Our Birth Story

09.13.2009

Well, it is hard to believe that I am sitting here writing the birth story of our first child. I kept making comments that I was ready and that the baby could come anytime after Thursday the 10th, and my obedient child listened and decided to join the world.

Ironically Damon and I were at our birthing class when the evening's events started. The ironic part really comes into play when I explain that the whole class was focused on a practice labor run. So Damon and I got there and our instructor explained that we were going to go through the labor process tonight. She gave us the script that we should follow which broke down each of the stages of labor and how she wanted us to practice our techniques. She encouraged me to use the restroom first before heading outside to walk around for our "early labor" stage. I followed her advice and headed into the bathroom, where I noticed warm water leaking from me. I called to Damon and said "I think my water broke". Of course Damon completely thought I was role playing, so it took me a minute to explain to him that I actually thought my water broke and that I needed him to help me figure out if it had. So he came in and agreed, we called for our birthing coach to let her know. She came out and was very skeptical...perhaps she thought I was role playing too...she said "now, what makes you think that". We confirmed that my water had indeed broken and I was starting labor! Damon and my anxiety shot up and I think I was in denial! We were going to have a baby within 24 hours!

So Stacey (our instructor) guided us to go ahead with instructions for the early labor and walk around the neighborhood so that we could see what the contractions did. At this point I hadn't really felt anything more than a mild period cramp. While walking the neighborhood we made phone calls to the family and I sent out texts messages to friends letting everyone know we were in labor and to stay posted for the news. The timing between contractions began at about 3 minutes apart and were very mild, lasting for only about 30 seconds at a time. When we got back to the house we decided to go ahead and call our midwife to let them know we'd be visiting them likely within the next 12 hours. They instructed us to labor at home as much as possible and call when the contractions became longer (up to a minute a piece) and stronger.

We decided at this point to head home, since we didn't have the vehicle with the car seat or our bag for the birth center. On the way home we stopped at Publix so that we could pick up ice for our cooler and orange juice. Meanwhile my contractions were picking up in intensity and were starting to feel like a strong cramp. We continued to time them and they were getting to be about 45 seconds a piece and still were 3 minutes apart. Damon and I were hoping to go home and get some sleep before we headed out to the birthing center, being that it was Friday night and it had been a long week at work without much sleep. We were concerned that we would get too tired to labor. But there was no sleeping going on this evening! My contractions were continuing to pick up in intensity and there was no way I was going to be able to rest.

Damon and I were trying to figure out what our next step was. We thought about heading to the birth center and just laboring in our car...but our midwife suggested that we not do that because it could be a very long night. She let us know that she lived only minutes from the birth center and to call us when the pain was about a 6-7 on a scale of 1-10. So we agreed that we'd head over to my parent's house which is 15 minutes from our house and on the way to the birth center so that we'd be a little closer to our final destination. We packed up the car and Damon set me up with blankets and pillows in the back of the Pacifica so that I could continue to labor without slowing down the process.

When we got into the car I told Damon that I did not feel comfortable going to my parents' and that I wanted to head right down to the birth center. My contractions were getting painful and I wasn't able to talk through them. It was beginning to take a lot of concentration and effort to relax my body as much as possible to work with the pain. I had decided at this point that I would rather hang out in the back of the car for hours than take the 30 minute (or 15 minute from my parents') car trip in any more pain than I was already in. Plus, I was concerned that the labor may be faster than a typical 1st time mom because my mom had pretty fast labors.

We called our midwife Kaleen and told her that we weren't comfortable waiting because the contractions were 1 minute in length, about 2 minutes apart and a 7 on the pain scale. She agreed that we should head over and told us she would meet us there. Although I still think she was skeptical of our progress being that we were first time laborers. At this point, I was worried that we were jumping the gun too, because from everything we have heard early labor lasts usually a minimum of 5-7 hours and could last up to days! All I kept thinking was that if we were going through 12 hours of this pain it was going to be an exhausting night!

The car ride wasn't terrible. I stayed on all fours in the back and drank two bottles of water between contractions. The windows were down which was very helpful in relaxing me. We got to the birth center at around 10:30 pm and Kaleen was there a few minutes after us. We had also called our birthing instructor Stacey, who had agreed to doula for us that evening being that we had only spoken to the doula we contracted with once (the day before!) and had yet to meet her. We definitely felt more comfortable with Stacey and were excited that she agreed without hesitation!

Once there Kaleen checked me to see how far dilated I was. It turns out I was already 7 cm dilated!!! It was a good thing we didn't wait! My contractions continued to get stronger and were only a minute (or less) apart at this point. It was getting very difficult, so we decided to go ahead and get in the tub to help with the pain and to slow down the contractions a bit. The tub was definitely a welcomed change and at first it did help with the pain. Unfortunately, I got pretty nauseous due to the intensity of the contractions and ended up throwing up several times, which probably brought the contractions on faster. Soon the contractions were one on top of the other without a break in between. I didn't even have a moment to catch my breath! I have to be honest. I am glad that I went naturally - and I am very proud of myself for doing so - but I had several thoughts of whether or not I was actually going to make it through this labor! (at this point I was in transition and self doubt is the biggest symptom).

I began to have an overwhelming desire to push, so Kaleen came in and checked me. I was only 9 cm dilated and you have to be 10 to push, so she told me not to push yet! WOW! Let me tell you how terribly difficult and counter intuitive it is not to push. So I used some techniques that Stacey had taught us and kept myself from pushing. Our midwife and assistants encouraged me to get out of the tub and move to the bed because they felt it would help in the last step of the progression. And it did!

I moved to the bed and Kaleen checked me again and told me that during next urge I had to push I could. I had Damon quickly sit behind me to help support me through the pushing stage. And HOLY COW do you want to talk about pain! It was a new type of intensity that I can't even begin to describe. Really, I haven't figured out a way to describe any of it, it is such a unique and intense pain...but so worth it! I couldn't believe the primal screams that were coming out of my body! I really didn't think I was going to be a screamer...who knew. So with only 12 minutes of pushing (typically this can take up to 2 hours) we were welcoming little Brodie Thomas into the world at 12:07 am on 09/12/2009, weighing only 6 lbs and measuring at 19.25 inches! It was perfect.

They put him immediately on my chest and within the hour he was breast feeding. It was amazing. My parents had arrived and were able to meet their newest grandson. We were set to be discharged within 4 hours and my parents decided to head home in order to get some sleep. At this point I got up to use the rest room. Unfortunately after such a fast and furious delivery my body gave out and I ended up passing out. My blood pressure dropped and they put me on oxygen until I came to. They hooked me up to an IV to make sure I was getting hydrated and decided to keep me overnight for observation. My blood pressure went down shortly after and they removed the oxygen and instructed me and Damon to get some sleep. We complied and were able to get a little sleep with a one round of breast feeding in between. In the morning they checked on me and all my vitals were back to normal and I was feeling much better. We were discharged around 10 am. So after only 12 hours at the birthing center we were taking home our new son!

We are so thankful to have had the experience we did! We realize that a 5 hour labor - start to finish - is very atypical! We are also very pleased with our decision to use a birth center and were thrilled with the amazing staff at Heart 2 Heart! We had only just met Kaleen that evening (since we only had 1 appointment the day before and met with Michelle), but she was just wonderful and made our birth experience so much easier and pleasurable. I felt safe and taken care of and I knew we were in good hands! I am proud of us for being able to meet our goal of a natural childbirth, but at the end of the day I am just so glad to have been blessed with a wonderful healthy baby!