Birthcenter Birth!

On Friday 9/22 I was 40+6 weeks pregnant and really discouraged that I would be able to have the birth I had wanted because at this point I had no signs of labor. I had a midwife appointment to have an NST and get a membrane sweep. After the membrane sweep I had been getting consistent contractions, very mild ones, but they ended up stopping after 3 hours. My husband and I went on a walk that night to see if we could get things going again. No luck. The contractions had completely stopped. That night we went to bed early and I woke up at 3:30 am to more contractions. This time they were a little bit more intense and coming every 8-10 minutes. I texted my two friends who were going to meet me at the birthing center that today (9/23)might be the day but unfortunately my contractions stopped once again at 8:30am. I tried getting them going with another long walk and bouncing on the ball. No luck. I was exhausted from the adrenalin rush of getting excited that I was FINALLY in labor, I ended up taking a 3.5 hour nap with my daughter and felt so much better. I called and texted my family saying today was not the day that my son was going to come.

Around 8:15 pm that same night my contractions started again but this time even more intense then the morning. I didn’t want to get my hopes up or even think anything of them because of how much labor had been stopping and going. But I thought I would just start to time them to see how far apart and how long they were lasting. And to my surprise they were coming every 3-4 minutes for a minute each. I let this go on for an hour as I could still walk and talk during each contraction but I did feel like they were getting more intense with each one. I called my midwife and explained that labor kept stopping on me and I didn’t want to meet her and be sent home as it was already 9:45 pm. Then we decided to talk again in an hour to see where the contractions were at. I made it to 10:20pm before I asked her to meet me at the birthing center. I couldn’t move through my contractions at that point and had to focus on my breathing. We get to the birthing center at 11pm and I am checked out, which I was 90% effaced and 6 cm dilated. As we are waiting for the birthing tub to fill up I find it as best to go through each contractions leaning and swaying on my husband. I was really excited with the progress I had made and I made an effort to just let my body go through the contraction and take the down time as a break to enjoy. I found my self laughing through the end of my contractions and having great conversation with my husband and best friend. Once the tub was filled up I labored in the water for about 20 minutes as the contractions started getting more intense and have more pressure, I could feel my body pushing my son down. I was planning on having a water birth but after the 20 minutes I needed to get out to use the bathroom because of all the pressure and I was trying to evacuate my bowls before pushing began. Sitting on the toilet though was such a relief. I went through about 3 contractions on the toilet because it felt better. As I got up I decided I did not want to get back into the tub as standing felt better and I wanted to use gravity to my advantage. I entered the transition stage at 12am. Leaning on my husband for support and starting to make noise to get through each contraction. 20 minutes later my body was ready to push. I could feel him moving down with each push and my voice got louder and louder. I announced to my midwife I could feel his head between my legs because of the burning sensation or ring of fire. As I called her over I relaxed a little and he went back up into the birthing canal which was not fun. My midwife then proceeded to check me and make sure I was fully dilated. I had a little lip left to go and my bag of waters was still intact. So my midwife on my next contraction push the rest of my cervix over his head and broke my bag of waters. Three more pushes later and my son Derek was born at 12:55am 9/24/17 at 7lbs 4oz 21.5 inches long. I have a first degree tear but doing so well. He is also latching on like a champ.