homebirth part I

February 14, 2012 - Valentine's Day! 1 week & 5 days overdue

I woke up Tuesday morning feeling pretty normal. I was pretty happy because I was able to sleep through the night because my tummy had pretty much stopped itching, which was glorious! Everything felt pretty much the same as always except I noticed my tummy was feeling a little heavy, but nothing unusual. I'd also been losing parts of my mucus plug for a day or so. My mommy and I decided to go get pedicures and forget about the pregnancy for a little while and just pamper ourselves for the day, so we got all showered and pretty for that. Around 10:00 I started feeling a little crampier than usual but again, didn't think anything of it because I'd had about a million false alarms though this pregnancy when I thought I'd go into labor. So, we decided to go to the grocery store and get stuff to make The Best Brownies Ever and some chocolate covered strawberries. At this point, my mom was convinced I was in labor, but I still had my doubts considering how many times I thought I'd go into labor in the weeks before. We did decide against the pedicures though and decided to just hang around at home and see what happened.
Rob came home around 4:00 and then we all went to go take a walk in the park to see if things picked up. Things picked up.

We got home and started timing contractions, which at this point just felt like regular menstrual cramps in my back and abdomen accompanied with the braxton hicks-like tightening sensation, nothing to write home about, just slight discomfort. After around 30 minutes of contractions 5 minutes apart lasting a minute each, we decided to give our midwife a call just to give her a heads up. After 30 more minutes of of rhythmic contractions, she sent out her assistant, Chelsey, to see what was up.


Chelsey arrived at our house around 8:30* and we checked to see how much I was dilated. I was still around a 3-4 which is the same as the day before, but things seemed to be progressing much to our excitement. We got out all the birthing supplies and started getting everything setup. We started blowing up the tub (but somehow lost the plug for the air) and got it ready to be filled. Liz got here soon after and we made a few snacks.
At this point, contractions are coming every few minutes and getting stronger and longer. This is where I started losing track of time and basically everything else. I remember that my dad eventually got here and Brenda showed up sometime soon, too. I don't remember much before I got into the tub, but I was just told I said some things like "Get out my way, I need to poop" as well as "I wish I could just fall asleep on a wall, why aren't any of these walls comfortable?"
Once I got into the tub, everything felt so wonderful. If any of you ever plan to have a natural childbirth, I highly, highly recommend having a birthing pool. It was fantastic.






I believe at this point, Michelle had already gotten there and I was dilated to around a 7. I'm not sure what time it was but I remember being surprised at how fast the time seemed to be passing. I thought it would drag on forever.




By sunrise I believe I was around 8 cm dilated, but I really don't remember at this point. I remember every contraction being very intense. I wasn't informed of this, but around 7:00 the grandmas were informed that baby was turned posterior and it wasn't a probability, but a possibility that if baby didn't turn, we might have to go to the hospital.
The midwives had me in a few different positions for hours trying to turn the baby, 15 minutes on my side, 15 on my hands and knees, 15 on my other side. Eventually I was dilated to a 10 and we decided to start pushing (not that it's really a decision, but more of a mandatory thing on my body's part).
Push, Push, Push.. Can you feel your baby moving down? No..
I pushed for around two hours. Two hours. Nothing..
Finally, I was informed that baby wasn't coming, baby was turned around posterior and wasn't going to come out on its own. So, we decided to go to St. Anthony. If you aren't familiar, posterior means the baby's back is toward your back and not toward your front. Sunny side up.
It took me about 10 minutes through very intense pushing contractions to make it out to the car, dilated to a 10, baby low right above the birth canal, but I got in and we sped off to the city, entire family behind.


*this will probably be the last time you see an exact time, as I lost track after this point
 Read Part Two HERE