The Birth Story of Cooper Steven
I was 37 weeks 2 days pregnant. It started at 6:30am, Sat. Aug. 2nd, 2008. I felt a little trickle and got up to go to the bathroom. I looked at my underwear and they were covered in bright red blood. This scared the crap out of me and I called my midwife. She basically gave me the worst-case scenarios, but I told her the baby was moving and seemed to be doing okay. We decided to meet at the Birth Center and check me and the baby out, then decide what to do. Right after I hung up the phone, I had two really close together contractions and then started contracting regularly. We got up, got the kids up and ready to go, all while I was having contractions. I was kind of in denial that I was in labor, so we didn’t bring anything with us! I called my parents and told to meet us at the birth center, because I was bleeding and might be in labor. My dad was going to get the kids and my mom was going to stay for the birth.
We got to the birth center around 7:40am. I had strong contractions the whole way, around 2 minutes apart. I called my midwife, Linda and told her that I though I was in labor and that we were almost there. I had a contraction, right as we got there, then I jumped out of the van and ran inside. Shortly after, I had two more, in the front room on the couch. We went back to the birthing suite and Linda checked me and the baby. The baby sounded great. She checked me and said I had a bulging bag, the baby’s head was right there and that I was 6 cm! I was like, really?! I couldn’t believe it. Linda knew I wanted a home birth and said, we could either go home or have the baby here. I said I didn’t want another car ride! She got the tub ready for me, as I labored on the bed. My dh was trying to take care of the kids and be with me, as I think I was really scaring my 4 yr old, Delanie. My mom finally got there after 8am, my dad was still at home putting the extra car seat in the car, to take the kids home.
Around 8:35am, the tub was ready. I got in right away and it was like instant relief, but I started having really overwhelming contractions. I said “Linda, I think I need to push”, she said “Well, go ahead”. I pushed once and the bag of water kind of ballooned out and broke. I pushed through the next contraction and his head came out, with his hand right by his head. Linda didn’t know what it was until he started waving it around! Then the next contraction the body was out, I caught him and brought him up to my chest! He was born at 8:40am.
I got out of the tub and was going to get into the bed to deliver the placenta, but it plopped out on its own, right before I hit the bed. It was still attached to the baby, the midwife assistant had the baby and had to make sure it didn’t pull on his cord. After that we got in bed and we tried to nurse. He nursed for a little bit, then we did his weight, 6 lbs. 6 oz, and height 18 ½ inches. And all the other newborn checks. He sounded and looked wonderful! His apgars were 8 and 10. I declined the eye ointment and vit K injection. Thankfully Linda had a baby gown and cloth diaper, as I didn't bring any!
It was such an amazing, intense, fast labor! Nothing like my other two! My mom kind of pushed the kids out of the room, when I was in the tub, because my screaming/moaning was really scaring my dd. But they came in right after the baby was out and Lanie was very concerned and Parker said “baby!”. Lanie asked if I was okay and why I was screaming. She was also really concerned, because of all the blood from the placenta. I tried to explain to her that its hard work having a baby and I think she was okay after that. But she really wanted to stick with me!
She did help cut the cord and she got to look at and touch the placenta, which she thought was really cool! Linda did find a clot on the placenta, she thinks that might be where the blood was coming from or she thought, since I probably had such a rapid dilation, that might be were the blood was from too. We wrapped the placenta up and brought it home, we will be burying it sometime soon!
My parents went out and got us breakfast, yummy toast, eggs and sausage and pancakes for I and the kids. I didn’t have an appetite for much, but ate some, then took about an hour nap. The kids ate well and then went home with my dad. I got up, got a shower and then Linda checked me out. I had a few “skid marks” that didn’t require any stitches. We got ready to go after that, it was about 1pm and we left for home. It was SO nice sleeping in my own bed that night, with no nurses coming in every 3 hours to wake me up! I highly recommend a home birth or birth center birth to everyone! Linda will be coming to my house to check on me and the baby the next day and on day 3. Then I will go back to the birth center for my 6 week check up. I will miss seeing Linda every month! She really is more like a friend, than a midwife!
Linda wasn’t worried about my GBS+ status very much, because my water broke just before he was born and he was born in the water. Also she said that usually babies that get GBS from their mama’s, usually come out looking sickly and wheeze. Also if he were going to get sick from it, he would have in the first 4 hours.
Overall the labor lasted 2 hours and 10 mins. It was very overwhelming and I still can’t believe that he is here! He came early, but was right about the same weight as my other two. This has by far been the worst pregnancy wise for me, but such a short labor makes up for it, I guess!
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b2...birth010-1.jpg
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b2...birth019-1.jpg
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b2...birth020-1.jpg
measuring, right after we got done weighing:
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b2...birth037-1.jpg
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b2...birth042-1.jpg
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b2...birth044-1.jpg
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b2...birth051-1.jpg
My favorite diaper so far, an xs Blueberry pocket AIO:
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b2...birth060-1.jpg
The last belly pic I took, the day before I had him:
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b2...belly002-1.jpg
Congratulations! What a great story! What great pictures! What a great baby! 
!! Awesome story!
Congrats and Welcome Sweet Baby Cooper! 
:
Enjoy your new LO!
