Long story short my water started leaking monday morning. I wasn't sure so I called my MW so she came for a home visit and indeed it was. We waited but no contrax so she gave me antibiotics to make sure both baby and I were ok. Tuesday morning a new MW came to my house and she stretched my cervix and it hurt so bad. Still no contrax. I had gotten antibiotics again b4 the other MW left and the new one gave them to me as well at 12:30pm. We walked she stretched my cervix several times to no avail. She then said it had been 30 hours since my water broke so we had to go. At that point I was 4cm and 80% effaced. She told me that they would give me pitocin to start things and that it wouldn't take long as baby was so low. When we got to the hospital contrax finally started but were little but very regular every 2 minutes. I asked them to wait for the pitocin to see if things would move along. They didn't. They then put me in a delivery room and checked me again, the contrax got a little stronger but still didn't hurt I asked again to hold on the pitocin. at 4:20pm my OB told me I would have the baby within the hour to which I replied ya right I am stuck at 4cm 80% effaced and the contrax don't even hurt! At 4:30pm I was checked again still the same so the resident said they would start the pitocin and from there all hell broke loose they didn't even have time to start the pitocin I went from 4-10cm in 10 minutes on my own and I pushed 7 minutes and out came Patric. I litterally only had time to gets my pants off or Patric would've have been stuck there My MW said total labor 17 minutes from 4:30pm till 4:47pm when he was born lmao I couldn't believe it to which my OB replied what did I tell you? :muhaha She then told the nurses see that is how a 5 times mom delivery works So I am happy this is done and over and that we had our last miracle

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The birth day of Jonathan Paul
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I wanted to begin this story by saying that this birth taught me more than any other birth I have ever witnessed or taken part in. After 4 previous inductions and taking things into my own hands, I learned to surrender my body to Gods providence, and trust that he created my body to give birth on its won without intervention. This was birth was amazing!!!

On Thursday afternoon, I went for my 2nd pregnancy massage, and asked the massues who is skilled and trained in acupressure to hit those labor inducing spots! I had been having contractions for a few days, they were decent but no regular pattern, and it was as if they were having trouble getting going so to speak. My body had felt “ready� for days, possibly since late 39 weeks, but due to previous jaundice issues with my other children, one of the things I wanted to avoid was trying to get him to come before he and my body were fully ready. Jaundice has many causes, one of which is prematurity or immaturity of the liver. Sometimes babies simply need a few extra days in utero ( or a week or so in some cases) to get things perfect for birth. That was my motivation for waiting as long as I did, even though as I said I could tell my body was ripe for birth.

After my massage, ( and some incredibly tender labor spots that were hit by Shelley!) I went to the grocery and picked up a few things for dinner and food for Friday, as I knew I had my appt. This Kroger did not carry Castor oil, and while I wasn’t certain I wanted to do it tonight, I figured it was a good time seeing as Dean was off for 2 days ( he works midnights 25 minutes away) .
I headed dive over to CVS and get some on my way home.

At home, dinner, baths, kids to bed, I mixed 2 ounces of the castor oil with half a small frosty and put it in the freezer. (this is what my midwife suggested…mix it with ice cream, it is supposed to mask the flavor). Then dh and I went off to have a quickie to hopefully get things nice and primed and ready up in there!
Afterward, I pulled the frosty out of the freezer, only to find the castor oil had coagulated in the bottom, and had become chunky, yuck! As if this stuff could get any worse! The good news was, it was true, the ice cream made it go down very easy. I basically opened my mouth, spooned it in and swallowed! At this point, being reminded of all the other times I had tried castor oil and it failed (it was always at 38-39 weeks however), I resigned myself to a few games of online gin with my friend Chris thinking I was more than likely in for an evening of diarreah and no sleep. Labor was the last thing I figured would come of what I had just done!

At about 11:30, we stopped playing, both tired and me wanting a good hot shower before bed. By 11:45 I was laying down, with no sign of any contractions, and a restless mind. I had this really neat pregnancy affirmations and visualization tape that Linda ( our Midwife!) had loaned me earlier that day when I went in for my massage, so dean ran out to Walmart and picked me up a cheap walkman to lay in bed with and try and get some rest while listening to this tape.
It was incredible! The few phrases that stick out in my mind were to “trust my body and it ability to care for an nuture the life inside of it� and also “ to trust in the process that would untie me to all women who had come before me, and would come after me�. This really helped me to relax my mind and my body. I think I feel asleep around 1:30 a.m.
At 3:40 something, I woke with stomach cramps. I figured I knew all to well what this meant, I was going to be on the pot, for awhile, and get less sleep than I had anticipated. I went in and tried to go, but nothing. SO back to bed, waited 5 minutes…OK, NOW I gotta go! As odd as this might seem, thankful I had been rather constipated for a few days prior, so the Castor oil worked, but didn’t hurt me too bad! I had a contraction, small, and went back to play down. Within another few minutes, I had another, this one seemed for focused in my pelvic area, and slightly more pronounced… then 5 minutes later, another…then 3 minutes, and then 3 minutes…they were picking up, they were close, I was not having to breathe through them, but they were definately getting my attention!
I figured at that point I would at least get up and call Linda and tell her what I had done, just in case things picked up.

This required waking Dean to put him on the alert, and going to find her pager number. I woke him, told him I was having contractions, when one hit me, it was even stronger than the first few had been, I actually need to consider breathing through that one. Still thinking this could very possibly be false labor, I told him we needed to phone Linda and give her a heads up. I went to find her pager number in my wallet, had trouble finding it, and during that time, Dean was timing the contractions for me, I had 2 more good ones…they were about 35-45 seconds long and about 3 minutes apart and by the time I found the number I got another one that hurt! I actually had to moan a little through it! This was weird, I felt like SUCH a baby! I mean for crying out loud, labor had JUST started! (if this even WAS labor!) .
Dean got Linda on the phone right in the middle of the next contractions, and he was trying to explain, but after I was finished handed the phone off to me. I gave her the update…what I had done, what I felt, etc. And she asked me “ is this any stage of labor that you recognize?� I said, um…no not really (thinking this could still possibly be false labor) She said “well, what do you want to do? Wait a little while and see or come now?� I said, I just don’t want to get in there and have this be false labor like I have always done� To which she replied “oh this is real labor!� I said oh well in that case,… (yippee, ouch!) I want to come in NOW!


I had one thing on my mind at that point…WATER!
Water to me is so soothing and such a healer. I have been a water person since the day I was born, always loved it, being near it…it connects me with something deep inside myself, it heals me, and in labor brings me comfort like and old friend. If I can’t have a bath, I will shower, but give me water!

Off the phone with Linda, I called Chris, told her to come ( for the little kids, they were going to go to her house after waking) and I called Dawn, my sister in law and photographer and told her to come on now it was time!
Duirng this I was still contracting every 2-3 minutes, and I was starting to dread the contractions. They were incredibly painful, To be honest, looking back, again, it was my self doubts thinking how hard hits was, and how there was now ay I could do this without pain meds if it was going to be like this for another 5-6 hours!

Dean was busy packing the car and trying to get things ready, and I was dealing with the contractions alone. Susie woke up just form hearing me, and she knew (she was at Sadie’s birth and remembered moms moaning!) This was the toughest part for me. I am so used to having a doula there, a friend to be with me and watch over me and help me. Dean was perfect, although he was tired and nervous and busy tossing what we needed into the car.

(cont.)

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At this point, I had a feeling (but still wasn’t certain) that things were going a little faster than I anticipated, so upon going to the bathroom again, and going more, I started myself a hot bath, as I knew Chris would take a little bit longer and we still had at least a 20 minutes drive to the birth center. Again, water is the only thing I wanted. Dean came into the bathroom shortly after that with a puzzled look on his face and says “what are you doing?�. Up until this point he had been frantically packing the car, and running around with my demands on what to grab and what to leave. I told him that he needed to call Chris and find out how long she would be, because I needed to get to the birth center asap. Dean called while I had a few more contractions in the tub. I tried drawing my legs up in the water, but this only made them seem to hurt more. While in there I started to get weepy, thinking about how difficult this was, how lonely I felt, how much I missed having my dear friend Jeannie there with me, and how I felt I needed to second guess my decision for birthing outside the hospital. It isn’t any wonder why women readily accept pain relief during labor, especially when faced with pain like this. Labor is tough work, not only physically but mentally to accept the pain factor even if you know there are real risks involved by accepting pain relief.
That moment, right there, …that was my moment of doubt. The moment you reach when contractions are at there worst, and the pangs of self-doubt start to creep in like a shadow across your path. How do I hold on? I do go through this and remain who I was? Why does it hurt this bad? I am such a wimp! I can’t do this!
Dean returned from speaking with Chris, she was still a good 10 minutes away I told him we had to go the second she got there. He finished a contraction with me, and in the next 3 minutes, found me new dry clothing (my shirt which was still on was completely soaked from the water, despite my best efforts to not get it wet.) and came back to pour hot water over my belly…which at that point was the only thing bringing me comfort during contractions. And it was then that I remembered…I was not alone. All the women who had come before me, and all the women who would come after me were with me in spirit. I had no reason to fear, I had to trust that this was what my body was created to do, and that God would help us get there, somehow before it was birth time.

Shortly after, Chris arrived. I got dressed, threw my shoes on and out the door we went. I had one more contraction as we went to get in the van. In the back, I found a warm van, complete with blankets and towels (just in case) on the floor, and a bed made up just for me complete with body pillow. My husband, what a blessing he is! As much pain as I was in, this brought me a ton of comfort. That trip went quick with all the contractions, and having driven it so many times, I could tell when we turned onto the home stretch. The road that the birth center sits on, a country road that is incredibly bumpy. All the while Dean had played one of my favorite songs off my Lord of the Rings cd by Enya called “may it be� ( I love Enya!) and up until that point I figured we were still good on time, but once we hit this road, I got this strange sensation in the back of my throat that I always get signaling it would be time to push with in the next few contractions. I told Dean to slow down but not stop at the stop sign and 2 lights between us and the birth center!
2 more contractions, we were there, and he came around and opened my door for me. At this point, not thinking about the fact that there was back door to the BC, I ran up the front walk as fast as I could. The door was locked as they had anticipated us coming around the back, so we had to wait. Linda opened the door and said “ I want you to try and go to the bathroom before you get in the tub� I said “no… I gotta get in NOW! She is so laid back she said “oh ok!� I was stripping my clothes off headed down the hallway, upon entering the birth room, I had another contraction, then got into the water.
I told Linda to check me, actually I begged her to, as I wanted to know how far along I was. She asked if I felt the need to push and I told her yeah a little bit in the van, but it still was not registering with me that I was in transition! She said “ I don’t really need too check you� I told her I was afraid of pushing before my cervix was ready, and she told me that if I felt I needed to push then it was highly probable that I was ready and checking me would do no good. I told Dean to hurry and get his swim trunks on, he was back in a flash (literally it seemed like 10 seconds!) and into the tub with me.
The next contractions, I felt him coming, I pushed really hard, 2 times, and his head came completely out up to his nose. Then 2 minutes later, another contraction, and I pushed once , out came the rest of his head, and he negotiated his turn. I could feel Linda gently guiding him to finish coming out. I had no visual of exactly what was going on, as I was squatting while holding the side of the tub and she and my oldest daughter Susanna could see him come out. This position was incredible to push in, especially supported by the water! It was a lot easier in so many ways than the typical semi recline.
I gave one last push, and I felt him come completely out. (ah relief!). At this point, in order to see my baby, I had to flip over, and lift my leg up and over him. Linda helped me! I didn’t care, I was just ready to hold my baby! J
And there he was…gorgeous, covered in a ton of vernix just like his 3 siblings before him, and with a head full of dark hair! The tub was rather on the full side, as the water had been left running, but Linda handed him to me, and within a few seconds, he took he first breath while snuggled up on my chest. We were so warm and cozy in the water, he cryed a good lusty cry, but quickly settled back down. Such heaven…all that pain and then this. What an incredible thing to hold such a miracle. This new life, so quickly come into this world. The feeling a mother feels at that moment one cannot compare too, other than the love of God.

We sat there for quite awhile until the water got cold and I delivered the placenta. We got out, got comfy and warm in bed and snuggled in to nurse. Jon Paul was ready, he had been rooting since he was 2 minutes old! He latched on, and nursed for about 20-30 minutes. After googling over my gorgeous baby and snuggling for over an hour, I went to go to the bathroom to get cleaned up. It was after that that Linda showed us his placenta and another…yes another true-knotted cord!
The reason I say another is my 5th child Sadra was born with a true knot in her cord as well. This is a one and a million thing to happen once, but 2 times in a row is completely unheard of! Needless to say, we are thankful he was all right and big and healthy. I still figured he was only about 9 lbs, as he is incredibly well proportioned, Linda knew better, and she called him at over 10.
The scale said 10 lbs 4.8 ounces…my second biggest ever! And at almost 23 inches, no wonder my belly stuck out so far. He did not and still does not look that big to me, although thinking back it isn’t any wonder I had such horrible hip pain in the last 2 months or so!

The placenta showed several interesting things, one of which was it’s oblong shape and a section of the membrane that was actually missing. It was incredibly close to where the cord was, and the cord itself did not fully grow into the depth of the placenta. From how Linda described it, she said the veins that supported him ran along the surface, but not as deep as it normally would. The only thing I could think of , with all this in mind, was the total placental previa I had been diagnosed with at 18 weeks and the bleeding I had had at the beginning of my pregnancy before I even knew I was pregnant. It is incredible to see that God has a plan for this child despite the imperfections my inner life support system gave him from the start. This of course has caused me to look inward, and see that God can and will do the same thing for me. All the insecurities I have dealt with for years about God plan for my life, were summed up right here in the miracle of my sons birth. How could I look at the odds of all that occurred during his conception, pregnancy and birth and not see God providential hand print of promise? The truth is, the spiritual and sentimental side of me cannot.
As I said to begin with, this birth taught me more about myself, my family, and learning to trust God no matter what the odds and in spite of my worst fears. It taught me that nothing is to great for Him to accomplish, evening the …the sinner who screws it up or doubts Gods plans. His will, this child and the desires of my heart …to have a good, wonderful, safe birth, with little or no medical interventions, were at the forefront for him. Once again I have learned that while I have not arrived, I have been changed and we as a family are blessed all the more!

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My first daughter was born after a 31 hour induction. I had prepared for her birth with Hypnobirthing and found it to be lacking. After 17 hours of hard labor, and only being dilated to 2-3cm, I gave in and got an epidural. Julia was delivered with a transverse head presentation..the hardest to deliver. I was always disappointed.

Let me preface this by saying that I am a NICU nurse. I have worked L&D and have seen the worst. I feel I made all my choices with the best of my knowledge and risk assessment. That said, trust your bodies, ladies. You know what's going on and don't let any nurses or doctors really push you around about inconsequential things.

Claire's Story:
I had hired a doula who specialized in optimal fetal positioning early in my pregnancy. I spent most days in positions that encouraged my baby to rotate face down. Unfortunately, I have a pelvis that does not lend itself to anterior births, only sunny-side up. Back labor is just a reality for me.

When I was 39 weeks, at 1am one night, I woke up several times and went to the bathroom. I felt like I was damp. I went back to bed and thought that I should get up and get the waterproof pad, "just in case". As I stood up, my water broke in a huge gush. I went back to bed after cleaning up and waited for labor...and waited, and waited. When your water breaks prior to the onset of labor, it most often means that your baby is sunny-side up or posterior. I called the doula at 6am and she told me to assume the hands and knee position to try to turn the baby.

I also went to the chiropractor for accupuncture and walked. I had very few contractions, unless I was walking, but I couldn't walk all day.

I did make the mistake of calling my hospital unit and asking them to save me a good room. I also wanted to know what nurses were working. I hadn't called my DR yet, because I knew they would make me go in to be induced, just because my water broke. The hospital tattled on me and my doctor kept calling me at home, asking me to go in. I told him that I would go in after my membranes had been ruptured 18hours, per CDC guidelines, if I spiked a fever, or had decreased fetal movement. Since membranes rupturing, nothing had been up there, thus no risk of infection. I was also GBS negative.

At around 7pm that day, I felt like I should go for antibiotics. I arrived and was immediately pressured to start Pitocin to be induced. I refused and agreed to IV antibiotics and requested that I be allowed to walk for a few more hours. At 9pm, I agreed to be given a Prostin gel, to try to start labor. The nurse, the same one who delivered my first daughter, and who knew how badly I wanted this natural delivery, checked me and I was 4-5cm...without any labor!

About 1 hour after the Prostin, labor kicked in full force. My doula showed up and was amazing! I would highly recommend using a doula! She was such a resource for positions and tools to get me through. Every time I thought I couldn't do it anymore, she'd come up with something new to try. My dh could be in front of me, giving me all the emotional support and my doula was providing physical support, like hip pressure.

I'll tell you, I labored in every position in that room. On the ball, crawling up the back of the bed, standing, dancing, in the shower, leaning over the bed. I alternated between screaming to God and Jesus and obscenities. I was not your quiet, meek, lay in the bed kind of patient...I have to admit, I was a bit embarrassed that all of my co-workers heard me like that!

By 3am, I was complete except for an anterior lip. Here lies the problem...from previous cervical surgery, I have scarring on my cervix. It never wants to dilate. It didn't with my first daughter either. I was basically complete, dying to push, but told that if I did, I'd rip my cervix. I remember telling the nurse at one point "that I wasn't going to have anymore kids, so lets just rip it". For 2 hours, I had to refrain from pushing and allow that cervix to push out of the way. I remember at the end of every contraction, I would moan and bear down. It just happened, I couldn't stop it.

Finally, the doctor, who was by this point very pissy that he had to stay at the hospital all night, came in and tried to push the lip out of the way. When that contraction came with his hand inside me, I kicked him out and told him to "get out! get out! What the F are you doing!"

We waited until around 4:45am and tried again. This time, he was able to push it over the head with a push. I pushed again and on the video, you can see her head do a complete 180 degree turn to face down and pop out. It was awesome to see the power in that push. I pushed for a total of 4 minutes according to the camera. It burned at the very end, but was over so quick I didn't really notice.

Claire was 7lbs 12 oz, 21", with a 15" head!

My best coping tools were some hypnobirthing relaxation techinques, long, deep, primal moans, trying every position known to man, and prolonged exhales. I would have paid my doula $2000 for what she did for me. I would never attempt it again with a doula. Also, remember to stand your ground on what you want, ask your nurse if you are concerned about the safety of your baby. To be honest, my OB did not want to spend the night at the hospital, with an unpredictable, unmedicated patient, who kept him up all night. He wanted me to be induced and have an epidural. Sorry, I was an inconvience...sucks to be him!

If I had to do it again, it would be a natural birth again. The recovery was amazing, I had no tears, and Claire was an awesome nurser. Most of all, I have felt like I can do anything since that day. I started doing triathlons and when I think I just can't go anymore, I remind myself that my body worked harder than that for 6 hours!

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On Thursday, Oct 5th, around 8pm, I began feeling contractions that were low and steady. They lasted around 1 m in duration and were 30 m apart in frequency. I knew that I was 4cm, with a very pliable cervix in the anterior position. I finished folding the laundry in our living room and visited with a friend who brought over a camera for us to use in the coming birth. Once she left, Calvin and I got our showers and played a few games of Yahtzee before turning in. By this time, my contractions were about 10 m apart. I had been having contractions 10 m apart and only slightly less intense nearly every evening for the last few weeks but, just in case... I fully did not expect this to be it. But, we prayed before bed that, if this was it, it would be a gentle and easeful birth.

Around 1am I noticed I was waking around every 4 m to the same intensity of contractions. Thinking this might be it, not wanting to wake Calvin and because I was no longer comfortable in bed, at 2:30am, I got out of bed and began walking tailor sitting, and timing contractions.

At 5:15am I could no longer time my own contractions while working through them as I was loosing sense of time, so I woke Calvin and he went down to relight the water heater (as it went out the night before) so that I could take a hot shower. Then, we both got ready for the day and began timing contractions. They were around 2-3 m apart, lasting 45 s, and I felt inclined to labor dance through them. As they were not increasing dramatically in intensity and were still not completely consistent, I took Lisa's suggestion (my doula, friend, and fellow Bradley teacher) to try knee to chest position. As I was looking forward to the shower, I set a rolled towel in the bottom of the tub and let the shower beat on my back while I assumed the knee-chest position in the shower for about 30 m.

Calvin went to pack Charis and Joce's overnight bags, and wake and ready the kiddos during this time. How comforting to hear the noises of the house while I worked at bringing this kiddo into the world. The coffee smelled great, the cheerios tasted great, and the chatter made me feel peaceable in a way I did not expect. Bri, our oldest, and Joce, our youngest, came to the shower curtain and peeled it back to watch mommy through a few contractions. Pretty soon, Bri had placed her hand on my head and said 'so this is it, huh mommy? You are doing a great job'. Joce just awarded me with one of her chipmunk-cheeked grins.

After a bowl of Cheerios, I went to the bedroom to assume the knee-chest position once again; this time on the bed. I stayed there for around 45 m and fell asleep between contractions - only to find myself the last time on my side.

Around 7:30, and after labor dancing through increasingly lower contractions, seeing off the twins (who were staying with my grandparents), Kairi (who wanted to see her papa and meema), and my mom, doing another bout of knee-to-chest on the bed, and eating some breakfast, I began to feel antsy. Calvin noticed a change in me and asked if we should head to the hospital. My next two contractions felt slightly pushy at the peak, so we decided to pack up Bri and head to the hospital. We called Lisa, Brenda (our midwife), and Deb (MIL & videographer).

After admission, and through admittance, around 9:30am, we found that I was 7cm along and the bag of waters was well intact with a large forebag (still -2 station). I got settled into my room, everyone showed up and, after the initial 20 m strip and getting hooked up for my GBS treatment, we began to walk the halls. At the beginning of a contraction, I would lean against Calvin's chest and, as the contraction came to fullness, I would bend my knees and sway my hips in rhythm to my contraction. He would apply counterpressure to my hips, and, at the conclusion of my contraction, would reward me with a sweet kiss.

We noticed that for the few moments that Calvin was not with me, my contractions would not be as affective (strong), nor my relaxation as complete. Between Lisa, Briaunna, my mom, and Calvin, though, I walked the halls for a good 3 hours, with only moments of pelvic rocks and birth ball rocking, before asking to be checked again. I was still at 7cm. Calvin and I retired to the bathroom for a half hour and had a mini makeout session, trying nipple-stimulation and open-mouthed kissing (per Ina May). It was very intense and beautiful to be in a dimly lit area, showing love and affection to my soul-mate while feeling the ebbs and tides that would bring our child forth. Lisa mentioned, when I emerged, that there was a difference about me and the labor. I would definitely say it was a pivotal moment.

We enjoyed some white bean chicken chili, apples, cheese, crackers, and water for a midday pick-me-up. Hoping to get descent going, I hopped in the shower to do squats during contractions and to have hydrotherapy applied to my tailbone as lower pressure was getting intense enough that it was hard to find relief. I stayed in the shower for about 45 m. As the family had moved down to the family waiting area so that I could try to get some rest, Calvin and I nested for 30-45 m, getting side-relaxation and a few moments of shut eye. I felt restless, though, and we were soon up again and walking. Bri joined us and helped with verbal encouragement and applying her fists to my ever lowering pressure.

As we rounded the corner to my room, Calvin mentioned trying the jacuzzi and shower again. So, I got in the jacuzzi and labored there for a little over 2 hours. I alterated the shower and jacuzzi. My contractions picked up immensely in intensity and in frequency while in the tub, while I could really feel them moving DOWN while dancing in the shower. I did my own vaginal check around 4pm and could feel the bag of water at about +2. I asked Calvin to confirm that was what it was and after he checked me, he said 'yep, there it is'. My contractions were quickly becoming so low I was grunting through the peaks of them and instinctfully bearing down. The nurse wanted me to get out, but Calvin and Lisa protected my space and I continued to labor until, during one immensely fulfilling contraction, I felt the bag of waters move out of my body. I looked down and was able to see, for just a second, the bag of waters hanging from my body.

Then it ruptured, and I felt Xander falling into place. Those in the adjoining birthing room say it sounded like a bucket of water had been thrown on the ground. Lisa went out to find Brenda and Calvin began helping me toward the birthing room. After having a few pushing contractions standing beside the bed and feeling hip pressure (I felt my legs would give out - those in attendance say this was my 'transition'), I climbed onto the bed backward so that my torso was draped over the raised back of the bed (simulating the all-fours). They tried, fruitlessly, to cover me with warm blankets, but I was so focused on moving our baby through these last few inches into the world that I yelled that is was 'too... much.. CLOTHE!'. They got the hint. So, all naturale, I began the final stage.

After a few very confusing contractions where I felt immense pressure bowing out my hips, Lisa leaned in and suggested I give a push with the next contraction, even though I felt no inclination to push. As I did, I felt Xander move past my hips and down. Calvin positioned himself to catch and Brenda, Lisa, Calvin, my daughters, and mom all began cheering me on as I instinctfully pushed through each contraction.

He decended rapidly and came to crowning. As I grunt-pushed through contractions, I heard my family talking in awed, hushed voices, and my husbands hands supporting me and my midwives hands guiding me brought me close to delerious euphoria. As his head emerged, I lost all sense of bearing down and became disoriented.

Brenda told me I had to get him out. His mouth was at my perineum and he was not descending any further. After a few futile pushes (my body was not obeying) she placed her hands over Calvin's and began manually rotating his body into the correct alignment. My 'little' Xander was giving us shoulder dystocia (Gaskin Maneuver worked beautifully). Within the next few contractions, he slid free of my body and Calvin caught him. He was immediately passed to me between my legs and I sat back on my haunches to get him to nurse. Briaunna and Kairi got as close to the bed as they could and touched their brother all over. Remarking, teary-eyed, how 'He's here!!! He's Here!!! You did it mommy!!!'. They touched his cord to feel the pulse running through it and did more newborn googling.

Briaunna had the honor of cutting the cord once it stopped pulsing and, as she did the final snip (it only took her two), she exclaimed loudly 'now I KNOW I want to be a doctor!'. As my placenta began to descend, Brenda noted that I was going to start bleeding and we talked options. Once it was birthed, she attempted fundal pressure and 'massage'.. It didn't slow. So, we finally opted on pitocin.

I had no tearing. My 'area' actually feels remarkably well and I attribute that to the position I labored in. All in all, his birth was beautiful, empowering, humbling, and fulfilling. I was given the knowledge of my bodies FULL capabilities. I was given the gift of a family witnessing the birth of their family. I was given the joy of my husband being the first to touch our only son as he emerged from my body. And I was given the grace to have had a long, but gentle and easeful birth.

Welcome Xander Baylis - "Swordsman and Defender of Mankind"
October 6th, 2006
5:19pm
8lbs 13.4oz
20 1/2 inches
36cm head
32cm chest
Wider-than-a-linebackers-shoulders

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Nicole, Host of Natural Childbirth Board! Come check out your options!!!

I was due Jan 7th 2006. Starting right around Christmas I was trying everything to go into labor. I was sick of feeling fat and terrified that if I got any bigger I was going to get stretch marks (luckily I never did). I had toxemia my last 5 weeks and gained a good 20 pounds those 5 weeks putting the grand weight gain total of about 54 pounds..I only planned on gaining 40 (at the absolute most), yeah not so much!

I was literally doing EVERYTHING to go into labor. I was going to the mall every chance I had to walk around and stimulate labor even though my doctor warned me not to since I had toxemia and was so incredibly swollen. Nothing like spending a a couple hundred bucks at Pea in the Pod on cute maternity holiday outfits only to sport them with fifteen dollar flip flops from Traget because my feet were so swollen. I even went to the gym and walked on the treadmill and stair masters, nothing!!! I drank nast oil and herbs, nothing!!! I even had sex, yes, my fat *** 9 months preg had sex, my poor husband...lol

I was begging my doctor to induce me, please I cant get any bigger, but since I was a first time mom she couldn't without a reason to. I was considered high risk since I had toxemia and had to go to Fetal Diagnostics 3 days a week every week the last 5 weeks of my pregnancy so they could do ultra sounds and non-stress tests etc. It was nice because I got to see my baby all the time, but very draining. Every time my blood pressure would be high or I had protein in my urine tehy woudl say "uh oh we might have to induce you today." Yes!!! I would think but of course they would stabilize me and send me home. Grrrrrrr. A week before my due date my doctor finally scheduled me to be induced on Jan 11th if nothing happens by then.

On Jan 2nd I had my membranes stripped and then on Jan 4th I lost my mucus plug, I thought for sure I would go into labor that day. Nothing happened after that. Finally on Friday night the 6th I was at dinner and started getting cramps, ver light ones. I only oredered a salad in case this was the "real thing!" On my way home they got a little bit more intense (it was 8:30 pm) and I called my doc, she said to wait until they were 5 min apart before going to the hospital.

I got home and started exercising and trying to make this happen. I would go from having contractiosn 5 min apart then 20 min apart then 10 then 30, it was not consistent. Finally around 10:30 it stopped and I got ready for bed. My husband went to clean outthe car etc and I was in bed watching a movie. We stay with my mom so she was there too but in bed. All of a sudden around 11 I got this horrible contraction and I screamed and stood up and told myself if I get one more like that I am going to the hospital and I dont care if they are 5 min apart yet. Then 2 min later another horrible one. I told my mom I was in labor and I did what any normal woman in labor does, I did my make-up Gotta look good for the pics. I was doing my make-up when out of no where my water broke all over the bathroom floor, thank God its all travertine and no carpet. Yes!!! I knew that once yoru water breaks they can't send you home so I knew that for sure I was having my baby.

After the water broke the contractions were "NO JOKE" I was in so much pain, and the water doesn't stop, it keeps leaking out. SO I got into the car and drove the 5 min drive to Hoag Hospital in Newport Beach. It was chaos. The valet guys was MIA, prob parking a car, so we just left our car in front, and the wheel chairs were all gone. Finally I found one and we raced up teh elevator and got my own private room. Gotta love hoag. I was begging for my epidural and I knew it was going to be an up hill battle because they like to make those first time moms wait. I finally got it at 3 am, and all was good. I didn't feel a THING. I couldn't even move my legs. It was great! The only way to go. I could never go natural, you're in so much pain that you cannot even enjoy the experience. I was able to talk and laugh with my mom, husband and nurses. I got some rest. Then at 8:30 am they told me it was time to push. They called the doc in. I started pushing but everytime I would let go of the push my baby would go back up. They said they thought he might be face up and I agreed since that is how he was on his past few ultra sounds.

The asked me if I wanted them to try a vacuum but I was really nervous about that from stories I have heard. But after another 15 minutes of pushing with the same thing, I decided that I woudl letthem try the vacuum for only one push and if it didn't do the trick then forget it I will keep pushing the natural way or get a C-section. Well it worked, on one push with the vacuum my little guy came right out, and I never felt a thing. I didn't even know he was out I was still pushing and tehy said you can stop now, he is out. Epidurals are great!

He was a perfectly healthy baby boy at 8 pounds 5 ounces and 20 1/2 inches long. I had a small episiotomy and had 3-4 stitshces, not bad. I stayed in the hospital for 3 days, I wanted that extra day because my hospital was sooo nice and the nurses were so great and I wanted an extra day of help from them. It was a wonderful experience. My mom could not believe how easy we have it now-a-days. I hope all my experiences giving birth are like this one.

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Danielle (27) Loving mom to Austin born January 7th 2006

Michael Alton was born 1-24-07 (also my birthday!) at 12:11 p.m. He was born at home after less than 5 hours of labor! Only 21 minutes of pushing and no tears (or 'roids! YAY)! Woohoo!
He was - 10 lb, 1 oz
- 22 1/2 inches long
Basically I woke up at 7:15am after Michael punched my bladder REALLY hard, went to the bathroom and saw I'd totally lost my plug and had been feeling a few contractions.........

DH left for work at 7:45, I called him at 8:10 and told him to get back home.... He got home at 8:35 and we left for my midwife appt. that was at 9AM.... When I got there, I was already at a 4cm and 100% effaced and working REALLY hard through my contractions (I really don't remember much of the visit even though we were there for almost an HOUR!)...... on the ride home, I was in TRANSITION already! (Yeah, less than 3 hours after starting cx!)......

When I got home, I tried the birth ball and was yelling out stuff like "JESUS, OPEN IT UP - OPEN UP MY CERVIX! LORD HELP ME THROUGH THIS CONTRACTION!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
!!!" as loud as possible and wouldn't let DH help me at all... my mom came and got our 20 month old DD, I took a quick shower and then stationed myself on the toilet.... then I had DH call the midwives to go ahead and come over...

by the time the first midwife got there, I was pushy feeling..... but not pushing yet... Eventually, she convinced me to get off of the toilet at 11:45... I started pushing at 11:50 (on the edge of my bed with one leg up on the side of the box spring and the other on the floor) and pushed for 21 minutes.... and out popped little Michael! It was NOTTTTTT even close to as bad as I thought it would be at ALL!! In fact, on the video, a few minutes after the birth I said "Oh my gosh! I thought that was going to be so much harder! Is that weird?!" lol

I felt like pushing my placenta out within a few minutes after the birth and my midwives obliged. I did faint momentarily when trying to go to the bathroom a while after the birth and as a precaution, my midwives gave me oxygen and a shot of pitocin to get my uterus to do its thing after the birth (I didn't hold the baby a whole lot right after I fainted, so my uterus wasn't contracting like it would've been if he'd been nursing).... Anyway, all was well and the midwives were FANTASTIC!

Anyone in the west Texas area should certainly seek out the services of Motherly Way Maternity Services! Kelli and Shanna (and their apprentice Mel) were absolutely WONDERFUL!!!)

This has been a healing and surreal experience! My DD was born via C/S after 42 hours of labor (water broke prior to cx) due to posterior positioning and a cocked head (she was an attempted natural birth center birth, so the C/S was very disappointing to me!)...... so we were shocked that this one went off without a hitch and SO quickly!

Here are some links to some pics!
Here he is moments after birth:
http://img412.imageshack.us/img412/8977/dscf0001zv9.jpg

Here we are a few minutes later!
http://img76.imageshack.us/img76/8049/dscf0005ay2.jpg

Here he is with his grandma (my mom) and big sister Grace later that evening when they met him for the first time!:
http://img76.imageshack.us/img76/1875/dscf0007fd1.jpg

and here I am with DD and DS today!:
http://img79.imageshack.us/img79/5166/dscf00134ym7.jpg

-Jenn

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Seth’s Birth story

Friday, March 19th 2004 I went in for my biweekly NST and they discovered that I was in pre labor with contractions 10-15 minutes apart with some that were 20-30 minutes apart so still pretty sporadic. Their main concern was the swelling in my feet, which had gotten pretty severe and my blood results came back with a low platelet count and there was also some protein in my urine, which was a definite red flag for eclampsia, I was checked and found to be about 1cm dilated and slightly effaced. Also, my blood pressure was higher than they liked to see…

Since my OB was out of town the on call OB accessed my situation after many hours of laying around and being observed the decision was made to let me go, but they wanted me back on Saturday for another NST and more blood work. Steve and I really think that the nurses and OB had pity on me because all Steve and I could talk about was my baby shower the next day and we think that was the only reason that they released me. I set up an appointment to come back for my NST at 6pm the next day (March 20, after my shower).

March 20, after a couple hours of observation and lab work, sure enough around 8 pm the nurse came into the room and said that they wanted to keep me overnight for further observation. My platelets were still very low, my blood pressure was still high and my contractions were coming about 5-8 minutes apart and there were still traces of protein in my urine. I was checked and found to be 2cm and about 45-50% effaced, -3 station.

March 21st, Steve and I wait all day for the on call OB to come in to tell us what the next step would be, we were hoping I would get to go home we were both sick of being at the hospital, but we both doubted that was likely. At about 3pm, the on call OB showed up and said that he felt that it was best I stay and be observed one more day and that my regular OB would be in the next day to see me and access the situation further because he didn’t want to make a judgment call being that he wasn’t my regular OB just the on call OB. I sent Steve home to sleep and tend to Cylle, I didn’t see a reason why he should have to suffer another night at the hospital since I wouldn’t have any news until the next day anyway. At about 4pm Steve went home. At about 10:15 pm the nurse comes into my room and says that my OB had called and wanted them to induce labor ASAP. I call Steve and tell him to get back to the hospital right away because they are going to induce. They start me on 1 ml/hr of pitocin at 11:15 pm.

March 22nd, 2004 12:30 am pitocin dosage increased to 3 ml/hr, which brings my contractions to 3-4 minutes apart. I can definitely feel the contractions/surges, but they are just uncomfortable. I am practicing my hypno birthing allowing myself to completely relax.

A few minutes after DH shows up, the rest of his family shows up too around midnight, they are all so excited. I laugh because they have no clue that the baby isn’t coming right that minute, I knew it would be many, many hours before Seth’s arrival as inductions sometimes drag. Finally after much coaxing, Steve and I convinced them all to go back home at around 2 am and that we would keep them posted. Throughout the night my pitocin in gradually increased to try and get my contractions in a steady pattern to cause some progress.

My OB shows at about 4pm checks me and finds that I am 4cm and about 60-70% effaced. He informs me that my platelet count has become so low that it was now dire necessity to get Seth out ASAP. He said that if my platelets got any lower that I would need a platelet transfusion, so we had to get Seth out within the next few hours…Since my platelets were so low, I couldn’t have an epidural (I didn’t want one anyway) too dangerous, which also meant that a c-section would be risky too. He suggests that since I wanted a natural birth experience and he wanted to help me keep to that, that we break my water and keep the pitocin going. He said I could either break my water then or we could wait a few more hours to see if my body would progress naturally and perhaps my water would break on it’s own. I opted to wait and have the OB come back later that evening to break my water if I had no progress.

So for the next 4 hours I labored quietly and calmly, using my birth ball, sleeping here and there and sitting in the rocking chair in the room to keep myself focused during contractions. All and all though the contractions to me were just very uncomfortable and Steve’s family who dropped in throughout the day to check in on me were all very surprised that I was so chatty, calm and talkative even when they noticed that I had just had a very large contraction on the monitor.

At 8:15 pm my OB came back, checked me and I was still at 4cm and about 80% effaced. So my OB broke my water and left saying he would be running home for dinner and be back in about an hour or as soon as the nurses called him and said that he needed to get back there ASAP. Within 10 minutes of my OB breaking my water, my contractions hit me with a force that caught me TOTALLY off guard. Steve tried to get me to listen to my hypno birthing tapes to get myself refocused because the contractions became unbearable to deal with suddenly, but I didn’t want to think about listening to the tapes, I just wanted to do whatever it took to get through each contraction at the point even if that meant grunting and groaning through the contractions. The contractions started to come one on top of the other and lasted anywhere from 1-3 minutes long each. I started to beg for them to cut the pitocin off because I knew that was what was making it so difficult for me to deal with the contractions was the use of the devil of a drug pitocin.

My mom showed up, as did Steve’s family. They all really tried to get me to focus and relax through contractions, but I lost all focus at this point. They all took turns trying to help me relax~ rubbing my back, talking to me etc., but I wasn’t tuned into any of them in the room after awhile, I didn’t even know or care who was in the room I was that distracted by the discomfort I was feeling…

The nurse kept coming through offering pain drugs through my IV and I kept turning her away amazingly despite how much discomfort I was in. I went from 4 cm-6cm in less than an hour.

At about 10:45, I felt like I wanted to push and was checked again and found to be 7cm almost 8 cm dilated. My OB was already on his way back and by the time he got there at 11:20 pm, I was moaning loudly and crying (literally) that I was tired and that I wanted to go home, you could definitely could tell I was in transition that’s for sure…I was told to breath through the urge to push, which I found to be the hardest thing to do.

At 11:30 ish my OB told me I could start pushing…My OB encouraged me to do controlled paced pushing, so that my perineum could have time to stretch. I did what I was told really focusing on relaxing and breathing and remaining focused during pushing phase. Steve reminded me that I wanted to use the squat bar during delivery, but I told him forget it, I just wanted to get this over with as fast as possible.

At 11:42 pm Seth entered the world. My OB places him on my chest and he is just so beautiful. Perfectly pink, no crying, no thrashing, hardly any vernix or blood on him it was odd he was the cleanest newborn fresh out of the womb I had ever seen. Seth just laid on my chest peacefully. I broke down and cried saying my baby, oh my baby. He was just so beautiful. His apgars were 9/9 and he weighed in at 7 pounds, 14 oz, 19 inches long. I had no tears and didn’t need an episiotomy either.

Do I think hypno birthing worked for me? Absolutely. I believe that what I learned from hypno birthing kept me focused and calm during pretty much 2 days of early labor and a whole day of active labor. I am personally proud of myself, I think I held it together very well despite the amount of discomfort I was feeling, I mean it was pretty bad there that last hour or so, very tough.

But for me natural is the way to go, I've done it sucessfully with my 2 children and I will do it again if I have another baby (Update: I am currently pregnant with my 3rd and last baby--a baby Girl due June 30th. I plan on using a combo of hypnobirthing technique to relax and stay calm and focal points/distraction techniques this time around as well. I will post my birth story on that experience as well )

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Heth 35
DH Steve 31
DS Cylle 15 yrs
DS Seth 3 yrs
DD Sophia due 6/30/07

Birth Story of Addison Claire...

At my 39 week appointment my ob stripped my membranes, I was dilated to 2. Then Wednesday evening, Darren grilled some spicy steak and I used my breast pump for about 30 min. Didn't get any contractions but I did have some wierd feelings in my tummy. A few hours later...

At 12:00 am Thursday February 15th I woke up to some strange gas pressure. I got up to pee and got back in bed. Twenty min later I was back in the bathroom thinking I needed to go. Nope, just still having those same gas pains. By 2:00 am it was too uncomfortable to stay in bed but I was still so unsure.

I timed a few contractions which were slowly gaining in intensity. All the contraction pain was in my back, nothing in my front. So at 6:30 am I called my doula to let her know what was happening. She told me I was in very early labor which could last a few hours or even a day. She encouraged me to try and relax, take a bath, have a bite and wait. My mom came over at 7:00 am and gave me an enema to help things along. After that I got in the tub for a soak. My contractions continued now coming about 5 min apart but still not all that painful. I was just reaching the point where I needed to breathe through rather than talk through them. I hadn't had any show so that is what I was waiting for as a sign that progress was being made. My MIL left her house at 7:00 am and headed up (2 hour drive). By the time she got to my house at 9:00 am I was getting really uncomfortable. I was leaning over my couch and Darren was putting counter pressure on my back through a contraction when I felt a small gush. I ran to the bathroom and discovered a wet pad with a tinge of pink mixed in. During the next contraction I had another gush, this time was old blood. I called my doula back and she was afraid my water had broken and said she'd meet me at the hospital. So off we went.

By the time we got to the hospital at 10:00 my contractions were 3 min apart and INTENSE. My doula arrived about 15 min after me and upon checking me I was 5 cm. Oh, and my water had indeed broken. I was thrilled thinking oh this will be quick now!! I'm half way there! HA HA HA!!! Shortly after my check I told Darren to clear the room. Jualeah (my doula) came in, turned all the ligts off, instructed the nursing staff to leave us alone, got my ipod playing and my hard labor began. For background, my doula is a registered l&d nurse at my hospital, luckily she didn't have a shift on Thursday so I got her all to myself.

I got immediately down on the floor bent over a chair for a while. From there I labored bent over the bed, then got into the shower, squatted at the end of my bed, laid on my side in the bed, sat straight up in the bed, you get the picture. I had to change positons frequently to deal with the pain. Still my contraction pain was 100% in my back, I suppose I had back labor although Jualeah never said that. Throughout each and every contraction either Darren or Jualeah would apply counter pressure to my lower back. I dealt with the contractions by counting my breaths. I took huge in and out breaths, on breath 1, 2, 3 & 4 the pain was severe, by 5, 6, 7 & 8 the contraction was coming down. Sometimes they were double long and those were really rough. The whole time Darren was right by my side. He was so sweet to me, sometimes annoying me by trying to kiss my sweaty head. I swatted at him a few times I know. Jualeah would put the fetal monitor on my belly about every 1/2 hour or so to check the baby's heartbeat. She never skipped a beat, a healthy 147 bpm throughout labor! Since I didn't have an IV I was free to move around but was completely unable to walk the halls.

This went on an on for hours...4 to be exact. Around 2:30 I was really struggling. My eyes were rolling back in my head between each contraction. Jualeah was getting worried that my body was giving out. She told me that it was not too late for the epidural and that might be all I needed to relax and get this finished. I looked at her and said...if I get the epi then I didn't do it...she chuckled and said oh, you've already done it. She just wanted me to know my options. In the back of my mind though I was still feeling strong enough to proceed so I refused. She said let me check you and if you've made enough progress I'll let you start pushing. I had already been feeling the urge to push through about the last 30 min of contractions but it was short uncontrolable pushes. She checked me and said, ok, let's get this baby here. She whipped out the stirrups for my legs and gave me some instruction on how she wanted me to push. The very next contraction I pushed and the relief was instant. The pain wasn't totally gone but the severity was greatly diminished by my pushing. I was so glad and got the energy I needed to continue. I pushed for about an hour with her. Every contraction she was massaging trying to get the baby's head to duck below my bone. Finally when she did she was ready for my doc to come. I feel certain that she could have delivered the baby herself, but I wanted my doc there to finish things. He arrived around 3:30 and I pushed another 20 minutes or so. Oh, I forgot to mention that Jualeah had been playing with Addi's hair, saying she needed a barette, for quite some time. I remember saying, if you can play with her hair, why is she still inside me. Anyway, when her head came out...WOW...pain followed by relief, the rest of her slid right on out. My placenta delivered a few minutes later and my doc stitched me up (small tear, no episiotomy), without numbing me I might add. After the fact Jualeah said...you didn't feel him stiching you? I said hell yeah I felt it. She asked why I didn't say anything and I responded that I didn't know it was an option. Oh well, it was done then.

They placed Addison on my chest to clean her up and her Daddy cut the cord. We just stared at her crying and laughing, so relieved to finally have our baby in our arms. She scored 9/10 apgar and breastfed immediately for about 7 minutes. I was so happy that everything had gone so well and we were all healthy.

Her stats...7lbs 1 oz, 18.5 inches.

I am recovering well. The tear and stiches slowed my recovery a little but I'm feeling 10 times better each day. Addi is a wonderful baby and we're loving every minute with her.

There are lots of pics on our website http://homepage.mac.com/darrenducote

I'm so glad I made the decision to do it naturally. I fully understand why any woman requests an epidural because the pain is unbearable at times. Luckily I had an incredibly supportive husband, a fantastic doula and a wonderful doctor along with my friends and family all believing in me. I will do it all over again when the time is right.

Thanks for reading my story and congratulations to everyone!

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