The morning of my birthday, I woke up feeling blah. I hadn’t slept well because I was having some cramps. Little did I know that I would be sharing my birthday with the life that had been growing inside of me. I wasn’t feeling movement which was uncommon for the mornings for little Noah.
I went to the bathroom and saw that I was bleeding. I called Thalia, my midwife, at about 7:50 and told her and she rescheduled my appointment from 2pm to 9:30am. I started eating breakfast with John Adam. After eating an orange and yogurt little Noah started moving around and I felt like I couldn’t eat anymore.
I started having uncomfortable cramps that were getting quite painful. My husband, Donny, was up when I had a contraction and then another one about 10 min later. He decided to come with me to the appointment. Donny put the infant car seat and John Adam’s (our son) bag in the car just in case (my bag was already in the car). We headed out a few minutes early. Contractions started to become too painful to pretend nothing was happening; in other words I couldn’t be still and quiet and John Adam started to look concerned for me.
I sent a text to Donny’s parents to let them know that this was probably “it”. Contractions were 10, 8, 5, then 3 minutes apart on the way to the birthing center. We stopped for bottles of water at a gas station then arrived to the birthing center. Jerry was there and took my blood pressure and talked to us and said that I may be in really early labor but it will be a while if I am. I felt like if I’m told that this isn’t labor I’m going to look like a wimp. John Adam started to cry, which made me feel horrible. I told John Adam that it’s ok and that my stomach is making big squeezes but it’ll be ok. Donny took him out of the room.
Thalia arrived and checked me and said I was dilated to a 4 and the water hadn’t broke yet. She said that I was definitely in labor and she closed off that side of the birthing center from the side that people were getting their check ups. I asked if I could get in the tub to help relax my body and bare the pain. Melena, a nurse came to assist the birth. They got the tub ready for me and I sat in it maybe 30 minutes. The tub felt great. Donny’s mom came by to wish me happy birthday and pick up John Adam for the day. I decided to get out of the bath and lay in the bed. The contractions were getting more intense and nothing felt good.
I quickly dilated to a 7. I didn’t want Donny to touch me and then I did want him to touch me. I went into the intense pain and threw up and started to feel afraid. I knew I had to release the fear so that my body wouldn’t tense up. I tried the breathing techniques but my allergies were horrible. Thalia was telling me that I was a strong woman and I was kind of laughing on the inside because I’m the type that freaks out when I stub my toe and here I am trying a drug free birth. I felt the need to stand up so I did and it helped move things along. The contractions seemed to be one right after another and Donny put out the birthing ball for me.
When I sat on the birthing ball it hurt in a good way and I felt Noah move down into position. I again felt like if I was in the tub I could bare the pain better so I got in and as soon as I sat in it my body made me push. The next push really hurt and Thalia said not to fight it but work with what my body is doing. That made perfect sense to me and the next push I didn’t tense up but just let it happen. There was no counting while pushing which was great.
I let out a moan when I pushed and that seemed to help me not tense up. At about 11:50 am, I pushed my baby’s head out and felt an amazing rush. I’ve never been sky diving, but I imagine that it’s a feeling like that. It was a wonderful feeling. Yes, it hurt, but it felt good too. Then I pushed his body out and Thalia picked him up out of the water and put him on my chest. My baby boy looked straight into my eyes. My first look at him was him looking at me. I didn’t think newborns could see very well right at birth. I started talking to him and thanking God for him.
His umbilical cord was in a crazy knot. I was still having small contractions and felt like holding on to something. I felt a little nervous holding my delicate newborn. I delivered the placenta, but before that was a decent size blood clot. I thank Jesus for keeping baby Noah safe (that’s what my two year old prayed about every night of my pregnancy- “keep baby Noah safe.”) He was 7 pounds 6 ounces and healthy. He was nursing about 20 minutes after birth and in a few hours I was getting ready to go home. My recovery has been much quicker this birth than with my first.
I definitely loved using Childbirth Services as opposed to the hospital. I’m so happy to have little Noah share a birthday with me. It was the best birthday ever!
