SM - Birth Stories

A natural birth in a hospital with a Midwife.
By: Mom

      I took Bradley classes, and received prenatal care until 20 weeks gest. from an Ob/gyn office. I switched to Midwives Care at 20 weeks. My son was born at Bethesda North.

      Well, my due date (Monday, Oct. 6) came and went with no baby. It was a really tough day to get through- it seemed like everybody called the house and wanted to know where the baby was. I lost my plug the next day and that made me feel better, at least we were moving towards the end. I was still feeling pretty good- my back and feet were beginning to feel the toll and I was starting to retain some water but it wasn't bad. Getting in and out of bed though was another story entirely..

      On Sunday (Oct. 12) Rich's mom showed up to visit for a week. We spent a nice day together and ate chinese food for dinner. I had trouble falling asleep that night and woke up a couple of times for the bathroom. I returned from the bathroom and crawled back into bed after a trip and was just falling back asleep when I felt the first contraction @ exactly 4:40 am. I woke Rich up at about 5:30/6 when the contrax were about 8 minutes apart and I wanted him with me. I got up and ate a croissant around 7. The contrax seemed to be getting worse so I decided to take it easy, and see if I could lie down and rest and maybe get a little more sleep if this was for real. Lying down turned out to be a very bad idea- the contractions had previously been mainly in the pit of my stomach and an intense tight feeling in my lower back but when I lied down I started really feeling pain in my hips. I never felt 'back labor' but I did have this excruciating 'hip labor' until Asher was born. The pain would curl around my hips and then spread to the outside tops of my thighs so they felt like they were in a vise and had been set on fire. This made sitting in anything with arms or doing anything that put pressure on my hips (like lying down) impossible. I took to the toilet which became my sanctuary.

      We called the midwives around 9 am when I was beginning to have a tough time with the contractions- they were about 4 min apart at that point. They asked us to come in for a labor check at 10:30 at the birth center so we did. The car ride was horrible and when we got there it was confirmed that I was in active labor- about 3-4 cm and completely effaced. We had the choice to go the hospital, stay at the birth center, or return home. I wanted to return home so we did. The midwives asked us to call them at 12:30 if we were still at home at that point. After we were back I returned to my bathroom and decided that around 2pm I would think about going to the hospital. We checked in at 12:30 and were still going good. Around 1 pm I threw up and wanted to head out to the hospital. So we called Stephanie (the midwife on call) and headed out. Bethesda North had just finished renovating the main entrance and all the parking lots- that day was the first day they had been opened. I was checked into triage to await Stephanie's arrival- it took awhile because my social security number was wrong in the computer despite my calls and faxes to make sure that it was fixed. She arrived and I was told that I was a 'good, solid, stretchy 5cm'. They took my BP and did a stress test to check on the baby- and Stephanie went off to fight for a LDR room and the portable tub for me.

      She ended up getting room number 8- the room at the far end of the hall and we were moved down. Once we got there I tried rocking in the rocker but my hips hurt too bad and sitting on anything with a solid seat hurt as well. They filled up the tub and in I went at around 2/2:30. We had some wonderful fun with technology- the hospital had brand new telemetry and BP machines which wouldn't work. Around 4:30 I started throwing up again but didn't want to leave the tub. Every time a contraction would hit I would sink under the water so only my nose and mouth were out. Rich knelt next to me the whole time holding my hand and getting me to drink some water. Around 5 I started feeling like I needed to go to the bathroom and I was afraid that if I waited until I was desperate I wouldn't be able to get out of the tub- so out I went and straight back to the bathroom. I perched on the toilet and Rich sat next to me and held my hand. The new midwife at the Birthcenter, Gennifer, showed up to assist Stephanie(they wanted her to learn her way around the hospital before she started catching). She was an incredible support- stroking my leg and encouraging and praising me. I got to have my blood drawn at this point- yippee. I started grunting a little at this point- it felt like I had a water balloon trapped between my thighs and it seemed like it would feel so good if the damn thing just popped.

      I also asked Gennifer and Rich to kill me; they said they would but only after the baby came. So I asked to go home and they gave me the same response. I was checked and was at 9cm with bulging waters so they tried to get me up and moving back into the room. I was trying to figure out where I wanted to go and what I wanted to do when the first pushing contraction hit- I swung around and grabbed onto the edge of the tub. It was 6:15. With that one and the next two I would sink into a squat with each contraction. Pushing contractions felt nothing like I thought they would. I thought it would feel like I really needed to go to the bathroom ('urge to bear down' my foot) but it felt more like the stomach flu; when your body heaves and heaves and there's nothing you can do about it. I moved to the bed- kneeling and draping myself over the back of it and hanging on with my hands. When a contraction hit I would hang with my hands and slide down so I was almost on my hands and knees. I would push around 4 times with each contraction- the first one hurt the most and the second was the most powerful. I felt my water break and wasn't sure if it made a sound or not but it felt so good. I felt when he crowned- I reached to touch him but couldn't think well enough to manuever to do it. Rich touched him though although I don't remember it happening.

      I could feel his head being born and I moved down completely on my hands and knees to push- and he popped right out. We thought it would be a gradual thing- a head, then a shoulder, then another shoulder, then the rest of him, but he came out all at once so fast that Rich and Gennifer had to lunge to catch him. I didn't even realize he was fully out until I felt him all wet and flailing underneath of me and the midwives were telling me to reach down and pick him up. I flipped over and sat down and Rich put him on my stomach- he pooped all over my right side and was screaming and crying with his eyes wide open. He was beautiful- I thought he'd be all bloody and gooky but all he was was wet and slick. Like a pearl, all white and pink. I remember touching him all over and saying "you're real. oh my gosh, you're real. you're here." Asher was born at 7:11pm on October 13 2003, exactly one week overdue. Rich's and mine first anniverary. He weighed 7 lbs. 13 oz and was 20.5" long. His Apgars were 9 and 9. My recovery is fine- I had a tiny tear that didn't need stiches and still no hemmorhoids. My biggest complaint is that I think I sprained my tailbone. I got up by myself and showered about two hours after he was born. The sorest part of me has been my arms from all that hanging while pushing. I spent our first night together just staring at him in his isolette while he looked around and curled and uncurled his fingers. It's nice to be home. Welcome to the world my son!