A Birth Story

We decided to try a midwife and I had started to seriously doubt that decision. I was 41 weeks and 1 day pregnant and very anxious about this baby making her appearance. I was tired of the pitying looks and comments from Gabe’s bus drivers and branch members. I was tired of feeling like a hostage to an unborn child. I was tired of feeling anxious and coming up with back-up plans for if she came at night or during the day. I was tired.

            I woke up the morning of May 15, 2017 and said to the baby, “Alright, you are done, you are coming out today!” Then proceeded to walk 2.5 miles, take my evening primrose oil capsules, and various other wives tale, natural (excluding castor oil), labor inducing remedies. I climbed into bed that night feeling frustrated. I had had no contractions despite everything I tried. I felt like my body was broken. I kept having thoughts about my other children’s labors. I was induced with both of them and maybe my body just didn’t know how to go into labor by itself. I was panicking. If my body doesn’t know how to go into labor by itself, what would/could the midwife do? Why did I decide I wanted a midwife for this baby? Among other less than desirable thoughts, I fell asleep.

            I had to use the toilet. It was 12:30 AM. I stumbled to the bathroom realizing that I might not have made it in time. I went back to the bed to see that the sheets were indeed wet. My water broke. I waited for the contractions to start. I woke Randy so I could strip the sheets off the bed, told him that my water broke and kept waiting. I called the midwife at 1:30AM to ask what to do. She said to go back to bed and try to sleep, and then call her back when the contractions started. It took a while to get back to bed; the baby was going to come soon and I was excited.

            The first contraction woke me up at 5:50ishAM. I got nearly a full night’s sleep. I called “the help” to let them know that I was in labor and they were on deck. The contractions were already 5 minutes apart lasting over a minute. I called “the help” back and said I will need you sooner than I thought. Everything and everyone was in motion from that point on.  

            Randy and I were in the Aspen by 6:40AM driving to the birthing center. I didn’t want to sit because the pain was so intense. I was trying to remain in control of my brain as I whined/moaned/cried and gave directions to the birthing center. We were taking a path we hadn’t practiced due to how fast the contractions were coming. Randy kept reminding me that we needed to get to the birthing center to have the baby; he was not prepared to deliver a baby on the side of the road.

            We pulled up to the birthing center just before 7:00AM. We mounted the steps arduously. We got into the birth room and the midwife wanted to check my progress. I was at an 8.5-9 centimeters dilated and the midwife felt there wasn’t enough time to fill the birthing pool before the baby would make her way out. I asked if I could get in the shower. I was in my laboring mind so I really don’t know at what time I got into the shower but upon further reflection, I was in there about 35 minutes. My yoga practice and hypno-birthing strategies had fled me. I remember saying, “It just hurts so much!” and then screamed in agony. The only thing that seemed to help was to chew on ice chunks from my water bottle. I have no idea why ice chewing broke the pain for me but I am grateful it was there.

The midwife suggested that I sit on the toilet to help progress things. I had come off of my hands and knees and was standing in the shower at that point. I sat down and felt the baby drop the last little bit and she was crowning. The midwife said she couldn’t catch the baby if I was sitting and she didn’t want the baby in the toilet so with help, I stood back up and my body started to push the baby out without me telling it to. The midwife told me to slow the pushing. It was one and a half pushes and Eden Bonnie made her debut into this world.

I stood there holding my beautiful baby girl and I was filled with relief. The pain stopped, my body relaxed and everything was right with the world once again.

They laid me on my back on the bathroom floor to wait for the placenta to stop pulsing. While there, the second midwife mentioned that the baby looked and felt like a 10 pound baby. My other children were 7 pounds 5 ounces and 7 pounds 10 ounces. I had a hard time believing that this one would be much bigger. After I got back into the recovery bed and rinsed the baby off, they brought the scales over. She was a 9 pounds and 8 ounces heavy. She was 21 inches long and had a head circumference of 37 centimeters. She was not a small baby.

We recovered at the birthing center until noon and then I was ready to go home. We loaded us all up, came home and watched Sherlock. It has now been two weeks since she was born and I can honestly say I am proud of what my body was able to do. I am glad to know that my body is capable of going into labor by itself. Eden is a beautiful addition to our family. We are completely enamored with her. Thank you for all the prayers, pitying looks and comments, and support. I have truly felt the effects of those efforts.