The birth of Isabella Rose
I woke up on May 22, 2007 at 2:00 am with contractions. I went to the bathroom and had some bloody show and loose stools. I was excited but could tell that this was going to be a while. So I laid down and thought about the baby coming. D woke up around 5:00 am and came to our room and F woke up soon after. I turned on the tv for her and let F know that I was having contractions. I told him that the contractions weren’t bad at all and that it would be a while. So he went to work. My mom stayed off of work so that she could keep an eye on the kids for me. F came home around 11:30 and went swimming with the kids. He wanted me to call our midwife and let her know what was going on. I wanted to have this baby alone and have either F or myself catching the baby. F wouldn’t agree with me on this so we compromised. We asked the midwife if she would come to our house and stay in the living room and only help if we asked her to. She said she was okay with that. So I called her to let her know that I was having contractions and that they weren’t regular . She said it could still be a few days and for me to go about my life. She wanted me to come in that day to meet the backup midwife because she was going to be out of town that weekend. I told F what the midwife said and he told me and the kids that he thought I was having the baby today and probably in a few hours. We went to meet both midwives at 1:30. On the way there, my contractions started coming every 5 minutes or so and my back was hurting with each contraction. They were getting more intense. I got there and let them know the contractions were getting stronger. The midwife asked if she could check me and I said yes. I was curious to know how dilated I was but didn’t want to know if I wasn’t dilated very much. She didn’t tell me how many cm’s I was. They left the room so I could put my clothes back on. While they were gone I had contractions three different times and vomited. They came back in and told me it was up to me if I wanted to stay there at the birth center or go home. I was so miserable and felt like I couldn’t go on. I would’ve opted for a c-section or epidural if they had offered it. Anything to take away the pain. I couldn’t see myself handling this birth very well if I had to go all the way home. (It’s a 30 minute drive.) So I decided to stay there knowing I was giving up the birth I wanted. The midwife took us into one of the birthing rooms. She decided to go ahead and start filling up the waterbirth pool. The pool was in another room. I’m not sure why she just didn’t have us in the same room. So she left us alone. I sat on the birthing ball and rolled around some. I felt 100 times worse. I just couldn’t get comfortable and I was trying to tell myself it would get better as soon as I was allowed in the pool. It seemed to be taking forever for the pool to fill up. I got on my knees and leaned on the ball. I felt like pushing and did some practice pushes. I probably shouldn;t have been doing that but I didn’t know what else to do to deal with the pain. F was sitting over in the corner. I knew he wanted to help and I wasn’t sure what to tell him. I really wanted him to rub my back but I also didn’t want to lose my concentration. So I didn’t say anything to him. I had another contraction and pushed and heard my water break. I’ve never had my water break on it own before. F went to let themidwife know that my water broke. She came in and started getting things ready. I knew I didn’t need her help. And she knew I wanted to be as unassisted as possible but I dunno.. I guess at the point I just wanted to get the baby out. I was still on my knees and she wanted me to get on the bed but I wouldn’t move. It wasn’t the best position to be pushing in but I did not want to move or lose focus. So I pushed about 5 times or so and finally the head came out. It was burning. I was so relieved when her whole body was out. I knew it was over. Isabella Rose was born at 3:32 pm. I’d say this was the worst birth I’ve had. My first child was born in the hospital. I had an epidural. I slept through most of the birth and then pushed him out. My second child was born in the water. It was such a nice and short birth. It was amazing. I was expecting this one to be even better and shorter! Nothing went as planned. I was disappointed. I didn’t get the unassisted birth I wanted ..I didn’t even get a waterbirth! After the baby came out, the midwife had F cut the cord. I thought he cut it at 10 minutes after but he says the cord was white so… Then themidwife had me lay down and she started pulling on the cord and pushing down on my stomach to get the placenta out. I knew that I could’ve pushed the placenta out but she had already gotten it out before I could say anything. I tried to breastfeed and she started to point out how I was trying to latch Isabella on wrong.. After that we laid down for a while. We left the birth center around 6:00 pm. Had dinner and eventually went to sleep.
I woke up on May 22, 2007 at 2:00 am with contractions. I went to the bathroom and had some bloody show and loose stools. I was excited but could tell that this was going to be a while. So I laid down and thought about the baby coming. D woke up around 5:00 am and came to our room and F woke up soon after. I turned on the tv for her and let F know that I was having contractions. I told him that the contractions weren’t bad at all and that it would be a while. So he went to work. My mom stayed off of work so that she could keep an eye on the kids for me. F came home around 11:30 and went swimming with the kids. He wanted me to call our midwife and let her know what was going on. I wanted to have this baby alone and have either F or myself catching the baby. F wouldn’t agree with me on this so we compromised. We asked the midwife if she would come to our house and stay in the living room and only help if we asked her to. She said she was okay with that. So I called her to let her know that I was having contractions and that they weren’t regular . She said it could still be a few days and for me to go about my life. She wanted me to come in that day to meet the backup midwife because she was going to be out of town that weekend. I told F what the midwife said and he told me and the kids that he thought I was having the baby today and probably in a few hours. We went to meet both midwives at 1:30. On the way there, my contractions started coming every 5 minutes or so and my back was hurting with each contraction. They were getting more intense. I got there and let them know the contractions were getting stronger. The midwife asked if she could check me and I said yes. I was curious to know how dilated I was but didn’t want to know if I wasn’t dilated very much. She didn’t tell me how many cm’s I was. They left the room so I could put my clothes back on. While they were gone I had contractions three different times and vomited. They came back in and told me it was up to me if I wanted to stay there at the birth center or go home. I was so miserable and felt like I couldn’t go on. I would’ve opted for a c-section or epidural if they had offered it. Anything to take away the pain. I couldn’t see myself handling this birth very well if I had to go all the way home. (It’s a 30 minute drive.) So I decided to stay there knowing I was giving up the birth I wanted. The midwife took us into one of the birthing rooms. She decided to go ahead and start filling up the waterbirth pool. The pool was in another room. I’m not sure why she just didn’t have us in the same room. So she left us alone. I sat on the birthing ball and rolled around some. I felt 100 times worse. I just couldn’t get comfortable and I was trying to tell myself it would get better as soon as I was allowed in the pool. It seemed to be taking forever for the pool to fill up. I got on my knees and leaned on the ball. I felt like pushing and did some practice pushes. I probably shouldn;t have been doing that but I didn’t know what else to do to deal with the pain. F was sitting over in the corner. I knew he wanted to help and I wasn’t sure what to tell him. I really wanted him to rub my back but I also didn’t want to lose my concentration. So I didn’t say anything to him. I had another contraction and pushed and heard my water break. I’ve never had my water break on it own before. F went to let themidwife know that my water broke. She came in and started getting things ready. I knew I didn’t need her help. And she knew I wanted to be as unassisted as possible but I dunno.. I guess at the point I just wanted to get the baby out. I was still on my knees and she wanted me to get on the bed but I wouldn’t move. It wasn’t the best position to be pushing in but I did not want to move or lose focus. So I pushed about 5 times or so and finally the head came out. It was burning. I was so relieved when her whole body was out. I knew it was over. Isabella Rose was born at 3:32 pm. I’d say this was the worst birth I’ve had. My first child was born in the hospital. I had an epidural. I slept through most of the birth and then pushed him out. My second child was born in the water. It was such a nice and short birth. It was amazing. I was expecting this one to be even better and shorter! Nothing went as planned. I was disappointed. I didn’t get the unassisted birth I wanted ..I didn’t even get a waterbirth! After the baby came out, the midwife had F cut the cord. I thought he cut it at 10 minutes after but he says the cord was white so… Then themidwife had me lay down and she started pulling on the cord and pushing down on my stomach to get the placenta out. I knew that I could’ve pushed the placenta out but she had already gotten it out before I could say anything. I tried to breastfeed and she started to point out how I was trying to latch Isabella on wrong.. After that we laid down for a while. We left the birth center around 6:00 pm. Had dinner and eventually went to sleep.
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