The Birth of Nola Piper
My precious Nola was born on November 15, 2005, on an unseasonably warm and rainy day, under the pull of the Full Moon.
The morning of the 15th, a Tuesday, I went in to see my midwives for a prenatal appointment at 10:15. I told them I had lost some of my mucus plug around 8am, and said I’d love to have my baby on the full moon! They cautioned patience, and everything checked out healthy. So in keeping with trying not to just sit around waiting, I left to, of all things, get my oil changed. I had to leave the car twice just to pee!
I got home around 11:30 or 12, emailed Randy that I might go swimming that afternoon, and laid down to rest. At 12:30, I started getting light crampy contractions every 5 minutes or so. I had been having Braxton-Hicks as frequently as every 15 minutes for weeks, but this was more frequent than usual. And a little more crampy, and lasting 30 seconds or so. After an hour of this, I called Randy at work to give him the heads up. I told him not to come home, as this could still fizzle out, but be on alert. I could hear the excitement in his voice. At 2:00, I paged Merilynn, the midwife, to let her know what was happening. She was about an hour away, and was heading back, and was going to call Amanda, the apprentice, to come over. Nobody wanted to risk waiting as Eva’s labor lasted only 9 hours and we wondered whether this one would go quickly. At 2:30, I was still having mild contractions every 5 minutes, and I called Randy and told him to finish up with his patient and come home. We decided to let Eva stay at preschool for a while, until we figured out what was going on. Five minutes later, I called him back and said changed my mind – come home now! The contractions were picking up in intensity. I left messages on cell phones for Becky and Cat, who were to be there for Eva, that things were happening, and come when they could. By the time Randy got home around 3:00, looking absolutely gleeful!, I was breathing and vocalizing a little through the contractions. He called Eva’s preschool and we decided that Kristen would bring her home later.
Randy got the pool started, and then joined me in the bedroom. I was lying on my side and having to work a bit. Randy was wonderful, helping me with his voice, talking me through the contractions, guiding me to let my body do the work, to elongate the exhalations. When he said that, I stopped vocalizing and started breathing without sound, and it felt better. I continued to breathe through the contractions throughout labor and it worked better for me than the groaning and vocalizing that I had been doing, and that I did through Eva’s labor.
The intensity continued to increase, and then Merilynn got here at about 4:00, followed by Amanda. Merilynn watched me go through one contraction, and then offered to continue to fill the pool while Randy stayed with me. I didn’t want him to leave, it felt so good to have him there. At 4:30, the pool was ready and they asked me if I wanted to get in, and I did. Everything was moving along so quickly. The contractions had increased to every 2 minutes or so, and it was difficult to get any restorative rest between them – it was hard to be ready for the next one each time.
In the pool, I continued to breathe heavily through the contractions, leaning on the edge of the pool while on my knees, and moving my head in Stevie-Wonder-like figure eights, in rhythm with my breathing. It was getting quite intense and harder to handle, but I was doing it, and the breathing helped. Randy was keeping a cold washcloth nearby for my head and neck, and offered sips of water and juice. I would say “cold” or “drink,” which was about the extent of my communicative ability at this point. I got sick just a little, and Merilynn guided me to breathe to settle my stomach. I heard Cat come in and someone asked if she should come up and I said yes, and I felt her beautiful presence enter the room and sit quietly. I think I said “hair tie” and she said “I can do that!” and one materialized. I asked where Eva was (still at preschool) and realized it was earlier than I thought. Then around 5:00, I started feeling a lot of pressure. I felt the baby was moving down the birth canal and I said “pressure, I feel pressure.” Merilynn said that would likely just increase at this point. I was working really hard now, and it was getting away from me a bit. And then all of a sudden I yelled “I’m pushing!” and it was totally overwhelming and way too hard and I felt a bit out of control and I was yelling and my legs just clamped closed (I was still on my knees, leaning over the side of the pool). The midwives were telling me I needed to open my legs, but I just couldn’t, had to wait out that contraction, then I could, though the pain and pressure remained between contractions now. The midwives were telling me to lower my bottom as I kept lifting it out of the water, and they didn’t want to birth the baby into air first, then water. I somehow managed to hear them and do what they said, and I continued to yell and vocalize loudly. The contraction came and it was so intense and so overwhelming and I was going AH-AH-AH-AH-AH-AH very rapidly and Merilynn told me to double the length of the sounds so it became A-AH, A-AH, A-AH, and Randy and maybe Merilynn was yelling with me, matching my rhythm and intensity, and ooooh, did that help. I needed that help. I remember saying “I can’t do it” even though I knew I could and was, and then, more accurately, “I don’t want to!” It felt scary and fast and more intense than I could handle and I said “I’m scared!” A few pushes like that and then I felt her head come out! And it was so strange and amazing and exciting and terrifying to be kneeling there, feeling her head out. I think at some point I said “get it out!” I had to wait for Amanda to unwrap the twice-wrapped cord, and then she said I could push out the shoulders, and that was the first time I actually consciously pushed (the others were just my body doing it and me hanging on for dear life), and I roared a primal roar, and out came baby, and oooooooooooooooh, what a sense of relief, it was over, I did it I did it! I turned over and saw the baby being lifted out of the water, back up, legs and arms hanging down, and my simultaneous thoughts were “is she OK? Is she breathing?” and “thank GOD I never have to do that again!” And I said is she a girl? because I knew she was, and she was in my arms and I was holding her! Such a sweet reward! I looked at her face and she looked so unfamiliar to me… so that’s who you are! Inside me for all this time! Hello, hello. She had a small amount of dark hair like I somehow knew she would, and she looked up at me and she was perfect. And all was perfect. Her time of birth was 5:30pm. After a while, I pushed out the placenta and Randy cut the cord, and I got out of the pool and was shaking. I was wrapped up in my robe and helped up to bed.
Eva got home very shortly and came in and was thrilled to see her baby sister! I told her that maybe it was good that she wasn’t there for the birth because Mommy was really really loud, and she agreed and didn’t seem to mind. She held Nola and kissed her and we all cuddled into bed, none of us could stop beaming!
The midwives checked me for tears – some first degree tearing, no stitches needed if I stayed upstairs for 5 days, which I readily agreed to. Becky took Eva down to get her some dinner and bake cookies, and Nola and I had our herbal bath drawn. Cat made me Chamomile and cramp bark tea, and we were all in bed at bedtime.
It is hard to believe that the entire thing took only five hours, two of which were early and easy, and pushing took only about 12 minutes or so. So intense and fast. But really, I felt I could handle everything pretty well until the end. Transition was much harder with Eva, but pushing was harder this time.
Nola Piper Roth came into this world at 5:30 pm on November 15th, 2005, at 8 pounds and 4 ounces, 21 inches long. Our beautiful, precious, Full Moon baby. And our family, and life, feels so very complete and so very full of love. And I feel so lucky and so blessed and so grateful to the universe for filling my home with these wonderful souls.
My precious Nola was born on November 15, 2005, on an unseasonably warm and rainy day, under the pull of the Full Moon.
The morning of the 15th, a Tuesday, I went in to see my midwives for a prenatal appointment at 10:15. I told them I had lost some of my mucus plug around 8am, and said I’d love to have my baby on the full moon! They cautioned patience, and everything checked out healthy. So in keeping with trying not to just sit around waiting, I left to, of all things, get my oil changed. I had to leave the car twice just to pee!
I got home around 11:30 or 12, emailed Randy that I might go swimming that afternoon, and laid down to rest. At 12:30, I started getting light crampy contractions every 5 minutes or so. I had been having Braxton-Hicks as frequently as every 15 minutes for weeks, but this was more frequent than usual. And a little more crampy, and lasting 30 seconds or so. After an hour of this, I called Randy at work to give him the heads up. I told him not to come home, as this could still fizzle out, but be on alert. I could hear the excitement in his voice. At 2:00, I paged Merilynn, the midwife, to let her know what was happening. She was about an hour away, and was heading back, and was going to call Amanda, the apprentice, to come over. Nobody wanted to risk waiting as Eva’s labor lasted only 9 hours and we wondered whether this one would go quickly. At 2:30, I was still having mild contractions every 5 minutes, and I called Randy and told him to finish up with his patient and come home. We decided to let Eva stay at preschool for a while, until we figured out what was going on. Five minutes later, I called him back and said changed my mind – come home now! The contractions were picking up in intensity. I left messages on cell phones for Becky and Cat, who were to be there for Eva, that things were happening, and come when they could. By the time Randy got home around 3:00, looking absolutely gleeful!, I was breathing and vocalizing a little through the contractions. He called Eva’s preschool and we decided that Kristen would bring her home later.
Randy got the pool started, and then joined me in the bedroom. I was lying on my side and having to work a bit. Randy was wonderful, helping me with his voice, talking me through the contractions, guiding me to let my body do the work, to elongate the exhalations. When he said that, I stopped vocalizing and started breathing without sound, and it felt better. I continued to breathe through the contractions throughout labor and it worked better for me than the groaning and vocalizing that I had been doing, and that I did through Eva’s labor.
The intensity continued to increase, and then Merilynn got here at about 4:00, followed by Amanda. Merilynn watched me go through one contraction, and then offered to continue to fill the pool while Randy stayed with me. I didn’t want him to leave, it felt so good to have him there. At 4:30, the pool was ready and they asked me if I wanted to get in, and I did. Everything was moving along so quickly. The contractions had increased to every 2 minutes or so, and it was difficult to get any restorative rest between them – it was hard to be ready for the next one each time.
In the pool, I continued to breathe heavily through the contractions, leaning on the edge of the pool while on my knees, and moving my head in Stevie-Wonder-like figure eights, in rhythm with my breathing. It was getting quite intense and harder to handle, but I was doing it, and the breathing helped. Randy was keeping a cold washcloth nearby for my head and neck, and offered sips of water and juice. I would say “cold” or “drink,” which was about the extent of my communicative ability at this point. I got sick just a little, and Merilynn guided me to breathe to settle my stomach. I heard Cat come in and someone asked if she should come up and I said yes, and I felt her beautiful presence enter the room and sit quietly. I think I said “hair tie” and she said “I can do that!” and one materialized. I asked where Eva was (still at preschool) and realized it was earlier than I thought. Then around 5:00, I started feeling a lot of pressure. I felt the baby was moving down the birth canal and I said “pressure, I feel pressure.” Merilynn said that would likely just increase at this point. I was working really hard now, and it was getting away from me a bit. And then all of a sudden I yelled “I’m pushing!” and it was totally overwhelming and way too hard and I felt a bit out of control and I was yelling and my legs just clamped closed (I was still on my knees, leaning over the side of the pool). The midwives were telling me I needed to open my legs, but I just couldn’t, had to wait out that contraction, then I could, though the pain and pressure remained between contractions now. The midwives were telling me to lower my bottom as I kept lifting it out of the water, and they didn’t want to birth the baby into air first, then water. I somehow managed to hear them and do what they said, and I continued to yell and vocalize loudly. The contraction came and it was so intense and so overwhelming and I was going AH-AH-AH-AH-AH-AH very rapidly and Merilynn told me to double the length of the sounds so it became A-AH, A-AH, A-AH, and Randy and maybe Merilynn was yelling with me, matching my rhythm and intensity, and ooooh, did that help. I needed that help. I remember saying “I can’t do it” even though I knew I could and was, and then, more accurately, “I don’t want to!” It felt scary and fast and more intense than I could handle and I said “I’m scared!” A few pushes like that and then I felt her head come out! And it was so strange and amazing and exciting and terrifying to be kneeling there, feeling her head out. I think at some point I said “get it out!” I had to wait for Amanda to unwrap the twice-wrapped cord, and then she said I could push out the shoulders, and that was the first time I actually consciously pushed (the others were just my body doing it and me hanging on for dear life), and I roared a primal roar, and out came baby, and oooooooooooooooh, what a sense of relief, it was over, I did it I did it! I turned over and saw the baby being lifted out of the water, back up, legs and arms hanging down, and my simultaneous thoughts were “is she OK? Is she breathing?” and “thank GOD I never have to do that again!” And I said is she a girl? because I knew she was, and she was in my arms and I was holding her! Such a sweet reward! I looked at her face and she looked so unfamiliar to me… so that’s who you are! Inside me for all this time! Hello, hello. She had a small amount of dark hair like I somehow knew she would, and she looked up at me and she was perfect. And all was perfect. Her time of birth was 5:30pm. After a while, I pushed out the placenta and Randy cut the cord, and I got out of the pool and was shaking. I was wrapped up in my robe and helped up to bed.
Eva got home very shortly and came in and was thrilled to see her baby sister! I told her that maybe it was good that she wasn’t there for the birth because Mommy was really really loud, and she agreed and didn’t seem to mind. She held Nola and kissed her and we all cuddled into bed, none of us could stop beaming!
The midwives checked me for tears – some first degree tearing, no stitches needed if I stayed upstairs for 5 days, which I readily agreed to. Becky took Eva down to get her some dinner and bake cookies, and Nola and I had our herbal bath drawn. Cat made me Chamomile and cramp bark tea, and we were all in bed at bedtime.
It is hard to believe that the entire thing took only five hours, two of which were early and easy, and pushing took only about 12 minutes or so. So intense and fast. But really, I felt I could handle everything pretty well until the end. Transition was much harder with Eva, but pushing was harder this time.
Nola Piper Roth came into this world at 5:30 pm on November 15th, 2005, at 8 pounds and 4 ounces, 21 inches long. Our beautiful, precious, Full Moon baby. And our family, and life, feels so very complete and so very full of love. And I feel so lucky and so blessed and so grateful to the universe for filling my home with these wonderful souls.
And so beautifully written. Congratulations on your sweet little baby girl; I adore her name.
Wow...Congrats Mama!!! What a beautiful story!!! 
. Now I know what you meant when you said you could so feel what I was describing in my story!
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