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Susan's Story
December 17, 2000
After an hour or so of sleep, I was awakened by a hard contraction at 2:15 AM. I knew right away that this was the kind of contraction that makes babies come out. I drifted off and woke up with another at 2:45 AM. I was really tired and knew that I needed to get some rest before I could have a baby, so I stayed in the bed hoping that the pains would stop. BUT they didn't, and before I knew it, they were coming every 10 minutes. I got out of bed at 3:30 AM to finish packing my bag. I had started, but wasn't due for 9 more days. My first baby had come 5 days after his due date, so I hadn't worried much. As I packed and stopped for contractions -every 5 minutes, my husband, William, and our three-year-old son, Jeremy, slept peacefully in the family bed -not knowing that life as they knew it was soon going to change! At 4:00 AM, I woke William so that he could help me time the contractions since I was starting to lose track. I started running some bath water but got hit with a whopper of a contraction and decided to call the midwife instead of getting into the tub. This was a good move. The midwife, said to come on in, but that I may be sent back home if I hadn't progressed enough. (I don't know if they tell everybody that or if I didn't sound like I was in enough pain!) The birth center is 45 minutes from our house, so we really didn't want to dilly-dally around getting there, and my contractions were still 5 minutes apart. Mom came over to stay with Jeremy, and I called my doula to let her know that she'd be needed soon. We left the house at 5:30 AM and arrived at the birth center at 6:00 AM -not too much traffic at 5:30 AM on a Sunday morning! My prayer to not deliver on the highway during rush hour had been answered! When we settled in my birthing suite, I was 4 cm dilated, so we did get to stay. An hour later, I was still 4 cm dilated. So, William and I started puttering around the birth center hoping that gravity would help me out. I had to use the bathroom a lot too. The walking made the contractions closer and stronger, and I was really starting to feel tired, so I asked if I could get in the tub soon. The midwife checked me again as the water filled the tub, and I was now 6 cm dilated. I think this was at 7:30 AM. I overheard the midwife tell my husband that if I didn't get going, she'd break my water so that I wouldn't get too tired. My doula arrived while the tub was filling. I was beginning to shake, and it didn't seem like I was getting much of a break in between the contractions. I got into the tub, and relief and relaxation swept over me. I felt no pain for a moment until the next contraction hit. I asked my doula if I was in the transition stage of labor, and she replied, "Pretty soon." I said, "What do you mean I'm not in transition?!!" I think then, she knew that I was in transition! My doula encouraged me to kneel at the side of the tub so that gravity could work for me some more. When the next contraction came, it felt like everything inside of me hit bottom, and I whined in pain that I had pressure like I was going to need to push soon! My doula went to get the midwife (who had recently told my doula's waiting husband that I would be going at it through lunch time!) to tell her that I needed to push. The midwife couldn't believe it since I had just measured at 6 cm. She asked me to lie back so that she could check me in the tub. While trying to recline for her, I had another contraction and could feel burning as my bag of waters bulged out of me spreading me apart! Then, KABLAM! It exploded!!! OW!!! Then I really had a lot of pressure! As the midwife checked me, I could sense a bit of surprise. She reached down, and there was the baby's head. It was right there! She asked my doula to call the nurse to come right away. The midwife knew that I was very concerned about tearing. We wanted to ease the baby out slowly so that my skin would be able to stretch. I was feeling a tremendous urge to push, but the midwife told me to blow for what seemed like forever. (I got so that I was pretending to blow her head off!) I was repeatedly ordered not to push. The nurse hadn't arrived yet, so my doula held flashlights and fetched oil to help the midwife. (I'm still blowing, and my eyes keep rolling up into my head.) William was right by my side stroking my hair until the midwife asked if he wanted some pictures. William realized that the camera bag was not in the room, so he ran out to the car. I'm still blowing and writhing. The midwife said, "Look at me! Today is the most wonderful day!" William quickly returned with no cameras. They were on the kitchen table at home!! William assumed his position at the side of the tub. The baby's head started to emerge out of me. William said, "Susan, I can see the head! I can see the head. Look! There's the head!" I think that I looked. Then, my eyes rolled up in my head again! The whole head popped out, followed by the body -of course! AHHHHHH! What a relief to get that out of me! I leaned back to relax when I was reminded that I now had a baby. (This was at 8:15 AM!) I had not pushed. I looked down and saw a little gray body curled up in a ball, floating face down, and it's head was covered in black hair! Its little butt was right there in front of me! The midwife held the baby under while my brain registered what I was seeing, and then I pulled up my gown so that she could place the baby on my skin. She covered it in a towel and suctioned out the mouth and rubbed its back to get the breathing going. Then, the nurse walked in. :-D I was so relieved that I had lived through giving birth with no drugs! I was thinking about how glad I was that it was over! Then somebody asked, "Don't you want to see what it is?" Huh. That hadn't really occurred to me yet! I lifted up our little bundle and looked very carefully, but I couldn't find "it." "It's a little girl! Oh, my God! Oh, my God! It's a girl! It's a girl! It's a girl!" I was so excited to have a girl! William and I beamed at each other as I squeezed our tiny little girl to my chest! Marissa Joy weighed 7 pounds, 15 ounces and was 20 1/2 inches long. Her waterbirth was such a fulfilling experience, and she nursed right away!! It was so much better than my previous experience at a hospital in which I had what I would classify as a typical hospital experience with drugs and intervention, and it had taken my son 3 tearful weeks to get the nursing down pat. I'm so blessed to have found the birth center with its wonderful midwives and nurses. We went home that afternoon to an awesome home-cooked meal with our extended family, and Marissa joined her mommy, daddy, and big brother in the family bed that night. :-D
I'm so thankful for both of our
healthy, happy children!
Please send your birth story to Lara@ABetterChildbirth.com. I look forward to hearing from you!
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