Welcome to the World P.

Being a doula, I think it is important for people to know my birth story because my journey to become a doula began there. I have since learned even more about child birth and it has only been 4 months! I can't wait to continue to learn. It was during my experience though that I learned the value or support during labor. Please enjoy the story.

Many people asked me why I choose to use a midwife at a birthing center instead of a doctor at a hospital and the simple answer is because I trust me more than others. In a hospital most of your trust must be in a doctor and the nursing staff. That is not always wrong or bad, but when it comes to birth I believe women know their babies and their bodies better than anyone else and that you know when something is wrong and when it is not- if you know how to listen. That's what my midwives helped me do. They helped me listen. 

I was prepared that most babies are not born on their due dates so when mine came and went it was no surprise. But that didn't keep me from wanting the baby to be here. So I walked and walked and walked. Anytime I was sitting I was on my birthing/yoga/blue ball. I played tennis, went bowling, did puzzles and played video games (while sitting on the blue ball) to help pass the time and encourage those contractions.

By 5 days after my "guess date" as I now call it I decided to lock myself in the house and not come out until my contractions were strong enough to indicate we should go to the birthing center. Facebook and my phone had become my enemies because they reminded me of being "overdue". But I had read the books, I knew the facts that EDD are often wrong and that babies need to pick their due dates. So we waited.

At 5 am on June 28th (10 days after my EDD) I woke up with a strange feeling in my bump. I had gone to sleep thinking I might be having minor contractions but I had thought that many times. But this time I woke up and thought this might be it! I went and took a bath because I thought if they weren't the real deal that would cause them to fizzle out and I could go back to sleep. But they did not fizzle. I read birth stories on the computer while laboring. Trying to gather any last info. and encouragement I could. I knew this was it. I had started to lose my plug (if you don't know what that is, then don't ask, you don't want to know). I texted my midwives and they said to just keep them informed.

Around 7:30 am I woke Cody up and told him our baby would be born in June (he really wanted that) : ) He powered up the video game we had been playing (Gladius if anyone is interested-I know we are complete nerds : P ) we kept playing in between the contractions. Then around 830 am I felt a weird contraction that came right on top of another one. It took me a minute to realize what was happening and right as I said "I know what this is" I felt a pop and water came pouring down my leg. So I texted K. to let her know. She then wanted to know how close the contractions were. When I responded she told us to head that way sometime soon. So we packed the car and headed to the birthing center.

The drive there was uneventful and I timed the contractions while Cody drove. And we listened to music and talked. The contractions were getting more intense and I had Cody tell me stories while he drove to distract me.

Working through some of the early contractions

Once we arrived K. checked me and said I was around 5 cm. Not bad. I was half way there. I paced the room but walking was becoming harder because my back hurt. I had music playing on my computer and some well timed songs helped me through those contractions (including Mulan's I'll make a man out of you). But I really needed relief for my back so I got in the birthing pool. This helped some, but I couldn't sit with my back in the water because I felt unstable. So I was in the water on all 4s which did not help my back, but it did feel good on my tummy.

Cody encouraging me

I started to feel the urge to push but it didn't feel quite right so I had J. (my other midwife) check me. I was at 7 cm but when I contracted I was only at 5 still. But the urge to push was too strong (her head had descended too quickly in my pelvis compared to the dilation) so before I knew it I had bruised my cervix. I was also dealing with a slight upset tummy so I didn't want to eat or drink, but I was becoming fatigued and K. was concerned. So we had to bust some tricks out of the midwife book. First they had be 'blow raspberries' to keep from pushing (its one of those mind tricks where you can't do both at the same time) and then we decided on an IV with just fluids (no meds). The raspberries helped in 2 regards  it kept me from pushing and it gave me something to do. I had to do that for 2 hours and then finally the swelling had gone down. I was still at a 5, but all I needed to get to was a 7 to begin pushing (because baby was so much smaller than me) so J. massaged my cervix to the 7 and I began pushing.

I had been told pushing would feel good...I found that to not be true. But push I did none the less. I pushed lying on the bed, I pushed on a birthing stool, I pushed in the 'captain Morgan' position, I pushed on the floor, I pushed on all 4's and I pushed and pushed and pushed and finally after 4 hours of pushing she began to crown.

J. prepared me for that by telling me what it would feel like and to only push millimeter by millimeter so that I didn't tear. So with her applying counter pressure and applying olive oil I pushed as slow as I could. And once she crowned I gave one more good push and she was out! Cody and J. caught her together and instantly passed her to me. I exclaimed "Its a baby and she is mine!" My natural childbirth had all been for her. All that labor had been for her. And I would do it again in a heartbeat for her. I knew her the instant I saw her and I loved her more than I could ever imagine. 

We wrapped her in a towel and I held her while she took her first breaths and we waited for her cord to stop pulsing. Once it did Cody cut the cord and I moved back on to the bed. I delivered the placenta easy peasy a few minutes later.

P. entered the world on June 28th 2012 at 9:28 pm 7 lbs. 1 oz and 19 3/4inch long after 16 total hours of labor with 4 hours of pushing. There were no drugs (for augmenting contractions or pain relief) used and I had no tearing nor an episiotomy. (All of this was thanks to my amazing husband's support and the skill of my two midwives)

Mommy and P. sleeping together after our hard work. 

I get asked often if it was worth it and the answer is most definitely yes. I also get asked if I would do it again the same way and while there are a couple things I would change (such as staying at home a little longer, eating more and walking more) I would most certainly do it the same way again.

It was the most intense and hardest work I have ever done in my life, but it was also the best most rewarding work I have ever done in my life as well. 

(If you are interested in resources for having as much of an intervention free child birth as possible I recommend reading positive birth stories such as on Birth Without Fear Blog, the books: Birthing a Better Way: 12 Secrets for Natural Childbirth, Active Birth: The New Approach to Giving Birth Naturally, and any book by Ina May Gaskin. I also found the blog Birth Faith to be really helpful as well as The Mom:Informed group on facebook.)

The Birth Center where P. was born

If you live in the West Texas region and are interested in a birth center or home birth or using midwives I strongly recommend the ones I used and would be happy to send you their information.