On Wednesday night, I started getting regular, painless contractions, and thought "hey maybe labor is coming soon!" I called my midwife and warned her that something might be happening soon, but went to bed and woke to no changes, so I kept on about my day. The contractions continued steadily, but weren't anything serious until Sunday night, when they picked up in intensity and I felt like I was truly in early labor. I went to sleep at 8pm, slept until 10pm when I woke up hoping things would pick up. My husband (Rob) and I cleaned up the house, made bean dip for the midwives, and hung out. But when 1:30am rolled around and nothing had changed, we both went back to bed.
Once again, I went to bed and slept through the contractions, awaking the next morning to the same contractions every 5-10 minutes. We went to the park as a family and took an hour long walk. It was an absolutely gorgeous day (55 degrees in late November in upstate NY!) and I really enjoyed the time with my son and husband and dog just outside. We got back to the car right when it started to rain, and made our way home. Â
The rest of the day was pretty uneventful. At 2pm, my husband went to his class because the contractions were still the same. A friend came by for a bit with her son so the kids could play. My husband came home from class at 4:30, and we discussed whether he should head to his next class that would go from 6pm-10pm. I decided he should stay home, as I was going to need help putting our son (Wyatt) to sleep.
My friend left and the contractions picked up a bit. I spent the next 2 hours before Wyatt had to go to sleep laboring on our futon, with Rob and Wyatt both rubbing my hands and feet. Wyatt was so fantastic and I got teary thinking about how this would be the last night he'd be an only child. Rob took some pictures of him helping me labor and I'm so glad I have those. It was a very nice time.
At 7pm Rob took Wyatt up to go to bed. I called my midwife and told her I was still in early labor, but I expected things to happen pretty soon. She said to call when things picked up and she'd be ready. Rob came downstairs at 7:30 after Wyatt fell asleep and I was still in pretty high spirits. Contractions were coming intensely and regularly, but we joked in between them, saying what a nice night it was, alone laboring...almost like a date!
Then at 8pm, I had a breakdown, started crying about how painful the contractions were, and decided to call our midwives and the doula we had for Wyatt's birth, who would be coming in case Wyatt woke up and needed anything. The breakdown quickly passed, and I spent the next hour and a half I tried different laboring positions attempting to get "comfortable" (ha!). I ended up standing, "dancing" through the contractions, feeling almost like I had to push, but not wanting to. Everyone arrived a little after 9pm, and my midwife checked and said I was fully dilated, but the baby wasn't low enough. So I was probably feeling the urge to bare down on the baby, but not ready to push her out yet. My waters were still intact, and I was given the suggestion to try squatting in order to break them and make things a little easier. It was getting difficult to deal with the contractions and I just kept saying how tired I was and yawning while having contractions. I was having trouble breathing enough because they were so intense, but I somehow managed.
A little before 10pm, I went up to the bathroom to try laboring on the toilet. It only lasted a few minutes before I was ready to push and my midwife asked where I wanted to give birth. I was very conscious of everything going on and surprisingly verbal and able to make decisions. I decided to go back downstairs and try getting set on the futon. I ended up kneeling on the edge of the futon, over the rug that didn't have any towels or anything down! And after just a little bit of pushing, I yelled that there was a baby! She was wiggling the opposite way back inside, so I really worked hard to push her out and was screaming about how the baby wasn't helping! I pushed hard a few times and she was born at 10:24pm, screaming her little lungs out from the second she arrived.
She was born right onto the floor and I grabbed her up and sat down. She pinked right up and was very alert, with a 10 apgar at 1 minute! She was so clean I was amazed. Just a little bit of hair, and quite chunky with a double chin and huge cheeks. I held her while my husband cut the cord, then traded her off to him while I pushed out the placenta. I was really feeling terrible and still cramping after the placenta was out, and ended up throwing up. But then I had some tea and toast and took a bath and felt much better.Â
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The midwives stated until 2:30am, eating bean dip and chatting and helping clean up. I took a bath and changed my clothes and nursed. All in all, it was a fabulous birth experience. My second home birth, very different from the first, but equally awesome.Â
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Emma Field was born on November 22, 2010 at 10:24pm weighing 8lbs, 7 ozs and 21.75 inches long. She had an apgar of 10 at one minute and is 7 weeks old today. Here she is after nursing at 12 hours old:
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And here's her pretty face at 6 weeks old:
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Thanks for reading our birth story!
