…so it was not just a few days 
Baby’s take time away from blogging but I did want to share my birth story. Enjoy. If you’re not into details in birth you may want to stay away!
At my 39 week appointment, they checked me for the first time to see my progress. I had no progress whatsoever and my midwife told me that she was sitting on my pubic bone and thus not descending. She said she wasn’t likely to descend because my pelvis was titled the wrong way and keeping her from moving. She recommended a chiropractic adjustment and for me to try different exercises to get my pelvis in alignment. I tried the exercises for about a week and then went to my 40 week checkup and no luck…she still was hanging out on my pubic bone.
The friday after that appt, I decided to see a chiropractor and get a massage from one of my co-workers (I’m a massage therapist). I went in on Friday morning got adjusted, then went straight over to get a massage. She worked on my pelvic area to loosen up the muscles and also worked on the classic “labor” trigger points. I started getting real contraction in the car on the way home! My husband had an early day (because of Labor Day weekend) and we thought we’d go to my mom’s to go swimming (since the midwife recommended that to open up my pelvis). At the pool, I was getting contractions I couldn’t talk through about 10-15 mins apart!!! We started getting excited but also just kept calm, knowing that it could be this way for a long time. We had dinner with some friends and my contractions petered off during the dinner but once we got home they started being about 5 mins apart. I laid down to go to sleep and they stopped entirely, although in the middle of the night I had a bloody show. I woke up in the morning around 8 am and called my midwife and told her that I went into labor but it seemed to stop. She told me I could try using my breast pump to try to stimulate labor but that if it didn’t work after one contraction to just keep waiting. I tried the breast pump…got three contractions and once again, they petered off. My doula told me to have a really normal day and go and do fun things and maybe get some things done. She also reminded me that my body did some hard work, the bloody show meant I was dilating and effacing. She said to have a good day with my hubby and see what happens.
I got contractions throughout the day, and we spent my final day pregnant with Emmy together. We went to his friends party, we went shopping, we played a game together and then went to church on Saturday night, all the while getting contractions 10-20 minutes apart. They stayed that way until around 10 pm on Saturday night when they jumped from 10 minutes apart to 1 minute apart. Our midwife told us to page her at the 3-1-1 rule (3 minutes apart, lasting 1 minute, for at least 1 hour). We waited an hour and paged the midwife who made her way over to our home and then we called our doula who also started to make her way over.
The midwife arrived at 12:30 am and checked me, I was dilated to 3 cm and 75-80% effaced. She said I had a few more hours at least to go before she wanted me to go to the birth center and that she thinks it’ll be around 6 am before I’m ready to get to the center but to page her as soon as my water breaks and told me to try to sleep as often as possible, saying it’s going to be a long night. My husband and I laid down to rest while she let herself out, and as she started leaving our doula, Cybil, arrived. As soon as she arrived, my water broke. The midwife, Angela, and Cybil, my angel of mercy, both told me to shower and clean up a little and said that this is good news! My labor is progressing really, really well. Angela left me in Cybil’s capable hands and I took a shower and tried to lay down to take a nap.
My contractions started to get way, way more intense. Cybil and Sean both coached me through the contractions that couldn’t have been more than a couple minutes apart. Cybil helped me adjust to the new intense contractions and they went on for an hour or so before I started shaking and throwing up. Cybil told Sean to tell the midwife I was going through transition. My contractions hit a new level of pain which Cybil once again helped me adjust to.
She recommended me to take another shower to help with the pain after about an hour. I was in a different state of consciousness at the time. I got into a hands and knees position in the shower and it seemed to help a little. I kept losing my mucus plug throughout this time. After showering I laid on the couch for awhile with Cybil helping me through. I labored there for awhile and Cybil and Sean both got me to eat and drink little bit at a time. Suddenly my contractions started to get really horrible, I felt like pushing through them. Cybil told me that I could practice pushing if I wanted but to be careful. I would do little grunts and my body would almost start pushing on it’s own! Finally after what seemed like forever we called Angela and she said we could go to the Birthing Center! We left at 6:15 and I was in a LOT of pain. There was so much pressure on my lower back that I held myself up in the car. I had to close my eyes to keep from focusing on where we were in the car because it all seemed so far away. Cybil coached me through my contractions while Sean drove about 80 mph to get there.
Once we arrived, Angela checked to see if I was fully dilated and she said, “Baby’s right there!” I jumped into the tub and started pushing immediately. The water was AMAZING all of the pressure of my lower back was gone and I was able to focus only on my contractions! It was the best part of the whole labor…so relieving. I kept being able to feel the baby’s head coming and just pushed, rested, and drank apple juice to keep my strength. After two hard, but seemingly quick hours of pushing, Emily was born! She was perfect and normal and healthy.
