Copied and pasted from I'm Pregnant:
After being at 4cm for a week, I started having those irregular contractions on monday night. Tuesday they started getting to around 10min apart and were stronger, but very managable. That night I thought my water broke, and I went to check it out (my mw wanted me to b/c of GBS) but it wasn't amniotic fluid. I went home after passing up the option for them to break my water. On Wed morning I woke up at 6am and had more contractions like the day before, but they were stronger--still ok though. About 8-10 min apart. Then, I had a gush of fluid (I had been leaking the mystery fluid stiil) but this was soaking a pad and my underwear during every contraction. This was around 7:45am. Suddenly, my contractions were stronger and 5min apart. I started saying things like "i love my family" through contractions, "birthing center, please", and was kind of crying, even though it wasn't out of pain...defiitely going off into laborland! My husband took our son to the neighbor's, and we hurried off to the birthing center. There was only 1 midwife there, and two of us in labor, near pushing, and 1 mother on the way! Two back ups were called, thank goodness, and I got my favorite midwife. When I got there, D, the midwife, asked my favorite position. I told her that I couldn't remember. She smiled and said "that's a good sign!". I got my nightgown out, and she said "are you sure you want to get that dirty? and handed me a hospital type gown. I put it on, then threw it off, got on the bed naked, and layed on my side for a while, groaning through contractions. She checked me and I was already 10 cm! I was relieved, because at this point I was wondering what I had gotten myself into (I kept saying in the car, on the way there, "I bet I've regressed to 2 and my husband would smile and say "I seriously doubt that". I knew I hadn't, but I wanted to be prepared to be at only 6). Anyway, sometime after that, i found that i could only stand to be on all fours, and i refused to move. I roared, moaned, I think i even made deep cow noises (MOOO!!! ) and that helped like nothing else. As I pushed, I reached up to the headboard of the bed and would intuitively stretch back and make loud, deep noises as I pushed. My body and my mind were totally separate at this point and it is still amazing to me how my body completely took over and knew just what to do. My husband was awesome, he seemed so confident in me, told me I was doing great and helped me a lot with my back. At one point, the mw told me things would go faster if I would get in a semi squat for 2 contractions. I decided to try it, got into the position, said "no thank you" and went right back to being on all fours. I continued to let my body push, making the deep sounds and blowing raspberries like Ina May suggested in her book (and I loved it). Sometime toward the end I felt the endorphins and I suddenly felt so calm and pain free as I pushed. It was amazing. I didn't have a clue that I was contracting, but my body had me push anyway. She had me reach down and touch the baby's head, even though I didn't want to at first (i was fine where i was, thankyouverymuch!) because she said it would help me to push and see what was happening. I kept my hand there, it did help. And after that, I felt slowly come out, and I remember feeling her wiggle, but I couldn't figure out how I could feel her moving--was it my legs that felt her? It turns out that I had my hands back there and that I had caught her myself, and brought her between my legs to my chest--again, my body knew what to do, my mind was not there--and I had my baby in my arms. She was out, it was a wonderful feeling. She has been alert since birth, very pink, and just beautiful. As I write this, I cannot believe this is my story. So different than my son's birth, where I didn't even try to go naturally.
Isabel was born on October 8 at 9:47am (we got the the bc at 8:30am) and weighs 7 lbs, 8oz and is 20.5 inches long. She was worth the wait, and so was the experience.
After being at 4cm for a week, I started having those irregular contractions on monday night. Tuesday they started getting to around 10min apart and were stronger, but very managable. That night I thought my water broke, and I went to check it out (my mw wanted me to b/c of GBS) but it wasn't amniotic fluid. I went home after passing up the option for them to break my water. On Wed morning I woke up at 6am and had more contractions like the day before, but they were stronger--still ok though. About 8-10 min apart. Then, I had a gush of fluid (I had been leaking the mystery fluid stiil) but this was soaking a pad and my underwear during every contraction. This was around 7:45am. Suddenly, my contractions were stronger and 5min apart. I started saying things like "i love my family" through contractions, "birthing center, please", and was kind of crying, even though it wasn't out of pain...defiitely going off into laborland! My husband took our son to the neighbor's, and we hurried off to the birthing center. There was only 1 midwife there, and two of us in labor, near pushing, and 1 mother on the way! Two back ups were called, thank goodness, and I got my favorite midwife. When I got there, D, the midwife, asked my favorite position. I told her that I couldn't remember. She smiled and said "that's a good sign!". I got my nightgown out, and she said "are you sure you want to get that dirty? and handed me a hospital type gown. I put it on, then threw it off, got on the bed naked, and layed on my side for a while, groaning through contractions. She checked me and I was already 10 cm! I was relieved, because at this point I was wondering what I had gotten myself into (I kept saying in the car, on the way there, "I bet I've regressed to 2 and my husband would smile and say "I seriously doubt that". I knew I hadn't, but I wanted to be prepared to be at only 6). Anyway, sometime after that, i found that i could only stand to be on all fours, and i refused to move. I roared, moaned, I think i even made deep cow noises (MOOO!!! ) and that helped like nothing else. As I pushed, I reached up to the headboard of the bed and would intuitively stretch back and make loud, deep noises as I pushed. My body and my mind were totally separate at this point and it is still amazing to me how my body completely took over and knew just what to do. My husband was awesome, he seemed so confident in me, told me I was doing great and helped me a lot with my back. At one point, the mw told me things would go faster if I would get in a semi squat for 2 contractions. I decided to try it, got into the position, said "no thank you" and went right back to being on all fours. I continued to let my body push, making the deep sounds and blowing raspberries like Ina May suggested in her book (and I loved it). Sometime toward the end I felt the endorphins and I suddenly felt so calm and pain free as I pushed. It was amazing. I didn't have a clue that I was contracting, but my body had me push anyway. She had me reach down and touch the baby's head, even though I didn't want to at first (i was fine where i was, thankyouverymuch!) because she said it would help me to push and see what was happening. I kept my hand there, it did help. And after that, I felt slowly come out, and I remember feeling her wiggle, but I couldn't figure out how I could feel her moving--was it my legs that felt her? It turns out that I had my hands back there and that I had caught her myself, and brought her between my legs to my chest--again, my body knew what to do, my mind was not there--and I had my baby in my arms. She was out, it was a wonderful feeling. She has been alert since birth, very pink, and just beautiful. As I write this, I cannot believe this is my story. So different than my son's birth, where I didn't even try to go naturally.
Isabel was born on October 8 at 9:47am (we got the the bc at 8:30am) and weighs 7 lbs, 8oz and is 20.5 inches long. She was worth the wait, and so was the experience.
