Lil' Dude ON My Belly!

Lil' Dude's Birth Story:

So as some of you may know, I was having contractions on and off for a couple of weeks. Braxton Hicks or pre-labor contractions that were preparing my body for labor. I noticed Sunday evening though that the contractions would wake me out of a deep sleep, which they hadn't been doing before. I stayed home from work Monday and Tuesday to try to cure the UTI that I thought I had.(test came back negative, apparently it was just pressure and discomfort from the baby descending!) Tuesday I noticed the contractions coming regularly but I still thought it was practice contractions. Around 5pm that day, I began talking to my baby and telling him that everyone was waiting for him to come; all of his family, uncles and aunties. So I told him that if he was ready, he should come. I told him that he was welcome and that he could come. I repeated this mantra to him a few times. I had just told my mom earlier in the day that I was ready for the baby to just come so I thought letting the baby know that he was welcome and that everyone was waiting for him could bring on labor. I wanted to see our baby! The suspense was killing me and I definitely wanted a little Libra! B and I went to bed and the contractions were becoming more intense. Hot shower and my hot water bottle were no longer helping. B and I began to think that this may be it so he got up and kind of tidied up the apartment. I text messaged my doula and she told me to try to rest because I would be in for a long tiring labor if I didn't sleep that night. I called her and told her that I just could not sleep; the contractions were too strong. She told me to try. She asked if I had an discharge and I said no. Then I texted her back a little later saying that I did have some brownish, pinkish discharge which must have been my "bloody show". She called my phone and B picked up. She asked him to ask me if I wanted her to come over and I was like "YES!". In the meantime I was feeling no comfort with my Snoogle pregnancy pillow at all and using the hot water bottle was just an exercise in futility. No position felt comfortable. For some reason the only place I sorta felt comfortable was sitting on the toilet believe it or not. Apparently it is very common for women to labor on the toilet. So I kept shuffling back in forth between the bed and the toilet. My doula took a car service over to the apartment and the first thing she did was give me something called "Rescue Remedy", a calming herbal elixir. She said it seemed to calm me down; I couldn't really tell...LOL! Then she said "let's get in the shower." I protested, telling her I had JUST gotten out of the shower and it didn't help. But she insisted and in I went. She told me to move with the contractions and to open my legs to make room for the baby. I was not feeling it at all. Eventually I told her I didn't want to stand anymore so we exited the shower and I made my way back to the Snoogle. I found no solace there. So again I shuffled back to the toilet and went back and forth. My doula was timing the contractions and said that I was probably in early labor. She asked if I wanted her to call the midwife. I said yes. So my doula told her that I was in early labor and that she didn't need to come right away. Then 12 minutes later when we realized that labor had accelerated faster than we thought, she had B call the midwife and tell her to come. My doula asked "Do you want me to tell the Marcy to come?" And I said "YES!" as I struggled to get comfy on the toilet seat. I felt so much pressure, almost like I had to go to the bathroom. Apparently that was rectal pressure from the baby making his way down. When my midwife arrived, I was in the throes of active labor, clinging to the Snoogle pillow in vain. She took my blood pressure and listened to the baby's heartbeat with the Doppler. She remarked that she had to position the stethoscope pretty low, meaning the baby was definitely well engaged into my pelvis. She then said after my next contraction she wanted to check me to see how dilated I was. This was the moment I had been dreading for awhile because I heard anecdotally how much this can hurt. So she checked me and man did that hurt. I couldn't even grin and bear it. She then announced to the surprise of everyone, especially myself, that I was full dilated and ready to push. (Later my midwife explained that I had probably been walking around around somewhat dilated for days or even weeks, hences the fast labor.) "WTF?" I was thinking! I mean I guess I just feared that my labor was going to be this long drawn out thing, based on other mothers' horror stories of their labor and delivery. And at that point I was not getting any rest between contractions because the so-called "rest" period in between did NOT feel like rest because of all the pressure and things going on in my pelvis and back. The whole time, my doula was easing my pain through back massage and foot massage. My mouth was getting so dry from all that heavy breathing too. Sometimes at the peak of a contraction, I felt a sense of panic because I knew that they would just keep coming and that rest was not coming for awhile. My doula kept telling me to talk to my baby and let him know what I wanted. To tell him I loved him. I did tell him. I told him I loved him and to work with my body. I also told him not to hurt his maman! LOL! My doula saw my panic and told me I was safe. Meanwhile, my midwife was observing everything. She was very hands off, which was pretty cool. I didn't really want any unnecessary touch; I even rebuked some of B's well intentioned back rubs! LOL! So my midwife wanted to do ANOTHER internal exam to "show" me how to push. I said no. I figured I could figure out how to push on my own! I definitely didn't want a repeat of what I felt during her first check. So in my bed, with my doula holding one leg up, I began to push. I pushed hard and tried to use the power of the contractions. In between pushes, I appreciated my little breaks. I pushed for 29 minutes and just as I felt a slight burn in my perineum, also known as "the ring of fire", both the doula and my midwife told me to stop pushing. Before I knew it, my midwife pulled this little dude out and there he was, with a funny shaped head, crying in front of me. She put him on my belly and I couldn't believe he was here finally and that my labor and delivery was pretty much over! My doula shuffled back and forth, covering the baby in towels that had been warmed in the oven. The midwife said that the umbilical cord had stopped pulsating and asked if it was okay to clamp and cut the cord. I said yes and she asked B if he wanted to do it. He did and then the baby was moved up toward my chest. Then I asked "How do I know when the placenta is going to come out?" My midwife told me I would feel cramping which I did. I then pushed out the placenta. My doula said that delivering the placenta would feel good and surprisingly it did! Weird... My midwife inspected my placenta and said it was healthy and pretty big. The first mother of my little boo... My doula is dehydrating and encapsulating it for me. I only had a minor tear and it was only to the interior of the perineum apparently, requiring no stitches. Yay! B and I both looked at our little boo; I couldn't believe that he had been living inside me for the past 10 months. I can't believe I pushed him out of my body! It's still very surreal to me. I look at him and I am just amazed! My midwife examined him, weighed him and measured him. He has a slight hernia but other than that he's awesome and healthy. He weighed in at 6 pounds, 2 ounces, a lot less than my midwife had previously estimated. She thought he would have been 7.5-8 pounds. And he was 21 inches long with some big feet! He also has muscles. He's not a pudgey baby at all, more like long and lean. I think he gets the long part from my dad's side of the family and the lean muscles from B. Oh and guess what else? My water NEVER broke. The baby was born in his sac! He was "born in the caul" or "with the caul on his face" as some put it. He's a "caulbearer". According to Wikipedia "In medieval times the appearance of a caul on a newborn baby was seen as a sign of good luck. It was considered an omen that the child was destined for greatness." Crazy, right? My doula said I was the first caul birth she had ever attended. My doula helped initiate breastfeeding. I am still getting the hang of that but I am determined. I still can't believe it. I am a mommy and my son is sleeping as I type this. He is so cute. My mom and B seem to think he looks like my dad. But we will see in the next few months who he favors. He definitely has my nose. But anyway, what a wonderful birth day we had on Wednesday, October 22, 2008 at 4:19 AM!

Sidenote: If I had gone ahead with my previous birth plan, I would have been risked out of the birth center because the baby was "past due" and I would have probably been treated on the regular labor and delivery floor as "high risk" because my amniotic fluid was low and probably put through all sorts of hospital birth intervention drama. My labor and delivery was never an emergency and the baby's heartbeat was strong the whole entire time. I am so glad I had a homebirth and that I chose to give birth without intervention or medication. So many people acted like I was crazy for wanting to have a natural birth and that I would see how unbearable the pain was. I mean yes, there was pain, but I knew that it was temporary and as soon as the little boo was born, it went away for the most part. I have some soreness in my perineum but that's not really a big deal. And I am proud to say that I never screamed or got hysterical during the labor. Very much the opposite of the image of childbirth presented in mainstream media. But anyway, yay natural childbirth and homebirth! P.S.- I may be mentioned in a New York Times Article on homebirth in NYC...stay tuned!