Welcome, Bennett Action!

Bennett Action joined our family on Monday, April 18, 2011 at 2:15 pm.  He weighed 7 lbs., 5 oz. and measured 20" long.  Born on his due date!

Birth story....

On Tuesday, April 12, Lucas and I were convinced the baby was coming.  I had about 4 hours of contractions--but, unfortunately they stayed about 8 minutes apart and died out without getting anywhere.  Lucas spent the whole next day at work paranoid that I was going to have the baby at any moment, but I did not have anymore contractions until Saturday, April 16.  I had nearly 5 hours of contractions that were about 5 minutes apart--bounced on the birth ball, walked, took Lincoln to an Easter Egg hunt, bounced some more, and then watched them die out around dinner time.  No baby, but they felt strong enough that I was convinced he wouldn't be waiting too much longer!

On Sunday, April 17, we went on a walk and again tried to bring back the contractions.  Apparently, though, the baby knew he was coming the next day and gave me a break because they never did pick back up on Sunday.

On Monday, April 18, we had our 40 week prenatal visit at 9:00.  My midwife, Bernadette, did a check at my request and said I had dilated to 4+ centimeters, was 75% effaced, and baby was at a -1 station.  I requested that she do a gentle membrane sweep--my opinion is that it will work if baby is really ready, and won't if he isn't.  Bernadette said that one side of the bag of waters had already detached, so she really only swept the other side.  It took about a minute and was a little painful, but very manageable.  From there, she sent us home and told us to call her when contractions were 3-5 minutes apart (she was certain the baby was coming today!).  

Lucas, Lincoln, and I swung by the store on the way home to pick up a few things.  I had a few contractions at the store, but didn't bother timing anything.  The car ride home was pretty uncomfortable--especially the last mile or so, which seemed to have developed about a billion (yes, a billion) more potholes and bumps in the hour we were gone.  Once we got home, Lucas went to put Lincoln down for his nap and I bounced on the birth ball and walked aimlessly around the house :)  After about 30 minutes of that, I figured I should start timing the contractions--they were around 5 minutes apart at that point.  

Lincoln decided a nap was really not in his plan for the day, so he got moved to the couch and situated with "bob da buildas skyscwapet" (Bob the Builder Skyscraper).  Lucas began filling the birth tub, and I decided that I really liked holding onto our kitchen counter.  It had become the most comfortable thing ever--not sure how I had never noticed before.  Bob the Builder's background music was beginning to drive me crazy, so before doing something I'd regret later (like throwing the remote through the TV to shut him up), I went and locked myself in the nice, quiet bathroom...where I suddenly discovered that the bathroom counter was now the most comfortable place in the house.  Contractions were now 4 minutes apart.  I was doing great--the 4 minute break between contractions was a long enough break that the contractions themselves were totally manageable.  As long as I could lean on the counter and occasionally have someone press on my back, I was good.  I practiced my visualization techniques and could swear that I felt the baby moving down when I pictured it.  At this point, I heard the doorbell ring.

Lucas came and knocked on the bathroom door to tell me that Shannon (the student midwife that would be assisting Bernadette) was here.  Apparently, neither Lucas nor I had our phone ringer on and they had been trying to call us.  When they couldn't reach us, they thought maybe we had already had the baby and just decided to come on over.  I felt bad, but it ended up being a good thing that she had come already.  Shannon asked how far apart contractions were, and I told her about 4 minutes.  She watched for a few, then said she thought they were a lot closer than 4 minutes.  She quickly checked me and I was almost 7 centimeters and 90% effaced.  This was about 12:30, I think.  She called Bernadette to tell her, and Bernadette said she was already on her way over.  

I went back out to the kitchen for some gatorade.  At this point, I now needed someone to press on my back for each contraction.  The most comfortable position was still leaning on something--counter, wall, couch, etc.  The contractions were getting closer together and stronger, but I was able to breathe through them pretty easily.  I used a hypnobirthing breathing technique to breathe in and lift up for a long breath, then breathe out long and slow.  I am not describing that very well.  Anyway, it worked GREAT.  

Lucas was getting Lincoln some lunch and a bag packed for him to go to our friend Kari's house.  I told Lucas that I couldn't take the sound of Bob the Builder anymore, and he needed to turn it off now.  Luckily, Lincoln had finished his lunch, so Lucas was able to this with minimal protesting and got Lincoln and Wembley loaded up in the car and over to Kari's.  By the time Lucas got back, Bernadette had arrived and he helped her bring all the equipment into the house.  The birth tub was filled and Shannon asked me if I wanted to get in.  I declined (I had spent a long time in the tub during labor with Lincoln and felt it slowed my labor down, so I was scared of the same thing happening.  Despite being assured that I was far enough along that it wouldn't slow me down, I still didn't want to get in yet...).  

I moved to the living room floor and got on my hands and knees for awhile (this was at maybe 1:30?).  Lucas pushed on my back during contractions, which were coming every 2 minutes of so and were pretty intense.  I felt absolutely fine in between them, though, and was laughing at Lucas' jokes.  Lucas reminded me that I told him to tell me to pee every hour, so as much as I didn't want to move, I got up to go to the bathroom.  I made it to the bathroom, had a contraction, peed, then decided to go look at the birth pool.  Shannon asked if I wanted her to check me to see if I was ready to push.  This was around 2:00.  I didn't believe that I could possibly be that close to pushing, so I said no, I'd wait a little bit.  I still couldn't make myself get in the birth tub, either.  Lucas came in the bedroom and then all of a sudden, I hit transition.  I had 2 long, painful contractions.  Lucas and Shannon tried to push on my back and I told them not to touch me.  I was suddenly burning up and nauseous.  Then, just as the second hard contractions ended, I felt the baby shift and I knew he was coming NOW. 

I told whoever was listening that I wanted to push, and then just did.  I was standing up in our bedroom, leaning over our dresser--only about 3 steps inside the bedroom door, and about 2 ft. from the birth tub.  Lucas was standing next to me in the doorway, and Shannon and Bernadette were scrambling to cover the floor with towels and the tarp because we have white carpet and I apparently was going to have the baby right there.  Bernadette asked where I wanted to have the baby (assuming I wanted to step 2 feet to get in the tub), but I said I couldn't move.  So on the next contraction, I pushed and felt a ton of pressure.  There was a "pop!" and the waters burst.  That was a new feeling for me, since last time they were broken in the birth tub and I didn't notice.  There was some slight burning, which I registered as the "ring of fire"--only, it was nowhere near as painful as it had been with Lincoln, so I didn't really think it was the "real thing."  The next thing I heard was, "your baby's head is halfway out!" so apparently, my judgment was a bit off.  I pushed again and the rest of the head was out, followed by the shoulders and body.  Lucas said, "you did it!" And then, the baby cried!  It was 2:15.  Lucas had to run to get the camera (he didn't think the baby would come so fast--he said he thought he had at least 3 more hours!)  I turned around to see the baby and Shannon and Bernadette were wrapping him in a blanket to hand him to me.  I delivered the placenta about 2 minutes later and moved to the bed with the baby.

From the time I had my membranes swept to the birth was a little less than 5 hours.  I pushed for a total of 7 minutes.  The labor was fast, and with the exception of those 2 contractions during transition, very very manageable!  I was amazed.  Because of how fast he came out, I did have some 2nd degree tearing, but since I tore much worse the first time, I was fine with it.  

We had our names narrowed down to 2--and decided he looked like a Bennett.  Bennett, Lucas, and I hung out for awhile while Bernadette and Shannon cleaned up.  Then, I had the amazingly fun experience of being stitched up (sarcasm!) and Bennett and I took an herbal bath.  Lucas worked on draining the (unused) birth tub (sorry!!!!).  The midwives headed out around 5:00.

Lucas went to get Lincoln to meet his new brother around 8:00.  Lincoln was so excited!  He ran into the bedroom saying "baby bedett!"  (Kari had practiced with him) :)  Lincoln gave Bennett a kiss on the head and gave me a flower he had picked from the yard.  It was maybe the sweetest thing I'd ever seen.

We are doing great, Bennett is a champion nurser, and Lincoln is the world's greatest big brother.  I am SO happy we had a home birth and wouldn't have changed a thing about it (except, maybe save Lucas the trouble of setting up the birth tub...) :)

Ta-Da!

Saturday's Story: The Birth of Luca

Angela and I went to college together and I had the pleasure of seeing her and meeting her beautiful baby boy for the first time this summer at a friend's wedding up in Illinois. Angela shared Luca's story in honor of his first birthday in July on Facebook, and is graciously allowing me to share it with you all here today.


"Because we were already 2 days past our official due date, Dom and I thought we’d take a lovely stroll around the neighborhood to see if we could get this baby moving. It was a wonderfully comfortable evening for a walk in the Midwest in late July, and we enjoyed about an hour of walking and talking about baby names, excitement, and expectations about our nearing adventure. Three weeks prior to this night, I had experienced several hours of contractions 4-6min apart after picking blueberries (and as far as we knew, 1-2cm dilated and 25% effaced), so we were a little surprised that this baby hadn’t tried to come out to play already. After our walk, we guzzled water, had some ice cream, and played Scrabble (Dom won…this alone should have been a sure sign that something was going on inside me that my brain was paying more attention to than the game).

I went to bed about 10:45pm with a sore lower back and a slight headache. When I awoke at 12:40am, I knew it was a contraction that woke me. The feeling was sharp and strong, lasting about 15 seconds. The contractions continued about every 6 minutes or so, the intensity forcing me out of bed after one hour. I went downstairs and started drinking water and alternating between walking and bouncing on my dearly beloved exercise ball (where I had spent good amount of time while pregnant). After another hour of laboring alone, I went and woke up a reluctant husband and had him come downstairs with me. I walked and drank and breathed through contractions and made trips to the bathroom about every 10 minutes.
With the contraction intensity increasing, we called the Dr on call about 3:50am, and he agreed with our assessment that we should go ahead and head to the hospital. Because I had no desire to be at the hospital for a long day of labor, we (aka Dom) took our time gathering our things…my momma’s bag, the baby clothes, the exercise ball, the iPod speakers, the tennis balls/massage oil, hard candy, snacks, pillows, journal, laptop, cameras…you know, all the necessities. Meanwhile, I took a wonderful shower, and dressed smelling like coconut.

Now, we knew that the labor had gotten to that next level when I didn’t want to eat anything before we left. I think I finally had some sips of lemonade, but food did not interest me at all at that point. I tried to take a bite of granola bar in the car, but I didn’t like it. We did use our 4.5-minute drive to St Luke’s to decide on our girl’s name (which had been narrowed down to 2 names previously). Our boy pick having been decided with a little more ease weeks ago.

We arrived easily, walked up to the second floor, and I was checked at 4cm and 80% effacement. I was in labor. Yes. But about 20 minutes later when I got up to walk to our labor room, my water broke, and then I was in real labor. It was 5:25am. The contractions were powerful, all encompassing, and much closer together. The fluid had what we nurses call “thin-meconium” in it, a fairly common occurrence resulting in the ICN nurses attending the delivery and sometimes extra interventions needed for the baby (deep suctioning, not staying with mommy, oxygen, etc.) but many times resulting in nothing extra needed. As a mother/baby nurse, I know this. As a momma in labor with her very first little baby, I know very little. I know my hopes, my dreams, and my desires for as little medical intervention as possible and to not be separated from my newborn. All these thoughts and the “worst-case” scenario flash through my mind after my meconium water has broken. And for the first time in labor, I am a little nervous. I cry. I hug my husband. And the next contraction hits, hard, bringing all my wandering thoughts back to the mission at hand. Breathe, breathe, breathe. It’s baby time.




For the next three hours, I labored with my amazing husband by my side. None of the positions we had practiced felt comfortable. Some rocking, some standing and leaning, but a lot of side to side in the bed…the last place I thought I’d want to be. Our labor nurse Jeanie was fabulous, anticipating my needs, encouraging us, and skillfully progressing the labor. Just before 8:30am, we were told I was at 9.5 cm, and we were very close to pushing. Well, the strength with which the contractions came, I feel took over my body. I couldn’t hold back. My body was telling me to push. I was given the green light to push after another check (apparently I was 10cm during a contraction). I pushed with every contraction, trying to get 3 pushes with each one. I felt immense pressure, amazingly strong contractions, but I did not feel the baby moving/progressing at all. I pushed like this for almost an hour, side to side on the bed, not wanting to get up because I was too uncomfortable. Then, I moved to the toilet. The wonderful, magical toilet. The idea was that maybe a full bladder was keeping the baby from progressing. Turns out the toilet squat was all we needed. I pushed for two rounds of contractions on the toilet and felt the baby move with almost each push. It was such a needed relief to feel that my exhausted pushing was doing something.

When I returned to the bed, I felt as though I had only seconds between contractions. At one point I told Dom that I didn’t feel in control, and he just kept telling me how great I was doing, and he (and Jeanie) helped get my breathing back in focus and started getting me a wash cloth soaked in cold water. I loved that washcloth. For the last 30 minutes of pushing, I covered my face completely with it. I would hold it out to Dom so he could give it a cold refilled and then immediately put it back in place. Somehow, with the washcloth covering me, I could concentrate so much better on each push. The pain was incredible. But at that point, the pain was what was bringing me this precious gift. Each contraction was necessary, each contraction an opportunity to continue on. I pushed through a contraction, squeezed Dom’s hand, and though the contraction was over, kept pushing.




Luca Suppasan was born on July 22, 2008 at 9:55am. Screaming a healthy, beautiful cry. My first words, “it’s a boy!?!” Active and bright red with wide-open eyes, breathing wonderfully, perfectly. He went immediately on my chest where he stayed for one hour. Not needed, the ICN nurses left. Our flawless boy was here. We were in tears, glowing. We experienced the natural birth we hoped for. And Luca didn’t have to leave us once. He started breastfeeding in about 30 minutes. My cheeks hurt from an hour-long smile that I had been saving just for this occasion.

He weighed in at 7 pounds 4 ounces, 20 inches long. His head was 13 ¼ inches in diameter. Luca was awake and alert for almost 4 hours straight. Lovely, attentive eyes, big hands, and huge feet. We were proud, we were overflowing, we were in love."

Saturday's Story: The Birth of Eliana

Today's story is from my friend, Erika, who has 3 beautiful children and is currently expecting number 4!  This story is from the birth of her second child, Elli, who was born at home.  I look forward to sharing her other stories in the future!

"After having a less than desirable hospital birth with my first daughter, I decided I would have a homebirth this time. My original due date was Dec 31^st, 2005 but after two weeks of not showing any signs of labor, even after trying natural induction methods, we decided to visit a doctor. I had not received an ultrasound because we didn’t want to find out the sex and really did not think it was necessary, but once we went to the hospital they thought we should have an ultrasound to determine gestational age, and we agreed. They projected my due date to be mid-February, an entire month away! Neither my husband nor my midwife nor I thought it would be that long, but I was still very anxious. The days after the visit were long and hard because I just wanted to see our baby.

Then, as on every typical weekend night, my husband, Shay, my daughter, Cristiana and I went to a nearby friend’s house to hang out. I was feeling what I thought were Braxton Hicks contractions the whole night, but I didn’t think anything of it. We went home around midnight, and Cristiana instantly fell asleep in our family bed. Shay stayed up late watching a movie, and when he came to bed I was still awake. The contractions were just strong enough to wake me up each time I was about to drift off to sleep. Shay fell asleep, and after much tossing and turning, I couldn’t sleep. I thought this might be labor, but I still wasn’t convinced. At about 2am, I decided to get out of bed and do a bible study because reading usually makes me sleepy. Whenever I had a contraction, I stopped and concentrated on relaxing and getting through it. I almost finished the study when I realized the contractions were getting stronger and closer together. I had to use the restroom and prayed, “God, if this is really it, please show me something clear and tangible.” When I used the restroom, I had bloody show, and I was certain I was in labor because that’s exactly what happened with Cristiana. I was very excited because I knew after weeks of waiting, this was it, and I was finally in labor!

At about 3am, I told Shay I was in labor. He was exhausted from such a late night, he just muffled, “do you need me?” I said, “no” because I really didn’t. The contractions were bearable, and I did not fear being alone. I just wanted him to get some rest until I really needed him. Next I called my mom who lived in Houston because she wanted plenty of time to drive the three hour trip to San Marcos so she could be there when our baby came. She was very excited and said she would call me when she was leaving. Next I called my sister, Maria, because she was going to keep Cristiana during my labor & delivery. Cristiana was only 22 months old at the time, and we weren’t sure how she would react because she is highly sensitive, and I tend to be very loud during the pushing phase, so we thought it would be best for her to be with her Auntie. After talking with Maria, we decided she should come when my midwife came since Cristiana was still sleeping.

Contractions continued getting stronger and closer together, and I cleaned to prepare for our new baby’s arrival. During each contraction, I would pause, hold on to the couch, and concentrate on relaxing through it. Though they were painful, I realized squatting, kneeling or sitting on the edge of the couch was the most comfortable. I got a little bit tired so I decided to recline to a semi-sitting position on the couch, but my contractions were much more painful this way, so I quickly adjusted myself. I thought back to my hospital birth and remembered I was in the semi-sitting position for a large portion of my labor and thought, “no wonder I screamed so much and felt the urge to push at only 7 cm!” I was so glad to be laboring in the comfort of my home.

Around 4:30am, I woke up Shay because I felt like I really needed him by my side for support. We timed my contractions, and they were 45 seconds long and 5-7 minutes apart, so I decided to call my midwife, Amber Clarkson, around 5-ish. I told her the interval and duration of my contractions, and she said she would like them to be 60-90 seconds long before she headed over. I was a little hesitant because I was starting to get anxious, but I reluctantly agreed to her decision. By this time, my younger brother Doug, who lived with us, woke up and asked me what was going on. I told him I was in labor, and he said, “ohhhh.” He had constantly teased me throughout my pregnancy that he did not want to be there during my delivery, but I knew he was half serious. He was only 21, so that kind of thing freaked him out. He stayed awake with us though and we all just talked and laughed in between contractions. Cristiana slept through it all.

I decided to call my mom because I still hadn’t heard from her, and she was just getting out of the shower. She had been folding clothes and making sure the house looked perfect because it was on the market for sale, and she had to have it ready before she left for the week. She left Houston between 5:30 and 6am. Finally, contractions were getting really close together and lasting a little over a minute long, so we called Amber sometime after 6 am. She was on her way, and then I called my sister, Maria, again. She lived half an hour away in Austin, and her husband had to be at work at 7:30am, so she quickly came over. She arrived around 7am and noticed my contractions were coming quickly, one after another, and assumed I was really close to delivering the baby. She hurriedly got Cristiana and left so she could get home to the kids in time for her husband to get to work.

Amber arrived with her assistant, Salli, around 7:20 am, and by this time, I was having a more difficult time getting through the contractions because they were extremely painful and very close together. Amber asked Shay if I had been in the water, and he said no, so she filled the bathtub with water for me. I got in the water, and the warmth was incredibly soothing during my contractions. I was thoroughly amazed. I noticed a major difference in the level of pain, and I knew why they called water a natural epidural. Amber told me I could start pushing, but I couldn’t believe it was already that time. Although the contractions were extremely painful, the entire time I labored everything was so natural and comfortable and relaxing, nothing like the excruciating pain and unrest I experienced in the hospital. I just couldn’t believe it was time to push. I thought for sure I would have to be screaming and crying and writhing in pain before that could happen. Amber sensed my hesitancy and asked if I wanted her to check my dilation. I agreed, and she did so and said I was 9 ½ cm dilated, fully effaced, and ready to push. I asked, “really, are you sure?” because I still couldn’t believe it was time. She reassured me, and I heeded her suggestion and started giving light pushes.

I wanted to know where my mom was because I knew she really wanted to see the birth. Shay called her and found out she was past Columbus, which is more than halfway to San Marcos. Amber said she could break my water, and it would likely make the baby come quickly, but I wanted to wait longer so my mom could make it in time. This was nothing like my hospital birth where I was begging to push at 7cm and anxiously had them break my water to make things go as quickly as possible. At this point, I was in pain, but it was tolerable. Time past, my contractions got stronger, and we thought my water broke. I started intensely pushing at around 8 am. We found out my mom was 10 miles from Luling, which meant she was about 35 minutes away. I was in a lot of pain because my baby’s head was descending, and I could not wait any longer. My water bag burst from the pushing, the pain became more intense, and I started screaming. Whereas some people prefer to try to continue relaxing at this point, I feel better when I scream and just let it all out. I could feel my baby’s head, and once it crowned, I felt the excruciating burning, or ring of fire as they call it, and I finally exclaimed, “I can’t take this anymore!” By this time, Shay was halfway in the tub supporting me, Amber was verbally encouraging me, and her assistant Salli let me squeeze her hand. They were all incredibly wonderful to me.

Our baby entered our world at 8:27 am, born in the water, and Amber immediately placed the baby on my chest. I was crying tears of relief that it was over and joy to finally see our precious little one. Shay and I embraced and kissed and were thrilled. We both looked, and Shay said, “she’s a girl!” We already had the name Eliana Eve picked out for a girl, and Shay asked if that’s what we still wanted, and I said “yes.” We were both overcome with emotion. As for Eliana, she did not cry at all. Just as she started to, Amber turned off the lights, and she simply opened her eyes and looked around in awe of her new world. She was at total peace. I was amazed at her reaction.

Soon after, my grandma and my cousin Natalie arrived. My mom arrived around 8:45 am. Eliana and I were still in the water, and I really didn’t pay attention to anyone else but her. After the cord stopped pulsating, Amber cut it, but she left it long enough so Shay could cut it once we were in bed. I delivered the placenta in the water and felt more relief. Shay took Elli in his arms for the first time, Amber drained the bath water, and I took a shower. I got into bed around 9:30 am, Shay cut the cord, Amber weighed Elli, and a little while later Cristiana arrived. When she saw Shay holding Elli, she immediately cried. She seemed overwhelmed, but she quickly adjusted and hugged and kissed Elli. Shay and Cristiana climbed into bed with me, and I nursed our new baby for the first time. She immediately latched on, but the session was brief. She drifted off to sleep and literally slept the entire day, waking only once to nurse. We couldn’t believe how much she slept! It was such a delight for me to be able to rest and sleep the entire day, have as much family as I wanted in my apartment to care for our newest little one, and not have anybody come to wake me up every hour or two to check her and make sure I fed her. Things couldn’t have been better. This was definitely a more gentle birth experience than I could have ever imagined."

Saturday's Story: The Birth of Isaac

Jamie offered to share her beautiful story when I put out a request on my mom's group messaging board. Her story below is from the actual e-mail she sent out to her friends and family after the birth of her son. Thank you for offering to share, Jamie! Also, please check out her website. It is a wonderful resource regarding Hypnobirthing (she is a certified Hypnobirthing instructor).

Throughout our pregnancy I have sent periodical updates to share our excitement for this baby with friends and family. The time has come to share with you our birth story. Isaac Edward was born Friday, August 3, 2007...




Thursday, August 2, 2007:

7:00am
Arie and I went to see our midwife, April Kermani, for our 39 week appt. I was dilated 2cm and she said I could expect some cramping from the exam. We left the appt. expecting to see her next week for the 40 week appt.

12:00pm
I emailed my boss at work to let her know I was going home for the day. On this day, I knew the birth was closing in and needed this time to rest. I did not think, however, that the birth would be coming so soon.

2:00pm
I decided to take a few laps in the pool. I ended up staying in the pool for 2 hours. I was having some cramping but figured it was from the exam earlier in the day. I sent Arie a text message, jokingly saying "I have feeling you will have a son tonight, you had better catch up at work today."

7:00pm
Arie and I went out to dinner at Sushi Fever. At dinner Arie and I discussed that this could possibly be our last dinner together alone for a while. I continued having cramps througout the dinner. I could not distinguish between one cramp starting and another stopping. It was just constant cramping. I was unsure that "this was it."

10:30pm
We were at home watching television and Arie had fallen asleep. I let him sleep, figuring that if this was true labor that he would probably need the rest. I tried laying down but the cramps were getting stronger and I began to distinguish that they were fading in and out. I began timing them. From 10:30pm-midnight the cramps were coming every 15 minutes. I began thinking that this was possibly Isaac's final day in my belly. From 12-2:00am the cramps were every 5 minutes apart. During this time I used my relaxation and breathing techniques that I had learned in Hypnobirthing. I was actually really excited that the cramps were closer together and stronger!

Friday, August 3, 2007

2:00am
I woke Arie up and let him know that the cramps were 5 minutes apart. I even showed him my little piece of paper that I had been writing down the times on. He got out of bed and we packed the last few things into our hospital bag. He recommended that we go to the hospital (St Rose Dominican de Lima Campus), since it was a 30-40 minute drive. At this point we were both unsure if this was true labor. As we drove, I stayed calm throughout the ride. Arie kept the conversation light and attempted to video tape me and drive at the same time! Quite funny...

2:30-5:00am
I was admitted to St Rose de Lima hospital at 2:30am. The nurse checked me and hooked me up to a monitor. I was still 2cm and my surges (the Hypnobirthing term for contractions) actually slowed down to about 5-7 minutes apart. At 5am the nurse said that they were sending me home because my surges were still so long apart. She also said I could prob have this sort of feeling for another day or week or two! I got dressed and Arie signed the paperwork for us to go home. As we were walking out the door the nurse stopped us and said..."you know I should probably check you again, just in case." Ha! I was 4cm...and this WAS it!

7:00am
A new nurse came on shift. Her name was Marie and she was such a blessing. She was exactly the nurse we needed for our birth. She knew we were planning a natural birth and asked us if we would like to have a water birth or at least just sit in the hot tub to relax. I jumped at this opportunity. Arie and I had discussed having a water birth before this day but eventually decided that we would go ahead and try a regular birth. Marie had us moved to the room that was equipped with a birthing tub. She began to get the tub ready after checking me one more time. A this point I was 6cm. I told Arie I was going to take "a nap." This was my term for getting into the zone through deep relaxation. The surges were strong but still 5 minutes apart. Arie said he could read the surges on the monitor but that it seemed that I was sleeping through everything.

9:30am
I began to "awaken." The nurse noticed that I was moving around a little and asked me if I wanted to go ahead and get into the tub. In response I told her..."I have to push." Surprised, Marie wanted to check me again to see how far along I was. I was 9.5cm! I told Arie I didnt even realize that I had been in the zone for such a long time. It felt like 10 minutes and it had really been 2 hours. She called April, our midwife, to come on over. In the meantime I moved into the tub. The tub was perfect. It was so hot and the water jets were great! April arrived and within minutes my body was beginning to bring the baby down. It was absolutely amazing that my body was moving the baby downward and I wasnt doing anything. I wasnt even in pain. My body took control and allowed for the birth to take place. It was simply amazing. In between surges I was talking, laughing and enjoying ice cold cranberry juice. In between one surge I even said "I wish the surges were stronger and longer so Isaac will be here sooner."


Before this day I truly wondered if I could and would make it through this birth naturally. And...I did it. I trusted my body to deliver Isaac in this wonderful way. This experience has taught me to never doubt myself and to trust my body. Wow, what a miracle.

10:25am
Isaac Edward Marancenbaum, our little water baby, was born. My membranes (water) didnt
release until he had come through the canal. He was 6 pounds and 15 ounces and 20 inches long. God has truly blessed us with this miracle of life.

After Isaac's birth the midwife determined Isaac was healthy and allowed us to bond with him for the first two hours. They didn't need to bathe, weigh, and measure him right away. The hospital acknowledged our requests and allowed Isaac to have a gentle and smooth transition into our world. Isaac was so alert and calm; he breastfed for the entire first hour.




During the past few days I keep thanking God for blessing us with this little life. He is so precious. We are so thankful. August 5 was my birthday and I couldnt have asked for a better gift.

We will keep everyone up-to-date periodically about Isaac and our new life as a family. As for now, we just want to thank everyone for being so supportive. Raising a baby really does take a village and I am so excited to have you in our lives.

Saturday's Story: The Birth of Greg

Lacy e-mailed me to offer to share her birth story here on the blog, and WOW is it a story!  What a strong woman you are, Lacy.  Thank you for sharing!

"My birth story is probably like no other to most.. My child was born at a military hospital and I was induced at 39wks because my right kidney was under a lot of stress.. 

On Friday January 30th, 2009 Dr. Ware from L&D called and informed me that Dr. Wakefield wanted me in there at 0715.. I was there and my nurse got everything set up.. She was nice but she argued with a lot of everything anyone said including Dr. Wakefield.. The nurse setting my iv up blew my vein in my right hand and let me just say OUCH!! They ended up putting it in my left forearm again ouch just not as bad.. Dr. Wakefield checked me at 0845 and I was still a four.. =( He said we'd start the pitocin and go from there.. Which was started at around 0920 of course I felt them soon but nothing I couldn't handle, every 30 minutes they came in there and upped it.. By 1300 they were every 1-2 minutes apart and I wanted an epidural but I was trying to hold out.. Dr. Wakefield came in at 1330 and broke my water before he had time to stand up I was about to scream from pain.. He said Lacy this is going to go fast since last time with your first son and we'll be checking you a lot.. So the nurse had already told Donn that I was wanting an epidural so he got me all set up.. However he had to stop cause Dr. Wakefield and nurse's came running because of my pulse falling thankfully it picked up and he was able to finish.. I kept telling the nurse the pain was so much worse and I kept gushing water it was splashing all over the place and I had never had that happen with Nikolas.. Donn stayed around because last time my blood pressure and pulse fell.. I ended up at 1415 having to get another boost because the pain was outrageous in my pelvic area and Donn also ended up having to give me something because of my blood pressure, and pulse.. I ended up falling asleep after the second dose for a little bit.. At around 1515 the nurse had me roll over from the waist up to my right side and as soon as it happened Greg fell off the monitors.. She tried for a bit to get him and then went and got another nurse. At this point Jon had nothing to eat or drink.. So I told him to run to the waiting room get a drink and something to snack on I'd be fine.. So both nurse's (were looking for Greg's heart rate) kept saying to each other what's that noise I couldn't hear anything that much because of the oxygen mask I was wearing.. They were talking about it being a pet blah blah.. About that time Jon walks in and is behind the curtain and they ask him if he has a pet with him, Mom stands up and listens for a second and goes that's a baby and yanks the sheet back... There lay Gregory and the placenta, and lots of blood every where by this time the nurses are screaming "oh my god" they drop me back Jon gets to where he can see and as soon as I saw his face I start freaking out, hyperventilating.. The nurses aren't saying anything to me finally Mom and Jon tell me that Greg is fine..



Thankfully Greg and I are both fine.. Because of everything there was no doctor or midwife.. Dr. Wakefield couldn't come he was in a c-section.. The midwife came in and stitched me up I have a 3rd degree tear in the same area as the first.. Can we say holy mother of all it hurts? Greg was laid on my stomach almost asap to warm him up while SSGT. F (who was leaving for the day and heard everything) got the warmer going.. At least 5-10 minutes had passed and SSGT. F. asked the two nurses what time was it when they found Greg they go "Um don't know" he called it at 1538 they have him at 20 inches long and 8lbs.. Evidently once we got to the MBU he was re-weighed and was 5lbs 10oz.."

Saturday's Story: The Birth of Caleb

This week's birth story is from Sarah at We Three Eaves. I know Sarah from a local mom's group and am grateful to her for offering to share! Thank you Sarah!

Okay, so this is my version of Caleb's birth... I'm sure I've forgotten certain aspects or they don't seem as vivid because of nature's "forgetting" hormones!



Tuesday Morning- Woke up with sporadic contractions. Frustrated with facing another day of Prodromal labor I silently cursed my body and chose to ignore the contractions. They were so sporadic; I'd have one, then 10 minutes later another, then nothing for 30 to 45 minutes. I decided to keep my noon pre-natal massage in the hopes that it would help my body relax and let nature take its course… plus it’s just really nice to lie on those pregnancy pillows for an hour.

Noon- go in for the massage, mention to Jennifer that I’m having some contractions but reassure her that I am definitely NOT in labor. She asked if I was ready to have the baby and I gave a definite “YES.” I told her she could do whatever she wanted to move things along (knowing that nothing she’d do would make the baby come before it was ready).

1 pm- The massage rocked and by the time it was over my contractions had picked up in intensity and were now regularly 10-15 minutes apart. I still didn’t believe I was in labor and chalked the contractions up to post-massage adjusting. I called Austin and said “Just so you know, I’m kinda having some contractions, but I don’t think it’s a big deal.”

2:30 pm- Called Austin again and let him know that I was still having contractions. Told him I wasn’t sure if anything was going to come of them but asked him to make sure he didn’t have to go back to work when he left that day. I told him there was no need to come home early. I was timing the contractions and there were hovering around 10 minutes apart, but I could still talk and walk through them. I just felt achy, especially in my hips. So I rolled and bounced around on the birth ball, practiced breathing and relaxation techniques and distracted myself with TV. I put on something that was mildly interesting but didn’t require my full attention… a movie with Jennie Garth set in 1920’s Utah.

3ish pm- Called Austin again and asked him to come home ASAP. The contractions were hurting now and I needed his help relaxing. I called Charissa and announced “I think I’m in labor” then burst into tears. I was scared. Austin was home 20 minutes later. He took over timing the contractions, called Katherine at Nativiti to give her a heads up and started getting the house ready. All his fussing and busy-ness made me nervous and things started hurting more. He must have realized this because he stopped running around the house and just sat down in the living room with me and we chatted between contractions. We started calling the parents to let them know around 4:30. Of the 4 sets of parents, 3 were out of town; my mom in Oklahoma City, John & June in Minneapolis and my dad in Phoenix. We kept having to hang up on people because by this time I was moaning through contractions and it bothered me to know that someone could hear me.

5pm- Austin announces it’s time to head to the birth center; my contractions must have hit the 5 minute mark. I remember talking briefly to my dad and then to my sister. Austin began loading the car, waiting to go was tough… the contractions kept coming faster and knowing we had an hour drive ahead of us made me nervous

6 pm- We left the house. I was stretched out on my side in the back seat, pillows all around. 15 minutes into the drive I made Austin stop so I could go to the bathroom… surprisingly the gas station attendant said absolutely nothing about the fact that Austin came into the women’s restroom with me. Back in the car we joked about how Gretzky had chosen to come on a beautiful sunny fall day, just before the full moon, not during bad weather or on the full moon as we’d predicted.

6:45 pm- Another bathroom stop, this time in an area we were unfamiliar with. We stopped at a Jack in the Box and by this time I was very obviously in labor. We gave the teenage JITB employee quite a shock. Trying to get back onto the Toll Road proved next to impossible. We were lost, I started panicking and begged Austin to get us to the birth center, I was NOT comfortable having contractions in the car. The only way to get back on the toll road was to head the opposite direction that we needed. We ended up going through the same toll booth 4 times in an effort to head north.

7:20 pm- We arrived at the birth center. I had somewhat calmed down and was relieved to see Kat waiting for us. She quickly ushered us into the birth room and then she and Hope checked to see how dilated I was. 4 centimeters. I was ticked and pleased at the same time. 4 Centimeters meant I WAS in actual labor (I had an unspoken fear that this wasn’t labor and I’d over reacted) but I was ticked that I’d only progressed to a 4…. After all that effort I wanted to be almost done (Ha!).

I started laboring at the center. Sitting on the birth ball felt great, but having someone (Austin) squeeze my hips together for each contraction made the pain almost disappear. It was amazing… probably killed Austin’s hands but it felt pretty darn good to me. This is where I begin to lose track of time, everything seemed to have happened so quickly but it truly was another 10 hours. The contractions were building in intensity but I was focused on relaxing and just breathing through them. At some point my sister arrived from Dallas and it felt like we’d only been there a few minutes, I kept trying to calculate how fast she’d driven, and I assumed it was 8 o’clock but have no idea as there are no clocks in the birthing rooms. I finally asked to be checked again in the hopes that I’d progressed far enough to get in the tub. For some reason I had it firmly implanted in my head that getting into the tub would mean 1) less intense feeling contractions and 2) I would be almost done. Hope checked me and agreed that I could get in the tub (6 centimeters). The tub was a no go…. I could NOT get comfortable and instead just felt wet and sweaty. So out I came. I remember going through transition (throwing up, feeling hot, then cold).

I became pretty mean and told every person to leave me alone, shut up or some other comment at least once. I kept wanting to change positions, first on the ball, then hands and knees, then squatting…. Nothing provided relief, I just had to get through each contraction and lean on Austin, Kat, Jen, and Hope to provide encouragement.

When Trish arrived I was so happy…. Trish’s arrival meant that I was close (because she’s only called in once the mom is about to push) and I kept looking for her to rescue me from the others. I remember feeling that I was done, I was so tired and they just kept pushing me to keep going. I thought Trish would come in and tell them all to leave me alone and rescue me from Kat’s demands that I squat or stand. No such luck… Trish jumped on their bandwagon and joined the cheering section. I was beginning to really hate them, couldn’t they just understand that I was exhausted and I just needed a break. I asked if they could put me to sleep, Kat refused. I told them I was tired and just needed to sleep, Kat told me it was the endorphins and it meant things were progressing. I told them I didn’t want to do this anymore, Kat said I had to. I told them I couldn’t do this anymore… they all told me I could. I told them all to shut up, they chuckled because they knew it meant I really was close. I was afraid, I knew what was coming and was scared to actually have the baby, I didn’t want to tear… of all things, tearing or having an episiotomy was my greatest fear. Kat recognized that I was afraid and gave me a homeopathic calming remedy.

At one point Kat checked me again and I was dilated to 9 centimeters with a tiny lip, once the lip was out of the way I could push. I’m not sure of the order but I did consent to have Kat break my water (we’d been taught NOT to have the water ruptured because it only speeds labor by about 10-20 minutes, but at that point I was so tired 10 minutes sounded like heaven). I got really mad at Kat after she broke my water because suddenly there was all this pressure and unlike before I didn’t dissipate between contractions. I think I told her “You LIED to me! you said it wouldn’t hurt, this HURTS!” She had me clarify if it hurt or was pressure and I realized it was pressure, not pain (it still irritated me though). Kat also pushed back the lip so that I could push. The tub was filled once again and I got in to push… nada. Again I couldn’t find a good position. I wanted to be on my hands and knees but that meant my belly and back were out of the water, so there was no point. Out of the tub again and onto the bed, birth ball, birth stool, and anything else we could concoct.

My favorite position was to use Austin as a chair and sit on his legs between contractions then rock forward to all 4’s for the contraction. He is my hero for enduring that for as long as he did, I know it had to have killed him. I kept apologizing for having ruined his shorts… he assured me it was okay. Eventually Kat had me lie on my side to push, I was so tired I couldn’t push effectively anymore and side lying would allow me to rest between contractions. That was the best idea EVER!! Once I was on my side I could focus on what was going on and really push. I no longer felt any pain or pressure. The lights were turned down in the room and I stopped seeing or recognizing faces… just voices encouraging me. I was completely lost in “labor land,” I’d occasionally see someone standing in front of me or at the foot of the bed and I had no clue who they were. At one point I started to get irritated at the man who was just standing there watching me… then I realized it was Austin! I was no longer in control of my body; it pushed on its own. Pushing didn’t hurt, not pushing hurt, but the endorphins were so strong that I didn’t feel any pain while pushing.

I did get frustrated when the head was slow to emerge… it would start to appear as I pushed only to retreat backwards once the contraction ended. I finally reached down with my hand to feel the baby’s head and could use that as a guide on how to push better. Slowly I felt more and more of the head. Then the burning sensation of crowning hit. If our Bradley teacher had drilled anything into our heads it was to STOP pushing once crowning started. I told Kat & Hope that I felt burning and just stopped pushing, we waited for the burning to subside before pushing again, and then repeated the process several times. Hope and I massaged my perineum to help it stretch. I remember asking if I could push again and they told me to give short little grunty pushes. I felt like everything was going great and then all the sudden things went a bit crazy. They started yelling at me to get the baby out NOW, someone grabbed my head and pushed it forward, I was no longer on my side but was on my back and they just kept yelling for me to push. I was ticked off because I’d wanted the baby to enter the world slowly and peacefully, this was certainly NOT peaceful. When I resisted they said “We HAVE to do this!” and flipped me on to all 4’s. I knew something was off at that point and stopped arguing and just pushed. Eventually I felt this huge gush and heard Austin say “We have a Caleb!!”

I looked down to where the baby lay and saw a hand and a foot and was shocked at how big they were. I remember asking Austin “it’s a boy? Seriously?” and laughing.

Afterwards Austin held me while I held Caleb and the three of us just stared at each other in awe. I could not believe this warm heavy baby was actually ours. Austin was an amazing coach, and there is no way I could have done it without his support. He was constantly by my side, holding me, talking to me, and being my protector. Jennifer knew exactly what to say and every time I’d look to her she’d tell me what I needed to hear. The times when I felt that no one else in that room knew how I felt I knew that Jen had been through it all before and her encouragement kept me going. Kat, Hope, & Trish were amazing; they encouraged, pushed, and cheered me on the entire time. I felt surrounded by love and support by everyone and that made me feel safe and made the labor that much easier.

The chaos had been because Caleb decided to come out with his hand wedged up on the side of his face, then his broad shoulders got stuck and they had to wiggle him out ASAP so his heart rate wouldn’t drop. All total I labored for 17 hours, from noon on Tuesday until Caleb was born at 5:16am Wednesday morning. The pushing phase lasted 3 ½ hours. Apparently that is a long time but for some reason I had it stuck in my head that labor would last 24 hours so I felt I got off easy. I did not tear or have an episiotomy, all of Justine’s admonishments NOT to push while crowning paid off!! Caleb weighed in at 9lbs 6 oz and had a 14 1/2 inch head circumference... and his chest was just a broad. No wonder it took so long to push him out! Kat nicknamed Caleb "Big Bad John" (which must be said in a deep voice) and walked around singing the song as she took all his measurements.

After it’s all said and done I would do it (almost) the same all over again. The only thing I’d change would be to not drive so far, laboring in the car is not advisable!

Saturday's Story: The Birth of Lily

This birth story is from Christy, one of my blogger friends. She blogs over at Jinxyisms--please stop by her blog and let her know you saw her story! Christy's daughter Lily was born just 3 days after Lincoln : )

On Saturday December 20, 2008 I woke up about 8 like normal and spent 30-45 minutes snuggling with Waldo.

During that time I kept feeling small gushes (for lack of a better word) from my girly area. When we finally got out of bed I went to investigate the gushes. I had soaked through the pad I was wearing. TMI alert: Pregnancy is full of fluids and its best to wear protection. I changed the pad and went into the living room and announced that we were on “fluid watch”. I wasn’t stressed out by the fluid, like I said pregnancy is full of it. But I had no clean baby clothes and our washer had finally defrosted so I went and started a load of baby clothes, just in case.

About 11:00 Waldo told me to make a decision about this fluid since we needed to start our normal Saturday chores. I did the smart thing and called the doctor’s office (which I had planned to do all along, I was just procrastinating) At this point I had soaked through 3 more pads, the doctor told me to go to the hospital and get it checked.

While Waldo took a shower I got my hospital bag ready, the whole time thinking that I was being silly and I didn’t need the bag yet. I was only 36 weeks 1 day along. I was going to get to the hospital and they were going to shake their heads at me and tell me to stop worrying.

Once we got to the hospital we left the bag in the car since we just knew we were going to be heading to Kalispell soon. Boy we were wrong.

I was pre-registered so they put me in a bed and hooked me up to the monitors.



I wasn’t contracting, but when they checked the fluid it was in fact my amniotic water. I asked how long we were going to be there because we hadn’t eaten yet and we were hungry. It was about 11:45 or so. The nurse laughed and said that we weren’t going anywhere, we were having a baby within 24 hours. Waldo and I looked at each other and I think we both had that deer in the headlights look. OMG a baby now!

The nurse checked me and said that I was completely softened and what not and “wow your baby is so low” but not dilated at all. I still wasn’t having any contractions either.

She had us order lunch from the cafeteria, which was surprisingly good.

At about 2 they started pitocin. Since my bag of waters had ruptured there was a high chance of infection, so they had to get my labor going. For the first hour or two I didn’t feel anything, we could see the contractions on the monitor but I wasn’t feeling them. Then I felt one and that was the end of it. They were coming every 2-4 minutes and they hurt. After about an hour I was already ready for the epidural, but I’m a closet granola and I had ideas about how I wanted my daughters birth to be. Medical intervention was not on the list. I was already off to a bad start with the pitocin. I tried all of the pain management techniques we had learned at our child birth education class and the things that the nurses recommended. Nothing really helped. Sitting on anything just seemed to make it worse. Standing up and walking helped a little, but I couldn’t do that for too long. As much as I didn’t want to be in bed, that was the most comfortable place. Later I figured out this was because Lily was so far down (as everyone told me when they checked, EVERY TIME) I was sitting on her so the soft mattress was better then a hard chair, etc.

When they checked me I wasn’t really making much progress, it was very disheartening. They kept turning up the pitocin. In order to make it through the contractions I just kept telling myself it was all for Lily and thinking about her made it possible to endure another one and another one and another one.

Waldo was great, he did what ever I asked him to. Rub my back, walk with me and rub my back, hold my hand while I was in the tub, remind me that it won’t last forever and stand by my decision to go without pain meds and then again stand behind me when I decided to take something.

Finally about 2 in the morning, the nurse offered something I think was called stadol, she said it would just take the edge off and only lasted about 1 hour. I needed a break, the contractions were back to back and really bad. They told me that I had a few things going on that were making the contraction bad, Lily was really low, the pitocin, and the lack of amniotic fluid to soften them. I agreed to a half dose of the stadol. I call total bullshit on “it takes the edge off”. It made me very sleepy, but I felt each and every contraction just like I did before. I would breathe through a contraction and then fall asleep and then wake up for the next one. Waldo was sitting in a chair next to my bed, holding my hand and watching the monitor. He knew when I was going to wake up again and felt so bad for me. I would ask him almost every other time “did I sleep through some” and he would tell me no, but I was dreaming about having contractions so it was very depressing.

At about 8:30 am on 12/21/08 after being awake for 24 hours I asked for the epidural, I didn’t want it though. But neither Waldo or I had slept and I knew we would need our strength. It took about 2 hours for the anesthesiologists to get there and get it in. That had to be the longest 2 hours of my life. Once it was in, we both slept for hours. Well except the nurses kept coming in to take my blood pressure and check on me. This went on all day. My doctor was great, she knew how much I didn’t want a c-section so she kept upping the pitocin to try to encourage my cervix to dilate. Finally at 11:00 pm I was at 10 and ready to go. I pushed and pushed, staring into Waldo’s eyes while he held my left leg and helped me count. I couldn’t have done any of it without him. After 3 hours my doctor said that Lily was wonky and we had to do a c-section. I asked if there was any other way and said said no. For the first time I cried, and boy did I cry. I had worked so had to get to this point and now I had to have the major surgery that I never wanted. But it was all about getting Lily out and into my arms.

They brought Waldo some scrubs and I got a really cool hair net thing. He and I talked about it all and knew that this was for the best and how funny it was that everything thing that could go wrong with how I wanted this to go had. I calmed down and stopped crying.

After what seemed like forever (probably more like 45 very long minutes) someone came to get me and told Waldo what he was going to do. They wheeled me into a very cold, white room that made me cry harder then ever. Everyone was really nice and tried to tell me it was all going to be fine. I knew that, I was crying over the loss of my vision, my ideal birth. For 8 months (or my whole life) I had planned this birth in my head and now it was all different and essentially wrong. But being the logical person I try to be most of the time I calmed down and knew that it was best for Lily. The little sucker was trying to come out sideways and that wouldn’t work.

They gave me more drugs and explained how it was going to work. Waldo came in and was holding my hand, the next thing I know I felt them rubbing my stomach and then they were holding a slimy baby over the drape.

They put her in the warming bed and Waldo went over the be with her. I cried as I watched them rubbing her. She was crying and I couldn’t be with her, which just made me cry harder, but I was glad Waldo was there. He was taking pictures of her, just like I told him to.
After what seemed like hours they wrapped her up and brought her to me. .



To be continued when I can see through my tears again….

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Christy's story will be continued this Wednesday. Thank you so much for agreeing to share with us. 

Saturday's Story: The Birth of Hallie

Happy 4th of July everyone!  Since we are celebrating the birth of our country, of course it is fitting to post a birth story here as well!  Keri and Dave are our good friends from college.  Dave was Lucas' roommate for 2 years.  We are going to get to see them this summer for the first time in a long time--I think Hallie was maybe 6 months when we last saw them--it's been too long, that's for sure!

Here is Keri's story:

Hallie was born on Wednesday, 7/12/06 at 2:57pm, after lots o’ labor…

On Monday, I decided to go on a 3-mile walk and do squats. I had already had my membranes swept (not a very fun experience), and I was ready for the baby to be born! Not surprisingly, I woke up that night (around 1am) having contractions. They were between 5-7 minutes apart, and weren’t too strong. I timed them until about 3am and then woke up Dave. We called the hospital and they told us to come in. We got to the hospital, excited, nervous, ready for a baby…and we were back home by 6:30am (I was only dilated a 2).

My mom arrived from Moberly around 10:30am and I spent the entire day have contractions. Between contractions, I SCRUBBED the floor, took a walk and got things ready for the baby. I was in serious nesting mode. Around 7pm, I decided I couldn't stand the pain anymore and we went back to the hospital. They checked me and I was....STILL only 2cm dilated. I was really bummed and extremely grouchy at the nurse, who told me she didn't think I was in "real" labor. If looks could kill...that woman would have been in a pile on the floor. They had me walk. And walk. And walk.

They checked me again and decided I HAD progressed a little (like, to 2 and a HALF), so they called the doctor and he told them to go ahead and admit me. A few botched IV's later and I was hooked up and ready to have a baby. The IV was the worst part of it. I had my comfy robe and was adamant NOT to have an IV. I insisted, but they insisted more. Next time…I will 100% refuse the IV. And the blood pressure thing. That was just annoying. Dave slept in a chair next to my bed and spent a lot of time watching ESPN. My mom also slept in the hospital with us and did Dave's job by rubbing my feet during contractions. The contractions continued through the night, and I finally allowed them to give me something to "take the edge" off. It worked, and I got a few hours of sleep. The doctor came in around 6:30am (this is Wednesday now) and started Pitosin because I had maybe progressed to a three. The Epidural Man was right behind him and got my drip started right away. Funny story – so they didn’t get the catheter in fast enough after my epidural took effect. ‘Nuff said. The epidural made me feel kind of sick, so I tried to rest for a lot of the day. My dad showed up around 11am and I had people in and out of my room the rest of the day. I loved it! There’s nothing like wanting to vomit while your grandmother-in-law is hanging out in the chair next to you. Lovely. I actually didn’t mind it at all. I liked having the family involved.

I started getting super tired (for almost 36 hours!), so we booted everyone out. The nurses checked me around 1pm and told me I was about 8cm. They called the doctor and when he came in a few minutes later to check me himself, I was a complete 10 cm and ready to push!! I remember thinking – wow, really?! Seriousy?! After all of this, I finally get to have a baby?! There was a lot of bustling around as they started getting everything ready. I got to just lay calmly and chitchat with my doctor (who is so pretty and smells awesome). My epidural had worn off just enough so I could feel the pressure and feel the need to push, but didn’t feel any pain. My awesome nurses instructed Dave to hold my leg (ha!) and the pushing began! I was really nervous that I would poop during labor and that Dave would make fun of me. And at one point – I said, “oh shoot – I think I just pooped – sorry about that!” And the nurse said, “honey, that was the head!” We all laughed hysterically at that point. I did one more push and Hallie Elizabeth entered the world at 7 pounds 2.5 ounces, 19.5 inches long, perfect. They placed her immediately on my chest while Dave cut the cord. Or did Dave cut the cord and then they put her on my chest? No matter. I had a small tear and an abrasion on my labia (sorry for the TMI – but OUCH!). And I was exhausted. I breastfed Hallie for about a half hour and then allowed my family to come in and see her for the first time. I literally could not keep my eyes open, so we made them leave and we just rested as a family. It was awesome.

Saturday's Story: The Birth of Hudson

Today's birth story is from my good friend Sam at Sailing the Hudson. Sam was our neighbor until a few months ago when her family moved to North Carolina. We miss them!

Our son Hudson was born May 23, 2007 at home. That was two years ago tonight and yet when I close my eyes I can still feel the warm water, hear the gentle voices and smell the flowers. 

The choice to have a home water birth was not an easy one for me and yet I knew for me their was no other choice. I had my daughter in a hospital and though it was a great birth I always knew I would never do it again like that. After her birth I felt unfulfilled and at the same time lucky. And by lucky I mean I had escaped the hospital without a C-Section and still breastfeeding her. It wasn't easy and I don't mean the labor part. We had to fight and I still got the epidural, she still got a pacifier shoved in her mouth and our every action was critiqued by nurses. We also were handed a huge bag full of formula as a gift.

We were living in South Carolina when we started thinking about adding to our family and I was blessed to meet some amazing moms. They were honest, caring, supportive and nurturing. Hearing their birth stories I knew their was no other way, I was having our next baby at home.

We got pregnant, found an amazing midwife and then sat back and enjoyed a great pregnancy. 

The big due date came and we had my 40 week prenatal in our home with our midwife, her apprentice and my mom, now in town for the birth. We were asked if we had any concerns or fears and I did, I was nervous that I had none. I mean here I was about to give birth at any moment and I felt so relaxed, that can't be normal. I believe they smiled and reassured me. I told them to go home and not worry about me this baby wasn't coming any time soon. I was a week overdue, was 4 cm dilated and lost my mucous plug 4 days before giving birth to my daughter and I had not so much as a cramp with this one. Less than 12 hours later I had them on the phone, he was coming!

Back from a late diner out and after trying to put our 2 1/2 year old down to bed for what seemed like hours, I felt a cramp. I knew this was it, why I knew I don't know because it was just a small cramp. So I did want any very pregnant women would do; I got myself a big glass of wine and filled the bath tub. It was 10pm and I was going to do anything to make sure I got a good night sleep before things really got going. Well that cramp turned into small contractions and somewhere between 11pm & 12am, we decided to call the midwife to let her know. We didn't want to shock her with a call at 4 am, after all we had just seen her earlier in the day and I said I had days to go if not weeks. 

This is where things get hazy, I remember trying to sleep, wasn't going to happen. I remember telling Chris I wasn't going to let him sleep. I walked the bedroom and sat on the toilet. I know that doesn't make a pretty picture but let me tell you when you are in labor the toilet is as about as comfortable as it gets. That is unless you have an amazing husband filling a large birth pool up with warm water in your bedroom. Though he had to drag me off the potty to get me in it. At this point we had already called Cynthia and Adrienne our amazing birthing team and they were on their way. Mind you this is about 2am, two hours after all this started. I had been having a really hard time controlling my breath up until now, something I found very frustrating seeing as I practice yoga daily. I am however also a swimmer and once in the pool it all became easier. I actually put my whole face in and exhaled into the water turning my head to take a breath. This really helped me to slow my breathing. It must have also helped things move along because not long after getting into the pool I told Chris to get on the phone with Cynthia and tell her to get here NOW! She was just pulling into the driveway with Adrienne right behind her. I had just told Chris that their was no way I was going to be able to do this much longer. That if she came in and told me I was 5 cm I was done and they could take me to the hospital. Welcome to transition, Cynthia and Adrienne came in, I was 10 cm. They were able to enter the room set up with out ever disturbing me. By the way my daughter, my mom and our two dogs have slept through everything. Cynthia came bearing flowers and Adrienne sat by the pool quietly offering me water between contractions. Adrienne goes to wake up my mom so she can bring in Sailor as Hudson is being born. Within about a half hour of them being there and after many encouraging words in a matter of a few pushes Hudson is born. Cynthia guided him through the water and on to my chest and I fell in love. We sat in that pool and I was overwhelmed with love. Love for him, my husband, my daughter, my parents but most of all for those women in the room. 

I may have birthed a 9lb boy, that's right 9 POUNDS. But they gave me soo much more, it was like I had been born all over again. 

"It's not just the making of babies, but the making of mothers that midwives see as the miracle of birth."

-- Barbara Katz Rothman

Saturday's Story: The Birth of Baby C

This is the story of the birth of Baby C (from monkey's on the bed and life with cutie face):



When I became pregnant with Baby C, I knew I wanted to try for an all-natural birth. I’m a pretty hard-core runner and, for some strange reason, derive real pleasure from testing my physical limits. A natural, no-medicine childbirth sounded like just the thing for me.

I’m also a nerd (and a cheapskate), so I requested as many natural childbirth books as I could find at my local library. I must have checked out 15 birthing books—most written in the 1970s! There were two books, in particular, that I renewed as many times as I could—Pushed and Ina May’s Guide to Childbirth.

Reading Pushed convinced me that I wanted to try for an all-natural birth. Reading Ina May’s Guide to Childbirth inspired me and gave me the confidence to do it.

Ina May is a very skilled and experienced midwife. She operates her own natural farm and birthing center in Tennessee (and, I’m not going to lie, I fantasized about going to her farm and giving birth to Baby C). One of the biggest aspects of her book is mentally preparing for your pregnancy. Ina May includes scores of real-life birth stories in her book so that you can know what other people went through and glean advice and encouragement from them.

Part of mentally preparing includes visualizing your own labor. Being a competitive runner already gave me an advantage—I was able to visualize myself running races before race day so I used that to start thinking about how I wanted my labor to play out. I imagined myself able to handle the pain and flow with each contraction. I thought I was good to go, for sure!

August 7th dawned hot and humid in Atlanta. I woke up early and went for a run (I was still trying to eek out a run 5 days/week—about 4 or 5 miles). My nesting instinct had kicked in so I spent a lot of the mid-morning cleaning up our apartment and getting it ready for the arrival of C.

In the afternoon, I took our cat, Churchill, for a walk (he is an indoor cat but goes outside with me on a leash and loves it!). It was around that time that I felt waves of pressure that were definitely not Braxton Hicks! I walked Churchill for a while and just got used to feeling the beginning of contractions. I was pretty sure they were contractions but I didn't want to jinx myself (I really wanted a baby born on 8-8-8) or cause my husband, J, to freak out so I didn't say anything. They stayed steady and light and far enough between that I wasn’t worried anything would happen too soon!

J, my husband, came home from work and we went to our regular Thursday-night-date-night digs—a sports bar called Taco Mac. While sitting at the bar, I confided to J that I thought I was in the very early stages of labor. Of course, he was a little incredulous but decided to share that info with our bartender (she is also our good friend so we would have told her anyway!). I remember thinking that I needed to enjoy dinner because it might be the last date-night I had for a while!

Since we weren't expecting C until the 15th/19th (varying due dates), we really weren't too prepared for her at home. We came home and I cleaned like MAD, dusting, sweeping, vacuuming, etc. I knew this would be the night that we’d be headed to the hospital and I wanted everything perfect and shiny and clean for the day we returned with our little babe.

I remember jumping up on our countertops to put things away (we live in a teeny-tiny apt with an even teenier kitchen so we maximize our 10-foot ceiling vertical space!), and getting down on my hands and knees to scrub the kitchen and bathroom floor. I thought that physical labor would help speed up childbirth labor and I think it did!

Then I finally sat down and checked out what google had to say about contractions and labor. All signs pointed towards the fact that I was actually in labor. By this time it was nearing midnight so I thought I should take a lay down and see if I could ride a few out while trying to get some rest.

Finally, around 1:30 AM we timed the contractions to between 4 and 5 minutes apart so we called the doula and told her I was definitely in labor. We asked to labor a bit more at home before she came over. I decided that was the time to take a long relaxing shower, shave, dry my hair, and straighten it! Who knew when I'd be able to do that as a carefree non-mom again!?!? Never!

Around 3 AM, Lacy, our doula arrived and she had me bounce on my exercise ball while timing the contractions. J called our doctor and he requested that we get to the hospital as my contractions had picked up to being a solid 3 minutes apart. So, we finally packed it all up and headed to the hospital around 3:45 AM. We got lost along the way (whoops!) and ended up getting to the hospital around 4:15. Contractions were still coming every 3 minutes but they were losing their intensity somewhat. So far, everything was feeling great!

I got checked about 15 minutes after we arrived and I was a good 4 if not 5 cm and 80% effaced. Our morning nurse was CRAZY but she was nice enough and let us quickly monitor the baby before releasing us to roam the hospital halls as labor continued. I had to get checked every 45 minutes for 15 minutes of baby monitoring but, other than that, I kept walking with J and Lacy (our doula).

While walking the hallways and using my exercise ball, I went quickly to a 6. Unfortunately, my nurse informed us that the exercise ball was a hazard and a risk and I was only allowed to use it if I signed a permission form. Needless to say, the permission form never materialized.

After that, the hospital environment seemed to slow me down quite a bit. I finally reached 9 cm and my doctor broke my water. At that point, I didn’t care—anything to speed it up a bit! Immediately after that, the urge to push began. Around 1:25 I started pushing and it was soooo weird and hard at the same time.
Now, let me tell you, up until that point, I thought labor was not hard at all. I was riding high on the endorphins and felt great. All that visualization and preparation had paid off! Until I realized that I had merely glossed over the pushing—from what I read, pushing was easy and natural to most women. The stories I read never talked about pushing besides how much of a relief it was to finally push.

WRONG—pushing was, by far, the hardest part for me. J was AMAZING through the whole process but he was even more incredible during the pushing. He and my doula stayed right next to me and allowed me to crush and squeeze their hands to death as I pushed. It took about half an hour but, at 1:54 on August 8, 2008 (yup! 08-08-08), baby C came into the world! Yay! I was so relieved and couldn't stop shaking or shivering.



She came right up to my chest and started suckling, which was great. They were a little worried she wasn't crying enough so they took her off my chest and warmed her up a bit and suctioned some fluids away and then they brought her back to me. J stayed with me the whole time and didn't even want to go check on her despite our insistence! It was great, though, and we finally all bonded as a family once she rejoined us after her wipe down/etc.



All in all, I found the 1st and 2nd stages of labor super doable and the 3rd stage or pushing overwhelming. Now that I'm a bit more mentally prepared for it, I think I could do better on the pushing part but, all in all, I'm so thankfully that God let us have a natural and relatively easy labor and delivery! What a blessing to our family she is! We praise God daily for giving us a healthy and incredibly happy child!