Birth Story of Myles:
Birthday: 10/21/08
Weight: 7lbs - Length: 20 1/2 inches
My self calculated due date was 10/14 I was so convinced that he would come on his due date because it was a full moon it just had to be. Toward the end of my pregnancy I found out that Myles had turned breech. I had an ultrasound at 28 weeks to confirm. I tried everything to get him to go head down, acupuncture, flips and dolphin dives in the pool my midwife even tried to do a version all to no avail. Finally I spoke for a long time with my midwife and her apprentice about my options and all the risks involved. To my supreme amazement and delight they agreed to go ahead with our plan to have a natural birth at the birthcenter. I started having contractions on sunday 10/19 already several days overdue I was very excited. However my body didn’t seem to be in any kind of hurry and I was only having them once or twice an hour with no other signs. Me and my mom walked and walked and walked all over the place all Sunday and Monday. Finally late monday things seemed to pick up a little bit and at some point I started to lose my mucus plug but my water still never broke. Early on Tuesday morning after getting very little sleep sunday or Monday my contractions were much closer and stronger but still not very regular. I however decided that i needed to be at the bithcenter now! So we packed up the car and headed over. We ate some food and walked around for a while I called my mom and told her to head back to town. After a while I was exahusted and having contractions around 10 mins apart. Me and my partner decided to lay down for a little while and fell asleep. When I woke up my midwife told me my contractions had slowed way down. So we walked some more. All day my contractions would pick up then I would get overwhelmed and jump in the shower or lay down and they would slow way down again. I realize now that I was scared and exhausted and I was fighting my labor. Around 5:00 pm. my midwife had everyone take some of those little boron sugar pill herbs to help with anxiety. At that point oscar took charge in a way i have never know him to do. He became exactly what needed a drill Sergent. He decided that he was going to walk me in circles around the back yard until I had that baby. So we walked and walked and walked and I puked many times. At one point my midwifes apprenticce suggested that I try to squat through my contractions after a few times doing that my water finally broke. It really freaked me out till I realised what had happened. They kept trying to get me too eat but I was sick to my stomach. Finally my contractions got to around 3 minutes apart and we came inside it was starting to get dark so I guess it was around 8pm. I think that shortly after that my midwife called the other midwife we had decided to hire to help with the delivery. It was kind of a blur after that time my midwife checked my dilation a few times because he was breech I felt the urge to push before I was fulling dilated at one point I remember having this intense urge to push and feeling my body starting to push on it own. She said that iIonly had a small lip left and I needed to wait a little bit longer. At one point I accidentally bit down on oscar’s hand as I was having a contraction and he handed me a apple at the time I was so confused but it cracked me up when he later told me it was to bite. At some point I told my midwife this is happening now I cant fight the contractions anymore and I guess she thought it was long enough because she said ok and we moved to the birthroom I ended up on all fours by the foot of the bed. For me it worked really well because I pushed my head against the bed through my contractions and the counter pressure really helped me. Once I started pushing it went really fast I never got the crowning feeling because he was breech. They asked if we could take pictures which turned out really good. His body came out fairly easily and he was frank breech which is the best way for a sucessful breech birth. Finally we go to his head and his arm was up by his ear so they had to pull his arm out I didn’t know any of that till later. I really couldn’t tell what was happening at any point except that he was coming out and it felt like I was going to rip clear to clitoris which I never actually did but that was the most intence part of the whole thing for me. Then they told me I need to get him out now so without a contraction to help I pushed with all my might and he was born. They laid him down and started rubbing him and talking to him. They told me to talk to him that he needed to hear my voice and i realized Oscar was telling him that we love him. He was born at 10:51pm after more then 24 hours of labor but only 31 minutes of pushing and no tears. YAY!
Stella’s Birth Story
Birthday: 9/28/09 3:37am
At about 39 weeks, my blood pressure was steadily going up and midwife put me on bedrest…. this being my second pregnancy and my first going early, I made the mistake of assuming this baby would come early too… so ensued the longest two weeks ever! Between trying to naturally induce (castor oil, acupuncture, pumping, etc.) and keep my blood pressure down, things were so frustrating and depressing. There was the constant fear too that I would not be able to birth at home each day I went past my due date and my bp rose. One day, I just decided to go to a yoga class and just sit and meditate on it all and that night I really just felt at my wit’s end. I went to bed in tears, I woke up an hour later with my first contraction @ 1 am.
At first, I thought that it was just more practice contractions, but within minutes I woke up DH, I could tell things felt “different”. I had a few more contractions and then my water broke, I called the midwife and doula…. MW said I should try to lay down and get some rest, but I knew that wasn’t happening. The doula was on her way, now we had to figure out whether we should wake up our 2 1/2 year old or try to let him sleep through it. Within a few more minutes, I realized there was no way I could get through this labor without some serious vocalizing, we made the decision to call our best friends and take our son to them… he was upset at first, but I talked to him between an intense contraction and he understood (we had talked alot about it before). The doula arrived before all of this happening and once she saw me, she knew mw needed to get there ASAP, so she called her again… I was in transition at this point and had no idea, I couldn’t believe the intensity of it all. My doula was so good, she kept telling me, “you’re not going to have to do this for very long”, but I honestly didn’t believe her. First labor was 15 hours, 9 of which were bad back labor and only dilated to 2 cm…. I thought this one might be as long.
But, before I knew it, my body started pushing, I couldn’t believe we were already at that point. The contractions were suddenly different and not as hard, my body just kept wanting to push… Doula made me get in the shower and we told DH to stop setting up the tub, there was definitely no time! He had been trying to help me through contractions, take our son, and set up the tub, he was all over the place. Now, he was with me and the doula, they put me in the shower and tried to get me to breathe through the contractions and not push… Not pushing was probably the hardest thing about the whole labor, but luckily when I couldn’t do it anymore, the mw showed up, I stepped out of the shower, grabbed the bathroom sink and started pushing. I have to say, pushing was easier than the rest of labor, it felt like it was coming to an end and Stella was born within 20 minutes. DH caught her and midwife untangled her… there was a slight scare. She had a double neuchal around her neck and came out looking very gray. We heard one cry, but then nothing and mw gave her oxygen and massaged her until she started crying… she was absolutely fine within 5 minutes and I never felt panicked, as I knew she was in great hands. Stella was here at 3:37 a.m. after only 2 1/2 hours of labor, I couldn’t believe it was already over…. I felt GREAT afterwards, I could hardly believe what I had just gone through, but right there was my beautiful baby girl!! I was giddy that it had all gone as it had, no interventions, no complications….
When I look back on my birth, I truly have faith that some power was guiding us through it all, if one small part had been different things could have gone so differently…. It all worked out as it was meant to and I am eternally grateful to have experienced something so powerful and spiritual, I had the birth I wanted and get to see the place my daughter was born from my bed on a daily basis… how cool is that!!
I have to say that the help I received before, during, and after from both my doula, Gray Sutherland, and my Midwife, April Bullock was priceless. Gray was so wise, comforting, and supportive to me, I don’t know what I would of done without her, she almost delivered the baby!!! April was just the right amount of hands-on, very emotionally supportive, and encouraging throughout my pregnancy. What a team I had.
Zelda’s Birth Story
Well, this birth story starts with my water breaking right at midnight on 01/22/10 (a palindrome!). I was about to get out of the tub and I was actually thinking about amniotic fluid. I stood up and felt a *pop*. How exciting! My water had broken! Then after that nothing happened so I just called Andria, my bestie, and texted April, my midwife, then went to bed. The next morning I heard from April. Her and Jayme were coming over that morning to try and get some contractions going with the breast pump and some herbs. They got here around 10 and we did 15 minutes on the pump and 15 minutes off for about an hour and a half with herbs taken in between. I was having some mild contractions on the pump but nothing too crazy. They left at 11:30 and I was due to go get some induction acupuncture and get checked in their office at 12:30. Afterwards Mike and I were going to go get something spicy for lunch. That never happened. Around 11:40 I went downstairs to get a snack, and I got my first real contraction. By 12:10 they were 2-3 minutes apart, so I texted April to tell her I didn’t think I was going to make it to accupuncture. She told me to give it 10 minutes to see if they continued like that. All I could think of was how I was hungry and I wasn’t going to get any curry. By 12:20 they were 2 minutes apart and crazy intense. April was just starting an appointment with another client, so she sent Jayme over to check on me. Before Jayme even got here I was starting to shake and the contractions were right on top of one another. I decided to try to pee to see if that made them less intense. Just walking into the bathroom was one of the craziest things I have ever done. Amniotic fluid was gushing out of me and I felt like I was going to throw up and die. Then it hit me *I am in TRANSITION*. How did that happen so fast? I had only been having contractions for 45 minutes! I made Mike call April and she started on her way over here. I had him fill the tub up and it was probably the best decision I ever made. Getting in the water made the BIGGEST difference. Hear that ladies? Water birth. AMAZING. Physically I felt way better, but I was feeling guilty because April had told me earlier not to get n the tub until I was sure I was really in labor. I had no idea how dialated I was and I didn’t want to stall my labor or upset my midwife. I think it is pretty ridiculous now that that was what I was thinking about, but it was! Anywho, as I was getting in the tub I had the uncontrollable urge to push, but I was trying to just let my body do what it needed to do without me actually pushing since I had no idea if I was fully dialated. I didn’t want to make my cervix angry! In comes Jayme. And thank goodness. I don’t know if I was ever so happy to see someone. I was starting to think I was going to have a baby by myself things were progressing so fast! She was pretty surprised to hear that I wanted to push. She checked me and I was fully dialated. CRAZY! From there, I started pushing a bit with the contractions, but it was still really uncomfortable to do so. I wanted to push, but the sensation was so foreign and so uncomfortable I was hesitant to really get into it. April got here (yay!) and suggested I change positions. That helped a lot. The only part that hurt at this point was my back with I got a contraction. My hoo-ha was a-ok with the pushing. It was just really unusual feeling. It felt kind of like I was trying to blow up a ballo0n and that I WAS the balloon at the same time. Everything was happening so fast and I was feeling a little crazy about it. Every other time I pushed I would say something like, “Do you think she’ll ever come out? Are these pushes doing anything?” or “I don’t like this”. Ha! Mike was great. I was pretty grumpy towards him, because I don’t like people to talk to me or touch me when I am unhappy. He did a good job of just sitting there and looking enthusiastic about the situation, getting me water, and sending updates and directions to Grandmother who was going to be watching Henry. After about an hour of really gentle pushing with each contraction her head came out! With one of her hands! It came out with a popping feeling and I squeeled a little bit because it was so strange and I didn’t know what had happened. To be honest I thought I might have blown my vagina out or something. J Then they told me her head was out. I asked what I should do with the next contraction and April told me to push with all my might for the next one, so I did. Out she came! All pink and screaming! Healthy as could be! I had a little bleeding at first that got cleared up quickly. I didn’t tear like I did with henry. I felt GREAT afterwards. After we delivered the placenta we snuggled and nursed in bed while her cord finished pulsating and April checked everyone over. Henry got to meet her and give her a kiss (he had just woken from his nap- great timing!). Then she started to get fussy, so I got to cut the cord (neato!). Jayme weighed her and measured her while April got everything ready for an herb bath for Miss Zelda and I. Once she was all checked out and foot printed, we hopped into a delicious bath and had a nice rinse and soak. April and Jayme got everything cleaned up. I chitty chatted with Mike about how crazy the afternoon had been. When we were all cleaned up, we got in our jammies and snuggled back up in bed. Mike and Henry went to get birthday cake and have a little bonding time, while we rested up. I wasn’t tired at al since I had a really quick labor after sleeping the night before. When Mike got back we ate cupcakes, gave Henry a big brother present, and just enjoyed each other.