...Birth
I finished babysitting at the end of April. It was an odd feeling waking up Monday morning to no alarm and no kids at my door. More odd than that is it continued the rest of the week. It welcomed and much needed break.
I had noticed Braxton-Hicks contractions around 16 weeks so I was used to some discomfort during the day and night but on...
Sunday May 23rd (38 weeks), about 1:00am I started having some pretty strong contractions. I was able to sleep through most of them but they were pretty persistent. Chris said he could hear me moaning off and on all night. We decided to go to church though the contractions had been about 4 minutes apart the whole night and early morning. During the first service (while serving in the Children's Lobby) I called my midwife to let her know what was happening. At the end of the service we decided it would be best to drop off Arwen at my mom's house, eat some lunch and go for a walk. Called the midwife and let her know.
Went to my favorite place of the trimester, Ruby Tuesday, where the contractions went to 50 seconds long and 2 minutes apart. Midwives on their way (60 minute drive).
On the ride home the contractions became stronger and I was anxious to get home. Within minutes of stepping foot in the door the contractions slowed down and went from too intense to eh. The midwives arrived and nothing was really happening. Since I didn't get much sleep I was encouraged to take a nap and see what happens. Slept for about an hour and a half. They checked blood pressure, heart rate and baby's heart rate, both resting and during a contraction. Everything was fine. Checked dilation, 2cm. They offered sweep my membranes to see if things could get started up again and I said no we'd just let the little guy come when he was ready. We called it a false alarm and I apologized, "we'd rather come every day of the week for a false alarm then miss the baby."
Tuesday May 26th.
Mostly regular day but in the late afternoon the strong contractions came back. My mom watched Arwen and Chris and I went to walk around the mall. It was pretty tough to walk through the contractions which seemed to be fading in and out of intensity but never really going away so they were difficult to time.
I had given the midwife a heads up but I really didn't feel like this was it.
Once again when I got home the contractions pretty much stopped and I was still pregnant.
Monday May 31st, Arwen and I were outside playing and she started to go down the slide. I hadn't noticed her at the top and I ran to catch her only to trip and fall on top of her. My hips were already sore but the fall made it worse.
Wednesday June 2nd. I woke up with my new standard of stronger Braxton-Hicks and I really felt like I should get my bookkeeping done for my parents before my usual time on Friday. Mom was willing to watch Arwen while I cooked the books. Those pesky contractions were getting more annoying but if I followed the pattern that I had with Arwen the baby would be another week. There were a few deposits to make and I asked my mom if she would watch Arwen a little longer and I would run to the bank and stop by the chiropractor in the hopes of fixing my aching hips.
200pm. I walked in and was greeted by Dr. Lee's welcoming smile. I told him my hips hurt and that I was due in 3 days but we had 2 false alarms already. "Well, we'll hit a couple points and see what happens. I'll give you the 30 minute special." The adjustment was great my hips hadn't felt that good in a year. Within seconds my contractions kicked into high gear. I just breathed through them because I knew it was another false alarm. He massaged the "contraction inducing" pressure points and sure enough they were working. I still knew it was a false alarm.
I went through the drive thru at Taco Time (my other favorite place this pregnancy) breathing the best I could with contractions. I called Chris to let him know how I was doing and he asked if it was time for him to come home. I said no because it was just a false alarm and my contractions were always worse in the car. Made it to the bank and was almost in tears. I called the midwife and told her my status and that I hadn't timed anything yet but I would when I got home.
Crying, I called Chris and he said he would pack up the crew and get home.
I got home and was so upset about it being another false alarm but frustrated that the contractions weren't going away or getting any better. My midwife called to check on me and I told her I was 50 seconds long and 2 minutes apart but I couldn't tell if it was the real thing or not. She said she would go to her next appointment and then call me again. I was already putting the stew ingredients into the crock-pot, just in case the baby did come. 3 minutes after we got off the phone my midwife called again and said she would just cancel her appointment and come right down. I was so relieved that someone else made the decision for me. Chris got home about an hour after I called him and the midwives 30 minutes after him. I was still in denial about labor. Kathy (head midwife) timed a few contractions and told Vallery (midwife apprentice) "this looks good. We're staying."
7:45pm I felt that switch from "I can manage this." to "things are speeding up now and I can't handle it!!" We moved to the bedroom and I tried pushing even though it didn't feel quite right. They checked me and I was so close to 10cm they said if I could do a couple contractions it would probably finish and my water would break and baby would come. Sure enough, my water broke in a few minutes. Midwife: "oh there it is... Margaret you need to get up we need to get baby out right now!" I sat up to look and my water was green with meconium.
Panic! "Is he alright?! Is he alright?!" 'Yes Margaret baby's fine but needs to come out right now."
After trying at least 4 positions we found one where baby had good heart tones. I pushed for what seemed like forever and then James Gordon was born.
5 and half hours after my chiropractic adjustment he was born. I also only pushed for 30 minutes, it must have been that 30 minute special he was talking about. Hooray for chiropractors!
The funny thing was, the week before I had a dream that he was born but he came out looking at me. Yeah he was born face up.
I love homebirth.
I love my midwives.
I love my chiropractor.
I love my son.
And most of all I love my husband. Thanks babe for our beautiful children and your loving support.
