I meant for this to be a short version of the birth story, but, it ended up much longer. If you are interested in a detailed birth story enjoy! Or if you’d rather, just skip to the pictures at the bottom.
Early Labor, Trying our best to eat, drink, and rest,… and snap a picture with the doggie, before the real stuff starts
Miah and I were planning on having a work day at Building BLOCS (my business). We went to Home Depot to buy shelves. I had some contractions happening while I was there, but this did not startle me at first as I’d been having lots of these for several weeks. After one that was more uncomfortable, I told Miah, “I’m going to go to the bathroom, I think my water is going to break.” (I really have no idea what made me say this. Or what made me think that would happen.) Went to the bathroom, nothing to report, walked out of the bathroom, got a drink of water and then the water started moving. There was no “clean up on isle 4”, but there was definitely something strange happening.
I called the birth center and was told, “yep, sound like the waters breaking, go home get some sleep, eat, and drink. Call back when you’re in active labor; or, if you’re not by morning, we’ll have you come in to try and get things moving.”
Because we had started having shelves cut for the office and because we didn’t seem to be in any particular rush, we stayed and waited for the shelves to finish being cut, and I made phone calls to the family letting them know what was going on. Remember now, that we weren’t expecting our little girl for at least another week, and babies in our families all like to come late.
We finally went home, stopping at Building BLOCS to drop shelves, then Taco Cabana on the way to pick up some tacos.
Contractions picked up, but they were not very regular or close together. Around 10pm, Miah went to the guest bed to get some sleep while the contractions were still manageable for me. He only got 2 hours before the contractions were much more intense and I had to wake him for support. In another hour, they were at the 4-1-1 level (4 minutes apart, 1 minute long for 1 hour) point and we called the birthing center. From the time they got to that point they were pretty much on top of one another.
We went to the birthing center, Roswitha and Cat were there to greet us. They did an exam, and I was only 2 cm dilated, but 100% effaced. I was unhappy about the 2 cm part, but at least I knew things were moving. We worked through contractions trying anything to make me more comfortable. Miah got a great work out rubbing my back and helping me around. He was absolutely a fantastic birth partner. We had several conversations previously about what I thought would be the most helpful to me during labor. Most of it involved just doing things and not asking questions, i.e., if I need to be drinking put a straw in my mouth, don’t ask me if I want to drink or what I want to drink. I know from my asthma that I don’t process those kinds of things well, and that I’ll usually opt out if given a choice. If he offered something that seemed awful, I’d say no, but usually I would just take a drink because it was right there. My mother arrived at around 3:30. Her primary job was support for Miah, and communication lesion with the family outside. It was nice having my mother there and for Miah it was wonderful being not having to go get things or get on the phone.
One of the wonderful birth assistants displays the rope that we used to finally push little duck out. Miah was also sore the next few days!
First Family Shot: this beautiful pic got sent out to family after the birth
9lbs 1/2oz. 21.5inches long
Meeting Grandpa Layton
Michelle was our child birth class leader. She was great, I felt like I was very well prepared… as far as information goes. But that information I’m sure helped us manage all the sensations that filled that day.
Before going home with Jennifer, the Midwife that delivered Duck. Jennifer seemed to be a perfect fit for us. We are so grateful to her!
Here we are going home. Gramma Rae stayed with us that night in case we were every overwhelmed or just needed some help. Duck has wonderful Grandparents.
Granddad Snapped A Few Pictures of Duck at 13 Days – More Coming Soon.
At 8:00am, Roswitha checked me again, I was 6cm dilated. Then the midwifes changed shifts and Jennifer took over. It was about time for transition. What they frequently refer to this part as the most difficult/painful part. They also say it’s relatively short. 4 hours later, I would have agreed with the most difficult/painful part, but not the short part. I spent the whole time in the tub. The tub was nice. I hung out there until about 12:00. Then it was time to push.
Because she was pretty far down at this point and moving well with the pushes, Jennifer, the midwife, was hopeful that my pushing phase would be short. But our little girl’s head had other ideas! Two hours later, I was getting pretty exhausted, and feeling a little defeated, We had tried several different positions and she didn’t seem to want to come out. Jennifer, sensing my increased exhaustion, asked something to the effect of, “I need to know how tired you are, do you have energy to keep going? We may need to go to the hospital and use a vacuum and we don’t want to wait until you are completely exhausted to go. Do you have the energy to keep pushing?”
I did not want to go to the hospital. I know that vacuums are used in labor safely all the time, but I didn’t want to do that. I wanted to have her right where I was. And through all this, her heartbeat had remained very strong. I would transfer immediately if I thought that my little girl was in danger; but, while I know it’s a very real danger, I didn’t want to have to go because I was tired. I would not say that I immediately perked up, but that definitely gave me a boost/scare.
We tried a few more positions without much success then Jennifer suggested that we try the rope. I call this the ski rope. Don’t know what it is really called. Miah held one end off the bed, I held the others then when the contraction came I pulled as hard as I could while pushing. This was the ticket! I felt like I was being more successful. We did this for what seemed like an hour, though I have no gauge on time really. Until finally our little girl emerged. She was lovely and smurf like, with a racing helmet style cone head. She came out looking like her daddy, if her daddy was also a smurf, and screaming. We were in love.
Her Gramma Rae and Granddad had been waiting in the family waiting room for almost 4 hours before they got to come meet little duck. All her grandparents came back to meet her. She was 9lbs and .5oz and 21.5inches long, also she had a HUGE noggin.
We’re going to continue to call her little duck on the internet so if you have yet to hear the name shoot me a text or email and I’ll update you.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
So grateful for everyone at Austin Area Birthing Center, who helped us prepare for this birth, with the birth itself, and the aftercare.
Also, a big thanks to all of my wonderful friends and everyone from the centering group that decided to get pregnant soon before us and passed on wonderful birth stories, information, and baby/postpartum supplies.
Thanks to everyone for the food and grocery trips.
And a special thanks and love to all the family that has loved supported and helped take care of us and Duck after her arrival. We love you guys!