{"id":266,"date":"2011-10-27T14:52:44","date_gmt":"2011-10-27T19:52:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.shereadsinthedark.com\/?p=266"},"modified":"2011-10-27T14:52:44","modified_gmt":"2011-10-27T19:52:44","slug":"an-epic-story-of-labor-and-birth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.shereadsinthedark.com\/?p=266","title":{"rendered":"An (epic) story of labor and birth…"},"content":{"rendered":"

I wrote this birth story in 2 sittings last week…I’m glad I got it all down so that I can look back over the years and remember just how it all went.\u00a0 Enjoy!<\/em><\/p>\n

Today has been exactly one week since Urijah was born.\u00a0 I don\u2019t know where the time has gone!\u00a0 However, this story starts quite a few days before last Thursday, when my water unexpectedly broke during my 36th<\/sup> week of pregnancy.\u00a0 It was early Sunday morning, October 9th<\/sup>, at about 2 am, when I felt a small gush and thought that I had to go to the bathroom.\u00a0 A minute later I felt another small gush and got myself up and to the bathroom.\u00a0 Immediately I started thinking \u201cno, no, no, it\u2019s too early\u201d, but at that point it was out of my hands.\u00a0 My water had indeed broken, so I woke up Scott to tell him, but we went back to sleep since nothing else seemed to be happening.<\/p>\n

I called Heather the next morning and told her what was going on, but that I wasn\u2019t having any contractions yet.\u00a0 We decided to wait and see what happened.\u00a0 Little did we know that \u201cWait and see\u201d would turn out to be the mantra that we would repeat to ourselves for the 5 days until Urijah decided to make his appearance.<\/p>\n

On Tuesday morning, I felt my first identifiable contractions.\u00a0 They were sporadic and not very strong, so we went to the birth center for a check in and to come up with a plan.\u00a0 We all agreed that we were willing to maintain the wait and see approach \u2013 we didn\u2019t feel there was any need to go to the hospital even though the hours were ticking away since my water had broken.\u00a0 The baby sounded good and I felt good, so we wanted to give him as much time on the inside as possible.\u00a0 Since the risk of infection was a possibility after my water broke, the midwives couldn\u2019t check me to see if I was progressing, so we did a swab to verify that my water broke.\u00a0 The first swab I did at the center was negative so we thought I was mistaken and it was a false alarm, but a second swab a little while later once we were back at home showed that my water had indeed broken with no question.\u00a0 User error on the first try?\u00a0 We\u2019ll never know!<\/p>\n

We essentially continued this pattern for the next 2 days\u2026I would have sporadic contractions that would really pick up in the evening and nighttime, and all but completely stop during the day.\u00a0 They were easy to breathe through, so that\u2019s what I did.\u00a0 I was running on very little sleep, and on Thursday morning after another sleepless night of stronger contractions that were coming regularly, I called Heather and said I needed to come in.\u00a0 I was tired and starting to feel anxious and she agreed it might be time to head in, so we did.\u00a0 We got settled into the room and tried to get some rest.\u00a0 The contractions came and went and Scott and I managed to get a bit of sleep on and off.\u00a0 Heather continued to monitor the baby and me throughout, and we were fine.\u00a0 Then the contractions stopped\u2026again!\u00a0 Around 2:00pm, we decided to head home, although we were hopeful enough that we left our stuff in the room.\u00a0 I wanted to have that baby!\u00a0 I couldn\u2019t handle any more waiting around.\u00a0 As it turned out, I didn\u2019t really have to.<\/p>\n

I napped at home for 2 hours and woke myself up around 5pm moaning through some pretty strong contractions.\u00a0 I leaned by the side of the bed for a few of them, but had to go downstairs to get Scott to help me though them, as they were starting to come fast and hard.\u00a0 These contractions felt absolutely different than any I had felt so far.\u00a0 At 6:00, I was shivering and knew this was it \u2013 I called Heather and told her what was going on, and she said she would call Sandra and meet us at the birth center.\u00a0 Scott was concerned that I hadn\u2019t eaten anything since breakfast and I would need some energy for what was to come, so we loaded up and got into the car, thinking we would swing by Subway to get some food just in case I would manage to eat.\u00a0 Ha.\u00a0 It was quickly evident that was not going to happen \u2013 I was feeling the urge to push while we were about halfway there!\u00a0 We got the birth center and I\u2019m sure I made quite an impression on the Hypnobirthing class that was sitting in the family room waiting for their class to start, as Scott helped me back to our room.<\/p>\n

Heather and Sandra did some quick assessments and they could tell \u2013 this was it.\u00a0 They starting filling up the birthing pool and I leaned over the birthing ball that was on the bed, as the contractions came.\u00a0 I told Heather and Sandra that I needed to push, and they assured me I could go ahead!\u00a0 Scott stood behind me and applied counter-pressure to my lower back during each contraction, which helped so much.\u00a0 At this point, I started to feel scared \u2013 this was unlike anything I had felt before, and I could feel the panic starting to take over.\u00a0 I think I started to make high pitched noises during the contractions and Heather reminded me to make deep, low noises and Scott reminded me to relax my jaw and even those two small things made such a difference.\u00a0 It gave me a sense of control over what was going on, even though my body was really in control \u2013 I just had to go along and let it do what it knew was best.<\/p>\n

When the pool was full, Scott and I both got in the water and it was THE best feeling ever.\u00a0 The water was so warm and so soothing and immediately helped me to relax.\u00a0 I changed positions in the water several times trying to find which one felt the best and while I stayed on my knees for a time, I figured out pretty soon that my legs were too tired to maintain that.<\/p>\n

Finally, Scott and I settled into a position with him behind me and me reclining between his legs, which was so wonderful as he could keep whispering in my ear to relax and telling me how great I was doing.\u00a0 Heather and Sandra monitored the baby\u2019s heart rate as contractions came and went and I began to calm down and just concentrate on the moment and relax as much as possible \u2013 I didn\u2019t have any space in my mind to spare anticipating the next contraction.\u00a0 Heather knew just what to say during and after each surge – she told me when to push more and longer, she told me how fantastic each push was and what good progress I was making each time, and when I was making nervous comments about the pain, she reminded me that yes, it does hurt, but that it\u2019s not bad and that I didn\u2019t need to be scared of it\u2026I respond really well to positive reinforcement, so this was just what I needed to hear.<\/p>\n

I pushed from about 7:00pm-10:52pm when Urijah came into the world.\u00a0 He made his appearance with the cord wrapped around his neck and his little hand up next to his cheek, and I caught a glimpse of his face under the water when only his head was out and all I wanted was for the rest of him to come OUT! Heather unwrapped the cord and maneuvered his arm and the next thing I was aware of was there was a baby on my chest and Heather and Sandra telling Scott and I to talk to him while they rubbed him with a towel and worked on getting him to announce himself.<\/p>\n

What a feeling!\u00a0 I said to Scott, \u201cCan you believe this!?\u201d\u00a0 Scott didn\u2019t say much at the time, but later he told me he was overcome with emotion, and wasn\u2019t able to speak without losing it totally.\u00a0 We enjoyed a few minutes in the birth pool snuggled together, but since Urijah was so small, we needed to be concerned about his temperature, so we all moved to the bed to get to know each other and get him warmed up on my chest, and for me to deliver the placenta which seriously, felt so good!\u00a0 Scott cut the cord once it was done pulsing, and after a while, Heather stitched me up and we worked on some breastfeeding with Sandra\u2019s help, and then Baby U got the full once-over and we learned that our baby boy was 5 lbs 15 ounces and 20.5 inches long!<\/p>\n

I am so proud of my birthing experience and what I was able to accomplish. \u00a0This being my first baby, I obviously didn\u2019t know what to expect pain-wise.\u00a0 I must say, even during the contractions, I was pleasantly surprised to find that I knew I could handle it.\u00a0 They were manageable and even though I was so tired, my body kicked in during each surge and it felt like a rocket boost of energy that made each push so much more effective.\u00a0 I have such a respect for my body and what it was able to do\u2026.near the end of the pushing my contractions had really slowed down, and I was able to relax so much between them that Scott told me I fell asleep several times!\u00a0 Who would have thought?!<\/p>\n

The whole long labor was not anything like I anticipated, and definitely lasted a lot longer than I would have chosen, but I believe that my body knew just what it was doing and Urijah got 5 extra days in utero because we were patient and willing to trust my body and our midwives.\u00a0 Heather and Sandra both took excellent care of us, and I could not have asked for more supportive and intuitive caregivers during the entire process.\u00a0 We never felt rushed or pressured, and they were absolutely patient and calm during all of the waiting \u2013 always encouraging us and reassuring us.\u00a0 The delivery was just what we had hoped for \u2013 calm and peaceful and intimate and Scott and I will forever be grateful that they were there to guide us and share in the birth of our baby.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I wrote this birth story in 2 sittings last week…I’m glad I got it all down so that I can look back over the years and remember just how it all went.\u00a0 Enjoy! Today has been exactly one week since Urijah was born.\u00a0 I don\u2019t know where the time has gone!\u00a0 However, this story starts […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[12,3,15],"class_list":["post-266","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-me","tag-pregnancy","tag-urijah"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shereadsinthedark.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/266","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shereadsinthedark.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shereadsinthedark.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shereadsinthedark.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shereadsinthedark.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=266"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.shereadsinthedark.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/266\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shereadsinthedark.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=266"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shereadsinthedark.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=266"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shereadsinthedark.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=266"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}