Stats first:
December 20th, 2005
(39 Weeks along)
Born at 8:16 am
7 lbs 4 oz
21"
13½" head
A little after 3 am, I went to the bathroom (naturally). When I wiped, I had a 'bloody show'. This was at 3:25 am.
I went back to bed. Contractions started, but they weren't painful or anything. So, I just stayed in bed for a while.
Sometime after 4 am, I filled the bathtub with water and got in. The water felt really nice :)
I was kind of wondering if this was the 'real' thing or not.
I had brought in a clock to see if there were any regular contractions. Well, at first, like, the first few were 5 min apart. Rapidly, they became 2 to 3 min apart.
I had some herbal, homeopathy, and bach flower stuff my sil, Jessica, had given to me that she had left over from her recent birth. So, I was taking that.
Jeremy got out of bed a little after 6 am to get ready for work. I called him in and told him my contractions were every 2-3 min. He asked if I had called my sisters and I told him I hadn't. He told me that I had better call because he had to go to work.
I had already mentally prepared myself for a solo birth since Jeremy works 12 hr days, 5-7 days a week and his work is 45 mins away from home. So, the odds of him being home or even coming back home in time were kind of slim anyways.
So, I went ahead and starting calling people. The ones I was calling are all 2 hrs away. Of course, you are never sure how fast or slow your labor will go... so... I called Angele, she went ahead and called mom and Cherie. Jessica called me back (Cherie was sleeping over there) and I called Tasha because she had asked that I call if anything happens because she wanted to be here. Also called Aimee.
Sometime around now, Ursula's calling out to me from the bed. I'm telling her I'm in the tub, but she wants me so I empty the water and go to her. She wants to do her usual morning nursing.
So, I let the water out the tub and go to her. I allow her to nurse for a little while but notice that this is causing my contractions to come every minute! So, I convince her to stop because 'its hurting mommy's belly' and ask Calista to put the TV on so that they can watch PBS while I go back into the tub.
In the tub, at first the contractions slowed down to about 5 min apart but quickly went to 2 mins apart.
By now, the phone is ringing off the hook. I picked it up a couple of times and immediately told whoever was on it that I was no longer answering the phone. I let it ring. It began irritating me.
I did answer one more phone call. It came at 7:58 am and it was from Jeremy's work. I immediately said, "Come home, I don't even think you'll make it". Jeremy said, "okay, I'm on my way." It normally takes him 45 mins to get home.
My contractions are intensifying. I start vocalizing. I first started up with doing a laugh, even a fake one worked. A loud HA HA HA was working. But, as they intensified, I stopped taking phone calls and laughing wasn't working. So, I started singing notes. I noticed that certain ones worked better than others and the louder and longer I'd sing them, the better they worked.
Then, I noticed something that I figured must be the 'ring of fire'. It wasn't so bad though. So, when I noticed that, I started envisioning the baby's head descending through the 'stations'. I also thought about Jessica asking me earlier if I had felt for the head yet. So, I decided that if the baby is going through the stations, then I must be able to feel his head or close to being able to. I put my finger in and feel something really soft. I remember back to when I had crowned Ursula and felt her head and try to think if it felt like what I was feeling. It didn't.
Although I wasn't sure of what I was feeling, I decided to go ahead and bear down, to see how it felt. Well, even though the urge to push wasn't overwhelming, I did it anyways, just to see. Well, it did feel better when I did it during a contraction. So, I felt again, and whatever it was was closer. So, I went through a few more contractions without bearing down and felt again and I felt it burst! My water had just broken!
So, I put my finger in again and there it was! His head! I knew for sure what it was, no mistaking it! So, I decide to start pushing again. I know I had orginally wanted to just allow my body to push him out... but, it just felt so much better to push.
So, I kept touching his head and did a slow and steady push, the whole time coaching myself to go 'easy, easy, slow, slow'.
As I'm doing that slow push, I feel his head descend. And in no time his whole, round head was out! I feel all around it a few times. I felt his ear, it made me giggle. I didn't feel anything weird or different, like a cord, so, I figure it was time to push the body out.
Again, I did a slow, constant push and out came his body, the whole time I had my hand on his head. When I felt his body release, I put my other in the water and swoop him up.
He's immediately breathing but just looking around. After a few moments, he lets out this big cry! hehehe But quickly settles down as I have him to my chest.
Right after I put him to my chest from the water, Ursula and Calista reenter the bathroom. I ask Calista to grab a towel for me and I put it on top of him. He's not interested in nursing. He's just looking around.
The girls fawn over him. Ursula quickly goes and get the infant carseat and tells me to put him in there. I finally get through to her that I will not and so she wants to get in the water with us.
I go ahead and drain the water and clean the tub out, while holding Wyatt :D And once its all clean again (just using water... no cleaners), I refill the tub and allow Ursula in.
It was probably a good 40 minutes before Jeremy made it home. He opens the bathroom door to see us 3 in the tub. He makes Ursula get out. And tells me the ambulance just pulled up. I'm like, "wha wha what???" "Who called them?"
He didn't know. Behind Jeremy came not only the EMT's but Cherie and her family, my mom, Angele, and Tasha.
Come to find out, Tasha tells us how the EMT's got involved.
Tasha had called her mom to see if she could watch her 2 kids while she came here since I was in labor. Well, her mom calls me, apparently one of the phone calls I didn't pick up due to being in intense labor. So, she calls 911 and asks them to check on me since I was alone and in labor. 911 called the ambulance.
I think its hilarious that I had already given birth almost an hour before they arrived.
When the EMT's enter, they want me to go to the hospital. I refuse and have to sign a waiver. They want to cut the cord which is fine because its no longer pulsating. So, they clamp it off and ask if I want Jeremy to cut it. I said yes and they go get him and hand him a scapel.
The EMT's call both my doctor and the pediatrician. Of course the doc is freaked out that I won't be going in. Oh well.
The EMT's tell me they are going to stay until I birth the placenta. I'm like, okay, whatever. Meanwhile, they're taking my bloodpressure every 20 min or so.
It ends up taking me about 2 hrs before I birth the placenta! And then, it felt like I was giving birth to a whole other head! Crazy, huh? It was so not like that for my other 2 placentas!
So, the EMT's examine the placenta and all is good. They ask if we want to keep it. I told them yes and they bagged it for us. Then they left just like they said they would.
Thinking back, I never had that fear for this baby, even in transition, which is when a lot of women go through that fear but just have to get through it; esp. for homebirths. It was more like a 'matter of fact' kind of thing for me.
My sister asked if I felt empowered. I don't know. I just did what had to be done. It just felt like the natural thing to do. Something I had been wanting now for over 7 yrs.
I'm very happy with this birth :) I got to catch my own baby :)
Daddy and Wyatt
Calista and Wyatt
Ursula and Wyatt - She is just so in love with this baby!
