Birth Stories

Kyden Berkley's Waterbirth!!

In January 2012 we found out we were pregnant with our third baby. We were due September 30th. We decided to not find out the gender and go for a natural water birth in a birth center located in a hospital.

On September 27th, around 3pm I felt some crampy stuff going on but felt nothing of it. I went to go get my daughter out of her crib from her nap and as I leaned over to pick her up I felt an intense amount of pressure, a huge contraction, and heard a loud pop. I then felt wetness all the way down my legs. I quickly got my daughter out of her crib and called my husband in her room to watch her real quick while I changed. As I put a pad on and changed my pants, I called my midwife and let her know what was going on. Our plan was to stay home and labor at home as long as possible before coming in to the birth center. I was fine with that, as it was just my water that had broken and I wasn't feeling anything too intense just yet. We wanted our kids to be part of Kyden's birth, we just weren't sure how they would be a part of it or if they were willing to. So we didn't have anyone come to watch the kids or take them some place. We wanted them to feel a part of it all. I remember at one point while we were still at home, our 3 year old son asked why mommy was making weird faces I was grimacing as the contractions were strong and why I was breathing so loud. I remember laughing and telling him that his baby brother or sister was trying to come out and see him. He wasn't at all interested in being a part of it. He just wanted to take a shower in mommy's shower at one point that's all we were doing because the pain was so intense. His sister was uninterested as well. I bounced on the birthing ball we have and took too many showers. I swayed on our kitchen counters and hung over the edge of my daughters high chair a few times. I pretty much took hold of whatever I could at that point and used it. Around 8pm Ryan left me in our bed on all fours with a contraction to put the kids to bed. Thankfully the kids didn't give him any trouble and went down fast. We called a neighbor to come watch the kids because we had a feeling we would be leaving the house soon. Our neighbor, supposed to be babysitter ended up rubbing my back and helping me through contractions quite a few times while Ryan updated Facebook, made a few phone calls, and got a few last minute items ready to go for the birth center. Our neighbor gave us some privacy after that and went down stairs. Ryan and I took one last hot shower together and he helped me through some very intense contractions. I left the house in a wet bathing suit and a coverup along with flip flops on my feet. The contractions were too intense to change. Around 11pm we left the house, leaving our 5 and 1 year old with a trusty neighbor. My contractions were intense to the point where breathing was tough, and screaming was almost my only option. Lol. They were 23 minutes apart when we arrived at the birth center 15 minutes later. I was sent to triage since its still a hospital and was admitted when they told me I was 8cm and my cervix was completely thinned out. My water did indeed break 8 hours earlier. I got to our labor and delivery suite and decided that throwing a gown over my wet swimsuit would be acceptable. I took the bottoms of the bathing suit off and got comfortable or as comfortable as you can get when you're hours away from delivering a baby and in the intense stage of labor I was on hands and knees when the nurse came in to let me know that my midwife was here and that we needed to put in an IV. My fluids were low and they had made the decision that an IV was needed to be out in just in case I needed it soon. They let me sip water and eat ice chips to hydrate myself throughout labor. Around 2 am I got in the tub and the contractions were so intense that I fell to my knees while getting in the birthing pool and had to grab hold of the side before I nose dived into gallons of water. I stayed in that position for most of that hour. My midwife was pushing pressure points in my back and my husband was fanning me. The lights were dimmed low, we had cinnamon and vanilla candles lit and a playlist of Christian music streaming in the background. It was the prefect place to have a baby. A little after 3am I got out of the pool and decided to walk around. I threw my gown back on and my midwife, husband and I walked the halls of the birth center, stopping here and there to sway, lean, and rub my back. We got back to the room around 4:30am when all I wanted to do was lay on the bed. I wanted to give up and get and epidural and just go to sleep. But I didn't. I laid on the bed and then turned on my hands and knees. At exactly 4:50 I remember looking at my phone at that exact moment wondering when it was all going to end I turned over to get my phone to check the time I was on y back again and felt an immense amount of pressure and the biggest urge to push. I told myself to wait and screamed for my midwife. My husband woke up at that moment and asked what was going on, and as I explained the feeling, the midwife came back in. They helped me to the pool and the midwife checked me. I had gone from a 9cm when we came back to the room 4:30 to a 10cm in 20 minutes. I couldn't wait any longer, so I pushed and my midwife guided me and my body through it. it was 5am when we started pushing. i pushed three times and then twice with the next contraction and Kyden was born. A healthy baby girl. I pulled her out of the water with help from my husband who was guided by my midwife. She was put on my chest and rubbed until she gurgled her first breath and screamed just like she should. She was adorable, and most all healthy. We had no complications, everything went smooth and our baby girl was here. Later that day, Gavin and Lyla came to meet Kyden with our neighbor. We are so blessed to have a healthy baby girl! And we got our 100 natural water birth! Yay!
Casey (25) married to Ryan (25) since 9/28/07 Parents to: Gavin Briar 7/6/09 Lyla Britton 2/19/11 and Kyden Berkley 9/28/12

Re: Kyden Berkley's Waterbirth!!

  • What a beautiful story! Congratulations!
    Warning No formatter is installed for the format bbhtml
  • Loading the player...
  • Congrats (-:
  • Thank you! :)
    Casey (25) married to Ryan (25) since 9/28/07 Parents to: Gavin Briar 7/6/09 Lyla Britton 2/19/11 and Kyden Berkley 9/28/12
  • I was SOO mad at him that he was sleeping! We had just got back to the room around 4:30 and I asked for help and screamed at around 4:50 so he was only sleeping for a little while, but I was pissed! I do have to give it to him though. He was tired. I didn't mention it, but I was in false labor for 72 hours plus 6 hours on Wednesday night (the 26th into the 27th) and he was awake and here for it all and hadn't slept once! 

     

    False labor started the 23rd and 72 hours through to the 25th and then it stopped, and false labor again started at 10pm on the 26th and stopped again at 4am the 27th. And then I went into real labor on the 27th and had Kyden on the 28th. So it was legit, 6 days without sleep. He went home the 28th and slept while he had the chance lol. Thankfully Kyden's been a pretty good sleeper so we haven't had to go long without a good sleep stretch :)

    Casey (25) married to Ryan (25) since 9/28/07 Parents to: Gavin Briar 7/6/09 Lyla Britton 2/19/11 and Kyden Berkley 9/28/12
  • That's a beautiful birth story.  Thanks for sharing!
This discussion has been closed.
Choose Another Board
Search Boards
"
"