Birth Story in The Words of The Birthing Person.
This mama was SO brave and labored like a true warrior. Never wavering, taking each wave as it came and birthed a beautiful baby boy at her home in Graham, Wa.
Part One:
For my third and final pregnancy, I wanted to be as hands off and intervention free as possible. My first two were born at 41 weeks so I fully expected to go past due. I also never experienced spontaneous labor so I wanted to see if my body could do it.
At 3am, on my due date, I woke up as usual to use the bathroom. I got back in bed and within minutes had the first contraction. They were picking up and seemed time-able so I started logging into an app. Sure enough, they were coming every 4-5 minutes and lasting 1 minute to 1 min 25 seconds. I was also having pressure and was stunned because until this point, I had had zero contractions other than BH. I hadn’t been checked so I didn’t know if I was dilated at all. My second baby came 45 minutes after having my water broken so the pressure with contractions was making me nervous. I decided I’d time an hours worth which at this point was looking to be about 10 contractions. After 8 contractions that were now coming every 3 minutes, I changed my mind and called my midwife. She came within 15 minutes.
Part Two:
At this point, I had been having contractions for 90 minutes; I was still comfortable between contractions and they were very manageable during. I asked if she could check me so we could decide to have Jessica (the photographer) come or not. I was shocked when she said I was 10cm!!! Now I was feeling them in my back, hips and low abdomen (I still had just a lip of cervix because of the bulging bag of waters) so I asked if she could break my water when the photographer arrived. I figured he’d come quickly like my last baby once my waters were ruptured. I very impatiently told my husband to text Jessica to come straight away because the pain was increasing and I wanted it to end.
So two hours in, we ruptured my water. There was meconium but my midwife wasn’t concerned and baby had zero decels. My contractions kind of stopped for a bit but I was having a ton of pressure and back pain. The pressure felt different, more rectal than vaginal. We knew he was not in a great position and at some point I don’t remember, determined he was OP, meaning the back of his head was facing my back. 10/10 do NOT recommend. Ideally, babies should be facing mom’s back with their back on the left of mom’s tummy. I’ve birthed 2 other babies, been a doula and midwife asssitant to countless births and I’ve seen moms struggle through back labor and now I fully understand the pain. It’s a different level and much more difficult to manage mentally and physically.
Part Three:
After a few hours of laboring on hands and knees, side lying with my leg up, and finally on my back to square him up in my pelvis, he finally was able to find a path. It was the craziest and most painful thing, feeling him adjust and move to find his way out. He was very active during contractions, also something I hadn’t experienced in my other two labors.
So I was feeling contractions, back and right hip pain, pain on my bladder and cervix from his head adjusting and he was kicking me in my ribs, all at the same time. Once he got past my pubic bone, my back and hip pain instantly faded. My husband and midwife actually heard him “clunk” past my pubic bone! The pressure was so intense and sudden, I thought his head was already born. My midwife told me to feel and I was very disappointed to only feel a few centimeters of head pressing against my perineum. At this stage, I wanted him OUT but needed to go slow so everything could stretch. I’ve never minded the pushing stage because I feel like an active participant in my labor; not just bearing through contractions. Once he worked past my pelvis, he was born about 25 minutes later. He came out breathing perfectly, had a couple cries and then snuggled into my chest with his hand to his face, just like I had been feeling in my stomach for several months. I’m so thankful he was so strong during the whole process and we had a dream homebirth for my final baby. 💙
