It
was August 4th, 2014 and Emily was not due for another 4 weeks (August 30th). I
was relieved that we had made it to 36 weeks and now we could go forward with
the birthing plan: A Home birth. Claire
and I had been slowly preparing for the birth by getting Emily’s
room ready, generally cleaning the house, and amassing the stuff our midwife
had asked us to get for the birth. However we did not really expect anything to
happen soon, and we had only finished amassing the stuff… Then
it happened: my mom had told me she guessed Emily would be joining us on the
10th. That’s
when I finally realized it, she could be here any day, and that was less than a
week away! I am going to
have to get busy!
Over
the next week I got busy trying to finish up stuff at work (in case of an
imminent birth), finished painting Emily’s
room, moved stuff into storage and more general clean up around the house. With two little ones that general clean up
never is really completed, so we focused on the place of birth (our bedroom and
getting stuff in case we chose an outdoor birth). I still did not expect it to happen soon, but
at least we were getting more prepared now that we were past 36 weeks. The 10th came and went without the arrival of
Emily, and there were no signs that she was going to be imminent either,
however that was definitely an eye opener for me that it could be any day
now. Sarah was born at 38 weeks, so at
least we had some time till then.
Tuesday
the 12th of August had been a normal day for me. First work then home, today was slightly
different in that Claire had her monthly doula meeting and was going to be home
late (9:00ish, after kids are in bed). I
was getting the kids in bed (7:55) when I received the text:
“I’m
feeling really cramps… Not sure what
to think but different than the Braxton
hicks I’ve been having.”
Hmm,
to me that means something is happening, could be nothing, but probably is
something. I had suggested she come home
early.. Which she was in the process of doing. I finished up getting the kids
in bed, then set out to getting any last minute cleaning I could get done
before she got home. I also started the
early warning system to let Kelly know she might be called over this evening
(she would help watch the kids during labor/birth). After what seemed like a long time Claire got
home, and went straight to the restroom.
In
talking about how she was doing she indicates that she thinks her water might
have broke while at the Doula meeting.
WHAT?! Her water had only broken
on the last two births during active labor so now I figured this was happening
and happening soon. For whatever reason
Claire did not seem to have the same sentiment as I did, but I can not tell how
she is feeling so it must not be soon.
She called the midwife to let her know that her water broke, but didn’t
seem to think it would be too soon, so no need to come up yet (Although she did
have some bloody show too, meaning she was dilating). The midwife asked Claire to call if Emily
wasn’t moving so she could come up and
check Emily. Claire started to track her
contractions and noted that Emily wasn’t
moving much, so she had the midwife come on up.
No rush…
We
did what we could to clean up the bedroom as best we could. The contractions were getting more painful as
Claire started to focus on her breathing.
Since we had considered an outside birth we went outside to check on the
temperature and see if it was something we wanted to do. It was nice and cool outside, so we labored
outside on the driveway working on the contractions as they got closer together
and more painful. Claire had finally decided it will be tonight, so she texted
the midwife that she should have her backup come also, and let Kelly know that
she could come over.
As
the contractions got more and more painful, I started to wonder where was
everyone? How long has it been? It had only been 20 minutes since the midwife
was on her way! Was I going to get to
delivery the baby?! I hope they hurry! The midwife hadn’t
sent me the what to do in case baby comes before the midwife gets there list
yet! (That was going to be at tomorrow’s
appointment!). She had called to say she
got the text and was about 20 minutes out still, and asked how strong
contractions were, I believe I indicated they were strong and we were close…
Since
we had talked about a potential outdoor birth, in between contractions I
started to ask what we wanted to do, if I should bring the stuff outside in
order to be ready or not. While we were
outside and I was acting as her support, if we waited any longer then I knew it
was not going to be possible. She could
not decide, so ultimately that meant it was not going to be an outside
birth. I think neither of us wanted to
try to take the time at that moment to be apart and make that happen that and
it was dark (during Sarah’s birth I was
working on the pilot light for the heater late in labor).
Claire’s
contractions were starting to run together and she was getting tired of
standing outside. So we came into the
house and got on the bed, where she continued to labor using the yoga ball
(arms/head on ball and in crouching position).
I know we must be getting close, everything appears ready, except for
having anyone else there! But then at
last, Kelly has arrived. At least now
there is an extra pair of hands to help deliver the baby! Claire asks who has arrived, and I let her
know that it was Kelly, and NOT the midwife!
When we had Sarah the moment we got to the birth center her knew it was
ok, and she started pushing immediately, I was not ready for that to
occur. Kelly peaks in at us on the bed,
and not wanting to intrude hangs out in the dinning room. My focus at this point was with Claire, so
unfortunately I couldn’t really relay
how close we were getting or any info on how close the contractions were
getting.
Not
long after that the midwife shows up .
She comes in and see us on the bed laboring, I think she recognized it
would be soon… Kelly helped
her bring bags in from the car, and thats when Claire utters the word, “push”. Oh-its time now! So I let her know Claire
feels the need to push (there was no time to check either Claire or the baby
yet).
Claire
had previously mentioned that David wanted to be part of the birth, so I went
and got David. When I brought him over
he was still half asleep, and he didn’t
quite understand what was happening and went back to bed.
Unlike
with David or Sarah, I was holding Claire’s
hands from the top of the bed and helping her with the pushes (well as much as
I can, not being the pusher) and I could not see any of the action going on
down stairs. However I was able to see
from my view that the lens cap was still on the camera, so maybe I earned my
keep with that one. In both previous
instances I could see them coming out, and watch as they are born. That was not going to get to be the case this
time, and then the midwife says (paraphrase): “The
baby is breach, your doing great, and everything looks great, when I tell you
to push, push like you've never pushed before.
I also have to call the paramedics to let them know, but I do not think
they will be here before the baby is here.”
I
didn’t really have time to think about all
the implications of a breach birth to both baby and mommy at the time. I was getting ready to support Claire for the
big push. The midwife called the
paramedics, indicating it was an undiagnosed breach birth, and baby would be
here momentarily. Claire had a few
contractions/pushes and then a slight pause. Unknown to me the baby was half out through
to about the stomach. Then Claire had
another push and out popped Emily! No big push required, she had come out just
like she was supposed to in a nicely tucked position so that she did not get
hung up on her upper body! Emily was
here at 10:54PM on 8/12/14 with a nice large cry! Both Claire and Emily were doing great!
A
few minutes later the paramedics arrived; and then a few minutes after that the
midwifes assistant arrived. The
paramedics saw that everyone was doing ok, took a few vitals (yes everyone one
doing great) had me fill out some forms and then left.
Well,
it wasn’t that simple or fast, but it was all
pretty much a blur at that point, checking out the placenta, trying to get the
cord blood, Claire nursing Emily. It all
went by so fast, but everyone is doing great, and we look forward to our lives
with Emily being apart of it.
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