New Birth Story!

Hi Cindy,

It’s official. Baby L has arrived...We are all home and doing well. Adjusting to new life has had some bumpy moments, but all in all I couldn’t feel more blessed or grateful. I thought you would be eager to hear how things went:

I experienced a lot of practice labor during the month of June. Lots of Braxton-Hicks contractions and lots of cramping. Nothing that ever mounted to anything or had any kind of rhythm until Sunday night. I started experiencing lower abdominal cramping, felt like period cramps. These were different then ones I had experienced before because I could feel it in my lower back and they were coming and going. It wasn’t an intense cramp, very mild. I started timing them, Z came home and I told him he should pack his bags, this could be the night. However the contractions didn’t seem to be progressing it was getting late and we decided to go to bed and that was that. Skip forward to Tuesday. I had a midwife appointment at 7:30pm. I was experiencing some cramping and Braxton-Hicks contractions during the visit. It was kind of like a dull ache, nothing that was cyclical. My midwives don’t check to see if you are dilated or not, they let the baby come when the baby is ready to come. I told them about Sunday, they said to just keep doing what I was doing, things looked good and we set up an appointment for the following week.

Sunday night starting around 9:00pm. I started feeling the cramps again with the lower back pain and a cycle. Z and I timed them. They weren’t at the right intervals to call the midwives and they weren’t very strong. I could move around just fine through the contractions, I would be a little short on breath, but I could speak. So we monitored things, but it didn’t seem to be going anywhere, so we decided to get some rest. This is when things started to pick up. I went to bed around 11:00pm. Not long after l laid down, I started to feel a stronger uterine contraction and it was coming and going. I had already had it in my head that this was probably going to be like Sunday again, so it didn’t register immediately that this was something to pay attention to. I was tired and I just wanted to fall asleep. I was doing some breathing techniques to ease the pressure and I was getting irritated that the cramping was keeping me up. That’s when it registered that this was different, they are keeping me awake, I should pay attention to these. I took out the watch and started timing them. They were coming around every three to five minutes. Stronger, they weren’t painful, just uncomfortable, so I thought it would be a good time to get out one of the meditations and see if things would calm down or increase. I wasn’t but 5 minutes into the meditation when my membranes released, this happened at about 12:10am. Then it was on and it was on FAST. Z timed my contractions as I got into the shower to wash off. We then called the midwives to let them know what was going on. They said come on in. By this time the contractions had increased tenfold. I was trying to concentrate and get my body and mind calm, but it was difficult, because the task at hand was to get to the hospital. It was really starting to get painful. When a contraction hit, I was on the floor on all fours trying to stay with it. I told Z in between a contraction that this baby was coming fast. I was able to walk to the car between a contraction. We were on the road at about 12:50am.

The contractions only continued to increase and become more powerful. Somewhere between North Ave and Division Street while driving south to get to the highway I started to getting the urge to push and I yelled out to Z that my body wants to PUSH!!! We kept hitting every red light. It just happened to be that we pulled up to a police officer at the next the red light. Z rolled down the window and yelled out to them that I was in labor and we needed to get to the hospital fast and that he was just going to go through the red light. They let us go and then followed along next to us with their flashers on helping us through the intersections till we could get to the highway. I wish I could tell you that I was totally in control and staying calm through the drive, but I lost it a few times because I couldn’t fight what my body needed to do and we still had to get to the hospital. It was an extremely intense feeling, and I could feel the babies head trying to come down through the birth canal. Z was awesome though, he stayed calm. He told me to pull it together and stay with him. I was able to bring it back together, it took everything I had not to push the baby out in the car. I was doing the short, frequent breaths with a tone and that brought me back in control. We pulled up to the hospital. There just happened to be a wheel chair sitting outside close to the car. Z ran for that while I got out of the car. I got hit with another huge contraction and I was on all fours again trying to stay with it. We left everything in the car, we didn’t even bother to shut the passenger door that I had left open. Z got me in the wheel chair and we bounded for the ER. The ER nurse was a little slow to respond to the immediacy of the situation, but when I started yelling that I needed to push she moved real fast. I told Z he could push the wheelchair faster through the hallways. By some minor miracle our midwife was already at the hospital with another mom. She met us before triage and helped us bi-pass and get us to the room. It was not ready, but there was no more time left. They pushed me to the bed. I got up on all fours and surrendered to the urges. They had barely pulled my pants off, before the baby came sliding right out of me. It took two or three pushes and there he was. The relief of the pressure felt amazing, but my body and mind were in a state of shock due to how fast everything went. They helped me lay down and put the baby on my chest to hold. Z didn’t get his chance to announce the sex at first. I had to ask. I didn’t get to hold him very long, I had the shakes and they needed me deliver the placenta. Once things calmed down and I was all taken care of, they helped me sit up so that I could have L latch. He latched on like a pro and he’s been a greedy little guy ever since. We couldn’t be more happy or grateful for our little guy.

So that’s the story. I hope all goes well with your deliveries. It’s an incredible feeling to meet that little being that has been held inside of you for so long. I will say this, the breathing is really important. Although I did loose it a couple times, I was able to bring it back together and it was all about the mind and the breath. So if you loose your concentration or control during your labor, just know that you can get it back together. I can’t wait to hear from you and your stories and see pictures of you little ones.

Blessings to you,

S