Noah's birth story (for skyejo)

Noah?s Birth Story

On my due date, July 7th, 2011, I went to my midwife appointment and she told me I was 3cm dilated and things looked good ? she said I?d probably go into labour that weekend. I didn?t. The following Wednesday (July 13th), I saw my midwife again. She did a ?stretch and sweep? and scheduled me for an ultrasound for that Friday morning, if I didn?t go into labour by then. We left, I was disheartened and uncomfortable; I was now almost a week overdue.

Later that afternoon, my Mom (who was staying with us for a month) and I walked across the street to the grocery store to get some stuff for dinner. While we walked around the store, I started to feel contractions, cramping in my legs and tummy and tightening in my stomach. It wasn?t really painful, but I knew it was ?something?. When we got home, I started timing them. They were 3-4 minutes apart and lasting about a minute each. They continued all evening and by midnight (when Paul, my Mom and I were playing Scrabble), I knew it was the real thing. I took a warm bath and called Ann, my midwife. She got to the house around 1am and checked me. She said it was still early labour and to call her back if it got significantly more intense.

Paul and my Mom went to bed, but by 2am my contractions were so intense that there was no way I could have slept. I got in and out of the bath for the next couple of hours, using my heating pad and rocking chair in between. It was painful but tolerable, all night long.

By 5am, the contractions were really strong and I was really tired ? I was falling asleep in the bathtub in between contractions and was waking myself up by yelling due to the pain. My Mom woke up shortly after this and she filled up the birthing tub in the kitchen around 6am. It felt really good to be submerged in warm water and it helped me get through many contractions.

At 7am we woke up Paul and were trying to decide whether to call Ann again or to go to my scheduled appointment with her at 9am. I called her at 8am and she decided (after hearing me breathe through a contraction or two) that I was definitely in labour and said she?d be there by 9am. I was really glad for this because I couldn?t imagine getting dressed and going in a car to the office during these strong contractions.

Ann and her student midwife got to the house just after 9am and Ann checked me. She verified I was in active labour, and 4cm dilated. She told me they had to set up and get ready, and suggested me (me, Paul and my Mom) go for a walk for half an hour. Paul called our friend Ashley who came and picked up Ruby and Olivia (the dogs) for the day. She arrived just as we were getting back from our walk ? which was intense. It took us 20 minutes just to walk around the block ? I kept stopping to breathe through contractions.

When we went back inside, Ann checked me again and decided to break my water. The student midwife broke it and it was clear and all was good. Everything got a whole lot more intense after that. That was 10am, and Ann predicted a baby by noon. Though that was quite a few hours off.

The next few hours consisted of contractions coming fast and hard. I walked around the house a lot and my midwives wanted me to start doing squats and lunges during my contractions. I really didn?t want to, but I was trying. I really just wanted to get into the birthing tub and ?relax?. By 3pm, I was ?stuck? at 6cm ? I hadn?t made progress in over an hour. Ann started talking about possibly going to the hospital so I could get some ?relief? and then progress further. While of course there was a moment of ?I don?t think I can do this?, I knew that I did not want to go to the hospital and I did not want pain medication. Paul expressed that he knew I did not want to go (even though I probably would have agreed to it). Ann said that I would have to start working hard to get baby to drop and help me progress. I decided right then and there that I was going to do whatever I had to. I started saying ?I can do this? every time I was thinking I can?t do this. I said it over and over and I did the lunges on the stairs and squats in the living room. It hurt like hell and I was so relieved each time a contraction ended, though it was just more intense as the next one started up.

Finally around 5pm Ann checked me and said I could get into the tub and start pushing soon. I was so relieved because I had heard that pushing helped with the pain of the contractions. I had to start pushing a bit on the floor in the living room, because there was still a tiny bit of cervix left. I pushed a few times and then got into the tub. You?d think this whole thing would be awkward ? walking around in only a bikini top, otherwise naked, with my husband, my mom and two midwives in the house. But it wasn?t. Being in the water helped a lot and pushing didn?t hurt at all ? it felt good actually because I was focusing on pushing and the pain of the contraction was gone. Pushing was a lot harder than I thought it would be though. Paul was behind me, holding me while I pushed in a squat position. Somewhere in here, Paul?s sister Lisa (who is a registered nurse) arrived, as well as Minn, another midwife, arrived to attend the birth. After about half an hour of pushing, the baby?s head started to come down and out a bit. I remember when they told me to reach down and feel his head ? I was so surprised and amazed. My Mom said my face was priceless. It felt like it should be over soon by this point, but his head kept going back up in between contractions. I kept saying ?Can?t you just get him out?? And everyone was laughing, though I didn?t exactly find it funny at the time. After an hour and a half of pushing, and about a million times hearing, ?just a few more pushes?, Ann suddenly said that I had to get out of the tub and move to the floor in the living room. She needed to be able to get at the baby from a better angle. I pushed a few more times (after they set up the area on the floor) and Ann was trying to help the baby out, but she soon realized that she needed to do an episiotomy and get him out right away. I said I didn?t care ? I just wanted him out ? and the student midwife cut me. I pushed again and the baby was out pretty quickly after that, at 6:25pm, weighing 8 lbs 2 oz on July 14.

Paul got to cut the cord (which was very short, way shorter than I thought it would be) and then they put him up on my chest. I kissed him and couldn?t believe he was actually here. I looked up at Paul and we were both crying and so incredibly happy. We knew right away that he was Noah, and Paul announced it out loud. He was a bit white (I thought he was really white) at first and he didn?t cry, but he had his eyes wide open and he was just staring at me. We cleaned him off a bit and Ann checked his heart and said he sounded great.

For the next half an hour or so ? it felt like forever ? they stitched me up. I didn?t feel much of it, besides some tugging, but it was really annoying. I tried to just take in everything and enjoy Noah, with Paul. Lisa and my Mom were crying and so happy, and just sitting with us. When I could finally sit up a bit and they were finished fixing me up, Minn took Noah over to our big armchair and did his APGAR test, which he scored 9/10 on. He apparently had a bit of a heart murmur at the time, which was why it wasn?t perfect. Then he got his first cloth diaper on (a prefold with a newborn size Bummis cover, green), and his newborn froggy sleeper ? his first outfit.

Ann, Minn and the student midwife left around 8pm, which is when Paul ordered pizza. None of us had eaten all day, so it was much needed. I hadn?t eaten a single thing (besides ice chips) since around 1am ? about 17 hours. It?s pretty wild how our body?s allow us to keep going, on no food and no sleep, off of pure adrenaline for so long. Paul?s parents ? who left Sauble Beach (they were away on vacation) when Paul called them around 6pm ? got to our house around 9pm. We visited for a while and they held Noah while I rested. Everyone was just so happy and Paul?s parents didn?t say anything about the fact that I?d had him at home (they didn?t know about the planned homebirth ahead of time, because I wasn?t interested in their opinions and ?concerns?). After they left around 10pm, Christoff and Carolyn (Noah?s godparents, though they didn?t know it at the time) came to meet him for a few minutes.

It was about midnight when we went to bed for the night (though I was up again at 2am with Noah). I had been awake for about 38 hours by that time and was truly exhausted. It was the most intense, amazing day of my life and it just didn?t matter one bit that everything didn?t go exactly as planned. Noah was here and he was perfect ? that was the only thing that mattered.