Riley Owen’s Birth Story
I think it’s possible that early labor actually started Friday night. I had contractions strong enough to wake me every fifteen minutes or so and considered getting up to call the midwives, but I was able to fall asleep after each one and decided that probably meant it was very early still and I would call when things picked up. When I got up Saturday morning the contractions spaced out and became unnoticeable. They returned, however, when I lay down to nap with Kenna and Landon and were 15 minutes apart for a couple of hours. I called Amy when I got up to let her know that things might be happening today.
After talking to Amy, I took a walk in the rain with Matthew. I walked on the curb in front of our house, feeling really silly, and found it exhausting to do for long. We walked for a half hour or so and then came back inside. I fixed some soup and sat down to time contractions. While we were walking contractions were closer than five minutes apart and not terribly painful, but spaced out some when we came back in. I called Amy again and she suggested I do restful things and try to “postpone” labor until the morning. So I lay down on the sofa to watch television. I suddenly had a really long contraction and during that contraction felt the baby move off my pubic bone and down into my pelvis. He moved so hard and fast that my water broke. I toddled off to the toilet to confirm that my water had broken and finally had the first “show” of something going on. I called Amy back. She was at the grocery store and said she’d come check on me in a little while. I sat back down and started timing contractions again. I had to move from the sofa to the floor for each contraction and have Matthew apply counter pressure. My sister has this really cute photo of Matthew pressing my sacrum, Kenna brushing back my hair, and Landon rolling a truck across my back!
Contractions were now less than five minutes apart and really strong, so I called the midwife again. She had to take her groceries home and then was coming. She told me to prepare the birth pool and get in (my mom was already running the water and had completely prepared the bedroom for the birth) and that when babies come fast that they are usually just fine. I didn’t think I needed the water this early and thought she probably just wanted to slow things down a little. About 10 minutes later I got into the pool. It wasn’t even full yet, but I didn’t care. I was sure I was active, but had no idea how far and fast I was progressing. I hit transition a few minutes later. My mom and Matthew applied counter pressure and gave me ice cold rags for my face. I was completely in labor land and completely in denial about how far into labor I was. My mom recognized transition and went to call Amy again to see what to do after the baby was born. She wasn’t sure if she should get us out of the water or leave us in the pool. Amy said to leave us in and that they were in Hernando, about 20 minutes away.
It wasn’t until I had the first pushing contraction that I realized my labor was ending instead of just beginning. I felt the change and came back from labor land uttering, “No!” I reached down and felt his head just inside. I was afraid I felt a cervical lip, but it was just membranes on the baby’s head. The next contraction was a real push. Pushing isn’t something I do, it’s something that happens to me. It’s not pleasant, but it’s over very quickly. I had his head out on that contraction and then got very concerned about birthing the rest. I was worried about the cord, I was worried that he wasn’t turning, I was worried that his shoulders weren’t coming. My mom kept telling me he was fine, the cord wasn’t around his neck (it was looped loosely around him) and that he would come out. Two more pushes and he was out and in Nanna’s hands. I just couldn’t believe it was over.
We had a really comical moment trying to figure out how to get him from behind me to in front of me without dunking him back under. But I finally stood up and we passed him through my legs and then I sat down and took him. We covered up with towels and I started ordering everyone around to get the kids (they’d been in the back bedroom watching a movie with my sister) and the camera. The midwives arrived about 10 minutes after he was born.
Riley Owen was born at 7:57 p.m., a little more than an hour after my water broke. He weighed 8 lbs 8 oz and was 20 inches long.
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I think it’s possible that early labor actually started Friday night. I had contractions strong enough to wake me every fifteen minutes or so and considered getting up to call the midwives, but I was able to fall asleep after each one and decided that probably meant it was very early still and I would call when things picked up. When I got up Saturday morning the contractions spaced out and became unnoticeable. They returned, however, when I lay down to nap with Kenna and Landon and were 15 minutes apart for a couple of hours. I called Amy when I got up to let her know that things might be happening today.
After talking to Amy, I took a walk in the rain with Matthew. I walked on the curb in front of our house, feeling really silly, and found it exhausting to do for long. We walked for a half hour or so and then came back inside. I fixed some soup and sat down to time contractions. While we were walking contractions were closer than five minutes apart and not terribly painful, but spaced out some when we came back in. I called Amy again and she suggested I do restful things and try to “postpone” labor until the morning. So I lay down on the sofa to watch television. I suddenly had a really long contraction and during that contraction felt the baby move off my pubic bone and down into my pelvis. He moved so hard and fast that my water broke. I toddled off to the toilet to confirm that my water had broken and finally had the first “show” of something going on. I called Amy back. She was at the grocery store and said she’d come check on me in a little while. I sat back down and started timing contractions again. I had to move from the sofa to the floor for each contraction and have Matthew apply counter pressure. My sister has this really cute photo of Matthew pressing my sacrum, Kenna brushing back my hair, and Landon rolling a truck across my back!
Contractions were now less than five minutes apart and really strong, so I called the midwife again. She had to take her groceries home and then was coming. She told me to prepare the birth pool and get in (my mom was already running the water and had completely prepared the bedroom for the birth) and that when babies come fast that they are usually just fine. I didn’t think I needed the water this early and thought she probably just wanted to slow things down a little. About 10 minutes later I got into the pool. It wasn’t even full yet, but I didn’t care. I was sure I was active, but had no idea how far and fast I was progressing. I hit transition a few minutes later. My mom and Matthew applied counter pressure and gave me ice cold rags for my face. I was completely in labor land and completely in denial about how far into labor I was. My mom recognized transition and went to call Amy again to see what to do after the baby was born. She wasn’t sure if she should get us out of the water or leave us in the pool. Amy said to leave us in and that they were in Hernando, about 20 minutes away.
It wasn’t until I had the first pushing contraction that I realized my labor was ending instead of just beginning. I felt the change and came back from labor land uttering, “No!” I reached down and felt his head just inside. I was afraid I felt a cervical lip, but it was just membranes on the baby’s head. The next contraction was a real push. Pushing isn’t something I do, it’s something that happens to me. It’s not pleasant, but it’s over very quickly. I had his head out on that contraction and then got very concerned about birthing the rest. I was worried about the cord, I was worried that he wasn’t turning, I was worried that his shoulders weren’t coming. My mom kept telling me he was fine, the cord wasn’t around his neck (it was looped loosely around him) and that he would come out. Two more pushes and he was out and in Nanna’s hands. I just couldn’t believe it was over.
We had a really comical moment trying to figure out how to get him from behind me to in front of me without dunking him back under. But I finally stood up and we passed him through my legs and then I sat down and took him. We covered up with towels and I started ordering everyone around to get the kids (they’d been in the back bedroom watching a movie with my sister) and the camera. The midwives arrived about 10 minutes after he was born.
Riley Owen was born at 7:57 p.m., a little more than an hour after my water broke. He weighed 8 lbs 8 oz and was 20 inches long.
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from me!
And thanks to everyone for sharing your pregnancy and birth stories with me, and for allowing me to do the same. 
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