I had been feeling crampy, with light teaser contractions 5 minutes apart for most of the weekend. I was exhausted. I have such long pre-labours!
Sunday evening, after we tucked the kids in bed, I noticed that some of those 'teaser contractions' were really starting to feel quite intense. I had a feeling that I was going to go into labour in the middle of the night, so I went right to bed at 8:30pm.
Good thing I did, because at 10:46 I woke up to a crazy, painful contraction. Seven minutes later, another one. I looked over at Nich, who was sleeping soundly and announced "I'm totally in labour". And then I started to panic, because, holy cow, they were only 7 minutes apart and they already hurt this much? Agh! I almost cried, asked Nich to give me a pep talk (which he did) and then 4 minutes later, wham, another one. So, then I was fine, because, 4-minute apart contractions are aloud to hurt. That meant I was getting somewhere.
I bounced on the birthing ball as Nich started to get our bedroom ready for our planned homebirth. He also packed our emergency hospital bag, lit candles, started some relaxing music, and set out the arsenal of 'labour tools' I bought to help me through my labour (Massage Oil, heating pad, cold packs, hot water bottle, and the winning tool which was the only thing I ended up wanting...a $9 vibrating massage tool I bought on a whim a few days prior).
I don't know how I ever laboured with Kaitlyn without that beautiful piece of machinery. Seriously, it helped me through every.single.contraction. It gave me something to focus on, and the pain disappeared where he was holding it. Heaven.
By around 12:15am, we decided it was time to page the midwife. And shortly after that, I called my friend Milissa, who was my amazing 'doula'. When everyone arrived, I felt so bad that I had to call them in the middle of the night, that in between contractions I kept offering coffee, scones, tea, muffins. I just felt SO bad. Who wants to be up for the day at midnight? But, then the midwife informed me that most of the time, 'multip' moms (moms that aren't on their first birth) call in the middle of the night. (Something about hormone levels being higher at night) And, she was expecting my call, so she'd gone to bed right after the hockey game that night (she had given me a membrane sweep 2 days prior, and apparently she's famous for putting women into labour 48 hours after her sweeps).
I laboured in the bedroom for awhile. Nich was faithfully at my back with the massager for every single contraction. And, I either hugged Milissa or a big pile of pillows as she reminded me to breathe, relax my body, and to make low groaning noises. Making the low, groaning noises was one of the best things, because even though I was in "labour land" I could still hear how ridiculous I sounded, and sometimes I would just start laughing at myself mid-contraction.
After a couple hours I decided to move to the tub, I felt like transition was close, and I was wanting a water birth. The tub was verrry relaxing. And, it was a great place to labour for awhile. But, around 5am or so, I was getting sooo tired. I don't know how it's possible, but I think I willed my contractions to space apart for awhile, so I could get a break. It had just gotten so intense, and I was beyond exhausted. Then, I heard my neighbour start her car to go to work, and that just set me off. I started to cry, because I was hoping to have had my baby by the time morning came.
After a bit longer in the tub, I decided that if I wanted to have this baby, I would need to get my body moving, and figured I would start the contractions happening again if I moved to the bed. Getting to the bed wasn't that fun. I was wet and cold, but after getting dried off and finding a comfortable position amongst my pile of favourite, comfy pillows (man, homebirths rock!), I made up my mind that I needed to finish the final 'climb up the mountain' and have this baby. After a few more contractions, the midwife checked and found that I had an anterior lip left on my cervix, but I could push through it. So, I did (not that it was much fun, holy cow it was hard!) That was probably the toughest part of pushing, it was so hard to stay encouraged when it felt like the pushes weren't doing anything. Then they started mentioning they could see hair. I looked down and he was right there. I had no idea he was right there, almost ready to be born.
(Fair warning, I get a little detailed here, so you might want to skip to the end if you don't like details :)
The midwives massaged me with oil, and told me I had lots of stretch (opposite of my hospital births, I got episiotomies both times), and I was so excited that I reached down to touch my almost-born baby. I love midwives because they encouraged me to keep my hands there during the next push, so I did, and I pushed the first part of his head out right into my hands. They told me to stop, so I could slowly let the rest of his head come out with teeny pushes, so I wouldn't tear too badly. I let go when I realized that I was poking his eye with my finger (oops! I couldn't see) and decided to let the midwife catch him. Just a couple little pushes, a short pause so they could loosen the cord around his neck, and one more teeny push and he was born. The midwife caught him and gently placed him on me.
He was already pink, totally healthy and happy looking. He didn't cry right away, but I knew he was fine, he was just content.
The midwives gave him a quick rub with a receiving blanket, to get him squawking. He let out a good cry, which made them happy, then he started rooting around with his mouth. Within the first couple minutes of birth, he started breastfeeding, almost non-stop for over an hour. Then, around 9am we took pictures and the midwives did his newborn exam.
I feel so blessed that I was able to have such a beautiful, peaceful home birth. And, I wish I would've snapped a picture of my 'Dream Team'- my two amazing, supportive midwives, Nich and my friend, Milissa. They were amazing.
Tucker is doing so well. He is a calm, sweet baby. The picture I posted below with his birth announcement (and the ones above) were actually taken of him when he was only one hour old. I was holding him in my arms, and he was calmly, contently studying my face. I believe he was so aware, and so calm because of the gentle birth he had. It was so wonderful to labour and birth in the comfort of my own home, surrounded by a loving team of people that believed in me, and the beautiful, natural birthing process that God created.
