Water Birth at Birth center
Heather’s Birth Story
What a wild weekend leading up to my sweet boys birthday! It all began on a Friday. My biggest fear began to unfold when I woke up with a tickle in my throat. In labor, my deepest fear was contracting COVID. Particularly, at that time, the unknown at that time of what COVID could do potentially to me or my baby. Throughout the weekend these symptoms continued to progress, which I let my midwives know of. At the time, they said it could just be signs of labor, but I knew in my heart that I had contracted COVID. In this moment though, I was trying to process and accept the reality that I would be facing the one thing I had been in fear of. I didn’t have too much time to process as Sunday morning I woke up to losing my mucous plug along with bloody show. I reached out to the midwives to let them know. They told me labor could come at any time and there was no way of predicting when, could be that afternoon, could be tomorrow, could be closer to my due date. Since we were about 6 days away from my due date and this is our first baby, I just knew that I would end up having to wait all week (and hoping for it, since I was sick)...but boy was I wrong! With the symptoms I was experiencing I had loss of appetite, so I didn’t eat much Sunday evening.
Monday morning I was probably as I was sleeping I must have been in early labor, but at 2:30 am a BIG contraction woke me up and I knew this was the real deal. We immediately started timing my contractions and they were 8 minutes apart. Isaac (my husband) was amazing with the hip squeezes, this kept me sane throughout each of these contractions. Even though the contractions were 8 minutes apart I was still trying to nap in between. I was able to do this until the contractions hit another level of intensity. At this point they were about 5 minutes apart. Since we lived 40 minutes from the birth center I was determined to labor at home for as long as I could stand, as I really didn’t want to be sent home as a result of being antsy and going there too early.
These contractions felt INTENSE, but I was still able to manage the pain through movement, and hip squeezes. Then all of the sudden the contractions were about 3 minutes 45 seconds apart and it happened REAL QUICK. We were rushing out the door to get to the birth center as these contractions felt overwhelming. We left our house at 7:00 am, so at this point we labored at the house for 5 hours. This car ride was UNCOMFORTABLE and it started feeling like the “double spike” contractions which was scaring me on the way, but it was a beautiful sunny morning, so I was trying to sing the worship music while looking at the mountains. Finally we got to the birth center - they check vitals (by the grace of God I did not have a fever) and then did a cervical exam. At this time they told me I was fully dilated, but I had a small cervical lip still in view. They told me to listen to my body and follow any urges I felt. I was so emotional at this point because I was not anticipating to be this far along in labor.
It’s about 8 am at this point and I start by sitting on the toilet. I labored there for a little while. Pretty immediately I felt the urge to push, they told me to go ahead and follow that urge. At this point I changed and got in the tub to continue laboring. I stayed here for a while until it felt like we were at a standstill and no progression was really taking place. I got out and got on the birth stool next. This was where a big fear also came to light…a poop dropped. However, I was in the midst of so much intensity, I didn’t really care that it happened. The pressure from this position was so so intense. After this, we just started trying all sorts of positions. I went to the bed and tried all the different tools you could possibly use. Front lying, side lying, peanut ball maneuvers, just trying so hard at this point to stay mobile despite the exhaustion I was feeling. Basically throughout this entire labor the only food I was eating were strawberries, I was doing this purely for little bursts of energy because I did not ever want to be eating (keep in mind, I did not have dinner the night before, not the best move). This entire time I was starting to feel pretty discouraged since no change had really been happening.
They wanted to do another cervical check at this point just to see what was going on. They checked, and it looks like the cervical lip had not actually gone away so for a few contractions she held this little part of cervix back so I could push with that out of the way. That seemed to help a lot. However, it was really intense to have her hands in there while I was trying to push and I could only do that for a few contractions before I needed a break. After that they told me to start resisting the urge to push as that last bit of cervix wasn’t as soft anymore. I had basically been irritating the cervix pushing his head against it...ouch. Avoiding the urge to push was nearly IMPOSSIBLE, especially after I had been trying to push for awhile at this point. Holding that back was the most intense part thus far. This was the point I wondered “can I do this?”, I only vocalized that to Isaac and never truly considered giving up, but man I was so exhausted.
Finally they wanted me to get back on the birth stool and suggested we break my water to see if that would help things along. We did do this, and there was a bit of meconium in the amniotic fluid. They told us our options if we were concerned, but because our baby boy had great vitals the entire time they did not seem concerned, I also felt ok with staying despite the meconium since he had been so strong the entire labor. After this, they used an oil to rub on that last bit of cervical lip that was still present. They said it could potentially help fully ripen and get that last bit out of the way. Again, as she applied this oil and held that cervix back we pushed from that position...super intense. However, after I pushed a few in this way, we then took a break. When she went back in, the last bit of cervix wasn’t there anymore! This was such a relief to me, but still they wanted me to hold back on pushing until they checked a few contractions later to make sure it really was fully out of the way.
At this point I got back in the tub and labored a few extremely intense contractions without pushing. They then checked my cervix one last time and the my cervix was still fully open, praise God! I finally felt the relief when I started pushing. It was 1:15 pm at this point and I felt like I had nothing left in me, however we were on the home stretch! As soon as I pushed the first time I threw up all those strawberries I had been munching on, again I did not care at all compared to what was going on. The pushing lasted an hour and I could feel when it was a good push and his head was progressing up my pelvis, it was the wildest and most intense sensation, I can’t fully put it into words! What helped me so much at this point was my midwife placing her finger toward the place I should focus my energy to push, this helped me visualize exactly where which made all the difference. Finally, at 2:09 pm our perfect little boy, Judah, was brought into this world! Isaac was able to catch him and set him straight on my chest from the tub. I was flooded with so much relief and my first thought when I saw him was “how was he inside of me?!”, then “oh my look at the size of his head!”. It was so amazing, I was flooded with emotion when he looked into my eyes, no words can describe.
After the umbilical cord stopped pulsing Isaac cut it and did skin to skin with him as I delivered the placenta. Though this ended up being a 12 hour labor in which I brought minimal energy into, God truly got me through. What helped me the most was the worship music we played the entire time, along with Isaac being so hands on with whatever I needed at each contraction. Overall, our birth experience was difficult, intense, and absolutely life changing in the most beautiful way. I felt I had to face my deepest fear and surrender the “what ifs”, this was an active decision where I felt I was at my end, and I experienced intimacy with God deeper than I could’ve imagined. I wouldn’t change anything as it felt like such a bonding experience not only between Judah and I, but Isaac and I as well!