Porter’s birth story
Posted by Ashley on March 25th, 2009* For those uninterested in things birth-related, feel free to skip this post.
As most of our readers know, our first child’s birth was rather long and ended in a c-section due to Ezra’s continued heart rate decels. Although it was far from the natural unmedicated birth we’d planned for, we did feel we made every decision along the way to ensure the best outcome for our son. So when we found out we were pregnant again last summer, I had high hopes and fears about wanting yet again a natural unmedicated birth.
A few months ago we decided the best possible way for us to achieve a VBAC (vaginal birth after cesarean) was to hire a doula (essentially a labor assistant). We met Kani, our doula, and began to discuss our options with her as well as take some birth classes. Although she actually missed the birth (more later!) I feel that our preparatory work with her really helped by body and mind to work together in labor.
So to the story: Saturday, March 21 I continued drinking raspberry leaf tea (to tone the uterus) and started taking some homeopathic meds Kani recommended as helpful for labor. That afternoon I noticed that I was having some mild contractions that were slightly more painful than Braxton Hicks contractions, but they weren’t really much to complain about or think much of. We drove up to Bryce’s parents’ house and had a lovely dinner with them. On the ride home, about 9 pm, I noticed I had a few contractions about 5 minutes apart but again they weren’t painful and didn’t seem to really have a pattern to them.
I got to bed around 10:30 and slept through contractions that had me thinking that this was simply pre-labor and that I had a while to wait for Porter. By 2 am, I decided to take a bath to try to get the contractions to stop so I could get to sleep. I stayed in the tub for about an hour and decided to try to go back to bed. I laid down and felt a gush a water and quickly woke up Bryce. At this point I simply thought I had a leak rather than that my water had in fact broken. We called our doula and she advised me to try to sleep if I could as contractions may not come on right away.
Pretty much the rest of the night was a blur. This is what I remember: Bryce was scurrying around trying to get our hospital bags packed (I had made a list of items) and was throwing things in the laundry as he didn’t have any clean clothes since he’d been away just a few days before. He was also frantically trying to create a labor music playlist we’d talked about while I spent the entirety of the labor in the bathroom. We turned on my Hypnobirthing CD and I honestly don’t remember if it relaxed me or not — I simply kept thinking “Oh I don’t remember hearing that part before.” I kept moving from the bath to the toilet to hanging my arms on the towel rack. By 4 am Bryce called Kani and told her things were moving along quickly but we thought we didn’t need her. About 10-15 minutes later he called again and said we did in fact want her and he called my parents so they could come and be with Ezra as it would take them an hour to drive. We had no idea things were moving as quickly as they were, though.
Thankfully contractions weren’t long and drawn out and honestly I don’t think I was able to relax through them very effectively; they were however coming very quickly on top of one another. My first thought was that I was being anxious and causing them to come faster than they should. Meanwhile, Bryce is calling people and getting things ready and by this point, Ezra has awoken because I’m making so much noise. Bryce of course is trying to tend to Ezra while I periodically yell from the bathroom “Bryce, I need help, help me!”. I remember a few contractions where I literally jumped into the bath and writhed around a bit due to the pain (looking back, this must have been transition).
Around this time I’m feeling a whole lot of pressure and my body is pushing. I’m convinced that I shouldn’t be pushing (thinking I’m only about 5 cms dialated) and so keep thinking that I’m really going to mess up my cervix. I can’t help but push during contractions but sort of freak out between contractions wondering why is my body pushing if I’m not ready. Bryce calls Kani to tell her I have a lot of pressure and she asks if it’s in front (normal) or in my bottom (means I should be pushing and a baby’s coming); being in “labor land” I can’t answer the question and I decide we should go to the hospital and Kani will meet us there. We call the pastor’s wife, Karen, at our church around 4:45 and she comes over probably close to 5am.
Ezra is crying “Mama” when he hears me groaning loudly while pushing through contractions. At one point I held him between contractions for a minute and Bryce kept telling him Mommy was okay and that he would be a big brother soon. Once Karen arrives we literally head out the door with a confused and crying Ezra, who I quickly kiss on the cheek and proceed to have a big contraction right outside the front door. The cold air felt nice as we walk slowly to the car and I have no idea how I’m going to handle having contractions during the 20-minute ride to the hospital.
Thankfully no one is on the road at 5am on a Sunday morning. Bryce drives 95mph and runs several red lights while I grip the headrest (I sat in the back) for all it’s worth. When we get to the hospital around 5:20 or so, I think I can walk across the parking lot. Bryce grabs our stuff (saying he’ll come back for the birth ball) and I stand up and quickly realize I can’t walk. Bryce runs to the ER, grabs a wheelchair and runs back to me. I have 2 big contractions in the parking lot where I have to get out of the chair (which I can’t really sit in properly anyway), turn around, and grip onto the chair while involuntarily pushing of course. Bryce said that he’s amazed someone can be making so much noise right outside a hospital and no one seems to come running. Bryce also said that he was doing his best to help me through contractions but also knew we had to get to the hospital quickly and so was coaxing me to sit.
We run through the hospital and get to the elevator. I have a big contraction in the elevator and suddenly feel the head between my legs (not out, but I can feel Porter coming). I’m of course flashing anyone in my path because I can’t sit down on the chair. We check in at 5:37. We don’t have my picture ID and Bryce is asked to fill out some paperwork, while I simply tell the triage nurse, “There’s a head!” They wheel me into the room and I crawl up on the bed and they ask me to lay on my back. I’m quickly surrounded by a midwife on call and 2-3 labor and delivery nurses. It’s a bit of an effort to move and with another contraction they help me pull my legs towards myself as I push. I think Bryce comes back into the room at this point and sees Porter’s head emerging.
I ask how much longer until he arrives and the midwife tells me if I push that he’ll be born. I was in shock I think still. Not having a contraction yet, I tell them I’m just going to breathe, so they whip out a monitor to check his heart rate — all looks good. We also jump to the final line of our birth plan and tell them we want the cord to stop pulsating before it’s clamped and that we want to deliver the placenta naturally (without it being pulled on). They help me through one more push once a contraction starts and Porter is immediately placed on my chest! He was born at 5:41, 4 minutes after we checked in. Our doula arrived a few minutes later (between Porter’s birth and the delivery of the placenta) and could tell I was in total shock. Bryce cut the cord later and I was able to begin processing the birth a bit with both Bryce and Kani and all I could muster was that it was “insane!”
A few hours later I got to have the birth high once my body and mind caught up with what had happened. I was really wondering if I could do it without an epidural, and thankfully I had no time for one, given Porter was born 2 hours after my water broke. I was amazed at how good I felt immediately after birth and aside from the tiredness, have virtually felt myself right from the beginning. The recovery alone was worth going drug free!
