After much preperation and learning my dreams of a vaginal birth came true just 5 days ago - It was an incredible experience and I have written it down to share with all of you who have done the same or are working towards it, it is well worth the effort.
I woke up on Thursday October 24th at around 6am when
my son got up and went out in the living room to visit
with his Papa before he left for work. I decided to
lay in bed a little longer and get some extra rest, as
I went between stages of sleep and wakefulness I
started noticing contractions that were just
uncomfortable enough to wake me up - This was the day
BEFORE my due date and I really thought that since my
pregnancy with my son had lasted 42 weeks that these
contractions must just be temporary.
I decided to get up and see if the contractions
continued. I went into the kitchen and made myself
some tea, not mentioning the contractions to my
husband, and I waited - they kept coming. After about
15 minutes or so my husband asked me "How are you
feeling?" as he began packing up his lunch for work, I
decided I had better just mention it to him since he
works about 45 minutes away - we decided to just go
about our business but then as he began to leave I
felt like he should just wait a little bit longer. We
decided to have my husband call in 'late' for work but
not mention anything about labor, I didn't want to
feel silly if it was nothing and they went away.
We then decided to make pancakes and eggs for
breakfast and make a nice morning of it - I was hungry
and ate two eggs and two pancakes, had some more tea
and took my vitamins - The contractions continued.
By 8:00am we decided to have my husband just call in
sick and we started timing the contractions, they were
about 5 minutes apart and lasted from 30-60 seconds.
We called our midwife just to give her the 'heads up'
and she was excited and said "Today might be the day"
which in turn made us start to get excited as well.
We called my Mom, she was in charge of taking care of
our son, and she canceled work as well and came over.
When my mom arrived she and our son went off to play
together and my husband and I decided to do a little
'project' to keep us busy between contractions so we
cleaned our fish tank
stopping every 4-5 minutes so
I could concentrate on another contraction.
By around 9:30ish I was having a hard time doing much
of anything between contractions other then resting
and regrouping so I decided to take a warm shower and
that felt great! When I got out of the shower the
contractions were getting much longer and stronger so
at 10:00 I told my husband to call our Doula. While we
were waiting for our doula I started trying to search
my brain for everything I had read and learned about
coping with labor, I knew this could be a long haul
and it was starting to challenge me, I started
thinking about 'Spiritual Midwifery' and how Ina May
talked about looking into your husbands eyes and
connecting with him and how it can speed things up, so
I started staring right at my husband during a
contraction and swaying with him - then I started
massaging his shoulders and it started getting way
easier to cope. I kept trying to feel love and feel
grateful for having the opportunity to do this. When
our Doula arrived she stood back and just observed us
for a long time, she then took over the role of
getting me water and massaging my back, which felt
GREAT!
By the time our labor tub arrived I told my husband I
thought our son should go over to Grandma's house
because just hearing his voice was making me lose
concentration so he went and told my Mom and I had a
few contractions with just our doula - as I was
looking into her eyes I told her "It's so nice to be
looking at someone who has done this before" For some
reason that moment was just unreal, it was so
incredible. I got to have a similar experience with my
own mother as well when she came in to help me through
a contraction.
Once the tub was set up and my Mother and son were
gone the house was very serene and my contractions
started coming pretty fast and furious, I only had
about a minute in between them and I was starting to
feel very 'pushy' this was at about 12:00 or 1:00 I'm
guessing, so our doula (who is ALSO a midwife) asked
if I wanted her to check me and I said "Yes" she
checked me and I was at 9cm!!!! I was ABSOLUTELY
amazed. In my last birth I had gone for 10 hours and
only gotten to 3cm so this news gave me a whole new
level of stamina. I looked at my husband and he was
tearing up and kept saying "Your doing this, your
gonna do this - I'm so proud of you" I had to tell him
to be 'strong' for me because while I was excited I
knew we still had some work to do
Our doula called our midwife and our midwife suggested
that the doula get her birth kit ready 'Just in case'
and I got into the birth tub to try and relax my urge
to push a little.
When the Midwife arrived she came in and leaned over
the tub and smiled, I could tell she was excited and I
think she could tell I was - at this point I was
getting about a 5 minute break in between contractions
and starting to push a bit. Our midwife decided to
check me and when she did I had a bit of swelling in a
portion of my cervix from pushing and she realized
that all the pressure was caused by the bulging bag of
waters that she could feel. She decided that I needed
to hold off from pushing for about 10 contractions but
it was REALLY difficult in the tub so we decided that
I should get out as I was getting too warm. At this
point I went to lay on the bed and my husband lay
behind me and massaged me while I held our doulas hand
and looked into her eyes breathing through each one.
We decided that the waters needed to break in order
for me to progress any further so my midwife asked if
I wanted to get up and walk around and squat to get
them to break or she could break them for me - At that
point I was afraid that if I tried to squat I would
push some more so I wanted her to break them.
After the waters were broken my contractions came
closer and closer together as though I was going
through transition again so my husband and I decided
to get back in the tub with him laying behind me
supporting me. The swelling in my cervix had gone down
but it was still there so I needed to continue trying
NOT to push for a while longer - This was the HARDEST
part of my whole labor, I ended up working for two
hours at NOT pushing. After a while this experience
became almost an out of body one - I was holding my
doulas hand and staring right at her, I felt like I
saw angels around her and when I had a moments rest I
would sink back against my husband in the tub and
almost fall asleep. I remember looking around the room
at the people who were there: My midwife, her
assistant and the doula and thinking how much I loved
these people and how beautiful they were to help me
through this - When I would start to push they would
all breath the exact same pattern I was in unison
supporting me and keeping my focus.
At around 6:00pm my midwife checked me and said I was
complete except for a tiny portion that she could
possibly hold back and slip over the babies head, she
warned me that it could be very uncomfortable but I
said "Go for it" and she held it back and I pushed
like mad, it worked! At this point our doula called my
parents and told them to come over with our son
because I was pushing - I don't remember exactly when
they arrived but I was pushing REALLY hard and it was
feeling so good after holding back for so long.
Pretty soon the Midwife s assistant took out a mirror
and everyone started saying "look at your babies head"
this made me push like crazy and finally our midwife
said "Okay now I want you to slow down as the head
crowns because we want you to stretch nicely around
it" so I slowed a little bit and all of a sudden the
head was out. At this point it got a little crazy and
I was told to flip over onto my hands and knees
because the baby was a little stuck - the baby had the
chord wrapped around it's shoulders and her shoulders
needed some help to get out - within a minute the baby
was out and I lay down and they put her on my chest. I
think the first thing I said was "I can't believe I
did it!" I cried and cried and I held the baby and
rubbed her back and the midwife and doula had to give
her a little oxygen because she was slow to start, she
just lay there looking beautiful and all covered in
vernix. After she started breathing and coughed a few
times she let out a little cry and about 10 minutes
after she was born we realized we hadn't checked to
see what the sex was - so we looked and I cried some
more, because she was a girl
Our son came over and gave me a kiss and looked at the
baby, my mom was crying and everyone just looked so
wonderful and satisfied, it was absolutely perfect.
A short while later the placenta came out and we were
all fascinated at how incredible it is (it's in the
freezer as I write this - we are going to plant it in
the yard). My sister and brother-in-law showed up
about 25 minutes later with Tuna fish casserole and
cheesecake for all and then it was like being at a
wonderful party - we all talked and laughed and oogled
over our new beautiful daughter.
We are all doing wonderful now, I feel a little worn
out but I have felt so 'present' this time and aware
of everything that this new little creature does that
I feel energized by that. I only have a little skid
mark which is uncomfortable but not unbearable and I
usually only feel when I have to go to the bathroom.
All and all this experience has been one of the most
awesome ones of my life, I would not trade even a
minute of it for the world.
Fela Byrne (pronounced Fay-la) was born at 6:40pm on Thursday October 24th after 12 hours of labor and 40 minutes of pushing, she weighed 8lbs 10 oz and measured 20 inches long.
Peace,
Verushka Mama to
Thelonious Lyle 11/23/99 C-section
and
Fela Byrne 10/24/02 HBAC
I woke up on Thursday October 24th at around 6am when
my son got up and went out in the living room to visit
with his Papa before he left for work. I decided to
lay in bed a little longer and get some extra rest, as
I went between stages of sleep and wakefulness I
started noticing contractions that were just
uncomfortable enough to wake me up - This was the day
BEFORE my due date and I really thought that since my
pregnancy with my son had lasted 42 weeks that these
contractions must just be temporary.
I decided to get up and see if the contractions
continued. I went into the kitchen and made myself
some tea, not mentioning the contractions to my
husband, and I waited - they kept coming. After about
15 minutes or so my husband asked me "How are you
feeling?" as he began packing up his lunch for work, I
decided I had better just mention it to him since he
works about 45 minutes away - we decided to just go
about our business but then as he began to leave I
felt like he should just wait a little bit longer. We
decided to have my husband call in 'late' for work but
not mention anything about labor, I didn't want to
feel silly if it was nothing and they went away.
We then decided to make pancakes and eggs for
breakfast and make a nice morning of it - I was hungry
and ate two eggs and two pancakes, had some more tea
and took my vitamins - The contractions continued.
By 8:00am we decided to have my husband just call in
sick and we started timing the contractions, they were
about 5 minutes apart and lasted from 30-60 seconds.
We called our midwife just to give her the 'heads up'
and she was excited and said "Today might be the day"
which in turn made us start to get excited as well.
We called my Mom, she was in charge of taking care of
our son, and she canceled work as well and came over.
When my mom arrived she and our son went off to play
together and my husband and I decided to do a little
'project' to keep us busy between contractions so we
cleaned our fish tank
stopping every 4-5 minutes soI could concentrate on another contraction.
By around 9:30ish I was having a hard time doing much
of anything between contractions other then resting
and regrouping so I decided to take a warm shower and
that felt great! When I got out of the shower the
contractions were getting much longer and stronger so
at 10:00 I told my husband to call our Doula. While we
were waiting for our doula I started trying to search
my brain for everything I had read and learned about
coping with labor, I knew this could be a long haul
and it was starting to challenge me, I started
thinking about 'Spiritual Midwifery' and how Ina May
talked about looking into your husbands eyes and
connecting with him and how it can speed things up, so
I started staring right at my husband during a
contraction and swaying with him - then I started
massaging his shoulders and it started getting way
easier to cope. I kept trying to feel love and feel
grateful for having the opportunity to do this. When
our Doula arrived she stood back and just observed us
for a long time, she then took over the role of
getting me water and massaging my back, which felt
GREAT!
By the time our labor tub arrived I told my husband I
thought our son should go over to Grandma's house
because just hearing his voice was making me lose
concentration so he went and told my Mom and I had a
few contractions with just our doula - as I was
looking into her eyes I told her "It's so nice to be
looking at someone who has done this before" For some
reason that moment was just unreal, it was so
incredible. I got to have a similar experience with my
own mother as well when she came in to help me through
a contraction.
Once the tub was set up and my Mother and son were
gone the house was very serene and my contractions
started coming pretty fast and furious, I only had
about a minute in between them and I was starting to
feel very 'pushy' this was at about 12:00 or 1:00 I'm
guessing, so our doula (who is ALSO a midwife) asked
if I wanted her to check me and I said "Yes" she
checked me and I was at 9cm!!!! I was ABSOLUTELY
amazed. In my last birth I had gone for 10 hours and
only gotten to 3cm so this news gave me a whole new
level of stamina. I looked at my husband and he was
tearing up and kept saying "Your doing this, your
gonna do this - I'm so proud of you" I had to tell him
to be 'strong' for me because while I was excited I
knew we still had some work to do
Our doula called our midwife and our midwife suggested
that the doula get her birth kit ready 'Just in case'
and I got into the birth tub to try and relax my urge
to push a little.
When the Midwife arrived she came in and leaned over
the tub and smiled, I could tell she was excited and I
think she could tell I was - at this point I was
getting about a 5 minute break in between contractions
and starting to push a bit. Our midwife decided to
check me and when she did I had a bit of swelling in a
portion of my cervix from pushing and she realized
that all the pressure was caused by the bulging bag of
waters that she could feel. She decided that I needed
to hold off from pushing for about 10 contractions but
it was REALLY difficult in the tub so we decided that
I should get out as I was getting too warm. At this
point I went to lay on the bed and my husband lay
behind me and massaged me while I held our doulas hand
and looked into her eyes breathing through each one.
We decided that the waters needed to break in order
for me to progress any further so my midwife asked if
I wanted to get up and walk around and squat to get
them to break or she could break them for me - At that
point I was afraid that if I tried to squat I would
push some more so I wanted her to break them.
After the waters were broken my contractions came
closer and closer together as though I was going
through transition again so my husband and I decided
to get back in the tub with him laying behind me
supporting me. The swelling in my cervix had gone down
but it was still there so I needed to continue trying
NOT to push for a while longer - This was the HARDEST
part of my whole labor, I ended up working for two
hours at NOT pushing. After a while this experience
became almost an out of body one - I was holding my
doulas hand and staring right at her, I felt like I
saw angels around her and when I had a moments rest I
would sink back against my husband in the tub and
almost fall asleep. I remember looking around the room
at the people who were there: My midwife, her
assistant and the doula and thinking how much I loved
these people and how beautiful they were to help me
through this - When I would start to push they would
all breath the exact same pattern I was in unison
supporting me and keeping my focus.
At around 6:00pm my midwife checked me and said I was
complete except for a tiny portion that she could
possibly hold back and slip over the babies head, she
warned me that it could be very uncomfortable but I
said "Go for it" and she held it back and I pushed
like mad, it worked! At this point our doula called my
parents and told them to come over with our son
because I was pushing - I don't remember exactly when
they arrived but I was pushing REALLY hard and it was
feeling so good after holding back for so long.
Pretty soon the Midwife s assistant took out a mirror
and everyone started saying "look at your babies head"
this made me push like crazy and finally our midwife
said "Okay now I want you to slow down as the head
crowns because we want you to stretch nicely around
it" so I slowed a little bit and all of a sudden the
head was out. At this point it got a little crazy and
I was told to flip over onto my hands and knees
because the baby was a little stuck - the baby had the
chord wrapped around it's shoulders and her shoulders
needed some help to get out - within a minute the baby
was out and I lay down and they put her on my chest. I
think the first thing I said was "I can't believe I
did it!" I cried and cried and I held the baby and
rubbed her back and the midwife and doula had to give
her a little oxygen because she was slow to start, she
just lay there looking beautiful and all covered in
vernix. After she started breathing and coughed a few
times she let out a little cry and about 10 minutes
after she was born we realized we hadn't checked to
see what the sex was - so we looked and I cried some
more, because she was a girl
Our son came over and gave me a kiss and looked at the
baby, my mom was crying and everyone just looked so
wonderful and satisfied, it was absolutely perfect.
A short while later the placenta came out and we were
all fascinated at how incredible it is (it's in the
freezer as I write this - we are going to plant it in
the yard). My sister and brother-in-law showed up
about 25 minutes later with Tuna fish casserole and
cheesecake for all and then it was like being at a
wonderful party - we all talked and laughed and oogled
over our new beautiful daughter.
We are all doing wonderful now, I feel a little worn
out but I have felt so 'present' this time and aware
of everything that this new little creature does that
I feel energized by that. I only have a little skid
mark which is uncomfortable but not unbearable and I
usually only feel when I have to go to the bathroom.
All and all this experience has been one of the most
awesome ones of my life, I would not trade even a
minute of it for the world.
Fela Byrne (pronounced Fay-la) was born at 6:40pm on Thursday October 24th after 12 hours of labor and 40 minutes of pushing, she weighed 8lbs 10 oz and measured 20 inches long.
Peace,
Verushka Mama to
Thelonious Lyle 11/23/99 C-section
and
Fela Byrne 10/24/02 HBAC
