Here is the birth story. I know some will not approve, because I pretty much induced him (without drugs), but you have to understand that I have had horrible morning sickness since 5 weeks and I was very depressed and I just needed not to be pregnant anymore. When I started feeling like I wanted to die last week, I felt it best to get him out.
Birth Timeline
11am- I got my membranes stripped for the 2nd time. I had made a lot of cervical progress since last week and went from 1cm dilated and 40% effaced to 3 cms and 70% effaced. The baby had also moved from posterior to anterior (yeah!!) and was in a great position for birth. He was also lower and the midwife sounded hopeful that this could work this time. She also suggested going home to drink castor oil, but I didn’t want to do that unless I really needed to. So instead I went home and we had lunch with some friends who had been watching the boys while I was at my appointment.
2:30pm- I had been having some contractions that were a little stronger than normal, but not enough to make me hopeful that I was going to go into labor. I decided to take a nap, just in case I wound up laboring through the night.
5pm- I woke up from my nap and not much was really going on. I was really disappointed, as I really wanted to be done with pregnancy and morning sickness.
5:30pm- Out of desperation, I convince myself to take the plunge, and drink 2 oz of castor oil, which happens to be a strong laxative. I was really hoping that I wasn’t going to be sorry. I tried this once before with Luke and wasn’t able to keep it down, so I wasn’t sure what would come of this.
7:30pm- The castor oil has stayed down for 2hrs, so I decided to have dinner.
7:45pm- The castor oil starts kicking in. I’m having contractions and also running in and out of the bathroom.
8:15pm- The contractions are much stronger than what I’ve been experiencing previously and seem to be coming often, so I decide to start timing them.
8:45pm- The contractions are all under 5 mins apart and last about 60 seconds, so I decide to call my midwife. She decides that it sounds like the real deal, so she says she’s coming over.
9:50- The birth team arrives as my mom is leaving with my boys. My contractions are 3-5 minutes apart and about a minute long. I forego getting checked, so as to avoid any disappointment.
11:45pm- The birth tub is finally filled and I get in. It’s heavenly! It takes awhile to fill, because John is only able to fill it so much before the water goes cold and then we have to wait for our water heater to reheat more water.
12am- The contractions are super intense at this point and getting harder to deal with. I start getting an urge to push with some of them.
12:20am- I am moaning a lot and wanting to push more, so they want me to get out of the tub (we were not doing a waterbirth).
12:37am- I ask if it’s ok to push and they say I can go with my feelings. However, I request to be checked, because I don’t want to push unless I am fully dilated. I am 100% effaced, 9 cm dilated, and the baby is at a +1 station. My water hasn’t broken, so a bulging bag of water is also felt.
12:55am- I’m told that there is just a little lip of cervix left and when I push it moves, but when I stop, it goes back to where it was. So they try holding it out of the way while I push a little to see if that helps, but it doesn’t make a difference. They encourage me not to push and let my body finish dilating. I really wanted to push, so it was very hard to just sit through those contractions. They are the strongest ones yet.
1:06am- The cervical lip is still there and I just can’t take those contractions anymore. I feel like the bag of water is what is holding me up, so I ask them to break my water. She does and it’s clear. I feel the baby come down lower right after she does that. I continue to resist the urge to push in hopes that now I can dilate that last centimeter faster.
1:15am- The midwife decides to try pushing my cervix back again while I push to see if it will work now, and it does! My cervix goes to 10 centimeters and the baby’s head is finally able to get past my cervix. I’m given the green light to push away, so I go for it with all my might. I want him out! He crowns with the first contraction. It is murderous to wait for the next contraction with his head crowning, but I am told not to push without a contraction. When the next one comes, his head delivers. I need a break so I decide to wait until the next contraction to finish pushing him.
1:20am- The third contraction comes and out comes a baby boy!!! Micah James has arrived, weighing in at 8lb 9oz and measuring 21” long. His apgars are 8 & 9. He needed a little bit of oxygen, but he was fine after 2 minutes. I cannot believe I went from 10 centimeters to him being out in only 5 minutes.
No judgement here. 
