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When I first found out I was pregnant, I figured
I would do like everyone else and just go to the hospital.
I knew a couple of people who had out of hospital births and
thought that I would really prefer an out of hospital birth
but my mom preferred me to go to the hospital. I picked an
OB and started going for my checkups. In September right after
a vacation, I started doing research on birthing classes and
came across the Bradley Method classes. When I looked for
a class locally, I found Melissa. I emailed her and since
we missed the first class already we signed up right away
and started going to class every week. The more we talked
about labor the more I realized that I wasn’t going
to be comfortable in the hospital. During labor, I wanted
to be in a place where I could be completely free to be myself
without concern about what someone else might think. After
watching plenty of unmedicated labors, I realized that during
labor I would most likely be very vocal and would want to
be free of clothing. We started doing research on birthing
centers and found one in Clearwater. As soon as I talked to
the midwife, I realized I wanted her to be my midwife so we
scheduled my next appointment with her for the beginning of
December. I felt a huge sense of relief after we made this
decision as I knew she would support the birth experience
we wanted.
On Thursday, I lost my mucus plug and finally
started having contractions that I knew were contractions.
Before, people told me based on my symptoms that I was having
contractions but I never identified them as that. My contractions
were low pelvic pain just like I always felt my menstrual
cramps and some lower back pain. I continued to stay active
the remainder of the day Thursday. On Friday morning, I called
The midwife to let he know I was having contractions and to
schedule a check up just to make sure he was in position and
to get an idea of my progress. I didn’t want to call
on the weekend if it wasn’t really labor. She scheduled
us for 12:30 pm. My husband went with me to the appointment
and I was 90% effaced but still only a finger tip dilated.
I had been at this dilation for two weeks already. She told
me she figured I would have the baby by Sunday…
Friday night I didn’t sleep well because
of the contractions and back pain. I got up and timed some
of them but they were so irregular I didn’t even wake
my husband. Saturday morning, I woke him around 6 am because
I wanted him to rub my back. He did and then took me to breakfast
and we stopped at Target to get some last items for the baby.
After that, my contractions almost completely stopped. I would
have one every few hours or I could make one come on by leaning
forward while seated. My mom had driven over on Friday night
so she and I went for a couple of nice long walks to help
the contractions.
Saturday night, the contractions started up
again and were coming about every 30 minutes and I would have
to get up with each one to go to the bathroom. Even though,
I was up every 30 minutes I still felt rested on Sunday morning.
Around 7 am, I woke my husband up because the contractions
were becoming stronger and closer together. By this point,
I no longer had back pain. It was all low pelvic pain. I remember
thinking that if I just took some ibuprofen, the pain would
go away. We went to the living room so I could start laboring
over the birthing ball. After 30 minutes, I was starting to
get loud with the contractions and woke my mom. Vocalizing
helped me to release the pain. She immediately started rubbing
my back to help me get comfortable and relax. At 7:30, my
husband called the midwife and told her the contractions were
5 minutes apart and lasting 1 minute and had been like that
for 30 minutes. She advised us to continue to labor at home
since they weren’t very regular yet. I continued to
labor and it kept getting more intense. I found I was only
comfortable on the toilet because my body was cleansing itself.
Even though I would move around and go to the bed and then
to the living room, each time I had a contraction I went back
to the bathroom. We tried laboring in the shower but I didn’t
like it. My husband and mom both took turns rubbing my back
and getting me food and drink.
At 8:53 a.m., the midwife called and said
she was going to church but had her cell phone with her so
we could call when it was time. The contractions continued
to intensify and I started to have the urge to throw-up. I
knew then that it was getting close. I asked my husband when
the midwife said to call her and he told me she said it might
not be until the evening and that we would know when it was
time. I almost cried. I told him I couldn’t continue
like this for the rest of the day. Then at 9:45 after I had
thrown up for the second time, I told him we needed to go
or I wouldn’t be able to travel anymore. He called the
midwife and we got in the truck right away. Luckily the neighbor
was out in her yard so we dropped the dog off with her and
headed on our way. I felt like I could feel the baby in the
birth canal and that he was close so we drove with the flashers
on and horn honking.
As soon as we got there, I wanted to get in
the birth tub but the midwife said she need to check me because
I couldn’t get in until I was 7 cm. During all of my
birth classes, I thought I wouldn’t want to be checked
but she did a great job and I didn’t mind her checking
and I liked to know the progress. When she checked me, I was
at 5 cm and she could stretch me to 6 cm during a contraction.
I continued to labor on the toilet, on the floor or kneeling
over a bench. In the rush of leaving, we forgot the cooler
so my mom had to go to the store for Gatorade. I was glad
when she got back and could rub my back again. The midwife
asked if the student midwife could come. I said yes and I
was glad she did since each step of the way the midwife was
explaining what she was doing and the student was very helpful.
The midwife asked if I was still peeing so we monitored and
told her when I did well turns out I didn’t …it
was my water breaking. I asked her to check me again because
I wanted to get in the tub. She asked if we could wait since
she had last checked me an hour ago and she didn’t want
me to get discouraged with the progress. The contractions
were continuing to intensify and I was started to get very
loud with each contraction. Verbalizing helped me to work
with the contractions rather than fight them. I labored through
another couple of contractions and then she checked me. This
is when we found out that my water had broken. I now know
it was because I was pushing with the contractions. I didn’t
realize I was doing this until after the fact. This time I
was at 7 cm and could get in the tub.
I thought getting in the water would completely
relieve me of all the pain…so I rushed right over to
the tub and got in. The water seemed a little warm to me but
it was only 96 degrees. I was moving all over the tub; tried
having the jets on my back, leaning over the side, doing a
frog swim, etc. I told the midwife “I thought the tub
would help”. She was so nice and said it had because
my contractions were now more spaced out. Between contractions,
I would lean on the side. I didn’t like the feel of
my skin on the tub so my husband put a towel down for me.
It then started to get wet and I didn’t like the feel
of it either. They turned off the jets to check the baby’s
heart rate and I liked the tub better without the jets. After
50 minutes in the tub, I was to the point I could start pushing.
I started pushing but it wasn’t going fast and I was
getting uncomfortable in the water. The midwife asked if I
wanted to get out and try pushing while I was squatting. This
sounded much better so I did. I didn’t like the squatting
either so I tried leaning over a chair. This wasn’t
comfortable either, so I leaned against the tub while sitting
and this was much more comfortable. The student midwife and
my husband were helping me push by pulling my legs back. A
couple of times I looked at the midwife and told her “I
can’t do this” but about that time I would yell
and my body would just push for me. She always reassured me
I could. I kept pushing for about an hour and then when the
baby got really close I knew it because my husband’s
whole demeanor changed. He got so excited and told me I could
do it. Not long after our little boy Tucker was out. The umbilical
cord was short so I had to hold him low but I held him while
we waited for the cord to stop pulsating. My husband cut the
cord and I held the baby while we waited for the placenta
to be delivered. We wanted Tucker to have the opportunity
to do the breast crawl so I held him on my stomach close to
the breast. He wasn’t interested in nursing so my mom
held him while my husband helped me get to the bed. We were
able to bond with the baby for a couple of hours before the
midwife took him to do the remaining newborn tests. Everything
went so smoothly and it was nice to have time to take in and
enjoy our baby.
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