One Day at a Time...: Lucy's Birth Story

This is the story of Lucy's birth. If you just want the short version, here it is:

Lucy was born at 12:45 PM on Monday, June 27th after 12 hours of labor.
She was born at home, in a birthing tub, and weighed 9 lbs 4 oz and was 21 inches long. There were no complications.

Now here is the long version, for anyone who wants to know it! I'm tellin' it straight, so if you get queasy upon reading words like "placenta," just know those words are in here. You've been warned.

My "guess date" was June 20th, and on the 21st I thought there was a good chance I might be in labor. I was having Braxton Hicks contractions every 2-3 minutes for a few hours. They weren't painful, but they didn't go away after a shower and drinking lots of water, so I thought they might be "the real thing." But no. They were not. They stopped altogether within about 4 hours. Now that I have been through labor, I realize that when labor contractions start (at least for me), they are unmistakable.

I began having intense contractions each morning as her actual birth day approached. They were intense enough that I couldn't speak through them but would instead "focus" (i.e. use the self-hypnosis I learned through HypnoBabies) during them. I would have about 3-4 each morning, and then they stopped. I talked to Kathy, my doula, about them--and she thought my birthing time would likely start one of those mornings when the intense "pressure waves" started.

On the 26th (Sunday night, 40 weeks and 6 days), Daniel and I went to our Bible study, and I timed contractions throughout the evening. They were about every 10 minutes, but not particularly intense. I had a lot of BH contractions in the last few weeks of the pregnancy, so that was nothing new. But since I had bloody show that day and the previous two, and since each morning's pressure waves were more intense than the last, I had a feeling that labor would start the next morning, and I texted both moms (Daniel's and mine), Daniel's sisters (who live out of town), and the Doula to let them know about my hunch. I also texted our backup midwife, since Dinah was still in Europe.

We went to bed about 11:30, but I was having pressure waves, and my mind was active, so I couldn't go to sleep. By 12:30 I was timing the contractions again, and they were becoming more intense. I was using self-hypnosis and "peace" breathing to focus and send "hypno-anesthesia" to my lower abdomen, where the pressure felt greatest. I woke Daniel about 12:45 AM and had him call the doula, since she would have to drive from Ft. Worth. We called the backup midwife as well and left a message that labor had begun.

We called both moms and my sister (who lives down the street) next, so that they could come help Daniel set up the room. Since we had a home birth, "setting up the room" consisted of laying painter's plastic drop cloth all over the floor, another one on the bed (with a clean set of sheets over it), and preparing the birth tub. The "birth tub" is actually a Rubbermaid horse trough (though never used for that purpose) we borrowed from the birthing center. Ginnie and Becky prepared it, while I did peace breathing in the living room with Daniel and we waited for Kathy (the doula) to arrive.

We called the backup midwife again after Kathy arrived, and we thought she was on her way over. But actually, she called back about 30 minutes later to let us know that she couldn't come (I have no idea why) and was sending a different midwife -- one we'd never met -- named Amanda. This didn't actually bother me much at the time, because I was busy with the pressure waves, which were very intense and about every 2 minutes. I had just enough time to move positions, drink some water, or chat for a moment between waves.

I spent a couple hours on the birthing ball (really just a regular exercise ball) in our bedroom, with Kathy and Daniel applying pressure to my lower back with each contraction.

This helped immensely with the discomfort, which was pretty significant, even that early on. Lucy was positioned in a way that created quite a bit of back pain with the pressure waves.

When Amanda arrived, she had me sit on the birthing ball in the shower. It was really nice. The pressure waves were still pretty uncomfortable, and I threw up about 4 times, but at least the water helped me feel clean and was a nice distraction from the pressure waves. When I got out and Amanda checked me, I experienced that disheartening revelation most first-time laboring moms experience: "you're maybe 2-3 cm dilated." This after about 4 hours of uncomfortable labor.

She had Daniel and me walk outside around the neighborhood as quickly as we could and told us to "power through" the contractions. Memories of marathon training (and running) came flooding back as I fixed my gaze on the horizon and resisted the urge to curl up in a little ball in somebody's front yard. We walked about a half a mile that way and then turned back. I was crying by the time we got back to the house, because the pressure waves were extremely unpleasant. But I was 5-6 cm when Amanda checked me after we got done walking, so I suppose it was worth the discomfort :).

It was about 6 AM when we got back from walking, and at last I got into the tub.

The tub felt lovely. After about an hour in there, Amanda tried to rupture my membranes ("break the water") but couldn't because of how thick the membranes were. She let me labor in the tub for about an hour and encouraged me to begin pushing with each pressure wave.

Kathy was fabulous, providing lots of support for both Daniel and me, giving massages, offering encouragement, making sure we were both eating and drinking...
After about an hour, Amanda had me get on the bed and was able to rupture the membranes.

The relief from the pressure was huge, but unfortunately a lip of the cervix had not completely dilated and had become swollen making it impossible for Lucy to move past it.

So she put ice in a glove and held that inside me, against the swollen lip of cervix. This was the most unpleasant part of the labor.

Daniel stayed by my side while Carrie stroked my hair, and my mom massaged my feet. Isn't this photo (below) bizarre?

And then it was back in the tub.

Everyone was very patient, and it was nice to not feel rushed.

I was so thankful that Kathy and Amanda had everyone leave for the next part. For about an hour, Daniel and I had the room to ourselves, and I sat in the tub with my eyes locked on his during every pressure wave.

Whenever I felt one come on, we would both say, "Ohhhhhhh, ohhhh, ohhhhh" until it was over, concentrating on relaxing every muscle and on not pushing, so that the swelling in the cervix could go down.

It was difficult, because by this time Lucy had descended enough that I had the urge to push. Daniel and I were so tired that we fell asleep between each contraction.

We kept up the "ohhh" breathing (Kathy's suggestion) until my body began involuntarily pushing.

It was a really odd sensation. For a second at a time at first, and then for a few seconds at a time, my body began pushing, and I couldn't have stopped it if I wanted to (which, incidentally... I sort of did).

Daniel got the midwife and doula to come back in, and Lucy was crowning within minutes. I depended completely on the involuntary pushing to deliver her head and shoulders, and I liked that it happened slowly enough to let me accept and adapt to the stretching sensation between each pressure wave.

From the time the involuntary pushing began to when she was completely out was about 15 minutes.

We called family into the room when her head was out, so they got to be there the moment she was born into the water.

Amanda and her assistant Michelle checked Lucy over quickly in the tub while we waited for the umbilical cord to stop pulsing.

When it did, Daniel cut it with scissors.

Lucy got her first bath in our sink, and then Amanda weighed her with a hanging scale.

I had never seen one before. Interesting, no?

I was so relieved to have Lucy out of me. I think a part of me didn't actually believe it would work-- birthing, I mean. The whole thing is such a miraculous feat of engineering and biology.