Ariel's Story

What better way to start the week than with a birth story?!

Ariel's Story

by Mellisa

We had a little girl on 10/30 at 12:08 am. I had a successful home waterbirth. No interventions of any kind. It was also very fast. She weighed 7 lbs 5oz.and was 21 inches long.  She had a knot in her cord that did not affect anything. It was still pulsating when she came out.

I had on and off contractions since the first Monday in October when I accidentally eat spicy shrimp. Contractions finally became intense, but would not keep going and every contraction was painful at my pubic bone area, so I reached out to my chiropractor. I didn't think this was normal. Of course it was not. My pubic bone was not separating in the proper direction. I was past my due date as well. She did some manipulation and since I was past my due date she did some Logan Technique work. Kind of like a chiropractic induction. She said I probably didn't need it. That fixing my pubic bone would most likely do the trick, but because of how I had been contracting for the last few days we figured it wouldn't hurt. It was obvious the baby wanted to come out.

Contractions slowed down and were less intense for a while (my chiropractor had warned me this would happen). At about 9 pm that night they were back to intense and consistent with no pubic bone pain! At 9:30 I went to lay down and my husband did some back massage during each contraction. I attempted to find another position and ended up on my stomach as a contraction started! Ouch!! I got up and yelled for him to turn the shower on. It was about 10 pm. A few minutes later he called our Doula, Claire. She listened to me grunting and moaning in the shower and told him she was on her way.  She called our midwife on her way to our house for us to give her an update and advised her to make her way over as well. 

Claire arrived around 10:30 pm. My husband was working on the birthing pool and I was still in the shower. I am now thinking we are going to run out of hot water and turned down my hot water usage. However contractions are harder to handle when I got cold. I now felt the water temp drop and told Claire. She had Jon check the pool water and sure enough it was coming out cold. He started boiling water on the stove. 

Since the water was now cold I get out of the shower. I was cold and contractions were harder to handle. It is hard to relax when you are cold! - just in case you didn't know that. Lol! My midwife arrives at some point. I keep asking about the pool. 

I have most of my labor in the living room on the couch (don't worry it was covered in plastic just in case). At about 11:30 my midwife says if I still want to get in the pool, now would be a good time. I am beyond relieved and immediately move to the pool. As i get in the pool, I notice the assistant midwife arrives.  I get in and immediately feel so much better. I think I started pushing before I got in the pool because I now feel a sense that my duty is to get the baby out. I am on all fours. That ring of fire (the one I was not able to experience with my first) was no JOKE! (note - read here for the Birth Story of Mellisa's first birthing experience). Holy crap that burned. When it didn't let up for a few contractions and stayed there, negative "I can't" thoughts entered my mind. A lot of the affirmations were going through my head, but that didn't help so I spoke my "I can't" out loud. Immediately Claire (my Doula) started saying to me "You can and you are doing it". Jon gets in my face and says the same thing, but adds WE ARE doing it. I start repeating it and try to remember to not push like a crazy woman. 

Someone tells me to reach down and feel the head. I remember it feeling fuzzy. I thought hey it has some hair! Now come out! Then I hear "ok reach down and grab your baby". I do. And they say "Give a final push and your baby will be out". Sure enough one final push and the baby was out and in my arms. I kept hearing someone say "Do we know what it is?" I finally look and with shock-- It is a girl!  I am excited and surprised because I was so certain we were having a boy. 

I get out of the pool and cough ( literally) out the placenta. I nurse and eat my home cooked meal. We move to the bed room and do all the newborn checks while I am laying in my own bed  We burn the cord off.  Claire knows the person who is doing the placenta  encapsulation and notifies her that I gave birth. 

And that is pretty much everything. I am overly happy with the birth, although I do wish I could have been in the pool from the beginning. 

Long story for only 3 hrs of labor.  Not counting the start stop contractions.

If you are interested in sharing your Birth Story here on the Radiant Birth blog, feel free to Contact Me.

Audrey's Story

I'm excited to use the Radiant Birth blog to share Birth Stories. 

Because each birth is as different and unique as each Mother and Baby, each of these stories will be as different from each other as could be. One thing each story will share though is how important each and every one is. There is no right or wrong way to birth; just different and unique!

Audrey's Birth Story

written by Jenni

 After our extremely successful, textbook perfect unmedicated hospital birth of our first daughter in August 2009, Scott (Jenni's husband) and I decided that we’d like a home birth this time around. We found an incredible midwife, Karen, who was willing to work with us, despite my Type 1 diabetes, and are so thankful we did. I am pretty convinced that if we hadn’t done a home birth, Audrey would have been born in a car on the side of Route 66 because of how fast labor was and because it happened during the morning rush hour.

On the evening of November 4th, I started having some timeable Braxton-Hicks style contractions. At one point, they were coming every 3 minutes for an hour. Because my midwife lives over an hour away, and because I was already at least 5 cm dilated, 70% effaced, I got a little nervous and called her. She was at another birth, nearly 2 1/2 hours away from me when I talked to her, and that made me really nervous. If this baby was coming now, she would probably come fast and I wasn't interested in an unassisted child birth. Soon after I got off the phone with her, my contractions stopped completely. She went ahead and found a backup midwife just in case, and around 10 or 11 pm, we went to bed.

I had a hard time falling asleep and the baby was moving lots. I was worried I wouldn't sleep at all, so I listened to two Hypnobabies scripts and eventually fell asleep, probably around 1 am. At 5:15 am I awoke and was having some mild cramping. I timed them for 15 minutes, and decided to text my doula, Aimee (who lives much closer than Karen). She said it sounds like labor, and unless Karen says otherwise, she's going to head to our house. I called Karen and she also decided to head out, given the traffic in this area and how far she was from me.

At 6:00, I woke Scott up and told him what was going on and asked him to get the birth pool set up. I went downstairs to the basement to shower so he could use the upstairs bathroom to set up the pool. During my shower, things got a lot more intense - it went from regular cramping to "I have to breathe through these" contractions.

After my shower I went upstairs. I felt very unsettled, like I didn't know what to do, and told Scott this. We made the bed with old sheets and a waterproof layer, and I laid down and listened to a Hypnobabies script. This script lasted about an hour, and at some point during the script, I asked Scott to call our chiropractor and good friend, and Aimee also came in. Our chiropractor showed up soon after and gave me an adjustment - that was heavenly!

Scott kept offering me food - I agreed to toast, but once it was cooked, I didn't want any. I wasn't hungry at all, though I did drink water. At this point in my memory, things really get fuzzy, and time stops making sense. I think I laid on the bed for a while after my Hypnobabies script finished, just breathing through the contractions. Aimee offered to listen to the baby if I wanted to, but the baby was moving and I didn't want to be interrupted, so I didn't ask her to.

At some point, I moved to the floor, to try using my birth ball. I think I tried sitting on it, and that wasn't comfortable. I also tried kneeling on the floor, leaning the front half of my body over the ball. This was OK for a little while, until I figured out that it was making my contractions more intense because the ball was pushing on the top of my belly. I think Karen arrived while I was on the floor, but she didn't interrupt me (bless her!) - I assume she got the information she needed from Aimee and from Scott. Once I was on the floor, I needed Scott to put counterpressure on my back/SI joints. I was grateful that the fan in our room was on and blowing on me while I was on the floor, too, because I was quite warm. Scott gave me a few bites of applesauce, but I still wasn't hungry.

Then, all of a sudden, I NEEDED to be in the birth pool. It wasn't completely full yet, but it was close enough. I stripped down to just my bra, and got in. (I think I was in transition, or nearing it, at this point, but I was never checked during labor, so I don't know). The water felt great. I sat on my bottom, leaning back against the edge of the pool, letting my arms float. I did this for a while, and at some point, Aimee suggested I try leaning over the edge of the pool while kneeling. I tried this position, and it really hurt my lower back, but I realized I did want to lean forward. I then got on hands and knees in the water, and Aimee massaged my lower back in between contractions and applied counter pressure during contractions. I stayed like this for a little while, and things were really getting intense. I started having feelings of "when will this be over?!", "how much longer?!", "I want drugs!", and a little of "I can't do this any more". To cope, I told myself "this one isn't so bad" and "I can get through this one". At one point, I said out loud "I'm scared", but it wasn't the traumatizing fear that I experienced during this stage of my first daughter's birth. And then my body started pushing. I kept my mouth open and said "Aaaahhhhhhhhhhhhh" through the contractions, as I had read in Ina May's book. Soon after I started pushing, my water broke. I thought it was her head emerging and was disappointed to find out that it wasn't. When her head did start to emerge, I said "ring of fire!" and I think this was the point where I started actively pushing, instead of just letting my body do it, though this might have started earlier. Once her head was out, I still had work to do to get her shoulders out. They were never stuck or anything, but it was obvious to me that this baby was bigger than my first. Once her shoulders were out, it wasn't much more effort to get the rest of her out. I don't remember turning over, but soon I was sitting on my bottom again, holding my baby. You can tell in the photos that I was totally out of it. It took a few seconds for me to sort of "realize" that I was holding a baby, and to look at her.

She was really gray and not breathing, so Karen rubbed her chest. She let out a cry, and we knew she was perfect. I sat with her in the water for a short time, then decided I wanted to get out. This was pretty awkward because a.) I hadn't delivered the placenta yet, b.) I was holding a newborn baby, and c.) I was weak from the delivery. But, we made it out of the pool and into the bed, where we waited for what seemed like a long while, but I'm guessing was around 15 minutes, for me to deliver the placenta. I had a small tear that required 2 stitches - much smaller than my first birth, despite this baby being nearly 1.5 lbs heavier and 3 inches longer than my first!

Audrey Veronica was born at 9:37 am weighing 8 lbs 12 oz, 21 1/4 inches long, and had a 14 3/8 cm head covered in dark brown (nearly black) hair! No wonder I felt the ring of fire this time!

If you are interested in sharing your Birth Story here on the Radiant Birth blog, feel free to Contact Me.