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| Birth Story (click on the image above for video footage of the birth) Our due date was Tuesday, July 20th. By that day, nothing had changed, I felt no different, no contractions, nothing. So when we were invited by our friend Willow and my sister to the preview night of Comicon the next night, I jumped right on it. I thought all of that walking would bring the baby right on down. People thought I was crazy walking, or should I say waddling around there a day after my due date. Just as I thought, by the end of that night, and nearly six laps across the length of the convention center, the baby's head felt like a bowling ball between my legs. Progress had been made. The next morning, Thursday July 22nd, I woke up with a feeling that "today was the day." I felt an urge to get up and repetitively walk up the steep hill by our house. I thought, "I'll walk the baby out!" By the time Drew got home from work I still had a ton of energy. We decided to walk to Trader Joe's to get something to make for dinner. I have to say, Drew was somewhat weary. He couldn't believe I had been walking up that hill all day, and that I still wanted to walk more, but he conceded. So we walked, and the entire time I kept getting these interesting sensations; little fluttery surges of energy. They were nothing consistent, or even painful, but I wondered out loud, "if these feelings get stronger will they be contractions?" The whole time we were in the store we were joking with our friends who work there that we might be going into labor. On the walk home I started getting curiouser. I would stop walking every few minutes and focus on this strange feeling that would last maybe only 45 seconds. Drew asked me if it hurt. I said, "Not at all, but something is definitely going on in there." :D We got home, made dinner, and sat there watching a movie. Drew noticed that during the movie I started picking up my cell phone to look at the time. He began questioning me. I told him something might be happening but I wasn't sure. It wasn't consistent or very intense. I could see the glimmer of excitement brewing in Drew's eyes, but he remained calm and we finished watching the movie. Ten o'clock rolled around and there was definitely some kind of rhythm happening with these sensations. They were a bit stronger but I still felt no discomfort. I decided I needed to take a shower before bed. I wanted to be ready. When I laid down to sleep, I realized the surges were getting more intense. I rolled over to Drew and I told him that I did not think I would be able to sleep through these feelings after all. I was now confident it was starting. We brought the birthing ball upstairs and I was able to work through the rushes on my own for and hour or more before I decided I must call Stephanie, my doula and good friend. She arrived over an hour later. I remember things were getting to the point where I was asking Drew, "what's taking her so long?!" I felt very comforted when she finally arrived. She heated up the flax seed, herbal pillow I made and pressed it onto my lower black during the rushes. At some point I had the urge to go to the bathroom several times. We finally called the Midwife, Britta, who asked me if I could handle laboring at home a while longer. I lasted another couple hours before we opted to meet her at the Birthing Center. At Best Start, they will not admit you until you are six centimeters dilated. This requirement is to maximize the laboring woman's time at home, in her own comfortable setting, and to prevent her from getting ahead of herself and stalling out. The center does not want you there for hours on end if you are not progressing. So we arrived to the Birth Center at 3am on Friday, July 23rd. Britta checked me and I was only three centimeters. Luckily, I guess she could tell I was progressing, she let us get set up in our room and labor on our own without getting admitted. She went to rest in another room, gave us our space, and only came in to check me every now and again. I progressed about one centimeter and hour. I labored on the birthing ball, in the shower, on the toilet, on all fours. I walked, swayed, and danced with Drew. By 6am I was 6 cm dilated and ready to be admitted. Once I was admitted, Britta led me straight to the birthing tub. Although the warm water felt nice on my body, the tub was too shallow and I was unable to get in a comfortable position. I did not want to float horizontal in the tub and that is what was happening. I wanted a deeper pool so I could kneel against the side; something to consider for next time. The warm water happened to slow down my contractions a great deal, so the midwife highly recommended I get out of the water. At this point, everything was very hard for me. Moving to a new location seemed like such a chore. I remember saying, "Change is hard." During each contraction I absolutely needed someone to press really hard on my lower back/sacrum area. I did not yell, but if Stephanie or Drew were not pressing hard enough I would definitely let them know. After each contraction I would apologize for being too needy, too loud or too demanding of them. Britta kept saying that I was the sweetest laboring woman she ever remembered meeting. After the tub I got into the shower again, and then tried side-lying on the bed. By 8:30 there was a shift change with the midwives and Susan took over for Britta. I was sad to see Britta go, she was so sweet and comforting, but Susan had a very calm way about her that eased the transition. At about 9:15 I felt a gush of fluid, we thought my water had broken, but more came later. Apparently only one of the membranes had broken the first time. I stood up for a while to let gravity do its thing and by 10am I was having my bloody show. We were getting close. After rocking on the ball for a bit, I decided it was a good idea to take Susan's suggestion and walk down and back up the stairs. Interesting idea. I had a burst of energy and just went for it. By the time I reached the bottom of the staircase I was having another contraction. I collapsed and had a really hard time making it back up the stairs, moaning and feeling like I was leaking out all over the place. I headed from there, straight to the toilet. It was just after 11am and I finally started feeling pressure and the pushing began. Wow. I pushed from 11:15am until my son was born at 12:50pm. It was intense. To me, it was the contractions or surges during this time that hurt the most, not the opening up. By this point it was Friday and I hadn't slept since I woke up Thursday morning. The surges were so strong, it took every ounce of energy I had left to push through them. I was very vocal throughout my contractions, grunting deeply like a mama bear. I kept saying, "I can't." Susan, Drew and Stephanie kept saying, "You are!" What an amazing birthing team I had. They were so encouraging, positive and calm; especially Drew. I leaned so much on him during the birthing process. He was my rock and I couldn't have done it as gracefully without him. My parents, sister Kelly, and Drew's sister Mary, were all in the family room since the early morning. I had seen a few glimpses of them here and there. I knew they really wanted to be in the room and be a part of everything. A part of me wanted them in there too, but there was no way I could even fathom any more energy circulating in that room. In a way I had tunnel vision, was very focused, and couldn't handle distractions of any kind. Even another loving presence would have been too much, but I was comforted just knowing they were out there hearing it all. During the final surges, my parents, Kelly and Mary all snuck into the adjoining hallway to witness the final birth of Taj William. During most of the pushing Susan had me lying on the bed. I disliked it but could not speak up. Apparently, as I discovered after the birth, Taj's cord was around his neck and his heart rate was dropping dramatically. Susan did an amazing job of keeping it cool and I had no idea at all that she was concerned. She later told me she could not hear the baby's heart rate while I was standing up and that is why she had me on the bed. She spoke so softly and would encouragingly tell me how good I was doing. She kept saying, "You're very close, we see his head and you can push him out with the next contraction." It got to the point where I didn't believe her and I told her so. She asked if I wanted to touch his head but I couldn't muster the energy to do so. I had to focus and get this baby out now. During these last pushes I kept making the sound, "fffffffffffff." Stephanie told me to just say it already, but for some reason I could not get any curse words to pass my lips. With my last contraction, the hardest push I could garner, and a little help from Susan I yelled, "ffffffffuuuudgemeisterrrrrrr!" And with that, my son was born. :) Drew stayed by my side the entire time, caressing me and sending me his calm, grounded energy. At the end I felt him wavering with emotion as his eyes were welling up with tears. He felt this was a very spiritual experience. Susan asked if he wanted to catch the baby but he said he wanted to wait and see Taj for the first time with me. Susan caught Taj and placed him immediately on my chest. He took to the breast almost immediately. She wrapped him in a blanket and put a hat on his tiny head. My family joined me and my birthing team and we reveled in the joy of this beautiful being. We all sang him "Happy Birthday" and then we played the songs "Beautiful Boy" by John Lennon and "First Day of My Life" by Bright Eyes. It was the most beautiful, meaningful moment of my life. At this point, Susan, Ashley, another midwife, and Delilah, their assistant who both came in during the final pushing all left the room for a good hour. During the labor I drank coconut water, Emergen-C with honey, and had a few popsicles to help keep my energy up, but at this point I was famished. My family brought us some Thai food, photos were snapped and the moment shared and cherished. When Delilah returned, she did all the tests, weighing and measuring, and then she, along with everyone else, left us alone. Drew, Taj and I were left to nap together as a family. We slept soundly for about four hours and were then released. We were home by 6pm. I won't lie, birthing my son was the most challenging experience I have ever had, and the most amazing. But Susan said that throughout the labor my heart rate never accelerated above 80bpm. During the height of my contractions I remember saying things like, "Why would anyone ever do this?!" and "I am NEVER doing this again!" I felt EVERYTHING. I kept reminding myself, "by this time tomorrow I will have my baby in my arms and this part will be all over." I continued focusing on the fact that each intense surge was bringing my baby closer to me. It worked because, by the next day I was thinking that Taj might need a baby sister in a couple years! :) I am so grateful that both my dear friend Stephanie and my Pops got some good footage and pics of the labor and delivery for us to look back on. Click on the following links to view some of the photos and video clips from Taj's Birthday. |
Sunday, December 19, 2010
Welcome to Earth, Taj William, Friday, July 23, 2010 at 12:50 pm at Best Start Birth Center
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