Claire’s Birth
On Monday, May 5th, I went to my appointment with the midwife. My due
date was on May 3rd, so she started talking about the possibility of
inducing labor since they can not continue my care if I am over due
too long. I did not want to be induced so I let her strip my
membranes. That was not a comfortable experience even trying to relax.
She said that she could feel Claire’s ear. That totally weirded my
husband out. (:
After my appointment we went bike shopping for my husband. I was
cramping and bleeding but nothing much was happening. When Brian got
back we went on a walk. When we were starting back I started cramping.
It started getting so I did not want to walk through them although I
could. When we got back home we decided to go out on what may have
been our last date before the baby. We went to “Color Me Mine” and
painted some pottery for the baby. That was really fun!
We got back around 10:30 and I went to bed around 11:30. Around
1:00 I woke up feeling contractions but went back to sleep. By 2:00 I
could no longer sleep and woke up my mom and we started timing
pressure waves. Around 5:30 they were 45-1:00 minute long and only
about 3-4 minutes apart and we decided to go to Orem Community. I was
trying to stay very relaxed and using my Hypnobabies suggestions. We
got to the hospital at 6:00 and they admitted me to the triage. When
they checked me I was 3 centimeters dilated. The midwife on call
started me on antibiotics (since I was GBS +) and after an hour I was
at a 4. They decided to admit me and we called the doula.
Our doula was out of town and the backup was already at a birth so we got the
backup to the backup (Megan) and she was AMAZING. When she got there
she started me walking up and down the hall over and over again.
Anytime a wave came on I would put my arms around Brian and Megan
would put counter pressure on my hips. We also tried sitting on the
toilet. I know some people really like that but I DID NOT.
The midwife on call (Sue) came and checked me at noon. She asked if I
wanted to know where I was and I said only if it was good news such as
a 7 or 8. Ha. She didn’t say anything and in my mind I told myself
that I was AT LEAST a 6. 🙂 After I asked what I had been. My mom told
me that I had only been at a 5. I am glad I didn’t know that because I
would have been very disappointed.
At that point I started losing control a little and I kept saying
that I did not think I could do it anymore. Megan told me to just get
through one at a time and that my endorphins would kick it up a notch
if I could just last 20 more minutes. It actually was 40 minutes but I
put on my birthing day affirmations and completely zoned out. (next
time I will turn it on earlier!)
Sometimes the doula or the midwife would try to talk to me and I would be in the middle of a birthing
wave but they could not tell because they were watching me and not the
computer. I asked to be checked again so I got into bed and I was at
an 8. I was so tired that I was falling asleep in between pressure
waves and completely zoning out during them. I asked to be checked
again and she said 9 ½!!
I started to get my sense of humor back and it wasn’t very long
before I looked up and told Sue that I needed to poop. That got
everyone hustling to get everything ready for baby. I wanted a
squatting bar and they hunted one out of storage. I pushed for a while
that way but my legs started to get really tired. Megan got on the bed
behind me and I put my feet on the bar to push. They also brought out
a mirror so I could see her crowning. That made me push more
effectively! I only pushed for maybe 30 min and at 3:07 pm out she
came! 6 lbs 12 oz, 20.5 inches. They hustled her to the respiratory
therapist and I just bawled. I couldn’t believe I had my baby! She was
just beautiful. Didn’t have a cone head at all. They finally finished
with her and I was so glad to hold her. Everyone remarked about how
alert and awake she was.
The easiest part of my birthing time was transition. Totally
pain free. I know I could have done better during some parts but on
the whole it was amazing how I just felt pressure! The worst part was
when I got nauseous and vomited but my birthing waves stopped when
that happened so I didn’t have to worry about them. My husband was an
awesome coach and my doula and midwife…amazing. Recovery was easy and
everyone was impressed with Hypnobabies. Whoo hoo!
(And it was fun to say “I told you I could” to everyone who doubted my ability to go natural 🙂 )
