Since we are expecting our surprise bonus baby I have had the opportunity to share my last birth story many times over the last few months. It is a pretty comical story and most people laugh quite a bit when hearing it, so I figured I would share with you all and hopefully you will get a chuckle as well.
Our last child was born in June 2009. The night before my expected due date I was craving steak and potatoes, so we made a late evening trip to Applebees for takeout. On our way home as I am eating in the car I suddenly felt really tired. When we got home I went straight to bed, which was around 10pm. I half woke up around 12:30am with a mild contraction. I dozed back off to sleep. About 10 minutes later I half woke up to another. This continued for about two hours and I started to not be able to sleep well between contractions. I felt uncomfortable laying in bed so I went out and bounced on my birth ball. Contractions started coming every 5-7 minutes at this point. Around 3am I woke my husband and we called the midwife to give her a heads up that something was happening so she could arrange childcare. My husband filled the birth pool and I got in.
Around 5:00 we phoned the midwife again letting her know that contractions were 5 minutes apart and lasting longer. They were really uncomfortable and we thought she may want to gather her things and start heading our way. She got to our house around 6am with our doula and her assistant arriving within a half hour of her. By 6:30 things lightened up quite a bit and my midwife was considering going home for awhile. I was really bummed.
Well, apparently that was the "calm before the storm" because as the midwife is getting her things ready to leave contractions hit hard and quick. I was in the tub, but I couldn't get comfortable. My legs needed to move and I felt like I needed to pedal them like I was riding a bike through each contraction. My husband decided that he should call into work around 7 and left my side. I know he was just calling into work, but at the time I couldn't quite process why that was important and got irritated with him. If you've ever tried to ration with a woman in active labor I am sure you can relate. The contractions were intense and I was so frustrated in the tub as I was uncomfortable. My husband wasn't by my side and I felt defeated. I told my midwife "I can't do this!!" She calmly replied, "Well, you can get out of the tub, get dressed, walk down the stairs, and get in the car if that's really what you want, but that is a lot of work!" I am stubborn. I am strong willed. I wasn't going to let ANY obstacle stop me and I felt challenged. I look back and laugh at myself. I remember looking her in the face and saying "watch me!" I got out of the tub, got dressed, had a MAJOR contraction while jogging in place, and then walked down the stairs and got into my doula's car since hers was parked closest to the road.
My doula is a wise person. She knew that I was nearing the end and that with my husband out of the room I had lost focus and just needed some reassuring. She told me she needed to go get her keys and then she'd be right back. A couple seconds later I notice her keys are in the ignition. So as I am trying to lift my left leg over the console to get into the driver's seat I see her and my husband walking out of the house. I wave goodbye to them as they open the passenger side door. My husband and doula calmly talk to me and try to convince me that we are almost done and the baby would be coming soon. My husband was well aware that I was likely in transition. I, on the other hand, was thinking that I hadn't been in labor long enough to already be at transition and was SURE that I still had another 12 hours or so to go and sure wasn't going to do it with these ridiculously strong contractions for that long!
As they are talking to me, trying to reassure me, my water broke! I jumped out of the car hanging onto the handle by the top of the door frame and said "Awe, man! I have to poop!" My doula quickly replied "NO! It's time to PUSH the baby out! Let's get inside!" I looked at her and Josh and said "You're right! The baby is crowning NOW!" And with that my body just automatically bore down into a semi squat and the fetal ejection reflex kicked in and our baby girl was born in that one contraction! It's a good thing my husband and doula were fast on their game that day! My husband was able to remove my sweatpants while my doula ran for the midwife. The midwife dove in (think of a baseball player sliding into base) and was able to catch our little girl just in time!
She made her entrance at 7:18am.
It was a fairly quick and, honestly, fairly easy birth. Less than an hour of really challenging labor and for that I was every so grateful. I truly believe that being at home was helpful as I felt comfortable and I also had regular chiropractic care from a Webster trained chiropractor, which I felt led to the ease of the actual birth itself.
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Wow! That's awesome! I've had 2 preemies but I always thought it would be an adventure to do at home. They just never cook that long!
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