My med-free, natural birth in a hospital with MW story!

Emanuel Ricardo was born on Tuesday, April 19th, 2011 at 8:43 am. (At 37 weeks and 4 days)
He weighed in at 7 pounds 15 ounces and is 19 inches long.
He has very dark hair and chubby cheeks just like DD did.

On Monday evening, the 18th of April, I was facebook-ing and shopping online because I wasn't tired. My husband was already in bed. I sent a friend a message on Facebook asking her about her experience with her second labor (she delivered at the same hospital that I would be and she used the same midwives as well) and she replied back right away. I read her reply and then decided to head off to bed at about 11pm.

I tossed and turned pretty much all night, which had been the usual for the last few weeks. I also had a ton of Braxton Hicks contractions during the night, which was normal for me. I felt baby moving a lot too. I got up several times to pee, which was nothing new. The only thing that was "different" was the fact that I had 2-3 bowel movements in the middle of the night - which is not normal for me. But I chalked it up to the fact that I had been taking iron supplements (which are constipating) but had stopped taking them several days prior and thought this was my body getting back to normal.

At 5am I woke up to a contraction that was REAL. Not a Braxton Hicks (BH). I'd had BH contractions so frequently during pregnancy, that I knew this was/could be the real thing. Not only that, but it reminded me of the contractions I had when I was in labor with Elena. This was a real contraction because I had to concentrate on my breathing and I had to stretch my body out nice and long in bed to "get thru it". What I wasn't certain of, was if the contractions would continue or if they would fade, especially once I got up and moved around. For the time being, I decided to try and get some rest, so I continued to lie in bed. The contractions continued but I wasn't timing them because I had my back to the clock. At 5:30 am my husbands alarm clock went off. As soon as he got up I said "babe, I'm having contractions". He was surprised and asked what he should do. I told him to continue getting ready for work because I wasn't sure the contractions would stick around. I was going to get up and walk around and see what happened.

While he showered I walked around the house, packing a few last minute things in our hospital bags just in case. I stopped every few minutes during a contraction to lean over a countertop, chair, bed....anything. I had to use some breathing techniques to get thru them and I swayed back and forth quite a bit. When my husband came back up stairs I think he was pretty shocked at how close together the contractions were (4-5min) and how involved I was in getting thru them already. He asked if we should call the midwife. I said no, let's wait a little longer. I wanted to hop in the shower and see what that did. I hopped in the shower and he took over timing contractions for me. He said they were 2-3 minutes apart, sometimes closer than that. A couple times a contraction would end and I'd start moaning again and he'd say "another one?". Yep, they were coming quicker and quicker. The hot water felt great on my back.
My contractions felt exactly as they did with Elena...like somebody was squeezing my insides out way down low in my abdomen. I also had back pain, but the lower abdominal pain was much more intense. Massaging my lower back and hips didn't bring any relief. By 6:30am I got out of the shower and I gave my husband the go ahead to call our babysitter to come over. He quickly packed the few things he would need and I changed into more decent clothing and brushed my hair and teeth. He also called the midwife and after hearing me moan/breathe thru a contraction she suggested we head into the hospital. Getting thru contractions took 110% of my concentration at this point. I tried various positions to get thru them, but standing and swaying my hips like a hoola hoop worked best...not great, but the best!

At 7:05 am we got into our car and headed towards the hospital. Contracting in the car was just as awkward and uncomfortable as I remember it with Elena. Once we arrived at the hospital I practically jumped out of the car and walked as quickly as I could towards the door...as I knew I would need to stop along the way to have a contraction and didn't want to make a scene with all my breathing and moaning. I had one contraction outside, leaning over the handicap "push plate" to open the door! I was admitted to a room right away (got to skip over triage - maybe because I am a 2nd time mom?!?!?). It was 7:25am when they admitted me.
My midwife, Alli, met us in the room and I stripped my clothes of right away. Alli did an exam to see how far dilated I was. I had been 3cm dilated at my 36 week prenatal appointment, wasn't checked at my 37 week appointment and now, I was 6-7 cm and 100% effaced. I was happy that I was that far along already. I was required to lie in bed while they did the 30-minute monitoring of the baby. Again, this was excruciating for me because my pain was not bearable for me in this position. I preferred to stand. While the monitoring was going on the nurse also asked all the admission questions, to which my husband was able to answer the majority of for me. It was at this time that I expressed my plans for a med-free natural birth to the nurse, alhough Alli was well aware what my plan was. The nurse did ask if she could put in a capped IV (I had one with Elena's labor), but before I answered, Alli said "no, she doesn't need one." She stayed with us the whole time, offering words of encouragement and telling me I was doing a great job.
As soon as the monitoring was done, I asked to get in the shower. This must have been around 8 am. I jumped into the shower and turned up the hot water. At this point Alli was leaving (she had been on call all night) and our other midwife, Cheri, came in. I felt as though I was in the shower for awhile, but it must have only been for 15 minutes or so. I drank a lot of water in the shower to stay hydrated. My contractions continued to come fast and furious. I asked to get out - not sure why. I was tired, but knew that lying down in bed was not for me! I dried off and stood over the toilet because I thought I had to pee. I walked back to the bedroom and leaned over the side of the bed for a few contractions. Because my contractions were coming one on top of another and I was having "pushy" sensations they had me get back in bed so I could be checked again. Cheri said I was 7cm and that baby was at a -2 station - so up pretty high still. I wanted to cry! I thought "all that pain and work and I haven't progressed much?" I asked if my water could be broken since it hasn't broke on it's own yet. With the next contraction Cheri broke it and I had the most intense contraction ever. With the breaking of my water baby moved down quite a bit and I continued to dilate. With each of the next few contractions I dilated fully to 10cm. This all happened over a matter of minutes. The contractions were VERY intense and at the end of each contraction my body was starting to push. Cheri continued to check my progress with each contraction and announced that I was complete and to keep pushing. She jumped up at this point and put on a gown, all while I continued to push with every contraction. While the pushing seemed to last forever my husband tells me it lasted for 15 minutes, if that. While a lot of women say pushing is a relief for them, for me it was the opposite. It was much more intense this time around, maybe because it was happening faster than with Elena. The so-called "ring of fire" felt exactly like fire! I thought my lady parts were on fire, anyways...laugh all you want!
Baby's head emerged and Cheri calmly said that the cord was wrapped twice around his neck. She unwrapped it quickly and I pushed him out the rest of the way. I remember looking down at him and first noticed that he had a head FULL of black hair and second, that he was blue and not moving. I did not feel concerned though, I knew he just had to take his first breath/cry and that he would pink up. Cheri never expressed an outward feeling of concern either (although maybe she felt it on the inside?), but she was calm and cool as she had Ricky quickly cut the cord and handed him to the nurse to be stimulated. The nurse called over the intercom system for a respiratory therapist to come to the room. Before they arrived Emanuel took his first breath and screamed....and continued to scream! Ricky was with him and said he turned pink (then red) instantly. He scored a 3 and a 9 on his APGARs. I then delivered the placenta (weird feeling) and was examined for any tears...luckily I didn't have any this time!
While I had never typed up a formal birth plan I knew what I wanted in my head, and my midwife "knew" also. I didn't have a mirror out this time (like I did with Elena) but there never really was a time to pull it out since everything happened so quickly. I also didn't pull Emanuel to my chest myself like I did with Elena, but that was because of the wrapped cord. I am glad that I didn't have an IV this time. With Elena the capped IV made it all to easy for me to ask for an epidural when I knew I really didn't want/need it (I didn't end up with an epidural with her even after asking for it though)! Thankfully my two midwives were awesome about supporting and encouraging my "birth plan". They are 2 really awesome ladies Even my husband thought so!
So that's the story of how Emanuel Ricardo came into the world.
We are doing great and his big sister is loving him to pieces. She still points at my belly and says "baby brother", but she also points at him and calls him "brother" and loves to give him hugs and kisses