This week’s birth story comes from one of our very own Hypnobirthing Instructors, Katie Daibess of Birth and Becoming, covering Troy, Michigan in the USA.
Thank you for sharing this gorgeous story with us!
“As I approached baby girl’s due date, I found myself way less stressed than I was with my first baby Joey. I told her repeatedly that I would be ready when she was ready, but we were in no rush. I had my appointment with my midwife on Thursday and we started to schedule some post-date tests to be safe.
I called into work on Friday just so I could relax and enjoy my time with Joey. Saturday, I went to prenatal yoga with Earthside Yoga, we took Joey to the park (even though it was freezing), and Joe and I had a date night.
Sunday was baby girl’s due date. Joey came exactly on his due date so I would be lying if I didn’t say I wondered if she’d try to do the same. But we went about our day without any signs of baby…
Until around 9pm, I asked my husband, Joe, if he remembered how to time contractions. I was starting to feel some mild tightenings and figured it would be good practice. I was surprised when he said they were coming exactly 7.5 min apart and lasting about a minute. I told my husband to make sure he had stuff ready just in case but assumed they would just fade away when I went to sleep.
I woke up around 12:30am and they were happening with more intensity. I let my husband know to make sure he got some rest because it seemed like we were headed in that direction. I got up to use the bathroom and timed a few contractions. They were coming every 5 min and lasting about a minute and 15 seconds. I was also starting to have some bloody show.
I called my midwife around 1:30am to let her know what was going on. She said since I live close to the birth center, I could wait a bit more until they felt more intense. At 2:30am, I woke my husband and let him know that it’s time. We packed up the car and I said a quick whisper goodbye to Joey. Contractions were coming every 3 minutes or so and I started to really have to breathe through them.
We went through triage, did my Covid test, listened to baby, did a quick ultrasound, and put in my saline lock. I was 4-5cm dilated and this was my first cervical check all pregnancy. Then, we walked down to Karmanos Center for Natural Birth.
I immediately got in the tub and laboured in there. The tub is my happy place. I listened to my The Calm Birth School affirmations on repeat with my Air Pods. I started having to vocalize through contractions, but I still felt good!
I was curious after a bit and asked my midwife to check me because I started to feel some more intensity in my hips. I was 8 cm and in transition. I swear I did a little happy dance in my head when I heard this. When I hit transition with Joey, I felt panicked and afraid. This time, I felt confident. Yes, things were intense, but I knew I was almost done. I moved to a different position and my midwife/nurse took turns spraying warm water on my back and it was glorious. I stayed there until I started to feel pushy.
I got out of the tub and went to the bathroom to make sure my bladder was empty. Shift change happened and I asked my new midwife to check me to make sure I was complete.
9.5 cm with a cervical lip.
I didn’t like the sound of that. She told me to do whatever felt right with my body, so I laboured in hands and knees on the bed for a while. I thought that maybe if she broke my bag of waters or my amniotic sac, maybe that would help things. I told her if things didn’t change in 3 contractions, I wanted her to break my waters.
She did. Things were the same essentially. I felt very pushy but stuck at the same time.
My uterus was pushing down but baby didn’t have anywhere to go quite yet as that small piece of my cervix was blocking her descent. My midwife offered to try to push my cervical lip out of the way. I told her that I would do that after 3 more contractions if things didn’t change. 3 more came and went and things started to feel very intense as my body continued to try to push.
Moving that cervical lip was incredibly hard. Several contractions went by with my midwife manually pushing the lip/holding it back while I tried to push my baby past it. I have no idea how many times it really was, but my husband said about 5 tries.
It was so challenging and so defeating after each contraction finding out nothing changed. She told me to rest on my side through a few contractions and try not to push to see if that helped. My hips were causing me a lot of discomfort and I asked for counter pressure to help. Eventually, we got that lip out of the way! It didn’t take too long in actuality, but it felt like forever!
Once that lip got out of the way, baby girl came fast! About 2 contractions later, I was reaching down and pulling her onto my chest.
Such sweet relief! The first words out of my mouth may have been “thank God it’s over!” We waited for the cord to turn white and then my husband cut it.
One big push and my placenta came out. Birthing the placenta always brings me such satisfaction! It truly is finished at that point. I was so grateful for my healthy baby girl and how we worked together to get her earth side!
We did it! My midwife told me that Mila was positioned sideways, and this most likely created the cervical lip issue. Baby girl definitely was cosy in my pelvis as her ear is pinched in and her nose is slightly smooshed. ? These features will round out eventually.
I am so grateful to my body, my birth team, my husband, @thecalmbirthschool, @janelltraicoff for the beautiful pictures and support, and most of all to my baby girl for taking me on this wild ride, showing me how strong I really am, and how incredible birth is once more.
Mila was born at 8:07am on a Monday, 8 hours after her due date. She weighs 7 lbs 9.9 oz, almost a whole pound heavier than Joey”!
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