On March 2nd, a full two weeks after my February 17th due date, just after midnight, I finally went into labor. We had spent the week before trying every natural thing we could think of to encourage labor to start. The baby was super low and I had been having Braxton Hicks contractions for months. But this baby seemed determined to stay inside me forever. In my head, I knew that no woman stays pregnant forever. But I really felt like it was never going to happen. On March 1st, we went out and bought castor oil. I was not looking forward to using it, but I really was getting desperate. I had every intention of taking it that evening. But as evening approached, I felt very strongly that what I really needed was rest. I decided to put off the castor oil one more day and instead take a nice long shower and go to bed early. I was asleep by 9:00 and slept hard until my first contraction woke me up right around midnight.
I immediately knew that this was not another Braxton Hicks. This contraction was productive. I dozed back off and woke 20 minutes later to another. I was able to sleep a bit between contractions until 2:00 AM, when I woke Michael Paul and told him I was in labor. At that point I was too uncomfortable to stay in bed so I decided to come downstairs. I texted my midwife that I was having contractions 20 minutes apart and called my sister, Julie and my mom to tell them to get on the road. I was hoping Keziah would sleep til morning. I told Michael Paul to stay in bed with her and get some more sleep. But a mere half hour later, Keziah woke up crying. Michael Paul tried everything to get her back to sleep, but I think she sensed what was going on. She was insistent on being with mama so he finally brought her downstairs. I held her as I bounced on a birthing ball and gave her to Michael Paul during contractions. I even nursed her several times in between contractions. Michael Paul got his pocket watch out and started timing contractions which were about 10 minutes apart now. At 4 AM, I decided Keziah really needed to get some sleep since the next day would be a big one for her. So we went back to bed and I somehow managed to nurse her back to sleep while having pretty intense contractions. Michael Paul brought me a heating pad for my back which felt heavenly. Suddenly I felt so relaxed I started falling asleep. I noticed it had been a while since I had had a contraction, but sleep sounded so nice, I decided to take advantage of the lull. I was able to sleep for another hour. When I awoke shortly after 5, I was afraid for a moment that it had all been false labor. An hour had passed since a contraction. I got up to go to the bathroom and immediately fell to my knees as I was hit by my strongest, most intense contraction yet. At that point, I decided I needed to call my midwife. We were definitely having a baby today.
The next few hours went by fast. I continued to have contractions about 5 minutes apart. I ate some breakfast and drank some juice. The baby was so low, the pressure against my sacrum was unbearable during contractions. Michael Paul went about his morning routine, but would drop what he was doing when I started to moan to come put my hot rice bag against my back. Keziah thankfully slept until 8. When she woke I tried to give her as normal a morning as possible. I let her nurse for a few minutes and got her some breakfast. I was laboring on the floor since being on my hands and knees was helping ease my back labor. We played house and dolls in between contractions. When I would start to moan, Keziah would say, “big one,” which we thought was so cute. But it was becoming evident I really needed my mom there to help with Keziah.
I texted Julie to see where they were and was discouraged to find out they were still hours away. Keziah’s labor was so different. It had started with my water breaking and contractions remained far apart and wimpy for a full 18 hours before active labor started. So when I had called Julie at 2 AM and told her contractions were 20 minutes apart and my water hadn’t broken yet, she mistakingly assumed they had plenty of time. I texted in all caps, STEP ON IT! And she later replied, “Mom’s going 90 Agggggghhhhhhhhh!” followed by a hilarious looking scared smiley emoticon. This cracked me up and I giggled until my next contraction.
My midwife, Sara, arrived around 9:00. Contractions were still about 5 minutes apart, although they were extremely intense. I started having the “what have I gotten myself into?” thoughts. I was sure I still had hours and hours of labor ahead of me. Surely my contractions needed to be closer together and they had remained 5 minutes apart for hours. Sara plopped down on the floor in front of me and observed a couple of contractions before announcing we needed to head upstairs. This really surprised me. Didn’t she know I had plenty of time. Another contraction came and went and she reiterated, “we need to get upstairs while we still can.” We made it upstairs just as Jennifer, Sara’s assistant, arrived. I settled into my rocking chair with my heating pad behind me.
playing with Keziah in between contractions
At this point, I kind of went into the zone, that part of labor where everything is kind of hazy and blurry around me. I lose all concept of time. I only have a few memories. I was vaguely aware of Sara bringing things in and setting things up and Jennifer was doing a great job entertaining Keziah. At one point in between contractions the baby became extremely active, kicking, and rolling around. I immediately panicked as memories of Keziah turning posterior and bringing my already dysfunctional labor to a standstill came flooding into my mind. I told Michael Paul to get Sara. She came and checked on the baby and assured me the heartbeat was normal and he was still anterior, but was a good bit lower than the last time she checked me. Around 10:30, my mom and sister finally arrived and Keziah happily started playing with my mom downstairs while Michael Paul gave Julie a quick tutorial on our camera.
The next memory I have is of Sara telling me it was fine for me to stay in my rocking chair but it would be hard to give birth with my pants still on. And again I felt confused because I thought I still had hours to go. Whenever I asked how things were going, Sara assured me I was doing great. I did finally stand up from my rocking chair to go pee and had a couple of contractions leaning on Michael Paul. And I immediately felt so much pressure, I could have pushed, but I knew my body wasn’t ready yet. I knew instinctively that I needed to slow things down. The baby who seemed content to stay inside me forever now seemed so eager to get out that he had no intention of waiting until I was fully dilated. Sara suggested we get on the bed to slow things down. I did not need to keep laboring in a standing position.
I asked Sara to check me because I wanted to know all this labor was doing something and I was 8 cm. Every contraction felt like the baby was coming out and I did my best to surrender to the pressure my body was creating without pushing past it. Michael Paul continued to put a lot of pressure on my sacrum during contractions. My sister sat calmly in the doorway projecting her peaceful energy into the room. My mom and Keziah played happily downstairs. Later I learned that whenever I had a contraction and would start to make my wonderful primal birthing sounds, Keziah would stop her play and say, “Mommy sing”. She seemed to know exactly what was happening. I love her observation. I had never thought of my birthing moans as singing. But I love the image of me singing my baby into the world.
Finally the moment came where I knew it was safe to fully surrender and allow my baby out. I told Michael Paul that if he intended to catch this baby he needed to go wash his hands. Shocked that it was time, he jumped up and ran to wash up. I announced that I was pushing, but I wasn’t really. My body was doing all the pushing on its own so I decided to just let the baby come out without my help. I was still holding my energy up high and Sara suggested I make low tones with my voice to bring my energy down low. When I did that, it made all the difference. Michael Paul would remind me with each contraction to bring my voice down low. My water finally broke and sprayed Michael Paul up his arm. My mom and Keziah came upstairs. I really wanted Keziah to be there for the birth. She watched in amazement. A few more contractions and at 12:25 our little Reuel Rock gently emerged into the hands of his Daddy.
The cord was wrapped loosely around his neck, but he cartwheeled right over it on his way up to my chest. We caught a glimpse of his manliness and Michael Paul announced to the rest of the room that it was a boy. A few minutes later I got him latched on and he started nursing. Meanwhile, Jennifer was giving me mugs full of nasty-tasting chinese herbs to help stop my bleeding while Sara massaged my uterus.
Keziah meeting her new little brother
It took a bit of work for me to get my placenta out, but eventually I pushed it out and my bleeding slowed. Michael Paul cut the cord with the special knife he had bought for the occasion.
Eventually, I got a nice hot shower and some food while Michael Paul got to bond with the baby.
I had made soup and frozen it ahead of time and Michael Paul had put it in the crock pot that morning so everyone had a nice hot meal to enjoy. We all enjoyed visiting and eating. We didn’t get around to doing the newborn exam until late in the afternoon. Reuel stayed awake and alert all afternoon. He just looked around and took in the world. It became clear pretty soon that he was going to be a laid back baby.
8 pounds 1 ounce
My midwife, Sara and her assistant, Jennifer
I don’t think this birth could have been any more perfect. There were a few specific things that I just loved about Reuel’s birth. I loved giving birth during the day, being able to look out my bedroom window at the beautiful view and having natural light pouring in my windows. I loved having all afternoon to talk to Sara and Jennifer and process the birth while it was still fresh on my mind. No one was in a hurry to get to bed so there was plenty of time for visiting and bonding with the new baby. I loved that my sister and mom made it in time, despite having a 7 hour drive. I love that my water didn’t break until the very end. This was the main thing I wanted to be different from Keziah’s birth. I love that I didn’t need any interventions. I love that Keziah was able to be a part of this special event and that she never got scared, (although she did call the placenta a “BIG boo boo”). I love that Michael Paul caught the baby and cut the cord with a special knife. I don’t think it could have been any better.
"Hello World"
