Early Bird Special - short(er) version

Early Bird Special

Baby boy’s birth story - short version

November 14, 2011

It was 7:30 at night.  I stood up from the couch and felt that my bag of waters had ruptured.  For a moment I wasn’t sure.  Had I wet my pants?  Really, it wouldn’t have totally shocked me – sadly.  As I stood with Jack in the kitchen, I felt more fluid coming out.  I knew now that my bag had indeed ruptured for sure.  I made the appropriate phone calls (mother, sister, husband, midwife,* doula) and tried to rest.  By the time Keiser got home around 8:30pm I had had a few contractions – warm up contractions! I tried to rest and encouraged Keiser to sleep too over the next few hours. 

Probably November 15, 2011

 At some point around 1am, I’m guessing, Keiser and Jack were both in the spare bedroom, where Paige and I had been hanging out.  Suddenly I had an undeniable bearing down urge.  It was a reflexive, natural push – it was time to call the midwives!  Not less than a minute (probably a few seconds) I had another more intense reflexive push.  It certainly was clear now.  I sat up in the bed and said, “the baby is coming.”  I got up and went to the bathroom. I had another 2 or 3 involuntary reflexive pushes there.  I stood up and braced on my sisters arms.  The next one I had I instinctively went down onto the floor on my hands and knees. I remember having an overwhelming sense of peace and calm, never panic.  I hear my sister and Kesier (not sure which one first) say “I don’t know what to do” and the other responded “I don’t either.”  I knew what to do – I instinctively knew, stay calm and relax.  There was nothing to panic about, my body and my baby knew what to do even more than my mind did.  I was leaning over the bathtub and another expulsion reflex (aka: push) came and with that one the baby’s head.  I knew with the next push the baby’s shoulders would be born and the rest would quickly follow / fall out.  I had the baby’s head in my hands and my sister told me later that I said, “don’t worry baby, I’ve got you.”  In this brief moment I said, “someone needs to put their hands down there and catch the baby.”  I needed my hands to brace myself when the reflex would come and I didn’t want the baby to fall on the floor.  My sister’s hands caught my baby.  I heard her say “it’s a boy” and then I asked her to hand him to me.  I brought him to my chest and checked him out.  I saw he was breathing, I saw he was quickly gaining good color, and the cord was not a problem.  We covered him in towels and got a blanket for my legs. 

Keiser called the midwife back; mind you all of this had been about 10 minutes since the last call the midwife – if that.  She was put on speaker phone and stayed on the phone with us until she arrived.  I birthed the placenta just as the midwives pulled into the driveway. They checked out both me and baby and gave us high health scores.  The midwives spent the next three hours caring for our home – cleaning up and running a few loads of laundry – more than anything else.  Of course, after some time I we were both given other exams, but this was done at a very noninvasive and the best I can describe peaceful, loving, and respectful manner.  My son did not cry (like real deal baby crying) for the first 24 hours to give an idea of how peaceful the whole night was. 

He was weighed and measured and we all took our guesses at how much.  Naturally, I was SHOCKED to find him over 9 pounds (9.2) at 37ish weeks gestation.  He was 21 ¾ inches long with a head circumference of 14 inches.  

It was a beautiful and powerful experience.  Although it wasn't as planned (most things in life aren't) I wouldn't have had it any other way.  Wonderful! 

*Yes, this was a planned home birth.  I am happy to share about why we made this decision, but the place of my sons birth is only one small part of the his birth story, so I’ll save that for another post another day


Photo post here