Here’s my birth story, it’s a bit long, OK, it’s really long…but keep in mind the point of this blog is more for Neil. I plan on printing this all out so he has a nice little keepsake of what I went through to bring him into this world. And because it’s for him, I really didn’t spare too many details, so if you don’t want too many details, you probably don’t want to read this. So long story short, I had a baby and it went well! For all those that wanted the play by play…here it is! Enjoy!
As soon as your pregnancy is confirmed by a medical professional, you are given an estimated due date (EDD). Our was March 8th. Now, you know darn well babies come when they’re ready….but it was hard not to feel a little let down when March 8th came and went and no sign of baby.
On Sunday March 9th, I just about had it as far as sitting around waiting for baby. They say the best thing you can do is walk. So we hopped in the car, and drove about 40 minutes west to the mall and walked around most of the afternoon. I had no signs this baby was coming any time soon. I decided to treat myself to a DQ Moolata….yes, caffeine and about a months worth of calories! But I spent the whole pregnancy doing everything “by the book’, caffeine free, and tried to watch my calorie in take, I figured I’m a day over due…I can have a treat. That thing was darn good too by the way! That was the last I ate that day, I don’t know if it was because it was so fattening or the baby was on the way, but I didn’t eat for the rest of the day.
Monday March 10th, Jeff reluctantly gets up for work. He too thought he’d be home with a baby by now. He was also a little nervous about going to work this particular day because he knew he’d be working in an “underground laboratory” that had no cell service and almost impossible to get a hold of. He left me with a list of phone numbers of everyone in his division to call, just in case. I didn’t feel anything though so I just told him not to worry and have a nice day at work. He left…and about 10 minutes later I woke up with some strong cramping. I didn’t think too much of it, however, I would fall a sleep and it would wake me up again. Hmm? I got up to go to the bathroom. Everything seemed normal. Climbed back into bed….cramping continues. I figured, this maybe Braxton Hicks…only because it wasn’t what I expected labor to feel like. Felt more like strong menstrual cramps, but nothing more then that. After about 30 minutes of this I called Jeff and left him a voicemail. He said he’d carry his cell on him, and when he would come up from this lab, he’d check his messages. I left a message pretty much saying “hey it’s me, no worries, I just wanted to let you know I’m getting some odd cramping, it’s probably just Braxton Hicks, but I thought I should let you know just in case! No need to worry, but when you surface, just give me a call and check in. If this is the real deal, it’s going to probably take all day before something actually happens…so again, no worries”.
I then headed to the bathroom again feeling “not so fresh” and thought maybe I was leaking a little amniotic fluid. Sure enough, I was pretty sure that’s what was happening. I walked back to my bed, and by the time I got there, I knew my water had broken. Gross! That’s all I have to say on how that felt! However, the advantage to your water breaking is there’s not question if this is the real deal or not, so I actually appreciated the fact it was broken and I knew I was now in labor and knew what I had to do. I called Jeff again and left him a message. “Hey, it’s me again, yeah I know I called you like 20 minutes ago saying no worries, but, yeah, well my water broke, so like….if you call me back when you get this message it would super! I need to call my midwife, but would like to speak with you first. I’ll give you 30 and if I don’t hear from you I’ll try your boss….no worries, I’m fine, don’t freak out”.
Jeff just happen to be in an area where he heard his phone ring, but was unable to pick up due to something was doing work related. Once that task was complete his coworker said “Hey didn’t your cell ring? Maybe you should check it”. Good thing he said that! Jeff called me back, probably with in 10 minutes of me leaving that message. He defiantly had that “oh my god what do I do” tone in his voice. I assured him I was fine, felt fine, but thought it was best he drive home, but not to rush, and not to panic. (I didn’t want him getting in an accident).
After I spoke to Jeff, I called the midwife, this was now about 7 AM. I spoke to a really nice lady at the answering service and she said she’d have one of the doctors from my practice call me back, because none of the midwifes were on call at this hour. No problem. I was pre warned there was a midwife shortage and we may have to work with a doctor. Not that there is anything wrong with that, but I really hoped I could finish out this experience with one of the midwives. While I waited for her call back I called my mom to let her know what was going on. Mom was excited and more so interested to hear what it was like to have my water break. Her water didn’t break for neither myself or my brother. So we chatted for a few about that, and then my other line was ringing, it was the doctor. After describing what was going on, what my “fluid” looked like and how I felt, she said I was welcome to labor at home as long as I was comfortable or until about noon. Once your water breaks, you’re kind of working against the clock now. So at the latest, I could check into the hospital by 12:30 pm. This was music to my ears. This gave me a chance to wait for Jeff to get home and I really wanted to labor at home as long as possible. Laboring at home is more relaxing, you’re able to eat, and I wanted to shower as well.
The whole time I was home laboring, I kept myself busy and moving around, only pausing for surges (hypnobirthing term for contractions). I made sure everything was packed, spent some time on line emailing friends and family to let them know the time has come. I had breakfast, and then a very light lunch before we headed out. And I made sure to take a nice warm shower which was so relaxing. My surges were manageable. I really should have been tracking them better, but when you’re in the middle of one, the last thing you’re thinking about is “oh, I should write this down”. When I’d have a surge, I’d stop whatever I was doing, stand up if I was sitting (Because it was more comfortable to stand through one), close my eyes, and start taking in deep breaths and relax. This is part of hypno birthing. You want to remain relaxed, inhaling nice deep breaths and just let your mind go. So far…this was working out great.
Around 11:45, I decided I was ready to head to the hospital (about 20 minutes away). When we got to the edge of our neighborhood, I called mom to let her know we were in route and that my surges were about 8-10 minutes apart….so I was guessing. While I was speaking to her, I was having a surge, so I told her to hang on a second while I dealt with that. Then back to chatting and then another surge, I excused myself again to let her know I was having a surge, when she “yelled” back “that was not 8 minutes! That’s more like 2!!!” Hmm…so she was right! Maybe they were more frequent then I realized. Sometimes in hypno birthing, if you can get yourself to go deep enough you can experience ‘time amnesia” and loose since of time. Apparently that was happening. The whole ride to the hospital, I pretty much kept my eyes closed, and focused on my breathing.
You would think at such a big hospital, one that has ‘Cancer Patient Parking Only” signs right out front, would have maybe just a few reserved spots for expecting mothers?? I mean even my local McDonald’s has an “Expecting Mothers” parking spot (which is kinda scary if you think about it! Haha). Nope, no special parking for us…actually, there’s no parking out front!! The place was packed. So we parked over in an auxiliary parking lot, and started the walk to the hospital. Jeff found this pretty funny, he’s like “Look at you! You’re in labor and taking a hike to the hospital on foot!” In the movies and such, there’s always the orderly rushing the pregnant woman to the maternity ward….no folks, this is reality…I’m walkin’! Plus if I really needed assistance, Jeff could have left me at the front door and I could have requested a ride up…but I was determined to get myself up there on my own. Good thing I was prepared for this as well, because there was a “mishap” on the elevator, and we rode up, then down, then up again! I thought ‘great, I’m having this kid on an elevator!”
We checked in at around 1:00PM. My room was ready for me. We were escorted back, and I was told to put my gown on and that the labor nurse would be in soon to check me out. We checked out the room, took a few photos and over all were pretty relaxed. I still was feeling great, and just walked around the room. My labor nurse, Helen, a sweet woman from Ireland, accent and all came in to check me out. This also meant I had to lay in bed and be monitored for about 20 minutes. This probably was the worse part of it all. Laying down was sooo uncomfortable! I felt trapped. I can’t explain it, but for me, walking around was so much more relaxing and bearable. This was another reason I wanted to have a drug free birth, so I could birth in any position I pleased. I can’t imagine not having use of my lower body and being “trapped” on my back in my bed. Twenty minutes passed and as promised they let me get back up. They offered to run me a Jacuzzi, sure why not! So off they went to get that ready. They also brought me in a birthing ball which I thought would be a great way to sit, yet work out my surges, well just like the bed, sitting didn’t work for me either. So long ball.
It’s now around 2PM. They determined I was only about 5CM and would most likely be in labor for a few more hours. My surges have gotten stronger, but still bearable. One of my midwives, Barbara, stopped by to say hi. She said she wishes she could deliver me, but she gets off the clock at 5PM and I most likely would not have the baby by then.
They had been asking me to fill out various papers during all this. It would take me like 5 minutes to sign a piece of paper, because a surge would come, and I just told them “hold on a second”….go into my other little world, deal with my surge, then come back and sign. I still to this day have no idea what I was signing! I asked if Jeff could sign for me, but they said no. I was already to head to my Jacuzzi and they said I had to give some blood first. Arg!! Not that I wanted to get back in that bed, but I didn’t think I could stand, go in and out of my “little world” during surges and stay still for this gal to take blood. So I offered to get in the bed provided she promised to be fast so I could get up again. She did…so I laid down so I could zone out and let her do her thing. WELL she was a new gal and finding a vain wasn’t her forte. I’ve been a blood donor since a teenager and nobody has ever had issues finding a vein. This gal was digging around for awhile. I really didn’t feel anything, because I was more focused on surges, but Jeff said it was pretty bad.
While she’s digging around, something changed….I can’t explain it, but while I’m laying there, it was almost like a brief calm before the storm washed over me. There was just this moment of calm….what’s about to happen??? My whole body tenses up and tries to push! What the heck??? Did that really just happen? Boom, hits me again! Who keeps doing that? I thought I was in control of this show. The blood girl jumps back and says “I’m so sorry, did I just hurt you?!” My eyes are still closed, I’m kind of in between 2 world right now and some how manage to get out “I think the baby is coming now”….so blood girl says “should I call someone”…yeah, that was enough to snap me out of my hypno world, boy did I want to smack her. “YES!” She hits the nurse button. Helen comes in and asks what’s wrong. I tell her I’m having this baby now. She kinda chuckles and says “oh, no dear, it’s not time yet, I just checked you and you were only 5CM” (my body heaves with another push) and she then says “But if you like we can just check you out anyway”. She takes a peek and that’s when it all begins. It’s 2:15 PM.
As soon as Helen peeked and confirmed that “oh my you ARE having the baby” I closed my eyes and slipped into my little world again, I could hear lots of commotion, it almost sounded like to many chefs in the kitchen, like pots and pans clanking around. I just focused on being in my little world and focused on breathing through these natural pushes. I could hear the voice of my midwife Barbara now, saying something like she couldn’t believe she was going to get to deliver my baby today, and was amazed how fast this kid was coming. I also remember during all this craziness someone popping their head in saying “There’s a Nola here to visit!”, I looked at Jeff and asked him to go speak to Nola. It seemed like only seconds later, the same woman said “There’s a Dave and Judy to see Eileen”…I again asked Jeff to let them know what was going on and to wait in the waiting room, and also to ask the lady to stop sending people back. Nobody at the front desk had expected me to be in active labor already, so they just assumed it was OK to start sending our visitors back to see me. My midwife must have had the same idea as well, too many people coming back and she shooed away any unnecessary people out of the room and it got quiet again. It was now just Barbara, Helen, Jeff and myself.
Barbara then asked how I wanted to give birth, I said I think I wanted to use the birthing bar, she then suggested a neat position which I loved and used for the labor. It’s a bit hard to explain, but they sat the bed up and I on my knees faced the wall and kind of leaned on the back of the bed. This made labor so much easier…gravity is your friend!! Honestly, nobody really spoke to me, they just let me do my thing. I pushed when my body pushed, then when that feeling would pass, I would come out of my little world and ask Jeff for some water, or crack a joke or ask how I was doing, and then back into my little world again when that sensation of pushing came over me. I think I had my eyes closed through the whole experience. It was just easier to stay focused doing this. Helen would reach in and put a monitor on my belly after each push to listen to the baby’s heartbeat. A few times she asked me to “sit” up a little straighter (I’m on my knees, not sitting, but that’s the only way I can describe it) so she can get a better reading on the baby. She also then put me on oxygen, I said I didn’t want it, but she said it was for the baby. Fine. My midwife keeps telling me I’m doing awesome and pushing just how I should. I’m feeling good. Pain and fear never crossed my mind. I was on a mission to have this baby, I wanted to meet him or her. Affirmations I listened to for months on end on my Hypnobirthing CD kept popping in my head. I mocked these affirmations when I first heard them, so cheesy!! My teacher kept saying your conscious mind will hear these and thing it’s a bunch of bologna but your subconscious mind will eat this up and will savor it for later. She was right. A few that came to mind were, “Each surge brings me closer to my baby”…”My baby is the perfect size for my body”….” I will give my birthing experience over to my body and my baby”. Again, cheese from your perspective, and mine originally, but these things got me through it. Each surge I had, I was more excited if anything because I knew I was one step closer to being a mother.
Towards the end of my labor, I knew something was going on, but I don’t know exactly what. In my little world, little whispers of what was being said between Helen and Barbara were tapping in my head a bit. I heard something about shoulder dystocia….I heard Helen ask Jeff when’s the last time I ate. Why would they need to know that unless they wanted to do a “C”…hmm…must stay in little world! Can’t think about this! Helen then says “ok Eileen, we need to turn around and finish laboring on your back”. I say “no, I want to finish laboring like this”. Then in a very polite but stern Irish brogue, Helen says “Now Eileen, I need you to twirl around like a ballerina now and sit on your bum”. That’s when I came out of my little world and realized, huh, maybe something is wrong and I should listen to them! This is also when I realized I had a head hanging out from in between my legs!!! Ack!
I told Helen I wasn’t sure if I could turn around, because the baby is hanging out. She told me I had to turn around, “1, 2, 3, here we go”, I spin around. Now she wants me to sit….there’s a head down there people!! She assures me I can sit and I won’t hurt he baby, but I need to get movin’. So down I go, I close my eyes, and back in my little world again!
Being on my back, this is probably the most uncomfortable I was during the whole labor. Again, I don’t know how women do it. But if you can, labor where gravity can help you out…it makes a HUGE difference! As I’m laying there, Helen said “here feel your baby’s head” and takes my hand and puts it on my baby’s head. This was not something I wanted to do, hahaha, there was a reason I didn’t request a mirror or anything. I really had no need to be any more ‘hands on” with this birth then I already had. I didn’t like the feeling of the head, it felt like a cone coming out. I much rather just wait and hold my baby after it comes out. I can feel the baby coming out, ok, not so bad, but then I felt 2 hands go in me! Ok that didn’t feel so hot. I don’t want to say it hurt, but it defiantly didn’t feel good. But there really was no more room in there for these 2 hands plus the baby, what were they doing in there?? And then woooooosh! A since of relief! 9 months of pressure “down below” suddenly disappears with in a split second.
It’s 3:03 PM, the baby is out, Jeff leans over and whispers in my ear “It’s a boy!”
I look down and see limbs, and very long “monkey toes” and confirmation, that this little critter is in fact a boy! They scoop him up, pull my gown off and place him on my chest. I now start to notice there are more people in the room. I don’t know where they came from, but I wonder if they’ve been waiting in the hall the whole time waiting for the OK to come in? There is a woman standing over me piling blankets on my son and briskly cleaning him off. Jeff cuts the cord, and we’re now a family of three. We name our son Neil Oliver, after my 2 grandfathers, two men who meant the world to both Jeff and I. Long before that pregnancy test confirmed a child was on the way, Jeff and I both agreed if we were to have a son, we would name him after these two men, who both had such strong qualities we can only hope our son will genetically inherit from their genes. Looking down at him, I couldn’t have thought of a better name!
As soon as your pregnancy is confirmed by a medical professional, you are given an estimated due date (EDD). Our was March 8th. Now, you know darn well babies come when they’re ready….but it was hard not to feel a little let down when March 8th came and went and no sign of baby.
On Sunday March 9th, I just about had it as far as sitting around waiting for baby. They say the best thing you can do is walk. So we hopped in the car, and drove about 40 minutes west to the mall and walked around most of the afternoon. I had no signs this baby was coming any time soon. I decided to treat myself to a DQ Moolata….yes, caffeine and about a months worth of calories! But I spent the whole pregnancy doing everything “by the book’, caffeine free, and tried to watch my calorie in take, I figured I’m a day over due…I can have a treat. That thing was darn good too by the way! That was the last I ate that day, I don’t know if it was because it was so fattening or the baby was on the way, but I didn’t eat for the rest of the day.
Monday March 10th, Jeff reluctantly gets up for work. He too thought he’d be home with a baby by now. He was also a little nervous about going to work this particular day because he knew he’d be working in an “underground laboratory” that had no cell service and almost impossible to get a hold of. He left me with a list of phone numbers of everyone in his division to call, just in case. I didn’t feel anything though so I just told him not to worry and have a nice day at work. He left…and about 10 minutes later I woke up with some strong cramping. I didn’t think too much of it, however, I would fall a sleep and it would wake me up again. Hmm? I got up to go to the bathroom. Everything seemed normal. Climbed back into bed….cramping continues. I figured, this maybe Braxton Hicks…only because it wasn’t what I expected labor to feel like. Felt more like strong menstrual cramps, but nothing more then that. After about 30 minutes of this I called Jeff and left him a voicemail. He said he’d carry his cell on him, and when he would come up from this lab, he’d check his messages. I left a message pretty much saying “hey it’s me, no worries, I just wanted to let you know I’m getting some odd cramping, it’s probably just Braxton Hicks, but I thought I should let you know just in case! No need to worry, but when you surface, just give me a call and check in. If this is the real deal, it’s going to probably take all day before something actually happens…so again, no worries”.
I then headed to the bathroom again feeling “not so fresh” and thought maybe I was leaking a little amniotic fluid. Sure enough, I was pretty sure that’s what was happening. I walked back to my bed, and by the time I got there, I knew my water had broken. Gross! That’s all I have to say on how that felt! However, the advantage to your water breaking is there’s not question if this is the real deal or not, so I actually appreciated the fact it was broken and I knew I was now in labor and knew what I had to do. I called Jeff again and left him a message. “Hey, it’s me again, yeah I know I called you like 20 minutes ago saying no worries, but, yeah, well my water broke, so like….if you call me back when you get this message it would super! I need to call my midwife, but would like to speak with you first. I’ll give you 30 and if I don’t hear from you I’ll try your boss….no worries, I’m fine, don’t freak out”.
Jeff just happen to be in an area where he heard his phone ring, but was unable to pick up due to something was doing work related. Once that task was complete his coworker said “Hey didn’t your cell ring? Maybe you should check it”. Good thing he said that! Jeff called me back, probably with in 10 minutes of me leaving that message. He defiantly had that “oh my god what do I do” tone in his voice. I assured him I was fine, felt fine, but thought it was best he drive home, but not to rush, and not to panic. (I didn’t want him getting in an accident).
After I spoke to Jeff, I called the midwife, this was now about 7 AM. I spoke to a really nice lady at the answering service and she said she’d have one of the doctors from my practice call me back, because none of the midwifes were on call at this hour. No problem. I was pre warned there was a midwife shortage and we may have to work with a doctor. Not that there is anything wrong with that, but I really hoped I could finish out this experience with one of the midwives. While I waited for her call back I called my mom to let her know what was going on. Mom was excited and more so interested to hear what it was like to have my water break. Her water didn’t break for neither myself or my brother. So we chatted for a few about that, and then my other line was ringing, it was the doctor. After describing what was going on, what my “fluid” looked like and how I felt, she said I was welcome to labor at home as long as I was comfortable or until about noon. Once your water breaks, you’re kind of working against the clock now. So at the latest, I could check into the hospital by 12:30 pm. This was music to my ears. This gave me a chance to wait for Jeff to get home and I really wanted to labor at home as long as possible. Laboring at home is more relaxing, you’re able to eat, and I wanted to shower as well.
The whole time I was home laboring, I kept myself busy and moving around, only pausing for surges (hypnobirthing term for contractions). I made sure everything was packed, spent some time on line emailing friends and family to let them know the time has come. I had breakfast, and then a very light lunch before we headed out. And I made sure to take a nice warm shower which was so relaxing. My surges were manageable. I really should have been tracking them better, but when you’re in the middle of one, the last thing you’re thinking about is “oh, I should write this down”. When I’d have a surge, I’d stop whatever I was doing, stand up if I was sitting (Because it was more comfortable to stand through one), close my eyes, and start taking in deep breaths and relax. This is part of hypno birthing. You want to remain relaxed, inhaling nice deep breaths and just let your mind go. So far…this was working out great.
Around 11:45, I decided I was ready to head to the hospital (about 20 minutes away). When we got to the edge of our neighborhood, I called mom to let her know we were in route and that my surges were about 8-10 minutes apart….so I was guessing. While I was speaking to her, I was having a surge, so I told her to hang on a second while I dealt with that. Then back to chatting and then another surge, I excused myself again to let her know I was having a surge, when she “yelled” back “that was not 8 minutes! That’s more like 2!!!” Hmm…so she was right! Maybe they were more frequent then I realized. Sometimes in hypno birthing, if you can get yourself to go deep enough you can experience ‘time amnesia” and loose since of time. Apparently that was happening. The whole ride to the hospital, I pretty much kept my eyes closed, and focused on my breathing.
You would think at such a big hospital, one that has ‘Cancer Patient Parking Only” signs right out front, would have maybe just a few reserved spots for expecting mothers?? I mean even my local McDonald’s has an “Expecting Mothers” parking spot (which is kinda scary if you think about it! Haha). Nope, no special parking for us…actually, there’s no parking out front!! The place was packed. So we parked over in an auxiliary parking lot, and started the walk to the hospital. Jeff found this pretty funny, he’s like “Look at you! You’re in labor and taking a hike to the hospital on foot!” In the movies and such, there’s always the orderly rushing the pregnant woman to the maternity ward….no folks, this is reality…I’m walkin’! Plus if I really needed assistance, Jeff could have left me at the front door and I could have requested a ride up…but I was determined to get myself up there on my own. Good thing I was prepared for this as well, because there was a “mishap” on the elevator, and we rode up, then down, then up again! I thought ‘great, I’m having this kid on an elevator!”
We checked in at around 1:00PM. My room was ready for me. We were escorted back, and I was told to put my gown on and that the labor nurse would be in soon to check me out. We checked out the room, took a few photos and over all were pretty relaxed. I still was feeling great, and just walked around the room. My labor nurse, Helen, a sweet woman from Ireland, accent and all came in to check me out. This also meant I had to lay in bed and be monitored for about 20 minutes. This probably was the worse part of it all. Laying down was sooo uncomfortable! I felt trapped. I can’t explain it, but for me, walking around was so much more relaxing and bearable. This was another reason I wanted to have a drug free birth, so I could birth in any position I pleased. I can’t imagine not having use of my lower body and being “trapped” on my back in my bed. Twenty minutes passed and as promised they let me get back up. They offered to run me a Jacuzzi, sure why not! So off they went to get that ready. They also brought me in a birthing ball which I thought would be a great way to sit, yet work out my surges, well just like the bed, sitting didn’t work for me either. So long ball.
It’s now around 2PM. They determined I was only about 5CM and would most likely be in labor for a few more hours. My surges have gotten stronger, but still bearable. One of my midwives, Barbara, stopped by to say hi. She said she wishes she could deliver me, but she gets off the clock at 5PM and I most likely would not have the baby by then.
They had been asking me to fill out various papers during all this. It would take me like 5 minutes to sign a piece of paper, because a surge would come, and I just told them “hold on a second”….go into my other little world, deal with my surge, then come back and sign. I still to this day have no idea what I was signing! I asked if Jeff could sign for me, but they said no. I was already to head to my Jacuzzi and they said I had to give some blood first. Arg!! Not that I wanted to get back in that bed, but I didn’t think I could stand, go in and out of my “little world” during surges and stay still for this gal to take blood. So I offered to get in the bed provided she promised to be fast so I could get up again. She did…so I laid down so I could zone out and let her do her thing. WELL she was a new gal and finding a vain wasn’t her forte. I’ve been a blood donor since a teenager and nobody has ever had issues finding a vein. This gal was digging around for awhile. I really didn’t feel anything, because I was more focused on surges, but Jeff said it was pretty bad.
While she’s digging around, something changed….I can’t explain it, but while I’m laying there, it was almost like a brief calm before the storm washed over me. There was just this moment of calm….what’s about to happen??? My whole body tenses up and tries to push! What the heck??? Did that really just happen? Boom, hits me again! Who keeps doing that? I thought I was in control of this show. The blood girl jumps back and says “I’m so sorry, did I just hurt you?!” My eyes are still closed, I’m kind of in between 2 world right now and some how manage to get out “I think the baby is coming now”….so blood girl says “should I call someone”…yeah, that was enough to snap me out of my hypno world, boy did I want to smack her. “YES!” She hits the nurse button. Helen comes in and asks what’s wrong. I tell her I’m having this baby now. She kinda chuckles and says “oh, no dear, it’s not time yet, I just checked you and you were only 5CM” (my body heaves with another push) and she then says “But if you like we can just check you out anyway”. She takes a peek and that’s when it all begins. It’s 2:15 PM.
As soon as Helen peeked and confirmed that “oh my you ARE having the baby” I closed my eyes and slipped into my little world again, I could hear lots of commotion, it almost sounded like to many chefs in the kitchen, like pots and pans clanking around. I just focused on being in my little world and focused on breathing through these natural pushes. I could hear the voice of my midwife Barbara now, saying something like she couldn’t believe she was going to get to deliver my baby today, and was amazed how fast this kid was coming. I also remember during all this craziness someone popping their head in saying “There’s a Nola here to visit!”, I looked at Jeff and asked him to go speak to Nola. It seemed like only seconds later, the same woman said “There’s a Dave and Judy to see Eileen”…I again asked Jeff to let them know what was going on and to wait in the waiting room, and also to ask the lady to stop sending people back. Nobody at the front desk had expected me to be in active labor already, so they just assumed it was OK to start sending our visitors back to see me. My midwife must have had the same idea as well, too many people coming back and she shooed away any unnecessary people out of the room and it got quiet again. It was now just Barbara, Helen, Jeff and myself.
Barbara then asked how I wanted to give birth, I said I think I wanted to use the birthing bar, she then suggested a neat position which I loved and used for the labor. It’s a bit hard to explain, but they sat the bed up and I on my knees faced the wall and kind of leaned on the back of the bed. This made labor so much easier…gravity is your friend!! Honestly, nobody really spoke to me, they just let me do my thing. I pushed when my body pushed, then when that feeling would pass, I would come out of my little world and ask Jeff for some water, or crack a joke or ask how I was doing, and then back into my little world again when that sensation of pushing came over me. I think I had my eyes closed through the whole experience. It was just easier to stay focused doing this. Helen would reach in and put a monitor on my belly after each push to listen to the baby’s heartbeat. A few times she asked me to “sit” up a little straighter (I’m on my knees, not sitting, but that’s the only way I can describe it) so she can get a better reading on the baby. She also then put me on oxygen, I said I didn’t want it, but she said it was for the baby. Fine. My midwife keeps telling me I’m doing awesome and pushing just how I should. I’m feeling good. Pain and fear never crossed my mind. I was on a mission to have this baby, I wanted to meet him or her. Affirmations I listened to for months on end on my Hypnobirthing CD kept popping in my head. I mocked these affirmations when I first heard them, so cheesy!! My teacher kept saying your conscious mind will hear these and thing it’s a bunch of bologna but your subconscious mind will eat this up and will savor it for later. She was right. A few that came to mind were, “Each surge brings me closer to my baby”…”My baby is the perfect size for my body”….” I will give my birthing experience over to my body and my baby”. Again, cheese from your perspective, and mine originally, but these things got me through it. Each surge I had, I was more excited if anything because I knew I was one step closer to being a mother.
Towards the end of my labor, I knew something was going on, but I don’t know exactly what. In my little world, little whispers of what was being said between Helen and Barbara were tapping in my head a bit. I heard something about shoulder dystocia….I heard Helen ask Jeff when’s the last time I ate. Why would they need to know that unless they wanted to do a “C”…hmm…must stay in little world! Can’t think about this! Helen then says “ok Eileen, we need to turn around and finish laboring on your back”. I say “no, I want to finish laboring like this”. Then in a very polite but stern Irish brogue, Helen says “Now Eileen, I need you to twirl around like a ballerina now and sit on your bum”. That’s when I came out of my little world and realized, huh, maybe something is wrong and I should listen to them! This is also when I realized I had a head hanging out from in between my legs!!! Ack!
I told Helen I wasn’t sure if I could turn around, because the baby is hanging out. She told me I had to turn around, “1, 2, 3, here we go”, I spin around. Now she wants me to sit….there’s a head down there people!! She assures me I can sit and I won’t hurt he baby, but I need to get movin’. So down I go, I close my eyes, and back in my little world again!
Being on my back, this is probably the most uncomfortable I was during the whole labor. Again, I don’t know how women do it. But if you can, labor where gravity can help you out…it makes a HUGE difference! As I’m laying there, Helen said “here feel your baby’s head” and takes my hand and puts it on my baby’s head. This was not something I wanted to do, hahaha, there was a reason I didn’t request a mirror or anything. I really had no need to be any more ‘hands on” with this birth then I already had. I didn’t like the feeling of the head, it felt like a cone coming out. I much rather just wait and hold my baby after it comes out. I can feel the baby coming out, ok, not so bad, but then I felt 2 hands go in me! Ok that didn’t feel so hot. I don’t want to say it hurt, but it defiantly didn’t feel good. But there really was no more room in there for these 2 hands plus the baby, what were they doing in there?? And then woooooosh! A since of relief! 9 months of pressure “down below” suddenly disappears with in a split second.
It’s 3:03 PM, the baby is out, Jeff leans over and whispers in my ear “It’s a boy!”
I look down and see limbs, and very long “monkey toes” and confirmation, that this little critter is in fact a boy! They scoop him up, pull my gown off and place him on my chest. I now start to notice there are more people in the room. I don’t know where they came from, but I wonder if they’ve been waiting in the hall the whole time waiting for the OK to come in? There is a woman standing over me piling blankets on my son and briskly cleaning him off. Jeff cuts the cord, and we’re now a family of three. We name our son Neil Oliver, after my 2 grandfathers, two men who meant the world to both Jeff and I. Long before that pregnancy test confirmed a child was on the way, Jeff and I both agreed if we were to have a son, we would name him after these two men, who both had such strong qualities we can only hope our son will genetically inherit from their genes. Looking down at him, I couldn’t have thought of a better name!
The sign on my door...it let the staff know I was hypnobirthing. They then know not to ask if I'm in any "pain" or "want anything for the pain", etc. They also keep their voices quiet and don't bother me.
Neil's very first photo!
3 comments:
Fantastic birth story! I am a HypnoBirthing instructor in the UK and I'd like to show your story to my clients. You dealt so well with some pretty annoying staff behaviour and I like the way you describe going into your "little world". Well done!!!!
My blog made it to the UK? Crazy!! I keep forgetting people can read this! haha I'm so not a blogger! Thanks so much for reading, and for teaching Hypnobirthing! So many people don't know its even an option!
Hi-
Someone posted your blog onto the main HypnoBirthing practitioner's webgroup because your birth story was so amazing! I'll be sharing it with my HypnoBirthing clients in San Diego, CA.
Congratulations on having such a wonderful birth!
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