Wesley’s Birth Story
I lost my mucus plug on Sun Feb 22nd 2009. On Mon Feb 23rd I got up to go pee at 1 am and when I got back in to bed I noticed light contractions. I tried to go back to sleep but I was a little to excited. Around 2 am I decided to time them and for the next hour they were 10 min apart, lasting 30seconds.
I got up @ 3am to get a snack and the contractions became stronger while I was up and around. I called our midwife, just to let her know what was going on. I went back to bed for a while and then I got up again at 5am for another snack, and again the contractions were stronger while I was up and around.
As I was getting my second snack, my hubby came down to check on me and after another hour we decide that he shouldn’t go to work. So, he called them to let them know we were in labor.
I tried to get back into bed, but have a very strong contraction while climbing onto the bed and decide to stand by the bed instead. I would sit down in between contractions and stand and sway during them.
The contractions were getting strong enough that I was having trouble keeping track of their timing, so I asked Matt to do it for me. They were now 6-7 min apart, lasting 60 seconds. As we were contemplating when we should call the midwife, who was 45 min away, to come, I had a fairly strong contraction and at it’s peak my instincts said “Nickie needs to be here NOW!”
As I was talking to the midwife on the phone, asking her to head our way, I had a contraction and tossed the phone at Matt so I could concentrate on relaxing. Matt was a little flustered as he tried to gain control of the phone that had just been chucked at him. He finished the conversation with her.
With the midwife on the way, Matt went down stairs to wash dishes and vacuum the floor in preparation. This baby was coming 2 weeks before we were expecting it to and we were not entirely ready.
When the midwife got there @ 7am, she came upstairs to our bedroom and checked my vitals and listened to the baby’s heartbeat. We were both doing fine. Then she began working on setting up the birth tub right away.
I felt like I was needing a little bit of help with contractions but Matt was busy getting things ready, so we decided to try the TENS unit that I had bought for this labor. It delivered electrical impulses to my low back in between contractions and then I could push a button to boost the strength, during contractions. I felt like it was helpful.
@ around 7:30 am I decided to labor in the bathroom. My water had not broken yet and I was nervous about it doing so all over the carpet. I could relax more deeply standing on the bathroom floor instead of carpet. I would sit on the toilet in between contractions and stand and sway during them.
I was trying to vocalize softly because my 2 ½ yr old daughter was still asleep in the next room, but I was starting to find it difficult to do. She woke up at 8 am. Matt called his parents to come and get her. He fed her breakfast and she came in the bathroom to kiss me goodbye before she left.
I came downstairs shortly after she left b/c everyone was down here getting things ready and I didn’t want to be alone anymore. I labored upright in the dining room for a while, then kneeling in front of the couch, resting on the birth ball for a while.
The contractions were getting much stronger, but I was still hungry. I remember feeling frustrated that I was still wanting food, b/c I wanted my labor to be further along than that.
I ended up laboring in the downstairs bathroom and this time I stayed on the toilet during the contractions. I could lean back and totally relax in between them and that was very nice. Matt would read on a chair just outside the bathroom door in between contractions then put his book down and hold my hands during them.
I was getting tired and really thought the baby would have been here already. I asked the midwife when we should start wondering if there was a position problem (the case with my daughter and a LONG labor). It was 11 am and she offered to tell me how to check my dilation, but I didn’t want to know in case it would only be more frustrating. So, she suggested that I get up and walk and spread my legs very wide and sway during contractions. So, I walked from the bathroom door to the kitchen sink (about 6-8 steps) and back again. Have a contraction and repeat. My contractions were about 2 min apart, lasting 60-90 seconds.
Fairly soon I quit walking b/c the contractions were even closer together. I would dangle from Matt’s neck, spread my legs very wide and sway side to side as far as I could during contractions. At one point as I was dangling and swaying I actually felt my pelvis expand and so did the midwife’s assistant who was holding a hot water bottle on my low back during contractions. The midwife said, “one of these contractions we are all gonna get wet!” We all laughed.
She wanted to check the baby’s heart rate one more time before I got in the tub that was finally ready. It confirmed that the baby as fine and indeed very low in the birth canal. She said, “You’re gonna get to meet your baby very soon.” and I began to cry tears of happiness.
It was heaven to get into the water and after about 4-5 contractions I started wanting to push. As, I started working on pushing I became very, very hot (so was Matt who was sitting against the tub heater) and a cool washcloth on my forehead was not enough. So, we decide to stand up, so we could cool off a bit. Matt stood up first and as I took his hands for assistance, I looked up @ his face and he had gone completely white. I thought, “He is either gonna pass out, or puke in my face.” The midwife & her assistant began helping him get out of the tub, sit in the floor with his head between his legs and get him something to drink.
In the meantime, I started freaking out because I am pushing out a baby and I just lost my support person. The midwife got down on her knees, took my hands and said, “Stephanie, look @ me. You can do this. Now just breathe.” That was what I needed and I was able to focus back into my body and pushing my baby out.
I don’t remember exactly when Matt got back in the tub, but he was there supporting my perineum from behind as I pushed. As I began to feel the head crowning I thought “Now this is the part where I would like some pain medication.” The water broke at the peak of the next contracting. I remember saying “I need a break! I need a break!” as the next contraction started. As I pushed with the next contraction, I wanted to be done so badly, I didn’t care if I tore or not and I pushed with everything I had in me & the head was born.
After I pushed the head out I remember saying, “Oh thank God! That’s the hardest part right?” I reached down and touched the head covered in a lot of hair and had a surge of energy to finish this so I could hold my baby.
The next contraction, I could feel that the shoulders were stuck on my pubic bone. So, as I was kneeling in the water I spread my legs out as wide as they would go, pushed with all my might and I felt the rest of my baby slide out of me. I remember thinking, “Where is the end to this kid?”
The midwife had been standing by, waiting to help me deliver the head b/c she didn’t even realize that I already had and was working on the body instead. So, my husband and I really and truly got to deliver our second child.
As I pulled my baby out of the water and up to my chest, I said. “That looks like a big baby.” The midwife responded with, “That IS a big baby.” We were thrilled to see that we had a son.
My placenta delivered as soon as I stood up out of the tub. As I stood up I had to say, “Grab a bowl, here it comes.”
He cried for about 20 min after being born and then settled in for a good nursing. We got to be together with our new baby about 1 hour. Then when the midwife did her newborn check, we were all blown away that we weighed in at 10 pound 4 ounces & 22” long.
My labor was 12 hours in length and I pushed for about 30 minutes and gave birth, without tearing, to a very big, very healthy boy, on Feb 23rd 2009 @ 1 pm, with the afternoon sun streaming through the windows on us and our new son, Wesley Roy Neher.
Here are some pictures of that day.
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