Sit Right Back and You'll Hear a Tale

I've promised to tell it and so I will. Here is the story of E's long but satisfying birth at home.

I was really hoping I had signed up for the three hour tour but someone mistakenly switched my booking for the thirty-six hour one. It all started with an urgent trip to the bathroom at 1:00 AM on Monday, August 19th. At 9 days overdue I was not sure whether this trip was intestinal in nature or baby in nature. When the cramping had not subsided an hour later, Manny woke up and had the very good sense to start timing them. Labor seemed to be hitting me like a Mack truck. The contractions were coming three to five minutes apart. The Practice had told us to call when one or more of three things had occurred: if your water breaks, when you are contracting 3 - 5 minutes apart or if there is any bright red bleeding. Being exceedingly good at following directions, I called the emergency answering service and Favorite Doctor returned my call shortly thereafter - just a little after 3:00 AM for those keeping score. The Practice has three doctors who deliver babies. Though I like all three doctors, Favorite Doctor is the one that I'd seen the most for prenatal visits and with whom I felt most comfortable. He had said that he hoped he'd be on call when my time came as it turned out he lives only 15 minutes from our house.

The doctor assured me that everything sounded normal and said that he would call the on-call nurse to come check me. While awaiting the nurse's arrival I called my mom. She took our dog back to her house where my dad was preparing to dog-sit and pace. When she returned, she and Manny did a lightning quick clean of the house, at 4:00 AM no less. An hour later Debbie, the on-call nurse, arrived. She checked me and found that despite hard and consistent contractions I was only 1 cm dilated. Manny scrambled us eggs for breakfast and we chatted with Debbie for awhile. After breakfast Debbie called the doctor to let him know what she had found. He asked her to stay until around noon and then check me again.

We decided it would be best to try and get a little rest. Which is totally possible if your uterus isn't squeezing itself every three minutes. So while Manny and Debbie slept, I tossed and turned and my mom ran to the store for provisions. After a bit, Debbie asked if we'd like to go for a walk around the block. I'd stopped timing the contractions by this point but after our walk Debbie estimated that they were about 5 minutes apart. By this time it was nearing noon and time for another check. After all the work my body had been doing I had hoped for a better outcome than not quite 2 cm. After reporting this to the doctor, it was decided that at that point there was nothing more to do but wait. Debbie left, however if things seemed to get more intense I was to call The Practice and Favorite Doctor would stop by on his way home.

At this point I phoned Barb, Doula #1. There is a group of doulas that work with The Practice who are midwifery students that trade their services for the opportunity to log clinical hours at births. The two doulas that helped me live close to each other and often tag-team their clients for childcare purposes. Barb asked how I was feeling, and given the fact that I was still fairly lucid, she urged me to get as much rest as I could. She also told me how to deal with the contractions. We decided to let things ride for a little while, but if I felt that I needed support I should call back and either her or Mandy, Doula #2 would come depending on what time it was.

The contractions, still consistent and intense, remained that way throughout the afternoon. I was unable to get any sleep. I remember lying in bed with Jeopardy! on in the background trying to distract myself by answering as many questions as I could. Manny kept me company but there really wasn't much that he could do to make me feel better. I was beginning to feel battered by the contractions that didn't show any sign of slowing down or speeding up. By 5:00 PM I was sufficiently miserable so as to warrant another phone call to Barb. It was difficult for me to talk on the phone at this point, so my mom did most of the talking. Barb was teaching a childbirth class that evening so it was decided that if I needed someone there before 9:00 PM, I should call Mandy. Barb did say that things must have been picking up as she said it was like speaking with a completely different woman than the one she had spoken to midday. At 7:00 PM my mom called Mandy as I was tired, miserable, and did not know what else to do. Mandy was on her way to our house shortly thereafter, though not before telling Manny to get me in the shower to try to ease some of the pain.

Mandy has an incredibly calming aura about her. As soon as she walked into the house we knew everything would be okay. I was in the bedroom and when she came in she immediately put her hands on me. We talked for a bit, which helped calm me down. It was such a comfort to have someone there who knew exactly what I was going through and was able to bolster my confidence in what my body could do. She suggested that she check me to see what kind of progress had been made and then consider our options depending on the outcome. It turned out I was only a very loose 2cm, nearly 3 but not quite. Mandy said that what I most needed at this point was rest. In order to accomplish that she sat with me while she sent Manny to pour me a very generous glass of red wine. That was the best possible medicine for me at that point. The wine did it's job splendidly and after I had started to relax Mandy gave me the most wonderful massage I have ever had. She knew exactly which acupressure points to hit to make painfully coiled muscles uncurl. When I was drifting off to sleep, she went to talk to my mom and Manny and told them that in a few hours things would pick back up again but I would better be able to deal with it in a rested state.

At 12:00 AM it began all over again - only worse. My mom called Barb, who arrived about an hour later. She checked me again, and I was not quite to 4cm. Barb's particular area of expertise is aromatherapy. She set paper towels that had been laced with lavender and sage essential oils all around the bedroom. Then she went about fixing me some eggs and toast. I was not able to feed myself, so Barb and my mom took turns getting food and juice into me bite by bite. I think I ate more Jell-O that night than any other time I can remember.

Sometime during those wee hours of the morning Barb and my mom contacted The Practice again and Debbie came back. My mom was helping me to get to the bathroom and I began to shake uncontrollably. I was sitting on the toilet near to convulsions, and I remember both Barb and Debbie asking me if I was cold. I managed to say that I wasn't, and I think one of the ladies had to keep poor Manny from calling 911 because he was so freaked out. Hormones, gotta love 'em. I remember that I was trying to tell them something, but for the next while I was speaking in tongues well enough to give any Pentecostal a run for their money. Debbie and my mom got me into the bathtub. I sat in there for a while convinced that I just could not do it anymore. I began to doubt that I would ever have this baby and feared that I was going to have to go to the hospital. Debbie was actually a bit excited that I was feeling this way, as it is usually a good sign that transition is occurring. Debbie, Barb, and my mom kept encouraging me and telling me that I could do it. I know that Debbie called the on-call doctor, which at that time was not Favorite Doctor. On-Call Doctor told Debbie to check me again to see how far things had come. Once back in the bedroom the check revealed that I was only at 6cm.

Barb and Debbie had been sure I had hit transition. But my body refused to do things in a predictable manner. Barb helped get me into another labor position that she hoped would help speed things along. She had me straddle a chair next to the bed while leaning into a pile of pillows. It did help make the contractions more manageable, but it made it more difficult for her to check the fetal heart tones. The doulas and the nurse used a fetal stethoscope to do this instead of a handheld doppler. While Debbie made a return call to the doctor, Barb checked the baby's heartbeat. At first she could not find it, and then a very strange look came over her face, causing my mom momentary panic. Then Barb let out a great laugh and said that in all her years of experience she had never heard such a thing. She said that she was sure it was either intestine or bowel sounds, but what she was hearing through the scope was "Neener neener neener." My mom and I looked at each other, laughed, and said, "Nope, that's definitely this baby."

By this time the sun was coming up on August 20th. I don't know precisely the time that the doctor arrived, but I was so glad to see that Favorite Doctor was there. He brought Christine, the Certified Nurse Midwife, with him to replace Debbie whose time on-call had been up for a couple of hours. Debbie kept hoping that the baby would come while she was there but finally she had to leave. Favorite Doctor walked around the house with Manny for a while, and discovered that we had purchased an inflatable kiddie pool just in case I decided that I wanted to labor or birth in the water. The doctor was really excited to see it and said, "What are we waiting for? Let's get her in there!" He helped Manny set it up in the family room and as soon all was ready in I went. I was 8cm when I got in and the water really was a tremendous relief. Everyone, the doctor included, kept trying to feed me and get juice down me to keep my energy up. I must have been in there for about an hour because after another check I was 9cm and effaced to the point where they told me to start pushing if I felt like it. With the next few contractions I tried to push and after a few tries my water finally broke.

They changed my position until I was hanging over the edge of the tub to see if that would help the baby past the bones. After a bit, they told me that it is sometimes difficult for first time moms to push in the water as it can alter the feel of it and the muscles have to learn what to do. So out of the tub and back into bed I went.

I was so tired. Manny was behind me in bed and after every push I'd fall back against him convinced that I couldn't do it again. The doctor, Barb and Christine knew exactly what to tell me to keep me going. It seemed with every push they would tell me that the next one would bring the baby. After hearing this numerous times and still no baby, I asked, "Please, just tell me how much longer. Really. I just have to know." To which they would tell me "You're so close!" They had been telling me for a while that this baby had more hair than they had ever seen before. To which I finally replied, "I don't care, just get this kid out!" My energy was really flagging. Fortunately, Christine, the CNM who came with the doctor, happens to be a triathlete and had something called "Goo" in her bag. She squeezed the stuff into me, and when it hit the bloodstream a minute later I got the second wind I needed. Not long after that E was finally born, yelling all the way.

They immediately put her on my chest so that Manny could see whether we had an Ozzie or Harriet. Everyone else knew what she was but me, and they kept telling me to look at what we had. "I don't have my glasses!" I said. I'm blind as two bats without them. My mom handed them to me and I was overjoyed to see my baby girl.

From that point on we were not separated. Being that E was a sturdy, 8.5lb baby I wound up with a decent tear. I was amazed to find that the hormones lived up to their advertisement because I simply didn't care. That and I was exhausted. But E is worth every agonizing minute it took to get her here and I am so grateful for the wonderful support from my husband, mom, and caregivers. Without that support I would have given up and most likely would not have had the positive experience that I did.