My Birth Story

The months leading up to my delivery of Norah I could not get enough other peoples' birth stories, and I found them very helpful. So here is mine...

My pregnancy with Norah was somewhat average, morning sickness in the 1st trimester, felt awesome in the 2nd trimester, had hundreds of aches and pains in the 3rd trimester.  Jordan and I anxiously awaited the day that we  would finally meet our daughter.

Before we got pregnant Jordan and I had done some research and decided that we wanted to go natural with our birth.  When I found out I was pregnant we started searching for midwives and found a birthing center that fit our needs perfectly.  And I was super excited to experience a natural child birth.

When I was about 36 weeks pregnant I was having very high blood pressure and had some protein in my urine, which are signs of preclampsia.  After finding that out I started taking things easy to try to keep my blood pressure low, I spent most of my days in the swimming pool relaxing and trying to reduce swelling.  I was so uncomfortable all the time and I was just hoping and praying that Norah would come soon.  At about 37 weeks I started having tons of braxton hicks contractions. I found these to be very annoying and I kept hoping they would bring on labor.

On July 11th I started having contractions that were definitely not braxton hicks contractions, they were about 15 min apart and kept me up all night.  I even woke up my hubby to tell him that I was pretty sure I was in labor.  At about 8am the contractions stopped completely! I was so frustrated and I couldn't believe I had gotten my hopes up.  I spent the day making up for lost sleep and cleaning the house.  Luckily that evening (July 12th) the contractions started again.  However, I wasn't about to get my hopes up again and I did a pretty good job at sleeping between the contractions.  By 4 am the contractions had become much more regular and stronger so me and my hubby timed them. They were about 2-3 min apart and lasted about 30sec-1min.  But I still wasn't convinced I was in labor. I called my sister to see what she thought.. She gave me some advice and at the end of the conversation she said, "Katy you are in labor."  I still didn't believe it! Jordan and I went to Jamba juice at 7am because I didn't have an appetite for anything else.  This is when my contractions got much stronger, so we called my midwife.  She told us to meet her at the birthing center in an hour, 8:30 am.  7:30-8:30 felt like the longest hour of my life.  We got back from Jamba juice and I was in too much discomfort to walk up the stairs to our apt.  so we just walked around the apt property.  I was moaning and groaning and hanging on to Jordan for dear life, I just kept hoping that no one would walk by I was pretty self conscious.  The time finally came and we got in the car to go to the birthing center.  My contractions were super close together and wasn't really having any breaks, but the car ride was still doable.  When we got to the birthing center they checked me and I was 6 cm I was so happy!! I thought for sure they were going to tell me that I wasn't in labor. I proceeded to get right into the birthing tub which was absolutely awesome.  Jordan sat outside the tub and comforted me, holding my hands and stroking my head, he was awesome!  The midwife checked me again at about 10:40 and I was 9 cm, once again I was super happy! My water still hadn't broke so we decided to have the midwife break it at 11 am.  At about 12 pm I started pushing.  Up until this point I really thought labor wasn't that bad, just really uncomfortable, but not painful.  When I started pushing that was pain for sure.  I wasn't getting comfortable in the tub so the midwife had me get on a birthing stool, I regretted this later, I think pushing would have been better in the water.  Jordan sat behind me and I grasped onto his legs for dear life.  I never knew I could scream so loud!! I thought for sure I was going to make my midwife deaf.  I felt like my bottom area was going to completely rip apart, and it pretty much did.  Every time I pushed I could feel my tissues tearing a little more.  I kept thinking that pushing was never going to end.  Much to my surprise after 37 min of pushing out came baby, thank heaven!! She was 10 lbs 3 oz, and 22 in. They put here right into my arms and I just kept thinking, wow she is big! They told me to try nursing but I was getting really dizzy and light headed to they helped me onto the floor so I wouldn't pass out.  I was laying on the floor and that is where I delivered the placenta.  I had Norah in my arms but I was just so exhausted to try to nurse or do anything else.  Jordan cut the cord and then I slowly crawled to the bed where I demanded that I get some food.  I really wished I had felt good enough to just hold Norah and work on breast feeding but I was just so exhausted.  After I got some food the midwives came in to stitch me up, I had torn in 3 different places, OUCH!! The stitches were almost worse than the pushing.  When they finished the stitching I yelled "Thank God!"  The only time I swore during the whole process and I don't even consider it swearing, because I really was thanking God that it was over.

We are now home with our baby girl and man is it hard!  She still hasn't successfully breast fed so I spend most of my time pumping and then spoon feeding Norah the milk.  Man it takes lots of patience!  I just keep hoping it will get a little easier and I'll eventually get to sleep.

All in all the only thing I would change about this process is that I would have pushed in the tub (I think this would have prevented some tearing) and that I would have focused more on breast feeding right after delivery.  There was never any point in the process when I wished I had pain relief, there is a certain amount of power knowing that your body is totally capable of delivering a child.  Even though I am so extremely tired right now I couldn't be happier about our new little family.  We love our little girl!