Wednesday, April 24, 2013

Rosemary Louise: A Birth Story

Our little girl is almost 12 weeks old now. 3 months! Time feels like its suddenly on fast-forward. I've been working on this post for weeks now, but it has taken me a while to process all the details, find the words to describe that day, and then get them all down on paper. Er, blog... page. Anyways, I finally feel like I've gotten it where I want it, and now I'm ready to share it with you!



When we first found out we were pregnant, we knew we had to decide where we wanted to deliver. At a hospital? At a birth center? At home? We had lots of things to consider, but it basically always comes down to one question: drugs or no drugs? We ended up deciding on a natural water birth in a birth center for many reasons (which I'll go into later). The birth center we chose was a beautiful little house with two rooms for delivering babes. (They have a smaller client base than a hospital, so two rooms is plenty! They rarely need them both at the same time...) 





In the main birth room there is a big, beautiful tub for labor and delivery, should you choose to use it. It is surrounded by soft, sheer curtains that drape overhead and is next to a large, comfy bed. Compared to a stark white hospital room with monitors and IV's and beeping machine things... I was a big fan of this room! Every time we walked in there I would hug Kip and imagine how our perfect water birth would be.


Well, that was what I imagined.

This is our story.

I started to feel contractions coming on sometime Friday morning (nearly two weeks overdue) after Kip left for work at 10 A.M. They were consistently 10 minutes apart, but not painful at all. I called my Mom to come keep me company. I thought, "Surely this is it!" and I didn't want to be by myself for "it!" Mom and I did some cleaning and organizing, trying to occupy both our minds with something else. I guess we hoped if we were keeping busy, I would suddenly go into major labor or my water would break or something. (I was this close to going to the trampoline store...) I sent Kip a text message, letting him know what was going on but that I didn't think he needed to come home yet. I should have known better- the poor man couldn't focus on anything after that! Good gosh his wife is in labor and he's an hour away!?! He ended up coming home a few hours early and getting his shift covered for the next day. Surely we'd have a baby by then!

iPhone panorama of the main birth room and my goofy husband. :)

Contractions came and went. I used the breast pump to try to encourage stronger contractions, and I drank some disgusting-tasting herbal tea that is supposed to do the same. They both worked (contractions got stronger), but labor never progressed.

Saturday I was scheduled for a non-stress test on the baby to make sure she was still doing fine and dandy all bundled up in my tummy. My big sister, Bambi, made the two hour drive from her house to come with us, hoping for a baby that day. I told Betty, one of our midwives, about my contractions. Her reaction was one I could have expected but was still disappointed to see- she wasn't excited. She wasn't jumping out of her skin to check me to see if I was in active labor. Obviously these were early signs of a baby coming, but it wasn't anything to call Grandma about. I wanted to cry, but I didn't... yet. Bambi drove back home and we did the same... discouraged, frustrated, and impatient. I cried (then) to Kip that I was angry with God. We had prayed for an early delivery and here we were, two weeks overdue. Saturday was not a fun day.

Sunday morning, 4:00 A.M. More contractions, but this time I couldn't sleep through them. They actually... hurt. Hmmm, okay. So I got out of bed, but left Kip snoozing. I didn't want to wake him for another false alarm. I drank a glass of water and used a contraction timer app to see how far apart they were. (Thank the Lord for whoever invented that!) 8 minutes, then 6, then 11, then 15. Huh? Not consistent, but they were strong enough at 6:00 A.M. that I decided to make Kip some breakfast and coffee and wake him up. I sent my sister a text message telling her that it seemed like this was finally the real deal, but not to leave her house yet. What did she do? She started driving, of course. :)


I wanted to labor at home as long as I could without risking having the baby in the car or on the front porch of the birth center. :) I tried to hold off calling the midwife until I absolutely had to. My Mom and sister arrived at our apartment around 9 A.M. We all hung out in the living room as I continued to have contractions that were about 8-10 minutes apart. In between them I would laugh and joke with my family, but as soon as one came on I was holding Kip's hand and really focusing on getting through them.

Kip timing my contractions... Not checking Facebook. ;)

During this time, my sister (who has had 8 babies of her own) gave me some advice- little did she know I would hold onto her words for (what felt like) dear life! She told me that when the contractions were coming one after the other, and it didn't seem I was getting a "break" and I wanted to quit, I had to remember to "keep it together." She said the only thing I could do to make labor more difficult was to lose control of my emotions. I took her words to heart and they stayed with me for the rest of my labor. Sidenote: I think this is good advice for anyone, whether you're having a natural birth, C-Section, Epidural, whatever!

Kip and I decided to take a walk around the apartment complex to encourage the contractions- thankfully it was a beautiful day. Texas weather in January... Gotta love it! Every so often we would have to stop and I would hang from Kip's shoulders and wait for the contraction to pass. Things were picking up.

I was encouraged to eat while I was still able to,  so I requested one of my favorites- New York Sub Hub. :) Yes, that's a Dr Pepper... Don't judge me because I drank DP while in labor. Don't. Even.

Afterwards, I decided to give the midwife a call. Contractions were strong enough and close enough that I felt it was time. It was 12:30 in the afternoon. I stepped out on the balcony and hoped she'd answer before another contraction came. It rang, and rang, and rang... but there was no answer...



What happens next?! Did she ever answer the phone? Did Kip deliver our baby at home?? Or did I even HAVE a baby and I'm just really great at hiding a 13 month pregnant belly?!

                             

 -To Be Continued-

1 comment:

  1. AHHHH! What happens next, what happens next?? (Ok...I do know what happened next...but I'm still looking forward to the rest of your story! : )

    ReplyDelete