Rhys Birth Story

search engine optimization

I'm not quite sure how to tell how long I had really been in labor because labor for me was off and on for at least a week, if not more. The first night I felt real labor pains was Sept 22. I was a few days from my due date and really thought it was it. They were 45 secs long and about 4-5 mins apart. I called my doula and my midwife and they both suggested to take a shower or a bath for the warm water would either A. speed up labor if it was real labor, or B. slow down labor if it was false. Well after the bath they stopped. Stink. Throughout that week I had labor like that. About every other night. It would last about an hour and then stop. It was frustrating. My midwife came up on Wednesday to check me. I was a 4 and no longer posterior. Good. But things really didn't start up until Friday, well really Saturday morning, September 27. 1:30 contractions started and they started hard. I told Andrew to go ahead and get some sleep and that I would wake him if I needed him. I came out to the computer and pulled up that online contraction master thing. I tried surfing the web, but with contractions coming about every 3 minutes and lasting over a minute long it was hard. I had only timed three contractions and already they were getting closer and longer. I woke Andrew. He called the midwife and the doula and they told me to do the bath thing again. I thought, ok. But I told them not to come yet. I got in the bath and immediately they got worse. Much worse. It was only 20 minutes later that Andrew called the midwife and the doula and told them to come. By this time I was telling Andrew I needed to get out of the tub. I was doing the deep abdominal 'sighs' and breathing that did help. Sure the pain was still there, but I stayed on top of it. It still wasn't really that bad. Andrew called my prayer corner and I'm sure they all heard me in the background.
We then went out to the living room and Andrew hurriedly tried to put the birth tub together. But between my contractions he didn't have a whole lot of time. My doula came about a half hour later at 3:45am. I was kneeling on the floor holding onto a chair. I did have a lot of back pain and Corey would push on that to help. Soon kneeling didn't help, so I got the end of the couch sitting on my ball. After a particularly strong contraction my water broke. I was still in denial at this point that I was in labor. But after my water broke I suddenly thought "oh, this is it!" I hurried to the bathroom and cleaned up and then went back to the end of the couch to kneel. But that wasn't working. I then went to the bedroom to lie down. I just needed to rest. My midwife arrived around this time, about 4:40 and her assistant arrived just 10 minutes later. Then the most astonishing thing happened while I was laboring on the bed. My body started to push without my permission! It wasn't like I was thinking "ok time to push" I was actually thinking "breathe breathe breathe, WHAT THE HECK IS THAT!" Everything within me was pushing this boy out, but I was not consulted beforehand and had no idea what was going on. I just said that something was coming out. When you are in the throes of unmedicated labor your mind kinda doesn't work. I know now what was coming out, but I didn't want to assume I knew what was happening. Anyway, I felt like my butt was going to bust in half. It was that strong, that painful. I started to labor/push on my hands and knees (I still wasn't giving in to the pushing yet, it hurt like nothing else! I was scared I really was going to bust in half!) The midwife was still setting up and the doula called for her to come. Meanwhile Andrew is in front of me talking to me, while I am calling out the name of Jesus (my prayer life always gets so much better in labor!) and during contractions I literally am roaring through them. It's unbelieveable the strength that the woman's body has within her. Amazing. Anyway. Michelle came in and checked me (the only check I had with the whole labor) she told me I was complete and at a +2 station. Baby was coming! I was still scared to push with the contractions, but Michelle told me to push through the pain, that was the best advice. So much of life we need to 'push through it'. So I started to push through it. But I didn't have enough room on my hands and knees so she asked me to squat at the side of the bed. Andrew sat on the edge of the bed and I rested my head in his lap. I continued pushing and it was so much more effective now. On my hands and knees his head would keep going back in after a contraction. He couldn't do that now. I birthed his head and Michelle told me to stop pushing so she could check for a nuchal cord, but my body didn't stop. He just came tumbling out! There was a cord around his neck, but Michelle somersaulted him around and he was fine. He was also very slippery, she had trouble getting him! But he cried as soon as his head was out and was pink. Apgars of 10 and 10. He was born at 5:05am, just 3 1/2 hours of labor. He nursed like 15 minutes after birth and my placenta came out just 20 minutes later. It was whole and healthy. I was crying and joyful and just feeling good. He weighed 6lbs 14oz. 19 1/2 inches long. He had and unbelievably short cord, which Michelle thought was the reason for that off again on again labor. He was stretching his cord out so that he could come out.

Homebirth is so nice. There are many nice things about it, and maybe in one of my other posts I'll put them up too. But for right now, homebirth is nice. I have some pics of his birth, but I'll put them up later. I just had to get the story written out and down. Enjoy!