This is the birth story for Vera Basil Born at home Monday, March 11, 2013 at 4:50-53am...
Husband and I woke up at 8:50am Sunday morning, and took a few moments to ourselves before our daughter Sonja woke up.
Sunday is my yoga morning. After our alone time, I got up and started getting ready for my 10:30 class. I went to the bathroom and noticed a mucus discharge {with a tint of blood} I thought it could be the mucus plug, but last time it all came out in one chunk and this was not as big and more gooey than I expected.
I decided to go ahead and go to yoga, although I noticed I was having contractions, much like the practice ones I'd been having in the evening for the past few weeks. The only difference was this was not the evening. I decided to continue with class and just took child's pose when I got uncomfortable. I didn't want to miss the beautiful day outside nor the outdoor practice.
Contractions or Surges, as I usually call them, were mild all day. They ranged in the 2-4 pain range, on a scale from 1-10. They were coming every 10-20 minutes. I sat down and did our taxes while Husband and Sonja went to a spring training game with his father and brother. I told him I'd call if they got real active but they stayed mild for a while.
Around 5pm I noticed more mucus plug (again slightly bloody). My parents came for dinner after I told them I thought tonight would be the night. I called my sister, as she was planning on being the photographer of the whole event. During dinner and that evening the surges increased to 4 on pain scale, and I knew they weren't going to stop. I just didn't know how long they would last.
I texted our Midwife at 9:41 and she called right after. After talking with me she decided to come over and hang out until I got active. My parents ended up going home after 10pm ish, since our midwife was there and she was pretty confident it would be a little while.
While hanging out my sister and sister in law offered to help me make my postpartum yoni healing pads.
Around 11pm I decided to lay down with Sonja to get her to sleep. During that time I had a few surges in the 5-6 pain scale.
Once she was asleep, {about 12 midnight} I headed out into the kitchen to talk to birth team. There were more surgest in the 5-6 pain range but we talked through the fact I was scared for it to get real and once I just accept it's happening I could hurry the process up. We agreed I could keep it pushed off for a while, until the birth hormornes really kicked in and forced it to happen. I knew I had to just jump off that cliff but I was still scared of it.
At 1am ish I decided to get in the shower and use my birth ball. Once I was in there, there was no pain. I thought they stopped! I stayed in there for a while, wondering if I couldn't feel them if they were still there... they were. Once the warm water ran out I got out of the shower and laid down on the bed over a stack of pillows. My sweet friend Diane rubbed my back and so did Husband. They were both such a great support team.
Husband kicked everyone else out of room shortly after my shower. He mentioned he wanted this sacred experence to be between the two of us. And while I knew that was sweet, I really just wanted to not be in pain, I didn't care who was rubbing my back as long as it was being done in the right spot at the right time. It's really hard to explain to someone what to do when you're entering labor land and a fellow woman usually knows what to do better than a sweet husband. But it was his birth too so I let him rub my back until about 3:30am.
The surges started to get so unbearable that I was screaming. I woke up the whole household, many of whom had just fallen asleep. My midwife's assistant, Danielle, came in to check on fetal heart tones and I rested as much as I could between surges. It was probably a 7 on my pain scale and I noticed that my yell was primal with hints of grunting {indicative of pushing}. Shell, my midwife, came in to check on me. She laid beside me. It started to become unbearable in any position.
She suggested Skylar check me. She said, I don't think he'll have to go very far, sometime like, "My thought is there should be a head in the vault."
He checked, and said he did feel a head. But I asked her to check again because I felt like I was pushing without purpose. No progression. From pushing. She checked and said there was about a centimeter of cervix in the way. I was pulling it down with each push, instead of pushing it out of the way or waiting until it moved out of the way. She helped to guide it out of the way, as I pushed and relaxed my abdomen I felt it slip over the baby's head. There was a sense of relief/release.
Somewhere during that time Sonja woke up, she sleeps in the same room as us and must have heard me screaming. She was so sweet and happy to watch. She was holding my hand and loving me. But I had one really awful surge and I screamed a little too loud which scared her. As soon as I saw the tears I apologized The surge was over and I was trying to calmly tell her I was okay and that the yelling helped it not hurt. I gave her a kiss and so did her daddy. He asked her if she wanted to go play with her grandparents in the living room and she said yes. Off she went.
Once the head was in the canal, I was able to relax for a second. Shell told me to take deep breathe for baby {after I asked why and she explained fetal heart tones dropped way low and I needed to relax and allow baby to recover after such a powerful surge. This is pretty normal and it's how fast baby recovers from such a situation that indicates what actions need to be taken}. My surges slowed down but were intense. Baby's heart rate recovered fine.
The surges gave me a few breaks during pushing. I was able to ask for coconut water. I tried to consciously eat and drink because I was so tired I wanted to keep my energy up. I drank on my "breaks" and allowed myself to fully relax.
I was pushing so hard I peed. Like all over the bed, actually on towels on the bed. I tried to control it but I ended up pushing so hard I was pooping and peeing each time. My support team happily cleaned it up before Skylar took over. With Sonja's birth I was well cleared from a day of slow labor, this time was slightly quicker. After a few tries of controlling it, I told them sorry, but I was just going to keep doing it. They grabbed extra towels to put under me and all was fine. Sometime in that mess I felt a gush, not pee. I was sort of bummed for a second when I realized my water broke {no caul birth for me}. But I was just ready to be done, I didn't really care and I was impressed with my body and baby for holding on that long!
Shell suggested if I needed the encouragement, I could feel inside to find the head and see how close I was. I DID need that and I felt the head push to the surface and slip back in once but on the next surge I was able to bring it to the surface and hold and push through. I could feel the bones of cheeks passing through. Once the head was out, I relaxed slightly through the next break and slowly pushed the shoulders and abdomen out. Husband was catching the baby. he had this beautiful baby half out and she looked at him and took her breathe but she was still in me. He said, "I still don't know if it's a boy or girl..."
Shell told him something and I said "Don't touch her!" I didn't want him to tug, pull or anything. But she was explaining how to remove the cord around her neck.
With the next push I was able to get her all the way out. "It's a girl," he said. The whole delivery from head to toe was 4:50-4:53am. When asked, between first breathe or toes out, I decided toes out. She wasn't fully born until ALL the way out so her official birth time on her birth certificate says 4:53am.
Once she was out, I yelled, "Sonja" and everyone came rushing in.
We allowed the cord to stop pulsing and I delivered the placenta. After a while of establishing breastfeeding we clamped and cut the cord.
She weighed 7lbs 12oz and was 19inches long. 13 and 1/4 inches head {a whole inch smaller than Sonja's!}
Husband and I woke up at 8:50am Sunday morning, and took a few moments to ourselves before our daughter Sonja woke up.
Sunday is my yoga morning. After our alone time, I got up and started getting ready for my 10:30 class. I went to the bathroom and noticed a mucus discharge {with a tint of blood} I thought it could be the mucus plug, but last time it all came out in one chunk and this was not as big and more gooey than I expected.
I decided to go ahead and go to yoga, although I noticed I was having contractions, much like the practice ones I'd been having in the evening for the past few weeks. The only difference was this was not the evening. I decided to continue with class and just took child's pose when I got uncomfortable. I didn't want to miss the beautiful day outside nor the outdoor practice.
Bakasana at 39 weeks
Contractions or Surges, as I usually call them, were mild all day. They ranged in the 2-4 pain range, on a scale from 1-10. They were coming every 10-20 minutes. I sat down and did our taxes while Husband and Sonja went to a spring training game with his father and brother. I told him I'd call if they got real active but they stayed mild for a while.
Around 5pm I noticed more mucus plug (again slightly bloody). My parents came for dinner after I told them I thought tonight would be the night. I called my sister, as she was planning on being the photographer of the whole event. During dinner and that evening the surges increased to 4 on pain scale, and I knew they weren't going to stop. I just didn't know how long they would last.
I texted our Midwife at 9:41 and she called right after. After talking with me she decided to come over and hang out until I got active. My parents ended up going home after 10pm ish, since our midwife was there and she was pretty confident it would be a little while.
While hanging out my sister and sister in law offered to help me make my postpartum yoni healing pads.
Around 11pm I decided to lay down with Sonja to get her to sleep. During that time I had a few surges in the 5-6 pain scale.
Once she was asleep, {about 12 midnight} I headed out into the kitchen to talk to birth team. There were more surgest in the 5-6 pain range but we talked through the fact I was scared for it to get real and once I just accept it's happening I could hurry the process up. We agreed I could keep it pushed off for a while, until the birth hormornes really kicked in and forced it to happen. I knew I had to just jump off that cliff but I was still scared of it.
At 1am ish I decided to get in the shower and use my birth ball. Once I was in there, there was no pain. I thought they stopped! I stayed in there for a while, wondering if I couldn't feel them if they were still there... they were. Once the warm water ran out I got out of the shower and laid down on the bed over a stack of pillows. My sweet friend Diane rubbed my back and so did Husband. They were both such a great support team.
The surges started to get so unbearable that I was screaming. I woke up the whole household, many of whom had just fallen asleep. My midwife's assistant, Danielle, came in to check on fetal heart tones and I rested as much as I could between surges. It was probably a 7 on my pain scale and I noticed that my yell was primal with hints of grunting {indicative of pushing}. Shell, my midwife, came in to check on me. She laid beside me. It started to become unbearable in any position.
She suggested Skylar check me. She said, I don't think he'll have to go very far, sometime like, "My thought is there should be a head in the vault."
Somewhere during that time Sonja woke up, she sleeps in the same room as us and must have heard me screaming. She was so sweet and happy to watch. She was holding my hand and loving me. But I had one really awful surge and I screamed a little too loud which scared her. As soon as I saw the tears I apologized The surge was over and I was trying to calmly tell her I was okay and that the yelling helped it not hurt. I gave her a kiss and so did her daddy. He asked her if she wanted to go play with her grandparents in the living room and she said yes. Off she went.
Once the head was in the canal, I was able to relax for a second. Shell told me to take deep breathe for baby {after I asked why and she explained fetal heart tones dropped way low and I needed to relax and allow baby to recover after such a powerful surge. This is pretty normal and it's how fast baby recovers from such a situation that indicates what actions need to be taken}. My surges slowed down but were intense. Baby's heart rate recovered fine.
The surges gave me a few breaks during pushing. I was able to ask for coconut water. I tried to consciously eat and drink because I was so tired I wanted to keep my energy up. I drank on my "breaks" and allowed myself to fully relax.
I was pushing so hard I peed. Like all over the bed, actually on towels on the bed. I tried to control it but I ended up pushing so hard I was pooping and peeing each time. My support team happily cleaned it up before Skylar took over. With Sonja's birth I was well cleared from a day of slow labor, this time was slightly quicker. After a few tries of controlling it, I told them sorry, but I was just going to keep doing it. They grabbed extra towels to put under me and all was fine. Sometime in that mess I felt a gush, not pee. I was sort of bummed for a second when I realized my water broke {no caul birth for me}. But I was just ready to be done, I didn't really care and I was impressed with my body and baby for holding on that long!
Shell suggested if I needed the encouragement, I could feel inside to find the head and see how close I was. I DID need that and I felt the head push to the surface and slip back in once but on the next surge I was able to bring it to the surface and hold and push through. I could feel the bones of cheeks passing through. Once the head was out, I relaxed slightly through the next break and slowly pushed the shoulders and abdomen out. Husband was catching the baby. he had this beautiful baby half out and she looked at him and took her breathe but she was still in me. He said, "I still don't know if it's a boy or girl..."
I can't believe Husband is "letting" me post this photo, but you can see her half in half out!
Shell told him something and I said "Don't touch her!" I didn't want him to tug, pull or anything. But she was explaining how to remove the cord around her neck.
With the next push I was able to get her all the way out. "It's a girl," he said. The whole delivery from head to toe was 4:50-4:53am. When asked, between first breathe or toes out, I decided toes out. She wasn't fully born until ALL the way out so her official birth time on her birth certificate says 4:53am.
Once she was out, I yelled, "Sonja" and everyone came rushing in.
We allowed the cord to stop pulsing and I delivered the placenta. After a while of establishing breastfeeding we clamped and cut the cord.
And here I am after 19 hours of natural labor with my Blue Corn Hot Chocolate {and placenta-couldn't even taste it} made by my midwife. And on that note, I felt much much better emotionally and physically than I did after Sonja's birth. So as gross as it might be I highly recommend it!
-Jenn
Thanks for sharing! Than's amazing!
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