We have a wonderful birth story for you today from Elizabeth. Thank you for sharing it with us:)
“I have so enjoyed reading all of your birth stories and I’m still a bit in awe of the fact that I am about to share my own.
Weston James Oakes was born on June 22nd at 1:49 am. I was 37+1 when my water broke. I had seen my Dr. the day before and he told me I was 2 cm dilated and 60% effaced, but I knew I could go on for weeks like that so I wasn’t expecting anything exciting to happen soon.
I was getting out of a co-workers Jeep after lunch when I felt a gush of water. I was a bit afraid I’d wet myself, and I really didn’t want to be wrong about my water breaking. I now realize the idea of my water breaking was freaking me out at first because it meant I was really about to give birth. I went to the restroom at my office and fluid kept coming, thankfully clear, and I knew for sure I was about to begin the journey to meet my son.
Contractions I could identify began on the ride home with my husband. I began to realize I’d probably started contractions that morning, but had dismissed them as Braxton Hicks.
Our plan was to labor at home as long as possible, which was good since we were mostly unprepared to go to the hospital. I had just washed my new nursing clothes and the baby’s coming home outfits the night before! I was also still unsure of my Strep B status and was hoping for a negative which would give us more time at home. I texted my Dr. my status and he said he would check back with results.
For the next six hours I labored at home. I can honestly say it was an amazingly, wonderful experience. My husband and I packed our bags, wrote up our birth preferences, and laughed while listening to the birth affirmations and music we had picked out. My husband had watched the CBS videos with me and was an amazing partner. He would apply counter pressure while I breathed during the tough contractions. My mom brought us fruit to munch on and my sister, a massage therapist, massaged my legs and feet with essential oils.
At about 6:40 pm my Dr. called to check in. My contractions were about 3 1/2 to 4 mins apart, about a min long, but I didn’t feel like they were that intense. He gave me the bad news that I was Strep B positive and needed to head to the hospital. We took our time and left about 8:15 pm.
At the hospital our triage experience was pretty bad, but I remained calm and relaxed. A Dr. checked me and stated I was 3 cm and he thought the baby was butt down. I had been checked the day before and knew I would have felt it if the baby had flipped. They did an ultrasound and baby was head down. We had to wait for a birthing room and we put the birth affirmations on while I breathed through contractions. After about 30 mins I felt like I needed to go to the bathroom. When I got up there was a lot of blood and I asked for a nurse to come in. She checked me and I was at 6 cm. We were suddenly top priority for a birthing room and they moved us shortly after.
In our room I tried to find positions that would keep my pelvis open and felt as good as possible. We continued to alternate the birth affirmations with music and use essential oils to set the mood in the room. The affirmations MP3 was a big hit with the nursing staff! I had requested limited fetal monitoring, but unfortunately this request was not met which I tried to accept and release, although it became more difficult as I entered transition.
I progressed a cm at a time from there on out, and at 8 cm things got pretty intense. I was losing my ability to focus and breathe through the pain and began to doubt whether I could continue. My support team was AMAZING in reminding me how far I had come and how close I was to the finish line and my baby boy. I went from 8 to 10 cm in 30 mins and was ready to push, but my Dr. had not yet arrived. My sister encouraged me to bear down if I needed to and work with my contractions.
Pushing was an experience I could not have prepared myself for. It was intense, harder than I thought it would be, and took every thing I had. The baby wasn’t in a great position and got stuck so my Dr. had to reach in and turn him a bit. This was not fun! He ended up giving me an episiotomy because the baby’s heart rate was dropping and he needed to get him out. He told me he was going to use the vacuum but I pushed so hard he didn’t need it. This is probably when I broke blood vessels in my eye from the effort, but while not pretty, it was 100% worth it. I pushed for 40 mins total which my Dr. said was really good for a first time mom. I will never forget the feeling as they placed Weston on my chest and he cried right away. Every bit of pain was worth it in that moment. He was good size for being early at 7 lbs 13 oz and 20.5 ins long.
Thanks to TCBS I was able to have the birth experience I wanted. I will always look back on it as a positive experience. My Dr. asked me if I realized how rare it was for a first time mom to arrive at the hospital and be holding my baby 5 hours later. From water breaking to birth my labor was just under 13 hours. I felt calm and in control for most of that time and I will take that result! Thank you Suzy Ashworth and The Calm Birth School Facebook group for being a daily source of inspiration as I prepared for the birth of my baby.”
To see how you can create your own calm birth please sign up here: www.thecalmbirthschool.com/freehypnobirthing-2016
