Another New Beginning

Well, Jonathan and I did it again! We welcomed our second baby girl yesterday (Tuesday, September 20th, 2011) at 12:24 p.m. I still can't believe how fast she arrived after being 1 week and 1 day "late". My pregnancy was uncomplicated and low risk so we had decided from the beginning to go with the birth center again since we had such a wonderful experience the first time with Elisabeth. This time though the midwife who had "caught" Elisabeth had moved on from the practice to be a stay at home mommy for a while. Jonathan and I were disappointed but felt a trust in the center as a whole and knew that whoever helped us deliver our second baby would be just as wonderful.

All that being said, I was sure that this baby was going to come right around her due date (or hopefully early). Well, this was not the case. My due date came and went and no baby. Both my mother and mother-in-law took off the whole week of my due date and everyone was anticipating daily the news that this baby was here. I started to get frustrated because my body, my back and my patience were done!

Monday came which was the mark of my 41st week of pregnancy. At my appointment the midwife said that the baby was facing either my side or my front which makes it hard to properly descend into my pelvis which would cause me to go into labor. We really wanted to get things moving so they wouldn't have to break my water for me later in the week. The list of things I did to get things going that day are: stripping my membranes, acupuncture (ouch!), black and blue Cohosh (an herbal remedy), a chiropractor visit, exercises, stretches, walking and spicy ginger cookies. My midwife said to try Castor oil by Wednesday if things hadn't progressed with the things we did that day.

Well, I got a little impatient and wanted to have this baby so I went ahead and took the Castor oil EARLY Tuesday morning as suggested (after a good nights sleep since this will keep you running to the bathroom for quite a few hours after you take it). So, at 5:45 a.m. I snuck off to McDonald's to get a frappe (suggested by my midwife since it would mask the taste of the Castor oil) and downed it by 6:30 a.m. I was going to go back to bed but didn't really feel tired. By 7:00 a.m. I started having contractions. The Castor oil never kicked in until about 10 a.m. though. By this time I had been having irregular, non-painful contractions and had called Jonathan to come home from work and called our parents. I still thought the contractions would subside. (Sound familiar?) By 11:00 a.m. I was trying to keep myself busy and was getting last minute things ready but continued to track my contractions on my iPhone. I was playing with Elisabeth, writing in my pregnancy book and listening to Dianna Krall on my iPod.

Then the contractions started coming anywhere between 3-8 minutes. They were still not painful and they seemed to correlate with when I needed to go to the bathroom. I noticed they would get closer together when I had to go and then after they would slow down for a few minutes. I called my mom around 11:10 and told her what was going on. Luckily she had already left work and was hanging around our area waiting for my call. When I talked to her she said "Catie, you are in denial, GO TO THE BIRTH CENTER!" I said OK and called them right after. They said to come right in so Jonathan packed up the car and my mom came over to watch Elisabeth.

Jonathan seemed to be a nervous wreck and I had a few moments of panic too thinking about what was coming. (The contractions were still very manageable at this point.) As I was getting in to the car I felt a little pop and a gush! I ran back inside the house to grab a towel and go to the potty one more time but I knew my water broke. It was 11:53 a.m. When I finally got back in the car I had a VERY strong contraction and I knew they were not going to get any better. I knew I had to keep my inner speech positive and I kept telling myself to relax every part of my body and breathe. I knew the more I tensed up (even my face or toes) the worse the pain was going to be. I credit this bit of wisdom to all the conversations I had with my midwives. So, I kept telling myself "no fear" and this isn't supposed to hurt, "let your body do what it needs to do" and I kept thinking the word "open...". Don't' get me wrong, they hurt, but I could tell that when I said these things to myself and took deep breaths, my uterus relaxed more and I could get through each one.

The 20 minute car trip seemed to take much longer in part because it was raining on part of i-4. I saw break lights ahead and I almost panicked. Thankfully, traffic kept moving. Jonathan was going about 75 in my car which was also making me nervous and I wanted to nag him but I was too busy breathing through the pain! I was grateful for the break I got between each intense contraction and tried to let my body go limp. There was a definite rise and fall to them which I was unable to recognize when I was in labor with Elisabeth. With her they felt like they were right on top of each other. Since these contractions we not back to back, I felt we still had a little bit of time. We pulled in the birth center at about 12:15ish. I had one last big contraction in the car and headed inside.

At the desk they were all relaxed and said hi! My exact words to them were "Let's do this!" My midwife asked me what room I wanted, 2 or 3? I said "1! What happened to room 1?" She said it's not available but we can get it ready for you in a few minutes. I remember thinking to myself that this baby will be here before you get that room ready so I told her "I don't care then." I asked which bathroom to use because I had to go again and she sent me into the bathroom of room 2. I went right in and sat down feeling like I had to have another BM from that lovely Castor oil. I had another contraction and all of a sudden felt an enormous pressure then I felt an overwhelming sense of the need to PUSH! I started yelling because I was all by myself!!!

Jonathan had run back out to the car to get the bags and the midwives were busy getting stuff for the room. I reached down and felt a huge bulge and all I could think was "Oh my GOD! I CANNOT have this baby on the toilet!!!" I was yelling "HELP!!! SHE's COMING!!" The midwives came running in and I said "She's coming what do I do????" They led me to the bed with my pants around my feet and my hand between my legs because I felt like she was going to fall out!! I made it to the bed where the midwife checked me and said "Hello, baby!" She told me to go ahead and give a push. I did and her head was out! Just like that!

By this time Jonathan had come back in the room and saw everyone running to my room. When I saw his face he looked terrified!! Then when our eyes met and he saw I was OK, he smiled and relaxed and I saw a wave of emotion come over his face. I asked the midwives if I could push again and they said whenever you are ready! I pushed again and her right arm popped out. I remember feeling such relief and joy and happiness that this was almost over! I was so excited. I adjusted myself to become more straight on the bed and pushed one last time and she was here!! It was 12:24 p.m. They placed her on my stomach and I cried. I don't remember what I said except "Thank you! Thank you for coming so fast!" The midwives were in shock and seemed almost giddy at how fast it all happened. They just kept saying how amazing it was and how they couldn't believe it!! I was just so grateful we made it there and I didn't have her in the car or in the bathroom by myself. No one could have imagined though how fast that would have happened. Not even me! My labor was 5 hours and 24 minutes long start to finish.

It was so cool and looking back on it I feel so proud of myself for having a calm, easy birth like I imagined. It was faster than I had imagined and I STILL didn't get to labor in the tub but oh, well. Maybe next time. (If there is a next time!)