I was told of a free standing birth center by another co-worker of mine. I had to check it out. We went to one of the monthly information nights they have and when we left I felt like I had hit the jackpot. I didn't know something like this existed! It was so warm, cozy and inviting. The complete opposite of the OBGYN office I went to with Levi. We got all of our questions answered and felt confident that this is where we wanted to go for our maternity care and the birth of our baby.
Over the next 6 months an incredible bond formed between me and my midwives. I really appreciated how much time they took with us at every appointment. I always looked forward to going because they really felt like family to me.
To birth in a birth center you need to have a low risk pregnancy and be at least 37 weeks when you go into labor. I had Levi one day shy of 36 weeks so it was a goal of all of ours (midwives included) to get me to 37 weeks! That day came and I couldn't have been more over joyed. The midwife I bonded with most actually called me that day to share a little celebration on the phone together. She also told me that I needed to wait 4 days to go into labor because she was out of town and didn't want to miss it. I didn't want her to miss it either! Andy kept telling me that I had to wait until Wednesday afternoon (2 days later) because then he would be done with a big event at work.
Two days later (Wednesday August 15th) I woke up and the first thought in my head was "This would be a good day to have a baby!" But it really wasn't so I don't know why that thought popped into my head. Maybe because it was gloomy outside. I was scheduled to work at 11 that day but not long after I woke up I started getting stomach flu symptoms. I knew this was a sign of labor not far off. It happened the same way with Levi. So I texted the shift leader at work and said "I haven't been feeling so great this morning. I'm pretty sure I'll be going into labor today!" I called Andy and my Mom and told them how I was feeling. I even called and talked to one of the midwives (who was filling in from a different state so we didn't know each other too well) and she made me feel like it was most likely nothing. I explained to Levi what was going on and we had a lazy morning which even consisted of me taking a nap on the couch. Later that afternoon Levi kept asking me if we could go somewhere. He was going a bit stir crazy but I explained to him that we should stay home just in case the baby decided it was time to come. It was to the point where I thought that maybe nothing was going to happen today. I put a movie in for Levi and started doing some cleaning. The movie wasn't in for 15 minutes when I was in the dining room and felt my water breaking! It happened at 2:45pm. I shouted to Levi "My water is breaking! The baby is coming today!" he responded with "The baby is coming?! Yay! Yay! Yay!" I grabbed my phone and headed to the bathroom where I sat on the toilet (if you've never experienced your water breaking it really does not stop..) and made all of my phone calls. It was known to Andy for weeks now that if I call his work number it means I'm in labor. I called him on his cell phone first because I knew he was away doing an event earlier in the day and didn't know if he was back yet. No answer. I call his work and his boss answers. I tell him I need to talk to Andy and Andy just happened to be standing right next to him. I heard his boss say to Andy "It's Emma" and I could hear Andy in the background shout "Tell her I'll call her!". He instantly knew! He came home right away and didn't even bother to park the car in the parking lot of our apartment. He parked it right in front of the door thinking we were heading out any minute. Which really made me laugh because our plan was to labor at home as long as possible and he just got really caught up in the moment. When I talked to my midwife she said to just keep her posted and call when contractions started to happen regularly. She wasn't expecting to hear from me any time soon. We called our doula to give her a heads up and just wanted me to call her when I wanted her to come over. My mom was at work and would be leaving a little early to come get Levi for the night. She planned to be over around 5:00. Andy's mom and one of his sisters were up north on vacation. His mom decided to come home shortly after she got the news of my water breaking.
My first contraction happened an hour after my water broke. By 4:30 I was finding myself having to stop and ride out every contraction. We called my midwife and they were surprised at how quick I was progressing. They suggested I eat something and take a shower. I called my mom and told her to get there as soon as she could. Our doula was going to be on the way shortly. I took a shower and the warm water made me feel so much better! I had a couple contractions in the shower, one as soon as I got out that caused me to lean over the bed and then my mom arrived. I was dreading this moment. Saying goodbye to my little Levi. Our last moment together before he was no longer an only child. He was really excited to be going to grandma's and having a sleep over but he actually started to cry when leaving. I felt awful and not to mention I was having contractions around every 5 minutes at this point. Once they left I was ready to head out the door and was sending a text to my doula to tell her to just meet us at the birth center when she texted me that she was here. I decided to have her come up and watch me have a couple contractions so that she could help us decide if it were time to leave or not. I had a medicine ball that we purchased for this very occasion and I don't know what I would have done without it. I sat on my knees in the living room between contractions with the ball in front of me and when another one would come I would lean over the ball and sway back and forth. I looked at my doula and asked her if we should get going. She said we could go whenever I wanted to. I opted to leave right then because I knew this was only going to get more intense and I wanted to get the car ride over with. I knew it was going to be hell.. and boy was it ever!
We left for the birth center at 5:30pm. I put myself in the back seat so I had as much room to move around as possible. Our doula followed us there. I made sure and had my seat belt on because Andy was driving like a maniac. I thought to myself "I need to have the seat belt on because I do not want to be thrown out of the car if we crash and having contractions on the side of the road." What a weird thought to have, right? So while I was belted in, I got into as many different positions as possible to get through every contraction. Mostly I was on all fours rocking back and fourth. I wished I had my medicine ball. It seemed like there was no time in between contractions and I eventually decided to look at the clock and time it. Sure enough they were one minute apart. Every bump made the contractions feel so much more intense. Looking back on this car ride I realized that this is probably when I was in transition. I couldn't wait to get to the birth center and felt like the car ride would never end.
When we got there 15 minutes later I had to ride out a contraction in the car before getting out. Then, I got just barely inside the door of the birth center when I had to lean against the door frame and ride out another one. I was in the zone and don't remember much of my surroundings as I got there but I do remember the first thing one of the midwives said "Andy! Your baby is going to have more hair than you do!" (I had given him a really short buzz cut the night before). I will always laugh when thinking about this moment!
There were three different birthing rooms for us to choose from. They were basically master suites. Each with a whirlpool bath, full bathroom with shower and queen size bed. They all had a different interior design to them. We chose the black and white room with a crystal chandelier over the bed and it had the smallest whirlpool tub which made the most sense for us because I'm 5'0" tall. Our bedroom is a black and white theme and we even had the same shower curtain so it made me feel right at home!
They had the tub ready when we arrived. They suggested I try to go to the bathroom before getting in. I had a contraction while sitting on the toilet and I felt almost more uncomfortable there than I did in the car. As soon as it was over I hopped up and made a bee line for the tub. I heard one of the midwives whispering to Andy "Does she have a sports bra or suit she wants to change into before getting in?" and before she could even finish her sentence I had stripped out of my sun dress and got into the tub completely naked. I could really care less at that point and did not feel like taking the time to put a bra on. My contractions were right on top of each other and I didn't want to have another one outside of the tub. As soon as my body hit the warm water it was INSTANT relief. This made the car ride completely worth it.
Andy started setting up the video camera on a tripod in the corner of the room. We borrowed it from my mom and hadn't bothered to figure out how it worked ahead of time so it was taking him a few minutes to get it going. I had my doula by my side making me feel as comfortable as possible but I didn't want Andy to feel like he was missing out on anything because he had to set up the camera so I told him "You can just forget about the camera. It's fine." but he said that he almost had it done. Which I am so glad that he didn't listen to me! Video taping the birth is one of the best decisions we've made. I really regret not having a birth photographer there but at least we have the video.
After about 30-45 minutes of being in the tub I felt the urge to push. My midwife told me that it would take a few contractions for me to pick up on what my body told me to do. There was no counting during contractions like in a hospital. Everyone was silent and they let my body do it's thing. I found it hard to feel grounded in the tub because I'm so short. We tried to attach suction cup handles on the bottom for my feet but they weren't staying put. I found what worked best was to sit with my back against the width of the tub and have my feet pressed up against the other side. The midwife grabbed a cloth and suggested we play tug of war during each contraction. The first one I had while tugging on it I felt so much progress with him coming down. I did this for the next 6 or so contractions and they had to take it away from me because he was close to coming out and if I pushed with too much force it would up my chances of tearing. A couple contractions later and they could see his head! I pushed once more and his head was out! I sat there between the contractions looking down at his head, saw all of his hair and said "This is so amazing!". I felt like there was a lot of time until I started to feel the next contraction and asked "Is it okay that his head is out and I haven't contracted again yet?" Of course it was okay because of the umbilical cord. I felt the next contraction starting and thought to myself "This is it. I am about to meet my baby." They asked if I wanted to pull him out myself because it was in my birth plan that I wanted to but in the moment I couldn't. I had to focus through the intensity of pushing him out.
Rex was born at 8:18pm on 8/15/12 (if only I had pushed him out 3 minutes sooner!). He was put right to my chest in the water where we hung out for the next 10 minutes or so. They put a towel over him and I kept his body as much in the water as I could to keep him warm. We waited for a contraction to birth the placenta but nothing was happening. They asked if I would be okay with a shot of pitocin to help it along and I was willing to do that if it's what needed to be done. With Rex still in my arms wrapped in a towel they helped me up out of the tub. It was very weird to be up and walking (especially with the cord still inside me attached to the placenta) right after giving birth. With Levi I didn't get up and walk until the next day! They had me prop up on the bed and I suggested I give a little push before doing the pitocin to see if the placenta would come out. Sure enough it did! Hallelujah! They put the placenta in a bed pan on the bed next to me because we hadn't cut the cord yet. We wanted to wait until it was done pulsing which allows the blood from the cord to go into Rex's body. I had no interest in seeing the placenta when Levi was born but I was all about checking it out this time around! In an odd way it was beautiful because it's what nourished Rex and formed him into the healthy baby he became. When we finally got around to cutting the cord an hour later (long after it had stopped pulsing.. there was no rush) they couldn't get a clamp around it! It was the thickest umbilical cord they had ever seen! Which only means one thing.. he was getting some dang good nourishment from the placenta! After trying the 3rd clamp and pressing it together with all their might it was able to close around it and Andy could cut the cord.
My mom and Levi were on their way to the birth center and they were picking up Chipotle for me. They got there when I was getting stitched up (couldn't avoid tearing after all) and had to wait a while until they could come in the room. I found out the next day that the woman who greeted them at the door never told them what was going on so my mom was starting to panic while they were waiting because she knew I had the baby and thought something was seriously going wrong. I will always feel bad that my mom spent all that time worrying about my safety and didn't know I was just getting stitches. Andy held Rex the whole time they were stitching me up. There really is no better sight than the instant glowing love Andy had while holding him for the first time.
Finally my mom and Levi could come in the room! I'll never forget the look on Levi's face when he walked in and just how overjoyed I was to have both of my sons together!
After my mom and Levi left, the midwives asked if I was ready to try latching Rex on to breastfeed. I was nervous about this because it had felt like so long ago that I had done it with Levi and after only breastfeeding Levi for 3 months, I had high hopes to breastfeed as long as possible with Rex. To my surprise, he took to it as naturally as he could have!
The midwives continued to monitor our vitals and our checklist for getting out of there kept getting shorter and shorter. Before we knew it, we were given the clear to go home! I couldn't believe it but we were home and in our own bed within 6 hours of Rex being born. I LOVED IT! We woke up the next morning at home and were still very much on cloud 9 - I couldn't believe it happened the way it did. Naturally, calmly, quick and while feeling 100% informed, supported and in control. The birth story I had prayed for.
The pregnancy, labor, delivery and breastfeeding journey I had with Rex changed my life forever. I couldn't have asked for a better experience.
We are so incredibly blessed!
[Everyone should hire a birth photographer - Clearly we didn't]
