Lauren's Birth Story

   I took a short walk Saturday morning and started having contractions at about 9:30am. I wasn't sure if I was really in labor because this had happened earlier that week. I continued on with my day, went shopping with my mom. My mom was pretty convinced we were having a baby that night, but she didn't want to get me worked up so she just stayed calm and acted like it was no big deal. My mom was so sweet...she bought a bouquet of flowers for the baby, just in case. The contractions got a little stronger throughout the day, which hadn't happened previously, so I was thinking maybe this could be it, but again, didn't want to get my hopes up. They didn't really pick up strength until James got home from work around 5:30. They became fairly regular, but again, I wasn't sure if it was the real thing, even though everyone else was convinced it was. I labored on my birth ball and walked around the house. They were becoming quite strong, to the point where I needed to really focus and breathe through them. We called our midwife around 10 when they were 4 minutes apart and lasting about 1 minute. The birth team showed up around 11 and we continued to labor together in our room while they hung out in the living room and worked on our puzzle. About midnight is when we decided to fill up our birth pool...that's when we realized this was definitely happening and I was needing some relief from the contractions. We had tested the pool a couple weeks back to make sure we knew how to do it, and to make sure there were no holes. We were good to go! I labored in the pool and had planned on birthing in it. The water was very warm, which helped calm me through hard labor. I asked my midwife, Alison, to check my dilation at this point and she said I was at about an 8. They also checked the baby's heart rate which was good, but she said she could hear swooshing, which meant the baby's hand was up by her face, which could make delivery more difficult. She told me to talk to the baby and tell her to put her hands down. I did, and we hoped it would work since we had told her to turn when she was breech, and she did. Just a few more contractions and my body was pushing on its own. Unfortunately my back was hurting really badly and I wasn't making much progress as far as baby's descension was concerned. My midwives encouraged me to get out of the pool, which I really didn't want to do. I tried a few different pushing positions while still in the pool, but I had to face the fact that it just wasn't working anymore. So we moved to our bed to try to get the baby to move under the pelvis. That worked! We were on our way to meeting our lovely baby. My water still hadn't broken and progress was slow. We thought maybe she'd be born in the caul. I was on my side, pushing off of James, and all 3 three midwives - everyone had a limb. I was told to put my chin down and growl. For some strange reason, this gave me the power I needed to move the baby along. After a really big push, there was an explosion of fluid. That was awesome!!! It was quite the event. It splattered all over the wall, and consequentially, all over Alison. Every time a contraction began, my hips and back would ache and I would cry out, "It hurts, it hurts!" Caitlyn said, "Yes, it hurts, now push!" It's exactly what I needed to hear, even though in the moment, I was thinking "You're not very sympathetic". LOL Whenever I pushed really hard, I could hear Alison saying, "There you go! That's the way!" All of this encouragement was getting the baby out. Between contractions, Kat would monitor the baby's heart rate and I would gather up my strength for the next big push. After some more hard, hard pushing in different positions, our baby's head began to emerge. I was siting on a birthing stool at this point. Caitlyn said the baby had lots of hair. I was able to reach down and feel the top of her head.  After more hard pushing, Lauren finally arrived next to our bed. She had both hands under her chin...the little stinker! Labor lasted about 19 hours, start to finish.  It was long and hard, but oh so worth it! As soon as she came out, they put her on my stomach - her umbilical cord was so short, that's as far as she could reach. She stayed there for a few minutes, and then James cut the cord. He took her to the bed and I laid down on the floor and pushed the placenta out - what a relief - I was done! I got into bed and held my beautiful baby girl. She nursed right away and after a little while, Alison stitched me up. Because of Lauren's hand positioning, I had torn pretty significantly. They finally told me that her heart rate had been dropping - not dangerously low, but it was heading that way. Kat was giving me 5 more pushes before they were going to need to do an episiotomy. I got Lauren out in 4 more pushes. I was one push away from being cut. Man, I'm thankful for my encouraging midwives. An episiotomy was my biggest fear, aside from any kind of harm to the baby. I was able to birth my baby girl with no interventions and no medication. I felt like super woman. It was without a doubt the hardest work I had ever done and it came with the biggest reward. My arm and leg muscles hurt like nothing else the next day. What an experience!