Abigail’s Birth Story

Just wanted to post and say I had Abigail early Thursday morning just
after 5am. My birthing time started at about 8:30pm Wed night. I had
visualized my birth being about 8 hours so right on the money. We
called my parents once we were sure it was time so they could watch
Ethan.

I actually got tired and decided to lay down and rest for about an
hour. I played my ‘birth guide’ cd as I slept. The frequency of my
waves slowed down, but got more intense. At a certain point I felt
re-energized and needed to get up. As soon as I did my waves picked up
in frequency and I felt the urgent need to go to the hospital. We
called our doula to meet us there. My waves were 5 minutes apart in
the car.

I decided once we got to the hospital that instead of using the
wheelchair I wanted to ‘work out’ my waves on the way into L&D. Maybe
not the best idea since 3 couples arrive after us and passed us in the
parking lot. At this point I was stopping every 10 feet. It turned out
the 4 couples showed up at the same time and there were only 2 rooms
available!! I actually labored standing at the nurses station for
almost an hour. I had my MP3 player on with my birth guide and every
time I had a wave (2-3 minutes apart at this point), I leaned forward
on the counter and tried to go as limp as possible.

After a while I got nauseated and needed to sit down. I guess the look
on my face was so peaceful (even though I was going through the most
intense waves) that they didn’t realize I had hit transition! I
finally got taken to a room and things got fast and furious. My
husband, doula, and nurse were fantastic especially when I expressed
that I wanted someone else to do this and please help me! My nurse
later said that the look on my face never mirrored the intensity of
what I was going through. Thank goodness for my Hypnobabies training.
The baby was actually +1 as I dilated from 8 to 10 which took about 1
hour, so the pressure was quite intense. I rocked my hips, panted and
let out low groans as my doula directed me and manage to resist the
very strong urge to push.

I was on my left side most of the time and then instinctively rolled
to my right for the last 10 minutes until I was complete. I had a high
leak but my bag was still intact so the nurse was going to have the
midwife break my water. With the next wave I asked if I could push.
She said yes and I pushed my water out. Pushing on my side didn’t feel
right so I went onto all four and called out for more pillows. I
leaned forward, pushed and the baby crowned! I pushed again and
birthed the head, one more and out she came. I carefully made my way
back onto my back and they gave me my sweet little girl. Once the cord
stopped pulsing they let Howard cut it and they sewed up a 1st degree
tear. She weighed in at 7 lbs 12 oz, 19 1/2 inches long and lots and
lots of long dark hair.