The Birth of a Baby... and a Mother

This is the story of Clay's beautiful birth :)

I was having what I believed might be mild contractions at night. They woke me up every twenty minutes sometimes, but I got lots of sleep. I woke up in the morning (February 1st, 2013) and went to the bathroom... There was my mucous plug! There sure was a Lot of it this time... I smiled peacefully and went on with my day, impending labour and beautiful baby always somewhere on my mind. I had a couple of small contractions throughout the day, nothing huge. I had an appointment with my OB at the hospital that day, to check on baby and placenta, as I was a week and a half "over due". Everything was normal as I'd fortunately grown used to hearing all these months :) Dr. Nette (my lady OB whom I loved and sincerely hoped would be at my birth), told me that she would be on call that night, and not the next night but the morning following.

That evening while we were making supper, the contractions started coming back. I could feel the regularity of them and how they were getting stronger, little by little... We sat down to have supper and during conversation there began to be points where I had to stop talking to get through a contraction. I announced officially to both my partner (Eric) and our roommate (Jen) that I was actually in labour! We all Yayyed together! :D Later that night a couple of Jen's friends came over... Two awesome hippie guys that I really enjoyed, totally drunk lol. This was the first time I'd seen them, and they didn't know I was pregnant ;) I was chillin on my knees on the floor bent over my birthing ball, then Jen informed them that I was in labour. Their reactions were pretty freakin priceless lol :P They were both super excited. One of them said, "It's gonna get so painful, just get the drugs". I laughed inwardly... right :P

They eventually left, and the three of us (Jen, Eric and I) played a board game (The Settlers of Catan!) before bed. All the while contractions were getting stronger. Once we were in bed, we did some nipple stimulation, and did it ever strengthen the contractions!!! It made them so strong and so close together. The effect of that lasted a while, to the point where I thought Okay, we need to go to the hospital now... So I called my mom who's boyfriend was planning on driving us... No answer. We called again, and again, and again, and again... Finally we got through :P They'd been out of the house for just a few minutes. WE HAVE TO GO!!! So they drove down, packed up my stuff and we left. The car ride wasn't as bad as I'd heard some people say. We got to the hospital and they sent us to the lounge for a few minutes.

Me and Eric in the lounge :)

They got us a room and started monitoring contractions. I thought to myself, Dr. Nette is on tonight!!! YES! 

But when the nurse came back to check the contractions, she told me they were not very impressive. :P So I asked if she could check my dilation  and I was about 60% effaced, but only 2 cm dilated  :/ *sigh* We said we'd rather stay and see if they got stronger instead of driving all the way back home only to have to drive to the hospital again. I had a little nap and after an hour or two of waiting around the contractions started to diminish. Forget it, lets just go home. 

I didn't get much sleep that night. I woke up yelling at least a few times... and going to the bathroom... yeah, not much fun when it feels like your pooping a bowling ball. The next day (February 2nd) I stayed upstairs pretty much all day. Eric got me some food, but all I really ate much of was raisins, I didn't want anything else. He kept on reminding me to breathe, and this was the best piece of advice anyone could have given me. All through my labour, remember to breeeathe, deeep breaths, slooowly. 

I had a bath at one point (probably not a good idea since it really slowed down my labour :P). I stuck a couple fingers inside and felt something round and hard. HOLY CRAP I can feel the baby's head!! :D

We got the idea to call our midwife friend. Eric talked to her on the phone and she offered to come over to see how I was and check how far along I was so I wouldn't have to waste another trip to the hospital. She got there and checked my dilation. Still 2 cm... But the good news was that my cervix was very soft and I seemed 100% effaced. Also the baby's head was super low, so she said she thought that once I was fully dilated, this baby would pop out very quickly! Her advice to me was to get some rest and/or go outside for a walk. So I called my mom and asked if she wanted to come for a walk. She came down with her boyfriend and I very slowly got ready (it took me over an hour I think :P). Once I had my boots on, I decided I didn't want to go any more, it would be to painful (I think this is when I really began trying to shut down and run away from the pain/intensity of the contractions...). I went back upstairs and tried to get some rest. My mom knocked 4 or 5 times over the course of the afternoon/evening to ask if I wanted to go to the hospital to check my progress. Not yet. I came downstairs while supper was being made, and laid down on the couch. I was miserable. I started crying, saying I can't do this, ugh yes I can... But why am I not progressing!? How much longer is this going to take? :(

Everyone suggested that I move around, because I was only sitting around trying to avoid the intensity. I was tired. I reluctantly got up and began marching/dancing around the house to a meditative drumbeat my mom had playing on her laptop. I did laps around the house, closely followed by my devoted partner :) every once in a while I stopped and leaned over a chair, marching on the spot, swaying my hips to move my baby down. I had no inhibitions. I wailed when I wanted to, without holding back in the least. This helped immensely. We left for the hospital soon after I stopped marching. It REALLY worked! 

When we got to the hospital this time, they put us in a room right away (perhaps because they could see I was clearly in the throws of labour now lol), but it was a room with someone else (divided by a curtain)... I was concerned I was gonna stay there the whole time, since I was very loud and didn't want to disturb the woman next to me and I didn't want her distracting me either. Fortunately they moved me to a private room after checking my contractions (standing up), which were far more impressive than before :P The nurse checked my dilation (which was hard to lie down for >.<")... 6 cm! YES! That was a relief :)

This was the night that Dr. Nette was not on call, sadly. But I accepted it and knew that I had every right to get the birth experience I wanted, and if the OB that I had didn't like my birth plan, then screw him. I will do it myself :) (I had specified on my birth plan that I  would deliver my baby myself anyway). 

There were many things to take advantage of in the birthing room. I had a birthing ball (which I didn't actually use much), a big comfy reclining chair (which I used a lot), a shower (I used it once and the hot water felt sooo good), and a squatting bar on the bed. My mom brought her lap top and I had all sorts of prepared music playlists on it, but all I listened to the whole time was a Nature Sounds sound track. I brought SO MUCH stuff (decorations that spoke home to me, tiger balm, a mirror, labour clothes, food, a yoga mat, ear plugs, and so on...), but I used none of it, aside from my water bottle and a bit of food. 

I allowed the nurse to monitor my baby's heart rate periodically (it was always perfect), and she checked my dilation a few times (at my request). 7 cm, 8 cm... It was really late so I tried to get some rest. My mom and Eric took turns tending to me throughout the night, getting me water or warm blankets, and supporting me in the bathroom while I tried to go pee (GAAH!!!). They were both amazing support people, especially my beloved Eric. Amazing.


The chair was where I slept. One of my clearest memories is of sitting in that chair, and really relaxing into the contractions with my breath. That was the only way I would get any rest. I would breathe slowly between contractions, and when one started to come on I would take a deep breath in with the slow count of four, then exhale fully and rest at the end of the breath for a couple of seconds. It usually took about four of these breaths to get through a contraction. It was the most meditative experience...

Happy about Dr. Nette's arrival (lol)

I faded in and out, and every time I woke up I'd look at the clock... it slowly crept up on... 7:00 am, YAY! :) Dr. Nette is now on call :D <3 (February 3rd). The nurse checked my dilation again, and I was now 9 cm (this was the last time I was checked). I had felt like pushing long before now, and I had been, just a little bit with each contraction because it felt like I should. It felt good to do it. Now that I was at 9 cm, the urge to push was overwhelming. The nurse told me that when a contraction comes and I feel like I can't Not push, then feel free to push!

Dr. Nette arrived and came to greet me. I gave her a hug and told her I was happy she actually gets to be there for the birth :) 


Now, the real fun begins... Pushing a baby out of my vagina.

First I want to say that I was really happy and impressed with my nurses and the whole labour and delivery ward, and how well they conformed to my plan. It IS possible to have a peaceful and unassisted hospital birth. I loved it. 

Pushing was hard work. It was... well, labour. I tried many positions. I pushed in the chair, reclined for a while, but it kept on moving up and down during contractions and it just wasn't working. Dr. Nette suggested I try the bed, so I got up and hobbled to the bed, and someone helped me get on it lol. I knew that the lithotomy position was a dumb idea, at the same time the most comfortable position for me was leaning back. Not quite lying down, but not sitting or squatting. I knew it wasn't the best position to be pushing in but squatting was SO intense... Once again, I had to get over avoiding the pain and really dive into it if I wanted things to progress quicker. I tried using Dr. Nette's suggestion to pull on something tied to the squatting bar (since the bar was a bit to far for to to hold onto comfortably), it worked for a while, and then I tried being on my hands and knees... Wow it hurt, and I pooped a little bit lol, but every one who was watching gave me lots of encouragement, and kept telling me I was progressing well. They could see a couple centimeters of the baby's head emerging and retreating. I was unconvinced I was getting very far... contractions were far apart, and I had thoughts of asking them to break my waters to perhaps get things moving faster, but I quickly reminded myself that this baby would be born on it's own time, in it's own way. I would not interfere.

I moved into a squatting position, and began to push with this next contraction... and with all the subtly of the blink of an eye, a head popped right out! Not a second later came the rest of this slippery little body, along with a huge gush of fluid! He lay on the bed, our boy all purple and tangled up in his umbilical cord (which was wrapped around his neck 5 times!!). My nurse came rushing back into the room!! and I notice that Dr. Nette wasn't even there! (She came into the room a few minutes later, and we all laughed about it :]) I carefully picked up this tiny wet person that just popped out of me, untangled the cord, and leaned back into the bed, totally blissful... without a single thought of the long arduous challenge I just overcame. It's amazing how in the span of just a few moments, one's face can change from the expression of a person taking a poop the size of a small watermelon (in other words the most intense labour a human being is meant to endure lol), to the heavenly, blissful face of a person who... actually there is no comparison... the expression of a woman who sees the face of her newborn baby for the first time. Absolutely priceless. 

Newborn baby Clay <3

First attempt at breastfeeding :)

Grandma meets Clay

So peaceful...

Clay's first outfit (hehehe, poofy cloth diaper bum!)

      Yeah... I looked beautiful the next morning (LOL!)

Everything about Clay's birth went perfectly, but there was a bit of a glitch after he was born. I lost a lot of blood, because for some reason I kept on bleeding after he was out. Dr. Nette did all sorts of things she knew I would prefer (such as massaging my belly, getting us to do nipple stimulation, and giving me a shot of something (I can't remember what at the moment..) in the thigh) before putting me on pitocin to help strengthen contractions to stop the bleeding. That worked, eventually... but my blood levels dropped suuuper low. My hemoglobin levels were at 80 something % after I stopped bleeding. It was strongly recommended that I stay over night, and I certainly conformed to that recommendation, as I couldn't even sit up without feeling faint. The next day my blood was tested again, but this time my hemoglobin was at 56%! :S They gave me a blood transfusion and recommended I stay another night.I would have left hours after his birth if I could, but in a way I'm glad I stayed for a few days, as it gave me an opportunity to really settle into a pattern with him (with feedings and such), and learn more about breastfeeding from the hospital's lactation consultant. 

Feeling MUCH better the next day

Time to finally go home... :)

Getting dressed to leave...

I think it's a bit Big.... lol

Time to go!


All thing considered, I had an amazing birth experience. I am proud of myself. I did the research, and I fully followed through with my plan to have a drug free and intervention free hospital birth. It is by far the best thing that has ever happened to me. Thank you to all involved for helping my experience be a positive and enlightening one.  

Watch Clay's Birth below! :)