October 17th, 2009
This day began as any normal Saturday would contemplating where we should go to eat. We wanted to stay close as being SUPER pregnant doesn’t allow for much comfort anywhere, especially walking around a lot. So we called Benihana since it is about 3 minutes from our house but they were completely booked for the night. So all of a sudden I had a great idea, how about a Brazilian Steakhouse, downtown!!! For those of you who know me you are thinking that I am lying and that Wes was actually the one who came up with that stupid idea, because 1) I HARDLY eat meat and 2) If I am eating meat I surely do NOT want to drive 45 minutes from home to do it….but yep it was me and off we went. We got to dinner and we had a great meal and great conversation. Then, as if this idea weren’t silly enough I decided I wanted to eat dessert somewhere else….somewhere where you have to stand in line outside to get your dessert…SO not me. We get to the front of the line and order our DELICIOUSLY beautiful desserts and my mouth is watering…..I even took pictures of other people’s dessert I was so excited and then all of a sudden I peed all over myself….so I thought. Then a lightbulb went off – was this my water breaking?? On comes the panic and I mumble as fast as I can to Wes that I think my water may have broke, I shove through the line of people behind us and luckily the bathroom was free as I went inside to determine if it was pee or my water. I am franticly turning my iphone into an encyclopedia of information for me to determine if I am peeing or if it is my water….then I realize I am quite silly because now both legs of my jeans are soaked and I am continuing to “pee” in gushes of water. I go outside and manage to tell Wes we need to go. Lucky for me he was smart and got our desserts to go.
We call our Birthing Center and get the midwife on call. We explain that we are pretty sure the water broke but also pretty sure we aren’t in labor because it feels like nothing is going on in the uterus except silence and sleeping. They tell us to come in about an hour and they will check me out. (this is where I will explain why the downtown visit to the meatery is important) LUCKY for us we are downtown because that is where our Birthing Center is!! I am positive that my 6th sense of womanly intuition drug me there happily to be in the right spot at the right time. Also lucky for us we had asked our friends Kevin and Ore if we could crash their home in case of just such an event. I called them and somehow they had chosen to stay home on a Saturday night and their home was 2 minutes from my Niagara Falls. We arrive around 830pm at their place and I am in dire need of a change of clothes. Funny enough one of the guys had a pair of maternity pants he used for yoga….no this is not a joke, and he let me borrow them!! I am not sure why I thought I would be able to keep a pair of new pants dry because by the time I left their place I was in another man’s maternity pants, his flip flops and one of his towels wrapped around me like a makeshift adult diaper. It was not my best or prettiest moment.
930pm – Birthing Center Visit
We arrive at the center and after examination get the Good and Bad news. Good news = the water had broke and in the next 24 hrs we would have a baby, Bad news = 1cm dilation and basically 0 effacement and still not in any form of labor to speak of. They suggested we go home, get some sleep (hahahahahahaha) and when we go into labor call them and probably in the next 15 – 24 hours we would be in labor. We went home and packed our bag up with everything we would need for labor….olive oil to help not have to tear or be cut, extra panties and clothes, incense, cds and other calming items, Crossword puzzles for when we would be waiting in between contractions at the center, charger for the camera, etc…..
Wes passes out and sleeps like a baby and I wake up every 30 minutes to an hour to check and see if I am in labor. (I know most moms are laughing now, because there is no “checking” for labor) Around 3am I am still in no labor but when I go to the bathroom I see faint remnants of blood and I am sent into another panic. A quick check on my husband and yep, still SOUND asleep. I panic, call the midwive on call and she tells me it is normal, something called a “bloody show” and that I will probably go into the early stages of labor soon. 4am, 5am, 6am……..9am I am up and still nothing at all that is anything remotely like labor is happening. I call the midwife again and she suggests that I try using some castor oil. A quick google search of this and I know I want nothing to do with the “loose bowel movements” that entails post castor oil use so I decide that I will do a few more lighter tactics prior to listening to my midwife. So Wes and I suit up for a little walk around the block. We go for a walk and I am desperately wanting to feel some contractions because I am getting nervous that we will end up at the hospital instead of the natural birth at the birthing center. So I keep having some braxton hicks that I have had many times of the last several weeks with zero pain whatsoever. I am patiently waiting for the contractions that are at least 5 minutes apart, 1 minute long for an hour. This is the basis for when you go into the center/hospital so you dont go to early and possibly get sent home. An hour after our walk we come home and still nothing. I look at the bottle of castor oil and decide that I will instead lay on the couch and nap for just 15 minutes and then I would use the castor oil.
1045am – 2nd Water Breaks
All of a sudden I feel like I am punched from the inside and I jolt off the couch. I am scared that something inside me has broken and my baby is in danger and I am freaking out. Wes is sitting on the couch watching tv, calm, collected….sigh…I get up and call the midwife AGAIN and she tells me that we actually have 2 waters and the second one has probably broken and that I will probably start early signs of labor soon, I should go ahead and listen to her now and use the castor oil and to expect to be coming to the center in the early evening and to call when we are at the 5 minutes etc mark. So I hang up again and look at the castor oil and decide that I will still wait another few minutes before I decide to use it.
1100am – Labor
So I sit on the couch and feel the first contraction of my labor. WOW – no amount of classes can prepare you for this kind of pain. It was worse than any gut wrenching 2-a-days we did in high school; worse than the time I pulled 4 teeth that werent loose as a kid to get more money from the tooth fairy; worse even than hitting a softball while your finger is broken…and many other painful things you might have personally encountered. It was B-A-D. It lasted a full minute of pain while I writhed around trying to find a semi-comfortable position. When it was finally over I tried to thumb through the rolodex of techniques to use during labor to relieve the tension and not focus on the pain. Wes and I also quickly discussed when we should call the Doula to come over and assist with the labor. We knew that we would probably not have the baby until the evening so we called her and told her we had begun labor and that we would want her to come closer to 10 minutes between contractions. She said ok and we went back to sitting on the couch. Then literally less than 3 minutes later another contraction straight from Hades came on again. Another minute of writhing, digging my hands into the cushions of the couch and Wes now trying to figure out how the hip compressions were supposed to work because it was impossible to talk to him through it. Then another break. We still thought nothing of it because we had learned that the first contractions could be erratic (1 minute apart, 10 minutes apart, 7 minutes etc.) So we then decided that maybe we would watch a movie. Then 2 minutes later another gut wrenching contraction. HOW could this be. Where was the lead up to crazy contractions we learned about in class?
1130am – This is serious
We have now spent the last 30 minutes having contractions every 3 to 4 minutes for a minute to minute and a half in length and it is IMPOSSIBLE to speak to anyone and I have writhed in pain all over the couch, against the wall, on the tile and on the bed and I am finding it very difficult to remember why I made such a STUPID decision to have a baby naturally when there were perfectly wonderful drugs to make me feel so wonderful instead of awful. So Wes decides he needs to call the midwife this time. He tells her that I am having contractions and we might need to come in. Now, she is remembering that we talked 30 minutes ago and I was walking around the back yard not in any labor, so she is assuming we are new parents freaking out for no reason.
So she tells Wes that she wants to talk to me through a contraction to assess where we really are with things. So he hands me the phone and I am crying to this woman and on comes the fury and I throw the phone on the ground as I dig my nails into my wooden dresser and wonder if it is possible to pass out and just not be aware of the labor pains and if so how do I do it. So Wes picks up the phone and the midwife thinks that it is possible that we need to get there…NOW. So we rush to the car and I get in the back seat and Wes begins driving. After the first contraction in the car, digging into the back of the seat, kicking the opposite door and feeling as though I may pass out Wes decides that the current speed limit just will not cut it and he drives as carefully as he can pushing the pedal as deep into the floor mat as possible. I am peering out during my measly 60 break at the buildings to decide how close we are to the birthing center where I will hopefully find some relief. I am also screaming for any kind of pain relief and throwing our entire birth plan out the window. This is when having a supportive and sane husband is key. He spent the drive reminding me of all the wonderful reasons that having a natural birth will be the best thing for our impending bean and that I can do it because I am a strong woman…..so sweet and thank God for him through this whole thing.
1228pm – I make my first push – IN THE CAR!!!!
Seriously – are we going to have to call 911 and have a fireman deliver my baby on the side of the road downtown in front of the homeless guy laying in front of the building we are at?
1230pm – Arrival at Best Start Birthing Center
I am wearing a tank top, swim shorts and barefoot. I am drenched in sweat, can hardly focus enough to see the door and am looking at the stairs I now have to climb to the birth room. And on comes another contraction mid flight of stairs. I hear voices talking to me but I am unable to focus on anything other than staying alive because I am now convinced that if I do not have a baby soon I am going to literally die and Wes will be a single dad. I make it to the bed and am trying to listen to the voices because they might know what to say to help the pain but it is impossible.
1235pm – Checkup
I manage to lay on my back long enough for the midwife to check to see how dilated I am and she gasps and tells the other midwife that she can see the head and that I probably will need to push. She asks me if we were planning a water birth, which we were absolutely not, but I remembered reading that water helps with pain so I tell her to fill ‘er up and I imagine myself swan diving into pain free waters like a mermaid…and on came another…BUT this time someone was telling me to push. I was scared to death to push because I knew it must be 500 times worse than labor but NO, it was fabulous. I was actually getting relief from the pushing and I wanted to push more. I was feeling a new burst of energy now. So I pushed and was able to gain some relief from the contraction. I pushed one more time through another contraction and the tub was ready.
1245pm – Tub Time
For those of you who know me, I do not like to be naked around anyone, much less strangers. Even wearing skirts sometimes freak me out from all the leg showing. But for all you moms out there, you will understand, I was more than eager to peel anything off that would lend itself to more comfort, if that word even existed anymore. And in the tub I went. This time the voices were a little clearer and I could try and adjust my position to what they were telling me. I tried to focus on my husbands arms while he held me and coached me to breath, it was so nice to have someone there supporting, not freaking out and sending out love like I have never felt before. It was truly a falling in love again moment throughout the process. I pushed 3 more times and little London was out. This entire moment was a blur but I remember the moment I held the little guy in my arms. Wes was a champ and cut the umbilical cord and we all smiled. The doula unfortunately only made it for the end of the birth but her teaching to Wes was invaluable because he remembered every word and did a perfect job.
1:06pm – Time of birth
I know most moms may say that they were so happy and in love the first moment but I wasn’t. I wasn’t NOT in love but it was such a taxing 2 hours that it was impossible for me to feel anything but tired and relieved that I wasn’t going to have another contraction. He was beautiful but my first love moment came after I had dried off and laid in bed with the Bean. I handed him off to Wes as I got out of the tub and I went to the bedroom to get my checkup. Luckily I hadn’t torn anything too valuable and I only needed one stitch on the inside to a small baby tear which I never really felt. Wes and I laid with our baby for another couple of hours before we were both antsy to go home. We went and got the midwife and had her do the baby’s APGAR and whatever other weighing and measuring they do. He came in at a 9/10 his first go round of the APGAR and weighed 7lbs 10 oz and was 21 inches long. He didn’t cry and he just cuddled with us, everything we had dreamed of.
7pm – Time to go home!
Yes, believe it or not, when you do not get hooked up to an IV or get an epidural there is very little to “recover” from in the hospital or birthing center and you are pretty much ready to go home. We loaded up our little Bean into the car and went home to live happily ever after!
Well…this is our birth day story and I can hear the little guy grunting for mom in the bedroom as I type this so I will fill in the details of the last 7 weeks as the next several weeks, months…years?? go on and hopefully our beautiful story will provide some smiles to those who read it.
