I had been experiencing contractions at about 5 - 10 minutes apart for a few weeks (yes, that is WEEKS) and was dilated to over 5 for about 3 1/2 weeks. This was normal for me though. I have experienced this in all of my births, due to an extremely tipped uterus. The difference this time was that there was no doctor or midwife to break my water to 'get things moving a little faster'. I had never experienced birth without this 'aid'. I was pretty excited (and a little nervous) about letting my body work out these 'complications' on it's own.
On Monday (Feb 7th) in the evening, I suddenly felt that things were different now. I can't really explain it, because nothing changed, but I 'knew' that things were going to happen now, so I had my husband set up the birthing pool. After it was all up and ready, I went downstairs to labor in it. I wasn't having really hard contractions, but I knew that this was where I wanted to be. Within about a half hour of being in the pool, the contractions really picked up in intensity. I knew that these were birthing contractions! My husband and 5 yr old daughter were in the pool with me, and this was perfect. My 5 yr old was SOOOO excited about the baby being ready to come out, finally!
I labored for a few hours, until at 5 AM, my husband (bless his heart) started to fall asleep. We have an autistic child, so sleep is hard to come by at our house, and he was exhausted. I left him to sleep, and went upstairs for a potty break. I also stopped to e-mail a few people to let them know that it was really happening. I went back downstairs and saw that hubby was still asleep, and I decided that I was exhausted to, and that I wanted a sleeping break. My body obliged, and I was able to lie down (with NO contractions!) for about 6 hours and get some much needed sleep.
So we are now at about noon on the 8th. The contractions are slowly starting to pick up again, and I know without a doubt that today is the day. I also know that there is still time, so decide that I want us to go and get new snow tires put on the car while dh is home and we have the chance. So off we head to Wal-mart. We try to walk around the store while the tires are being put on, but it is just too intense too walk. I am uncomfortable in any position, and just want to get back to the birth pool where I can be weightless and comfortable again. The tires are done quickly, and we head home. My husband goes to warm up the birth tub water again, and an hour later, I am sitting in bliss again. I know that if we would have stayed awake the night before, the baby would have already been here, but I am glad we had the chance to rest. It was needed. The only problem was, now all of the kids were up, and needed supervising, so Michael was not there with me.
Ashley (my 5 yr old) and I were in the pool while he was taking care of the other two young ones for the next few hours. He came in to check how things were every once in awhile, but I knew that things would not pick up until he was there for good. Finally he got the other two asleep, and came to join me at about 11:30 PM. The contractions started heavily about 20 minutes later (isn't the subconscious an incredible thing!?!) I was doing well through them, but definitely had to vocalize through parts of them! My 5 yr old had a book about giving birth, and was showing us the pictures and telling me what I needed to be doing next. This just could not happen fast enough for her! Suddenly I found myself saying that I didn't want to do this anymore, and that next time we were adopting :-) I knew that this normally meant transition, but didn't feel that I could really be that far yet. Surprise! About 5 minutes later I found myself pushing!!!
My 'vocalizations' were getting pretty loud at this point, and Ashley let me know that this was NOT appreciated :-) But being as I had no real control over the noise at this point, she decided to leave and watch TV for a few minutes. Less than 5 minutes later, baby was crowning. My husband very excitedly exclaimed that he could see the head. I was so happy about his excitement! This had never happened before in previous births. He was so encouraging, telling me what a great job I was doing, and that it was almost done. A moment later I was pushing out a rather large head. It took three pushes to get the head completely out, another 2 for the shoulders, another for part of the torso, another for more of the torso (down to the knees), and one more for the rest of the body! This was so different for me, as all of my others immediately FLEW out once the head was born.
As soon as she was out, Michael excitedly exclaimed," It's Sariah!!!" Ashley had been telling us all night that it was Sariah and NOT Kevin, and she was right! He immediately put her in my arms, and she pinked up very quickly. She was nursing eagerly within seconds, so we just sat in to wait for the placenta. All of my other placentas came out effortlessly, but such was not to be the case this time. The contractions continued just as strong as during transition, which was a huge (and very unwelcome) surprise for me. 45 minutes later I felt the urge to push it out, but at this point I honestly felt that I was delivering another baby!!! The placenta was HUGE!!! I kept telling Michael that it was another head and he kept saying that there was no way, I wasn't big enough! Funny now, but not then :-)
The 50 lb (it felt!) placenta soon delivered, and Michael took baby and placenta still attached upstairs to wait for me at the shower. I was able to easily get up the stairs and take an immediate shower. It was wonderful!!! When I was done, we decided to go ahead and cut the cord, as the placenta was just too big and heavy to lug around. We then weighed Michael with and without Sariah. 9 1/2 lbs! WOW!!! That sure explained a lot!
I don't know that this really counts as part of the birth story, but I'll add it anyway. The next night when I was going to the bathroom, I noticed a huge blood clot hanging halfway out. I couldn't get it all the way out though, and decided to call in the troops for help. I climbed into the bathtub, and called for Michael to help (can you believe this? What a trooper he is!) He tried and tried, but the clot just wouldn't come out. Suddenly, there was blood everywhere! The 'clot' had burst! Turns out it wasn't a clot at all, but a piece of my water bag that was blocking blood behind it. After it burst, he pulled out the WHOLE TOP PART OF MY PLACENTA with water bag attached!!!!!!!!! When we looked at the placenta the night before, it looked fine, one side smooth, and one bumpy. What we didn't realize was that the top quarter inch of the bumpy side was missing!!! I believe that what happened was that when we were in the pool, Sariah and I started slipping at one point, and I hurriedly passed her off to Michael while I tried to catch myself. I think that the placenta must have ripped somehow during this. The amazing thing is, we had NO CLUE, and my body took care of it on it's own. The afterbirth 'pains' were sure a lot easier after the rest of the placenta came out!
Anyway, that is the birth of Sariah Bridgette Rochester. Life has been so fun with her finally here! I will NEVER birth any other way but unassisted again! The changes in our house have been very dramatic since her arrival, especially in my husband. Don't get me wrong. He has ALWAYS been wonderful, but the new sense of responsibility he has taken since her birth is just absolutely amazing!!! I believe now VERY strongly, that all men need to go through unassisted birth with their children to fulfill their true measure as men. They have been robbed of this heavenly experience due to the crazy messed up medical profession, and it is wrong!!!
Also, if I have ANY say about it, I will never birth out of water again! It was incredible!!! The 'ring of fire' is always the absolute worst part of birth for me, but in the water, IT NEVER HAPPENED!!!!! And this was by far my biggest child!!! Miracles will never cease!
