Birth of Harrison Robert...

Birth of Harrison Robert

The night before, I felt that the baby was not moving as much as before. I ate some chocolate to stimulate movement. It did not really do much. Thinking back this was a sign of on coming labor.
On Monday morning, September 29, I got out of bed at 6am. I got up a little earlier than I usually do. I just was not able to remain comfortable. I had a few contractions overnight that hurt my back and I also had my usual very uncomfortable effort to roll over. In the morning I usually wait until Mark leaves for work at 6:20am or so before getting out of bed. He made a comment to me regarding the fact that I was up before he had left. I can't remember if I said anything about the sensations I was feeling. He left for work.
I did my usual morning routine, dressed, computer work, breakfast. While on the computer I was have frequent sensation but did not time them. I made a point to not time them, did not want to get stuck in a number. I was not able to sit through them though. While I was on the computer I could still read while standing but when I got down stairs and had a sensation I had to lay my head down and rock through them. I also told the kids to be quite while mommy 'rested'. They were pretty responsive to this and respected me the best they could. At 7am I tried to call Mark on his school cell phone and got voice mail, tried his own phone and got voice mail, called his school office and got his boss and left a message to not have Mark go one him hike today. I called the school cell phone again and left the same message.
Mark called me back at 7:50am and we spoke. I was not able to tell him how things were really going though. He decided to take care of a few things then come home. Said he would be home around 11am. Good thing he called me back a little bit later and said that he was leaving the school and would be home soon. Before I left to take Theodore to school I spoke with Joan, our MW, and she was concerned that I was going to drive. Asked if I had anyone to help out. I mentioned my neighbor and did call her and left a message. She did not call back before I had to leave. I ended up driving Theodore to school. It's about a 15/20 minute drive. I had a few contractions on the way there, then some there, and some on the way home. They had gotten more intense on the drive home. Nothing like keeping the car on the road to keep me distracted! Every time I felt a sensation coming on I would turn the radio off and tell Issac to be quite. When it was over I would turn the radio back on and talk with Issac.
When I got home I called the MW and told here that they were more intense. Mark was not home yet, which surprised me, since he left work over an hour ago and it takes 30 minutes to get home. I even said to Issac, "Where is Daddy?" I called him on his cell phone and ends up he had lots of traffic on the way from work. He was home 10 minutes later. I was very happy to not have to keep track of Issac anymore.
The sensations were getting stronger and I needed to focus even more on them. Most comfortable position remained the same pretty much the whole time, leaning over something with my belly hanging down. With each one Mark would do his best to massage my lower back. It was ok until the end when I did not want to be touched. He did once massage my shoulders in between sensations, this was very nice.
When Mark got home I was in the Kitchen, then I moved to the Dining room and then I went upstairs. I paced the hallway in between sensations and hung onto the railing to go down stairs during. I was not feeling much relief in between them. I was feeling frustrated and was having a hard time dealing emotionally.
Joan can over to borrow our car seat to use with her grandchild at about 9:30am. The caretaker she was going to pick up for the grandchild did not have one. She came in, I said hello from upstairs and she and Mark talked. I had a few sensations while they were down below talking. She was originally planning on taking the car seat and going to Oxford to pick up this man that was going to help her. When I heard Oxford, not sure how far but a few towns away, I said she should not go. To me that felt eons away and she would not be back in time. With my history I was afraid she would not get back. I think in general at this time I was getting scared of something. I can't pinpoint what it was but I was emotionally stable. I started to cry at one point. This is so unlike me. Looking back, I was just so afraid of what was happening, not the labor and such, but of having the baby. I'd been holding back ever since I found out I was pregnant. Not knowing that we were going to be pregnant again through me for a loop and I'd been handling it the whole pregnancy. With labor it became much more obvious and direct and it scared me so much. Allowing this labor to progress and bring our baby into the outside world.
I was not feeling a break in between the sensations. I decided to get into the bathtub. I started the water and waited for it to fill at about 10am. Once it was full I got in and it felt really good. The warm water allowed me to move about as I wanted. I sat facing out of the tub cross legged. When a sensation came on I would move to hands and knees. As the sensations got stronger and stronger I would more my face closer and closer to the water surface. I was getting so close that the tips of my bangs were getting wet and I could see the ripples of water from my breath. When the sensation would let off I would move back to sitting. Mark brought me some tea to drink. At one point I looked up and it was not where I had left it. He had moved it to the counter. I asked Issac to bring it to me but he was not able to reach. Someone did retrieve it for me.
Soon the urge to push came on. At this point I was on hands and knees and this is where I stayed till he was born. I did not find pushing to be a relief and was very verbal. My MW said that I had a 'beautiful birth song'.
My water broke with a huge pop. The fluid was clear. It's amazing to look back and remember that I made a conscious note to look at the water after my water had broken.
I was so scared and had a hard time letting go into the urge. As he came closer and closer to being born I felt more and more intensity. At first I would sit into the push but as he came closer I moved my body forward, like I was trying to move away from the pain. Having the intense need to push and also having these intense emotions that were trying to hinder me was so difficult. Good thing I have such a strong pushing urge, or this baby would not have come out so quick.
As he emerged his head was crowning and his face paused right after crowning. Right across his eyes, so he has some popped blood vessels in his eyes from this. Finally his head emerged, what a relief. To push his body out I did have to focus some energy into the push. This was very difficult but I did find the courage to go with the push and out he came. 10:26am on Monday September 29, 2003. He was born a whole 1.5 hours after I dropped Theodore off at school.
Wow, was I spent! We did not look to see the sex because we were supposed to have my older son do that, but he was at school and I was not able to keep the baby covered very well and saw. Another boy had been added to our family.
On a note my middle son, Issac was by the side of the tub the whole time that I was pushing and birthing. The others said that he just stared at my face the whole time. When I looked at him afterwards he had this most intense look and could not take his eyes off of me. He reached out and touched the baby. Ever since all he wants to do is touch the baby. So different from his brother, who wanted nothing to do with the new baby. Theodore would not even go near Issac until Issac was about 6months old. Go figure.