Disclaimer: I love reading birth stories. If you don't, then stop reading now.
Sunday evening we went for our usual family walk. I was
feeling a bit low on energy and the baby was extremely active. It felt as if
her fists were punching my cervix and her kicks were causing me to have a lot of
contractions, mostly mild, but uncomfortable. We were ready for her birth in
the sense that we had all the necessary things: clothes, diapers, childcare,
etc; but because Kate and Gwen were both born on or very close to their due
date, I figured we had another week of pregnancy to go. My niece had a birthday
party the next day I was looking forward to taking the girls to and we had
plans to go shopping for a present in the morning. I wanted to get a pedicure
that week. Gwen had a mild fever over the weekend and I wanted her to be
healthy before the baby was born. And my doctor was in Hawaii and wouldn’t be
back in town until Friday. So in my mind it wasn’t labor starting, but probably
just my body gearing up for birth in the next week or so.
I went to bed about
10pm Sunday night and woke up at 1am to use the bathroom. As I was trying to fall back to sleep I started
having pressure waves that felt more intense that the usual Braxton hicks
contractions I’d been having for weeks. I wasn’t able to fall back to sleep,
but kept telling myself that this couldn’t be labor yet, I had things to do
tomorrow and needed Gwen to be healthy. They kept coming so I decided to get
up. I figured if this was really labor I wanted to clean up my house before the
baby came. I went downstairs and listened to my birthing day affirmations while
I did dishes, cleaned countertops, swept floors and picked up toys. I was
having stronger pressure waves and I would turn off the lights and stop to
breath through them, but still wasn’t convinced this was actual labor. About 3
am I felt a trickle of fluid down my leg. My first thought was I waited too
long to go to the bathroom, but as it continued to trickle, I realized that my
water had broken. This was a new experience—with my previous births the doctors
broke my water in the hospital. It was
then that I accepted that this was really happening. I got a bowl of cereal and
sat in the office for a while. I went back to bed and listened to my
HypnoBabies deepening track. I walked
around my bedroom and bathroom, leaning on my dresser and bathroom counter
rocking my hips. Paul woke up about 4 am and I told him to sleep until we were
closer to going to the hospital. About 5:30am my pressure waves were 2-3 mins
apart and I decided it was time to go. My friend, Melissa, came over to watch the
girls and we left for the hospital about 5:45.
The car ride seemed so bumpy and I was happy to get to the
hospital. I felt very focused and in control and had a good feeling things
would turn out ok. The nurses were very kind as I got checked into the
hospital. I was joking with them and trying to stay as positive as possible. I
was 5-6 cm dilated when I arrived and was admitted to a huge room with a
beautiful ocean view. My eyes were closed most of the time, so I actually
didn’t care too much about the view but it was nice to look at for a
moment. I was admitted right before
shift change, so I went through a couple of nurses. One annoying part of my
hospital experience was the multiple attempts made to put in a saline lock.
Because I was having a natural birth, I didn’t want to be hooked up to IV
fluids, but hospital policy is to have a saline lock. I was fine with that,
however annoyed that after 4 failed attempts they called in the
anesthesiologist to place my IV and it took him 2 tries! I was very focused on
breathing through my pressure waves and was able to tune them out, but wished I
didn’t have to deal with that. In the end, it was because I was dehydrated that
it took them so many attempts to insert the IV, so I ended up getting IV fluids
anyway.
After laboring standing next to the bed, sitting in bed and
on the toilet for a few hours I was 10 cm dilated. The doctor that was covering
for my doctor who was out of town came in and suggested I start to push. I
didn’t feel a strong urge yet to push, but decided to give it a try. It felt ok
to push, but after 15-20 mins of pushing on my back, squatting and on all fours
I didn’t feel much progress and still didn’t have a strong urge to push. This seemed strange to me because with Gwen I
pushed for 10 mins total and remember feeling that urge to push very strongly!
It was then that the doctor changed the vibe of the birth from positive to
negative. Perhaps unintentionally, but still harmful, he made comments such as
“are you sure you don’t want an epidural?” “This is a really big baby for you”
“This baby’s got a really big head” “The head isn’t budging, it will take you 3
hours to push this baby out”. He then told me that she was posterior and it
would be a lot more difficult to push her out because of her position. Because
I wasn’t feeling a strong urge to push, I decided to continue breathing and
resting through the contractions and that I would try laboring in different
positions to see if we could get her to turn. Thankfully, he left the room to
let me rest. I tried having Paul do the
belly lift, a technique they taught in HypnoBabies, but hated it. I tried
sitting on the birth ball but it was really painful. I then asked the nurse if
she had any suggestions. She suggested I lay on my side with one leg up. She
said the contractions would feel differently but it might open my pelvis more
and cause her to turn. She felt what side the baby was on and told me what side
to lay on. Looking back, I am so grateful to this nurse for suggesting this. I had three of the most intense contractions
I’ve ever felt. Instinctually I made ahh sounds during the contractions which
helped me to get through them and I think also helped to open my pelvis. I felt
a little bit like I was losing it mentally and didn’t know how much longer I
could take this if she wasn’t here soon. I remember praying to my Heavenly
Father to give me strength and to help this baby turn. I tried talking to my
baby in my head, encouraging her to turn and come out. At the end of the 3rd
contraction on my side I felt her turn and engage in my pelvis. I yelled “I
have to push” as I felt that familiar strong desire to push. I turned to my
back and began to push my baby out. I could now feel her moving down and knew
that she was coming out. The nurse was helping me and called the doctor
in. She said the mean doctor would be
coming but that Dr. Braithwaite would be here as back up in case he didn’t make
it in time. I knew this was an answer to prayer. I didn’t know Dr. Braithwaite,
but had heard good things about him and knew he had delivered some friends
babies. He was LDS and well liked. I told him and the nurses, please don’t
bring the other mean doctor back, just let Dr. Braithwaite stay. Dr.
Braithwaite ended up catching the baby right before the mean doctor came back
into the room. He handed the baby to me
and helped Paul cut the cord. The mean doctor came back into the room surprised
that the baby was already here. Unfortunately the mean doctor delivered the
placenta and gave me a few stitches, but by that time I had my baby and didn’t
really care any more.
Clara was born at 9:32 am on July 22, 2013. She weighed 8
lbs, 8 oz and was 20.5 inches long. She was perfect. I loved listening to her heartbeat on the
monitors during her birth and she did well throughout the whole process. I knew
she had helped me to birth her as she turned in my pelvis. She’s obedient
already! I was so grateful to meet her.
She was bright eyed and alert and
nursed really well from the start. She had a head of dark, straight hair, a
face that resembled Gwen yet a look all her own. She was my baby girl and meeting her was one
of the happiest moments of my life.
After waiting and longing for
this baby, she really is a dream come true. I feel so thankful to my Heavenly
Father for blessing our family with her spirit. She is such a gift. The entire process of bringing her into our family, both the waiting
and wanting and the pregnancy and birth was a learning experience and
strengthened my faith. I learned to trust in God’s will and have faith in His
perfect plan. I am grateful for the gift of motherhood and the blessings it
brings. I am so grateful for a loving husband who works so hard for our family--He is the best partner and has
been so supportive throughout the entire process.
A fun sidenote—she was born the same day, within the same
hour, as the future king of England! A lucky day to be born, indeed. Welcome to the world my sweet Clara Marie. I’ve loved you
for a long time.
