Isabellas birth

My birth with Isabella was simply amazing! The last few weeks of my pregnancy were taking forever! I love being pregnant, but I was ready for Isabella to come. Tuesday June 19^th I had laid down for my daily nap and to listen to my Hypnobabies Cd’s. When I stood up from the couch, it was about 4 pm, my water broke. It was a slight pop and a small amount of fluid. At first I wasn’t sure that I hadn’t wet myself! So I ran to the bathroom and more fluid came out. I sat on the toilet and MORE fluid came out. At that point I knew it was my water breaking. I haven’t been able to pee that much in weeks!!! My two year old comes in the bathroom and asked if I peed in the floor. That made my laugh pretty hard. I yelled for my 12 yr old son to call his dad. Then I called my midwife and she told me to come in so we could check the baby’s heartbeat. My husband was about 20 minutes away, so I told him I would meet him at the birthing center. I sent my kids to my neighbor’s house and took off. I wasn’t having any contractions yet, so I felt comfortable driving. Besides, the birthing center is only 10 minutes from my house. Will and I got there at the same time, and I start leaking more fluid. The midwife does a nonstress test for about 15 minutes or so to check the heartbeat, which was fine. I had to change clothes at this point because I soaked mine. Then the midwife sent us home to wait for contractions. She told me to eat something light, and let her know when the contractions were about 3 minutes apart.

Will went to Wendy’s and got us some salads for supper and met me at home. Yes, I drove myself home because I still wasn’t having contractions. I was fussed at by a couple of people because of that. But I felt fine and was close to home. We ate at 6:30 and then I got up at 7:00 to clean up the kitchen. I was supposed to be resting, but I had way too much nervous energy. I had my first contraction a little after 7. My mom showed up at the same time. By 7:30 they started coming every 4 minutes. At 7:40 I went to the other room to tell Will that they were getting closer. Then they started coming every 2 minutes. I told Will that I was getting into the shower. I really wanted a shower at home. He told me to call the midwife. I told him to call the midwife, I was getting into the shower! So far I wasn’t having any problems handling the contractions. I needed to sway with each one and that seemed to help me relax my stomach muscles. Let me say now that my birth was not pain free, but I was always able to handle the contractions. I never felt out of control and never felt the need to ask for drugs.

Okay, back to my story. When I got out of the shower, Will said it was time to go to the birthing center. My last birth lasted 7 hours so I figured we had hours ahead of us since I had only been having contractions for an hour. We loaded up in the car with my mom following us and headed to the birthing center. I have to say that the car ride was the hardest part of my labor. You just never notice all the bumps in the road until you are in labor! That was the only time I had any contractions that I felt I couldn’t handle. And honestly there was only one or two that I felt out of control on. We get to the birthing center at 8:30 and get all settled in. I knew I was in active labor so I really wanted them to go ahead and fill the birthing tub for me. But they had to check all my vitals before they could get it ready for me. My best friend Erin was there and she helped me so much. Each contraction I had to be standing or at least sitting up on the edge of the bed. That was the only way I could make myself relax. I just kept telling myself to relax, then I would tell myself it was only pressure, then I would tell myself that it was almost over that there was only a couple more contractions and then it would be over. I knew at the time that there would be more that a couple more contractions, but it really seemed to help. I started to believe what I was telling myself. Also, I knew at SOME point it would be true. Right after I got there my legs started shaking really bad. I just looked at Erin and said that shaking means transition, right? I was so hoping that when they checked me I would be at least 7 or 8 cm. The shaking was very encouraging to me.

Finally, at 9:00 the midwife checked me to see how far dilated I was. I started a little chant with Will and Erin saying, “big numbers, big numbers”. The midwife said all she felt was a small lip and that was it. The other midwife there said “Is 9 ½ a big enough number for you?” I almost stared jumping up and down. I was so happy! Then they finally started filling the tub. After another contraction I started feeling a little pushy, so I asked her to check one more time to make sure the lip was gone before I pushed. She did and it was gone! I almost ran to the tub at this point. The water felt so good! I just wish I could have gotten there sooner so I could have used it more. I just sat there for a couple of contractions without doing anything since it felt so nice.

Then my contractions changed. Whoever said that pushing contractions felt better was a liar! I still didn’t feel out of control, but it was at this point that I stopped listening to my cd’s. I had them on the whole time up until now. I really couldn’t make myself relax anymore, but I still felt in control. I tried sitting in the tub and pushing, but I couldn’t. I am 5 ft and the tub was too big. I could hardly put my feet on the other side and I had nothing to brace myself with. I felt like I was too free. So I flipped onto my knees with my arms and head laying on the edge of the tub. I stayed like that until the baby was born. Pushing was hard, but I knew it was almost over. I did get quite vocal at this part too. Luckily I have a wonderful best friend who was right there and told me to yell as loud as I wanted. I was embarrassed that I was yelling, but she made me feel so much better. She told me to do whatever I felt I needed to do. That helped me to not worry about anyone but myself. After about 10 minutes of pushing she started to come out. It felt as though it took her forever to get completely out. I know it was only about a half a minute to a minute, but when a baby is half in and half out it sure does feel longer! Her cord was wrapped around her stomach, so the midwife had to unwrap her. Then my Isabella was born into her daddy’s hands at 9:30 on June 19^th. Only two and a half hours after my contractions started and 5 and half hours after my water broke. The whole experience was amazing! I feel like I could do this again. This is my fourth baby, but this is the first birth experience that I am excited about. I feel so empowered by this birth. I never could have done it without Hypnobabies. If I had not been able to relax and “talk” my way through it, I don’t know that I could have done it. I had a lot of anxiety before going into labor that it wouldn’t work since I have been through labor three times before. But it worked! It wasn’t pain free, but it was manageable. I will be telling all my friends about this.

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