Please share your birth stories - Page 2

[candiland]

I'll try to keep it somewhat short... if ya knew me, you'd think that this was an amazing feat, as I'm a rambler... :
My labor started on a Monday morning/afternoon, although I did not "believe" I was in labor. I had contractions on and off throughout the entire day, but I figured they were simply Braxton-Hicks. I did my usual housework, errand-running stuff, then went to bed that night. I slept okay; once in a while, a particularly strong contraction would rouse me, then I'd doze back off. It continued like this all day Tuesday; by dinnertime that evening, I asked my hubby to time a few of them. They were about six or seven minutes apart, but I still didn't truly "believe" I was in labor. I called my midwife and she confirmed what I was thinking... that it could stop and start and go on like this for a week or more, and that I should just deal with it for the time being. So hubby and I decided to go X-mas shopping. We got to the mall and I was having regular strong, long contractions. We ate spicy pizza and walked the entire mall for over an hour, until it got too uncomfortable and I was getting tired and just wanted to go home! On the way home, hubby had me laughing so hard I couldn't tell if the pain in my stomach was from laughter or a contraction!! When we stopped at the grocery store, they were 2-3 min. apart. I looked up at the stars and said, This baby's coming tonight!!! When we got home, I laid down on the sofa while hubby played on his computer. Suddenly the intensity of the cont'x were overwhelming. I called him downstairs and he called our midwife and his mom, whom I wanted present at the birth. While we waited their arrival, we went into the bathroom where I vomited and began shaking uncontrollably, not understanding why I felt an incredible urge to push something out! By the time everyone arrived, the midwife checked me and said, "You can start pushing!" I was ecstatic; I was thinking I was only two or three cm. and that I'd need drugs!! I pushed for three hours on the toilet, on the birth stool, in a squat position, but she would not come under my pubic bone. Finally, my midwife told me to lie on my back in bed. It worked like a charm! At 2:52am on Wednesday morning, Dec. 8, 1999, Kali Dawn was born. 8#3oz. I tore but refused stitches; I won't go into detail about this, but let me tell you, that was one of the dumber things I've done in my life!
Now we're expecting #2 in May with the same midwife. I'm almost worried, thinking that two perfect births would be too lucky!!!

[Mommy StormRaven]

The Birth of Liliana Maeve....

This is a bit long.....

Wow, I hardly know where to start... I suppose I will start with why I chose a midwife this time... In January of 2000 I had cryosurgery on my cervix for what turns out to have been a BS reason. At that point I lost all confidence in my ob/gyn and decided to look elsewhere for my care. We were moving from Dayton to Cincinnati so it was a matter of needing to switch anyhow. I started looking online for Midwife practices and Birth Centers and I was lucky enough to find one. They offered open houses and everything! It was the Birth Center that was in the article in
Mothering Magazine, and I immediately fell in love with the place and the people there. My husband was very happy with them as well. He's a Scientist and not easily impressed so we agreed that that was who and where we wanted to be when I got pregnant. Well, that turned out to be the next month to our surprise. We had planned the pregnancy but didn't think it would happen that quickly, I had made an appointment for an annual check and when I got there I was 4 days late and the test was positive! But now onto the actual birth...

It seems like it took so long for it all to get moving, it did I suppose. It all started about 3 weeks before her birth really, I was in severe (and I do mean major) back pain, I had had sciatic nerve problems since my 5th month but it was starting to get really bad now. I had done everything I could think of to help alleviate it from pregnancy massage, reiki and reflexology to Chiropractic and they all helped for a while but it was just getting more and more intense. (We now know that I actually started having back labor at that time). I started to dilate around thanksgiving and what it came down to was that I sat at 2-3cm for the next month. My due date was
1/4/01 but since I had had my DS about 3 weeks early (he's 12 now) they thought I might go early with all the labor signs that I was having. Three weeks early would have been a glorious dream for me but that was not to be. I was in the office at least twice each week with some complaint or another, and I was afraid that I wouldn't now when I was in labor. Let me explain that .... My water had broken with my son so it was obvious that I was in labor, with all of the back pain and contractions I had been having I was afraid that I might be in labor and not know it without the obvious sign! I had been in the office on the 28th and my iron levels had dropped just slightly but it was enough to make me have to deliver at the hospital -luckily for me the hospital that it was to be at was the MOM Center which is the only hospital in Ohio that is a Baby Friendly Hospital according to the WHO and UNICEF so we got to have what we wanted without any interference. Well, It finally got to the point where I could literally not move my entire body the weekend of New Years Eve and I had spend the whole time on the couch needing my dh to help me with everything and I finally called the Midwife (Leah) on New Years Eve and she said that it sounded like it might be something a little more severe and to come into the office. Nope, it wasn't it but it was closer so Leah had Karen strip my membranes to see if that might help. Well, it helped but not the way we wanted it too. She also suggested getting a birthing ball and sitting on it for a while to take the pressure off my back. We got a ball but when she stripped the membranes she moved Lili's head just enough to alleviate the pressure on my tailbone (THANK GOD!). I went back in that Tuesday afternoon (1/2/01) and Karen stripped my membranes again and agreed to induce me on Friday if Nature didn't work by then. Generally a Midwife will not induce unless you are way past your due date so I was surprised that they agreed to do it but they said that there was no question of dates and that something was just
not right since I had had such pain for the last 3 weeks so that was why they would do it. Well, I was going to go get one last massage that evening to hopefully kick my labor into gear but I was not fortunate enough to be allowed to do that. Five minutes before I was to leave I felt that telltale POP... I got up went to the bathroom and GUSH, yep, it had been my water breaking! Thank god! I thought an obvious sign!!! DH was in the other bathroom so I called the birth center and talked to Leah and she agreed that things were underway. She told me to keep her posted and to let her know when I felt like I wanted to go in. That turned out to be at about 11pm. We got there and almost immediately our Shaman walled in followed by Jim who is Lili's Godfather. Things still weren't going too fast until about 3 am. That's when I got in the Jacuzzi and it helped a little. I went back and forth from walking to the tub to the birth ball remembering to keep my vocalizations in a low pitch. At about 6:30 it started to get really
bad, I felt like I needed to push so the nurse came and checked me... Only to my DEEP disappointment, I was only at 4cm after that long and that much pain. Karen and Leah got there at about 7 and checked me again with no progress. This continued until around 11 when they had to give me an IV for antibiotics since my water had broken 18 hours before hand. That is when I asked for something so I could sleep, if not I wouldn't be able to do what I needed when the time came. I had 1/2 dose of nubain and I slept for the most blissful 2 hours I've ever had! I was still only at 5cm when they gave me the IV and didn't progress while I napped. At that point I looked at DH and told him to get out my Goddess statue that was to be a focus for me (it was beautiful, had a tree of life sprouting at her feet and the leaves were at the womb with the Goddess symbol in the center) At that point Leah, who knew we were pagan perked up a little and kept staring at the goddess as I was. It was very comforting to know that, it was as if she was empowering me through the Goddess to cope with the pain. Karen then noticed it after she checked me gain and did the same. Thom (our Shaman) was massaging my back while Adam (DH) moaned with me. It was 3pm by now and I was still only at 6cm, I thought it was never going to end. Leah and Karen could not figure out why I wasn't progressing any quicker than I was. There was no physical indication of distress to either of us but I just wasn't going anywhere and it had them baffled. it had me baffled too for that matter ds's birth only took 4 hours! They suggested Pitocin, as we had tried everything else at that point we agreed. I finally progressed more then,
once I got to 7 they were able to figure out why I hadn't progressed - she was face up, her body wasn't turned to indicate that but her head was! Yes, I had been in back labor the WHOLE TIME, no wonder I had felt like I had for
so long. That is when I was cheered for, they couldn't believe I had been in back labor the whole time and wasn't killing people with no drugs to speak of! They told me how wonderful I was doing and before you know it I was at 9.5cm on all fours and moaning like I've never imagined! My in laws had come in at some point in the whole thing and my poor FIL was doing a word search and getting louder as I was with his clues from what I am told. They aren't even sure that I wanted them there since we changed venue's so late we hadn't had time to talk to them about it. DH handed MIL the digital camera and told her to get everything (yes, she freaked a little). Karen and Adam were doing perineal massage on me once I started to really move and once I got to 9.5 Karen told ma I could change positions if I wanted, Thom supported my Right leg and she told me to go ahead if I felt like it, she would force it if she had to. (Like I wouldn't feel like it, I had felt like it for 12 hours!) That was at about 5:10 and she finally showed
her face at 5:25, not bad really, once her head was out she wasn't going to wait. I only tore slightly (2 stitches) and DH caught her and mmediately> put her on my chest. They waited for her cord to stop pulsating and then DH cut it. She didn't nurse right away, she actually slept for about the next 9 hours or so, evidently she was as tired as I as!
Leah and Karen were wonderful, they were really off duty just prior to when they came in to see me but they still came in, they said that it was important to them to be there for me, even if they didn't have to be. That meant more to me than you can imagine. Leah has a beautiful 18 month old little boy that she is a single mother to and she still put me first, that was a big thing for me.