Kaire's birth of Tiana

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Kyleigh Tiana’s Birthstory

9/29/03 Monday

This was my due date. I was very uncomfortable for weeks, trying to get things moving and labor started. I had an appointment with Rachel, my Midwife, and she checked me by my request, I was around 3-4 cm dilated and 0 station and about 80-90% effaced. I had been around 2-3 cm for several weeks and was feeling baby really low, I was getting very anxious. Rachel knew this and I asked her to strip my membranes, again, she had already done this once before, with no improvement, just contractions for several hours that made me think that I was in labor. Again, nothing happened, and I gave up, trying to get some rest and let go of trying to put myself in to labor. I had been taking evening primrose oil orally and vaginally for 2 weeks, occasionally trying a couple doses of blue cohosh, nothing had worked thus far. That night I asked Tim to strip my membranes again, and explained to him what to do and he gave it a try, very funny experience, he was not happy about doing this, but he did it out of sympathy for me.

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9/30/03 Tuesday

I woke up and went about doing my daily chores. Tim was home from work and I felt like I would take this opportunity to do some of the things I had a hard time doing when he wasn’t here to help with the kids. Around 11am or so, Rachel called me to ask that I not do anything to get labor going because she was on her way to attend another birth. I said, no problem, I am sick of being let down anyways, and I had already been having some pretty crampy but not painful contractions and didn’t want them to persist if baby was not coming. We hung up and I went about doing my things, making lunch, cleaning up etc. I went to the bathroom and noticed some really dark mucus, a lot of it and said, to myself, “Of course, after 3 weeks of trying to get labor going, I will go into labor now when Rachel is busy with another client!”

I let go of worrying, called Silverhawke, once again to calm my nerves and get my mind off of things. I told Tim that I had some bloody mucus and be prepared for labor to start soon, that what he did the night before had worked! I went to take a nap and when I woke up, Tim had taken the kids to the park. It was nice and quiet and contractions were still coming, but were not regulating and I was getting frustrated. They started seeming more regular when Tim pulled into the driveway with our friend and his kid and I was getting mad. I figured they would come over and I wouldn’t be able to relax and the contractions would go away. I had some good ones while they were here and kept walking out of the room, hoping someone would get the hint, but they are men and didn’t. They, instead, started talking about having dinner and that is when I freaked out, told them to go to Dave’s house and don’t come back until the kids were ready for bed!

I started crying and asked Tim to just leave me alone. They did, Tim was worried and made a joke that he was gonna come home to me in the kitchen with the baby by the time he got back, but he was only going 3 blocks away so I assured him I would call him if things picked up and just needed some alone time to get into my groove.

I again called Silverhawke and vented to her and talked for a while. Tim got home around 8pm and got the kids to bed. We watched some TV, contractions were coming to where I had to breath through the peaks, lasting about a minute and ranging from 3 minutes to 10 minutes apart. I was mad. It just didn’t seem like this baby was ever gonna come out. Tim suggested I call Rachel to have her call her back up a give her a heads up but I argued with him for about a half hour that I was just going to bed and forget about it. He insisted so I called and Rachel and her assistant had just finished up with her other client and were cleaning up after delivering a healthy girl baby. She said her back up was with her, a midwife that was at Olyvia’s Birth, so I knew her. They said they were gonna call back in a while to see how I felt and when they did, Rachel insisted on coming over to see me and go from there.

So I called Silverhawke once again and she tells me to get the damn pool filled already, I am having a baby tonight! I was still in denial, it just didn’t hurt like last time, so I had Tim check my cervix and show me how far he could spread his fingers, I was about 5-6 cm. While he was in there, he felt baby’s head move and looked at me like he was gonna fall over, he was so surprised he could feel the head!

So Rachel got here, did a pelvic, says what are you waiting for? Tim was so squeamish about doing cervical checks on me, but I thought it was cool that she said I was about where he said I was.

We get the pool set up, the sheets on the bed done and ordered a pizza since they were all hungry from just being at another birth. I am putzing around naked and smiling, laughing that this is really happening. I call my mom, she is excited, going to bed, it is now 11:30ish. I posted to the list and walked around, waiting for the pool to get more water in it. I really wanted to get in it and so I just went ahead and sat in it till it was filled, getting out from time to time to go pee and getting back in.

The assistants, Marcy and Sharon, were resting on the couch, dozing off, It was like they weren’t even there. Rachel sat next to the pool and Tim was restless, I think he was tired and if he sat in one place for too long he would have fell asleep. They took pictures of me, we joked around about Rachel’s new boyfriend and they compared cameras, I wanted to eat something and they got me some sweet green grapes and an ice water bowl and towel for my head because I was getting hot. I was still not terribly uncomfortable, The contractions were coming what seemed like 8 minutes apart, it wasn’t close at all, and when they came it felt good.

I was having the pulsating feeling that you have after orgasms after each contraction and was laughing because it felt good! I moaned through the peaks, unlike last time were I was almost screaming, I was so proud of myself for doing so well. I still felt like this wasn’t the worst of it and that it was gonna be a long night, until I started feeling pressure with the contractions, I asked Rachel to check my cervix again so that I knew there was no lip left and that I was not just hallucinating since it was only around 2am (now the 1st of Oct.) and it had been so easy that I couldn’t believe we were almost there. I was right at 9cm and then the contractions started coming faster and stronger, this lasted about 20 minutes and I was starting to get louder. I told Rachel I really felt like I needed to poop and she said laughing that she was not catching the baby on the toilet! I said, well have the fish net scooper ready in case I poop!

Olyvia woke up and Tim went to tuck her back in, she usually wakes about this time anyways, I was just hoping she would go right back to sleep like she usually does and she did. The next contraction came and I could feel the baby’s head come through my cervix into the birth canal. I looked up and let everyone know, it is time, baby is coming. I wasn’t sure what position I wanted to get in, I started getting a little panicky, I wanted to sit back, wanted to squat, couldn’t figure out where to go and when I wanted to move the contractions came very intense.

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I finally, after 2 pushy contractions sat on my butt and leaned into the pool sides and felt my baby’s head just at the opening of my vagina. I growled through the next contraction as the head came and opened me up, then retracting a little in between. The next contraction came, I beared down with it, I wanted that baby out and I could feel the burning that made me want to push harder, I could feel all this hair and looked up at Tim and said that the baby has hair! I remember not being aware of anyone else in the room at that point other then me and Rachel, not feeling any other part of my body then my uterus contracting, my labia burning and spreading, this little head coming through with such force.

I pushed her head out and Rachel felt for the cord as I stroked my baby’s head between my legs. She said the cord was tight, I asked her if she needed to pull it form the neck and I don’t remember her answer because the next contraction came and I pushed with all my might and felt the pop of the shoulders on my pelvis as my sweet little bundle came sliding out. It felt so good to get her out, to feel every bit of her come through me and into my hands.

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Rachel reached down and helped me get her to my chest, there was no blood, no more pain, just a sweet warm baby covered in vernix laying in my arms. They put a towel around her and a hat on her, didn’t suction her nose or mouth at all. I wasn’t sure if she was a he or she yet, we were just rubbing her back and talking to her to get her to breath. It seems like every second is so long when you are waiting for that first breath. I felt under the towel, between her legs and said to Tim that it was a girl! Rachel found her foot and flicked it with her fingers to get her to wake up and breath, I noticed what she was doing and snapped, hey, don’t do that! but it worked and now Tiana was breathing and whining at us like hey I was cozy!

I sat in the pool for a few minutes to get my bearings and then we got towels together to get us to the bedroom on the bed to deliver the placenta. I still had no blood at all, no tears, nothing. The cord stopped pulsating and we snipped it to allow better movement so I could get her to nurse. The after pains were intense. I didn’t remember them hurting like that with the other births. Tiana started nursing with a little help and coaxing and the placenta came out with a little push. They checked it over and put it in a bag and in my freezer, I am still unsure what we are going to do with it, I still have Olyvia’s in there!

Tim made me a sandwich, I got up to pee, no problem at all. I sat there for a half hour last time, it was I breeze. They weighed Tiana, she was 6lbs, 10 oz, same as Olyvia. We measured her head and length and put a diaper and nightie on her, folded her up in a blanket and finished cleaning. It was about 4 am when everyone left after congratulating me, telling me how wonderful that was. It seemed like Rachel and the assistants were just as in awe as I was at how calm I was through labor and fast she came, no tearing no problems, it truly was the perfect birth!

We went to bed. I couldn’t sleep I was still so excited and wanted to breathe in every bit of this new being in my arms. When Robbie got up in the morning, he saw his sister and said we have to give her away! I talked with him for a while and he finally decided it was OK to keep her. Olyvia didn’t even notice her till much later when she was fussing. She has not once put up a fight or shown signs of jealousy, she says “sissy” and kisses her all the time, never pushing her from me or anything.

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Rachel called me in the morning to tell me to put her back in, we are doing it again so we could video tape it! I tell you, if I could have I would have because if it was always like that, I would want to be having babies all the time!!

I am so thrilled with this experience, it was truly awesome! I thank all of my Sisters on the EmpoweredChildbirth List and the Birth and Friendship list with special thanks to Silverhawke, Ocean, Mary, Travis, Kim, Wendy, Lynn, Diane and Judith. If I forgot anyone, sorry…….

I want to thank Rachel for being an incredible Midwife and putting up with all my questions and phone calls and impatience and complaining! I want to thanks my sweet husband, Tim for helping me create this beautiful baby and being there for me through this difficult pregnancy and believing in me to birth instinctually, even though I was arguing about calling when he knew it was time before I did.

And thanks to anyone reading this as long as it is!!! I hope you enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed doing it!

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