Natural Bradley Homebirth in the Water! (long)
On Wednesday, January 6, I had an appointment with my midwife. During the entire hour and 15 minute drive to her birth center, I was experiencing regular contractions that were rather uncomfortable, so I was convinced that I was in active labor and might have to end up staying at the birth center and birth our baby that very night, even though we?d recently decided to have a home birth. However, when our midwife felt my baby bump, she assured me that the contractions were merely Braxton Hicks, as the baby was not even engaged in the pelvis. I had not ?dropped,? and there would be no birth that night. I told her that my biggest fear was not knowing that I was in labor and then waiting too long to call her. She assured me that I would know when I was in labor, and that the telltale sign would be the presence of bloody show. My midwife emphasized that the majority of women are not in active labor until bloody show appears. We left our appointment and went out to eat. I continued to have the same regular Braxton Hicks contractions all throughout dinner, and all throughout the drive home. About a half hour after we got home that night, the contractions finally stopped.
Thursday, January 7, was uneventful, contractions-wise. I experienced a few Braxton Hicks contractions now and then, but nothing regular or even as painful as the previous night. At work, I felt pretty good, except the weather had me very concerned. It was snowing very hard, and the roads were getting bad. Coworkers were kidding me all day that the baby would come during this blizzard and that my husband and I would end up giving birth at home alone because of it. I laughed these comments off, because I knew from my appointment the night before that our baby had no intentions of coming out soon. Our midwife had said the baby hadn?t even dropped down in the pelvis yet! I figured I had plenty of time.
That night, I did not sleep well. I could not get comfortable in bed, but this was nothing new. I had not been sleeping well for weeks. It seemed as though I was getting up more often to pee though. About every hour and a half, I was getting up to pee, but I also knew I?d had a lot to drink at dinner.
On the morning of Friday, January 8, I got out of bed at 5:30 am, a half hour before my alarm goes off. Again, this was nothing new; I?d been doing this for the past few weeks. I went downstairs and got a bowl of cereal and made some cocoa. I ate my breakfast and checked the weather reports and the school closings. A few minutes before 6:00 am, I got the automated phone call from school saying that we had a two-hour delay (I work as a school counselor). I posted on my Facebook page at exactly 6:00 am that I was thankful for the delay because I had not slept well. I continued to surf the internet, checking my email and the road conditions, when suddenly at 6:30 am, I felt horrible. INTENSE contractions came out of nowhere, and I doubled over in pain. I decided to change my position and get off the couch and walk around, wondering if the contractions would continue if I became more active. I began to pace around the dining room table so that I had a rug to walk on (we have wood floors, and I didn?t want to slip), and the contractions intensified. They came one on top of another, with no break between them. At 7:00 am, after a half hour of pacing around the dining room and debating on whether or not to wake up DH, I caved in and managed to meander up the stairs and into our bedroom to wake him. I walked in and said, ?Honey, I am having intense contractions, and they don?t feel like the normal ones. I just don?t feel right.? DH said, ?I?m sorry? and shifted in the bed to make room for me to sit next to him. I sat down briefly, but the contractions were so intense that I couldn?t bear to sit there for more than 5 seconds. I apologized to DH for waking him and left the room.
A few minutes later, DH found me in the bathroom, sobbing uncontrollably. I apologized to him again, and DH said it was fine. He asked if he should call our midwife, and I said, ?No, I haven?t had any bloody show. She?s going to say I?m not in labor!? I told him I wanted to walk around the dining room table again. We made it downstairs and I began to pace again. DH got his watch and notepad and asked me to help him time the contractions. I tried to help him, but since the contractions were on top of one another, I couldn?t tell when one had ended a new one had begun! I told DH I needed to go to the bathroom. We walked back up the stairs and I sat on the toilet. The contractions continued in frequency and intensity. I checked again for bloody show, but there was none. I couldn?t believe it! DH asked again if he should call our midwife, and again, I said no. Several more times, I said I needed to go to the bathroom, and finally, I experienced loose stools, which I remembered from my Bradley class as an indicator of active labor. Still, there was no bloody show. DH asked if I?d like to take a bath, and I said I did. DH ran a bath for me, and I got in. The contractions slowed a bit; they were still just as intense, but now there was a break in between them long enough for me to brace myself and catch my breath for the next one. DH asked again if he could call our midwife, and he was much more insistent in his questioning this time. To appease him, I said yes. He assured me that the worst she could say was that it wasn?t active labor and that we should call back when we saw bloody show. At 7:37 am, DH finally paged our midwife. She called back soon after and asked DH to put me on the phone. During the 30 seconds I spoke to her, I had two hard contractions. She quickly asked me to hand the phone back to DH. She instructed him to find the directions for how to birth a baby at home without assistance, and to call 911 if he felt the need to. She said we?d potentially waited too long to call, and she would try to make it to our house in a little over an hour. Our midwife told DH to keep me in the tub, as it would hopefully slow the progress of labor enough that she might be able to make it in time. Suddenly, I felt I was going to be sick, and I asked DH to grab the trash can for me. I soon was throwing up, and I was now convinced that I was in active labor.
It was an agonizing wait for both DH and I. I could tell things were progressing really quickly, and I was secretly afraid that I would get to the point where I needed to push before she arrived. I used the toilet again, and finally at 9:10 am, there was bloody show! DH sat on the toilet and watched out the window for our midwife, since we have view of the highway from our bathroom window. I continued to try to relax between contractions, laying my head down on a towel at the edge of the tub, closing my eyes, allowing myself to go into the ?duh? look, and even falling asleep briefly a few times. Finally, at 9:15 am, our midwife arrived. I was relieved to see her. She asked if it would be ok to check me. I said yes, and she asked that I get out of the tub and into bed so she could check my cervix. I was already at 5 cm. When asked to get back into the tub so I could continue to labor in there, I stated that the water had been too cold, so DH added hot water and I got back in with assistance from the midwife and DH. In between one set of contractions, I fell asleep and woke up to the midwife trying to keep my head from falling forward and hitting the front of our bathtub! Soon, the birth assistant, arrived. I continued to labor in the tub, asking DH to apply hard counter pressure to my lower back, and later, to pour hot water on my lower back to relieve the pain. At the point, the only words I could muster were ?DH?back.? Thankfully, he understood and dutifully took care of easing my back labor pains so I could concentrate on breathing and relaxing through each contraction!
Soon, I arrived at the point where I was looking at the birth assistant and the midwife and moaning, ?I can?t do this anymore? and apologizing for ?being a wimp.? I was assured that not only was I not being a wimp and that I didn?t need to apologize, but that I was in transition and I didn?t have much longer to go. At 10:15 am, our midwife asked if she could check me again. She said I could stay in the tub, and instructed me to lean back so she could check. She informed me that I had an anterior lip, meaning that I was 9.5 cm dilated. It was nearly time to push! It wasn?t long before I said that I needed to push. I pushed a few times in the tub before I mentioned that I wanted to get out of the tub. She asked if I?d like to sit on the birthing chair, and I said I did. I sat on the birthing chair and continued to push. Soon, half of the bag of waters was out, but the bag was not breaking. The midwife checked me again, and she informed me that the baby?s head was an inch away from the vaginal opening, but that the bag and the fluid was holding him back. She asked if she could break the bag, and I said yes. As soon as she did this, labor kicked into full gear. With another hard push, the baby began to crown. I began to express fears of tearing, so the midwife asked if I wanted to get back into the tub. I said that I did, and everyone helped me back into the tub. I began to push again, and two pushes later, the baby?s head completely emerged. I gave another half push, and his entire body emerged. I caught the baby and immediately brought him out of the water in my arms and laid him on my chest. According to our midwife?s watch, Sullivan Patrick was officially born into the world at 12:33 pm. DH said I pushed for 30-45 minutes total. I was in labor for only 6 hours!
The midwife and DH helped me out of the tub, and DH, baby and I got into bed to snuggle and bond as a family. I delivered the placenta soon after, and after the cord stopped pulsating, DH cut the cord. I nursed Sullivan and we called family soon after to share our wonderful news!
We officially registered Sully?s birth as a water birth. We
are so grateful that we were able to have a home birth, and we are forever
indebted to our wonderful midwife, birth assistant, and Bradley Method teacher for
making it possible! 
Re: Natural Bradley Homebirth in the Water! (long)
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