breaths and tried not to push. Ben called Kristen who said she was a couple minutes away. My mom set up the living room with a plastic shower curtain liner and a bunch of towels and we made our way in there. It was all I could do to stand up from the tub and walk into the living room, and I did it quick before another contraction could hit. I got on my hands and knees and starting panting fast, though a few pushes snuck through. Finally someone said Kristen was on her way up- she double parked and my mom ran down to park her car for her. She came in and listened to the baby’s heartbeat, then said I could push when I needed to, which I immediately did. The noises that came out of me were intense- deep and low and animalistic, and they helped immensely with the pain and the pushing. The burn and stretch sensation as the baby started to descend was crazy painful, more than I expected, but the massive urge to push, HARD, at least felt somewhat productive. Someone put a chair in front of me to lean on, don’t know who because I was completely within this birthing experience and not very conscious of anything else. Ben and the midwife were behind me and I did hear Ben say he saw the head coming- he sounded so amazed and it strengthened me for the next wave. Kristen told me to reach down and touch the head which I did and it felt kind of mushy and as if it had a long way to go before it was out. It hurt so much as it was I couldn’t imagine that I had to stretch that much further to get a whole head out. Thankfully Ben and I are both pinheads so we didn’t produce a big headed baby! The burn intensified and suddenly Ben said the head was out- and my thighs were shaky and tired at this point and I was dying to sit down, but of course I couldn’t lest a sit right on my baby’s head and squash it or worse push it back up inside. Kristen said I could switch positions to side-lying but I wanted to wait til after the next push which was coming quick, but that one pushed her right out. Ben caught her and passed her to me in a football pass (underneath me, between my legs) and I sat up cross legged as if nothing had happened, looked into this tiny pink miraculous face as she cried out these cute little mewling cries, and said “oh my god”. What a crazy crazy experience and here she was, all of a sudden not as foreign as she was minutes ago, as I had known her as a bump under my belly that morphed and wiggled, now a face with a little voice. Still a stranger but not.
We sat there looking at each other and making faces as the cord continued to pulse. Kristen didn’t clamp it until it had stopped pulsing in order for all the oxygen and stuff to make it’s last trip through the cord. We wrapped her up a few minutes later and I continued to hold her and stare until the placenta followed about 15 minutes later. Kristen showed us where it had been attached and pulled the bag apart to show us the membrane- quite fascinating to see. Then she clamped the cord and Ben cut it and showed us the 3 blood vessels within the cord where waste and nutrients had passed through. The three of us got back in bed and Kristen helped me to start breastfeeding, which went really well, she latched on with not much problem. Then Kristen weighed and measured her and did all the reflex tests and body checks, and all was in the right order, thankfully. We all hung out staring at this new little one for hours and ended the day with my Mom and Dad and Ben and Lucy and me cramped in our tiny bedroom eating take-out Mexican and marveling at Lucy and the ease at which she entered this world. She slept for hours that day and spent a lot of the night alert and looking around, with us intermittently staring at her and sleeping fitfully. What an experience.
And by the way, here's a picture of the beautiful fall color up there. This picture doesn't do it justice.
posted by Megan and Ben at 11:01 AM
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