Two days of early labor started the birthing process on a typical note for me - I would start up having contractions at nightfall, begin timing them...they would stay about ten minutes apart, then space out to twenty minutes apart during the day. Each night they would get more intense -- lots of bloody show.
The morning of the 12th of January, I was having a "this is the day" feeling. I would really have to watch my breathing during some contractions -- the children were still with me and I didn't want to scare them with any birthing sounds. My husband was home and really helped out so I didn't have too much to do in the way of cooking and general child wrangling.During the course of early labor, I had been tracking my dilation via an external method, taught by Anne Frye, author of Holistic Midwifery. Using finger breadth spacing between the top of the uterus and the zyphoid process (cartilage at the tip of the breastbone), it is possible to check cervical dilation pretty accurately, although the check must be done during the height of a contraction, while the mama is lying on her back -- not fun. Five fingers fitting into that space indicates no dilation where four fingers would indicate that you're at two centimeters, when only one finger would indicate being complete.
Using this method, I deemed that at 1:00am on the morning of the 12th, I was almost 4 cm dilated, then at 6:00 am I was getting close to 6cm. I continued to check during the day, but still stayed pretty much the same.
I knew things were going on and that it was time to start the ball rolling, so early in the afternoon, I turned on some salsa/cha-cha music "Suavemente -- Elvis Crispo" and started dancing with the kids until I was getting pretty tired. Rowan and Ember had lots of fun, started dancing with each other, dancing with me. It was really great.
Contractions started to pick up again, getting closer together, but I felt like I needed to keep moving. So, I called my cousin Sarah, who lives right up the road to see if she wanted to go for a walk. She picked me up and took me over to her neighborhood where we walked twice around the block -- we stopped because I didn't want to wear myself out before things really picked up.
Not long after I got home, contractions got about 4 1/2 - 5 minutes apart. I knew it would be time to go soon. It was getting dark and that mammalian hind brain was starting to get active -- show time.
I expressed my urgency to my husband, who got the kids together, got their bags and took them out to the house of our previous land lord/land lady back on the farm. I knew I needed to go ahead and go into the hospital (no home birth this time, unfortunately, too expensive with the year we just had). My cousin Sarah picked me up and took me in, with plans to meet my husband there after he dropped off the children.
Everything worked out well that way -- there was a wait in the L&D for a spot in triage. I got checked and was found to be 5cm, but could be stretched to a 7, and was 90% effaced. The doctor high-fived me. We got along right off the bat -- he was very happy with my birth plan and said he wished he could have more informed patients like me. No worries -- the birth I wanted was very obtainable.
We were checked in by about 8:30, Scott came in right at the end of the check-in. The doctor said he knew that 5cm wasn't "technically" active labor, but due to my "labor face/dance" that he was going to admit me anyway, especially since I could stretch to a 7 easy. Considering his hands are much bigger than mine, it looks like the external dilation check was spot on.
At 9:30, my waters broke. As soon as it happened, things got intense-- fast. I rocked on the ball, leaned on my husband for support, Tried to walk around. I consented to a 20 minute strip read out on the machine, but the nurse wanted me to be hooked up for twenty minutes every hour...which just was not going to work for me.
So, every time she walked into the room to hook me up, I escaped to the bathroom. i was successfully able to evade her.
Transition was text - book, I'd never experienced transition like that before: nauseated, shaking, wanting to quit...thankfully, I never asked for drugs, although I did ask my cousin and husband, at one point, "Would it make me an awful person if I wanted all of this to end, right now?" And of course, they told me no, but I was almost there -- I was an eight!
A few minutes later, I felt like I had to go to the bathroom. I went in, two, three times, all feeling kinda pushy, but I didn't believe that I was ACTUALLY feeling pushy so early -- it was 11:50pm.
I went to lie down on the bed and everything stopped -- contractions, everything. I felt like I could actually rest. Everything got quiet inside me and I switched gears and asked, "I need to get checked, I feel like I can push."
Before they even started to come in to check me, I checked myself and felt the head. Yup. Push time. I didn't care if there wasn't a doctor in the room yet, I was going to catch the baby myself if I had to!
So, I started pushing. I felt the head start to come down. I felt so awesome! I was at the foot of the bed, on my side. The doctor came in and asked me not to push, and I told him I couldn't...well, I was pushing on purpose and he knew it. He got in position, and people started hurrying into the room.
"So, you don't want me to coach your pushing? Are you sure?"
"Yup...just help me not tear!"
And I pushed, all on my own. Sarah, my friend Becky, and my husband Scott all supported me while I eased the baby out myself. The doctor helped the baby with her shoulder. Four or five pushes...and the baby started crying!
I never felt so awesome in my life. It was over..and Arwen was here!
I started praying/singing the Shema as soon as she was out -- I was so thankful! The doctor smiled and said, "Where did you learn Hebrew?" I laughed and said, breathless, "We're kind of Jewish...we believe in Messiah."
The doctor said, "I'm Jewish too. Shalom. That was beautiful."
Arwen nursed right away -- we did skin-to-skin. She weighed 7lbs 8oz and was 20 inches long. She was born at exactly midnight...it even says on the birth record "00:00". :D
Going home today. I am..so incredibly happy. Yes, it wasn't a home birth this time...but it was still so beautiful and empowering.
