Marjorie Julieta’s Birth Story
Born At Home
April 24, 2002 at 9:24am
8 pounds, 20 inches
On April 22, 2002, Alex and I were at home and he noticed I was acting oddly. I was very quiet and spacy – not tired enough for bed, but just sitting there silently with my head resting on my shoulder. He kept asking if I was going into labor since it was such odd behavior for me. I kinda scoffed at him inside, but later that evening, I did notice that I was having Braxton-Hicks contractions regularly six minutes apart. I tried to go to sleep with Alex, but I was having one of my normal (well, normal for pregnancy) insomnia attacks and so I got frustrated and gave up on sleeping to go clip coupons and watch TV. Finally, around 1:15am, I was able to fall asleep on the couch.
At 3:30am, I awoke with a strong contraction. I remember not being too surprised, so this must have happened from time to time, but this time I kept having contractions so at 4:00am, I decided to wake Alex up so he could time them. We estimated that they were about two and a half minutes apart and about 40 seconds long. Around 5:00am I debated on calling Vickii cause I felt so bad waking her in the middle of the night for what I was still kinda sure wasn’t really anything, but we decided to call her anyway and she asked me some questions like how far apart they were and how I was handling them. She said she suspected it would be awhile and she and Aimee would come whenever I felt like I needed them or they could make a difference for me. I said I’d see how the next couple of hours went and I’d call her back to check in.
So for the next hour and a half I tried to rest as much as possible since I had gotten so little sleep. During this time, I walked through the contractions, rubbing my back. I tried sitting on the toilet, but it was very uncomfortable. I tried a bath, but it, too, was very uncomfortable. Also, I wanted company, and being in the bathroom made me feel alone so that’s a big part of the reason I didn’t stay on the toilet or in the tub. I was having back labor and I remember it felt like a sharp pain in my back where my pubic bone is – a little to the right of the center. Also, they were coming so close together, I barely had time to do anything between them. I had expected to go late – not nearly a week early so I had lots to do. I remember trying to sterilize the ear & nose syringe with hot water in the bathroom sink, but having to stop for each contraction. This was one of the times I felt I wouldn’t make it through the labor without drugs.
Around 6:30 we called Vickii back to check in again and decided to, once again, see how the next couple of hours went. She had me take some of my herbs with valerian in it to help me get some sleep and I did. It was weird. Made me feel kinda like I was on NyQuil cause I was drowsy and spacy, but I couldn’t sleep cause the contractions kept waking me and there wasn’t much time between them. So at 8:00am I called her back and told her I needed her.
Vickii arrived around 9:00am and said she was going to check me before she called Aimee since Aimee was in class and Vickii didn’t think I’d be moving too quickly. She got settled in, took my vitals, listened to Margie via Doppler and asked me some questions and around 10:00am she checked me to see where I was at. I had dilated to about 3 centimeters and my cervix was paper-thin by this time. She felt for the baby’s head and it was turned the wrong way so she had me on hands and knees on the bed with my butt up in the air for 15 minutes and after that I did 15 minutes of pelvic rocks (stopping for contractions) to try to get her head to turn. She had me do this partly because back labor is extra painful, but also because having her head the wrong way could possibly slow down the labor.
Vickii wanted to encourage me to get as much rest as possible since first time moms could take days and I would need my energy. She recommended taking some more herbs, some that would help take the edge off the contractions, too, but I wasn’t so sure. I didn’t want to take too much of anything… I talked to Alex, though and he was fine with it, so I decided to go ahead and take them. I settled myself in on the couch with my feet up on the coffee table and Vickii’s heating pad behind me and I tried to sleep between contractions. By this time, they had slowed to about 5 minutes apart so I was able to actually GET some sleep here and there. Since things were going slowly, Vickii went to a nearby client’s for a prenatal appointment just in case she wouldn’t be able to make it the next morning. I slept (as much as possible) for the next hour and a half. Alex slept, too. Later, Alex made me a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and at some point, also a quesadilla.
When Vickii came back, she decided to check me again to see if I had made any progress and I hadn’t. She told me that meant I wasn’t technically in “active labor” (HA!!!) and that it was even possible for this process to stop completely and not start again for a week or so. She didn’t think that was the case with me, but she wanted me to be prepared for anything. She decided to go ahead and leave and we could call her if things changed again. She told me a good way to estimate if they had really changed (not just normal fluctuations) was to see if they remained for 2 hours. She recommended we go rent a movie and try to rest as much as possible, and she also told me that at about bedtime, I should knock myself out with a wine cooler or two, so I sent Alex to get me some. Yes, my straight-egde, anti-any-drug-ever husband went and bought me alcohol. Heh heh. I didn’t want to go anywhere, I couldn’t imagine having to stay strapped in the car during a contraction. Ugh. I don’t know how moms who leave home to give birth do it!
Alex and I watched TV all night and just relaxed. Around the time “The Osbournes” came on, my contractions started being really intense, although still about five minutes apart. I began moaning louder through them when before I was able to either be quiet or to simply breathe through them, these were too intense for that. I drank my wine cooler now, but I never finished it, I kept falling asleep with it in my hand until the next contraction would hit. I tried to sleep on the couch and Alex tried to sleep on the floor, but that wasn’t working, so we tried the bed. And that made it worse, so I went back out to the living room and slept on the chair, getting up to walk around during contractions. Must have been a funny sight, this woman sleeping upright and every five minutes popping up to take a trip around the room. By this time, the back labor was gone (YAY pelvic rocks!!!), but I was experiencing a lot of pressure in my rectum so it felt like I had to poop, and that was not only painful, but annoying as heck. This was the reason I couldn’t stay sitting during them any more. Right around this time, Margie decided to get her last prenatal hiccups, too, and I felt those in my rectum, too, and oh my goodness was that odd! Around 2:30am, I decided the pain was too much and I needed to call Vickii. We talked and she asked if I wanted her to come and I didn’t really see why she should, since my contractions were still short (about 45 seconds) and about five minutes apart – basically no change except in intensity. However, I thought maybe she could sort of act as a doula and coach me through them or something so I told her yes, I wanted her to come.
She arrived about an hour later and literally as she walked in the door, my contractions leapt from about 5 minutes apart to right after the other. (By the way, I didn’t time them too carefully and Alex was trying to get in a little sleep so these are pretty much estimates on my part.) They always seemed to be irregular, though and I recently heard this is a symptom of a posterior baby, so I guess Margie’s head was still a little “cockeyed.” This was the only other time during my labor that I truly thought I wasn’t going to make it, but during the short breaks between contractions, I was able to get myself together to go on to the next one – not like I really had a choice at this point, anyway, though… 🙂 Alex went and got Breakfast Jacks at Jack in the Box and I tried to eat some, but didn’t get too far. I think it took me two hours or so to get through 1/2 of one. I couldn’t eat during a contraction and didn’t have much appetite otherwise. Vickii would watch for the contraction to end and remind me to eat some. She walked around looking at our stuff. She saw we had the movie “The Big Lebowski” and she said her son loved it, but she didn’t get it. Alex told her, “But, it’s the Dude, Dude!” (Line from the movie)
I kept tripping out over the fact that labor felt like I had to poop. And every time I said something, Vickii said, “Well, if it would make you more comfortable, I can give you an enema” but it’s not that I was AFRAID I might poop (I had talked about those fears with Vickii at a prenatal appt. and didn’t care any more), just that I thought the whole thing was so weird! Vickii told me it was ok for me to give little pushes during contractions if that helped relieve pressure, so I did. I began to spend a lot of time on the toilet because it suddenly became comfortable to me, and at least I could sit down there and rest from time to time (I had been walking around for nearly three hours straight with no chance to sit down at one point). During one contraction, I gave a particularly strong push and heard a pop and my water broke – partly in the toilet, but an awful lot came flying out in front of me on the floor, too. This was the funniest part of my labor, and one of my favorite memories of it. I called Vickii who was sitting outside the door, apparently, and she came in and said, yup, it was my water. “I thought that’s what I heard!” I told her I thought it looked greenish, but she wasn’t so sure. She said she’d know better for sure later, though. She sat on the scale in front of me for awhile while I labored.
After that I went in the bedroom to be checked again – this was about 6:45am – and I was between seven and eight centimeters. Vickii said not to make myself push, but if my body wanted to do it, to go ahead and listen. So I did that and about two contractions later I felt the strong urge and I couldn’t stop myself anyway, so I did. And I kept pushing after that with every contraction. It was so odd. Primal is the best way to describe it, I was completely out of control of myself and, honestly, it felt so good. The pushing was a LOT easier than the contractions simply because my body was in control. It was a relief and I was actually kind of having fun at this point. By about 7:15am Vickii wanted to check my cervix to make sure it wasn’t swelling since I was pushing before I was fully dilated, and in that half hour I had completely dilated! So I went full-force into pushing. I think it was around right now that Vickii called Aimee to come over.
I didn’t want to get up because of all the pressure on my rectum so I lay on my side in bed and pushed there. I held Alex’s hand and sometimes the headboard of the bed, too. After awhile Vickii suggested I go push on the toilet for a while to let gravity help and also she said changing positions might help things move along. I didn’t want to because, like I said, the pressure made it very uncomfortable to walk, but I got up anyway, and sat on the toilet and it was Heaven. I kept making Vickii promise me, though, that my baby wouldn’t fall into the toilet, heehee. By the way, I *did* poop while I was pushing but luckily it was just in the toilet. I think, anyway. 🙂
Aimee showed up after awhile and they fed me two large glasses of apple juice to keep my strength up. They were also feeding me water the whole time. Vickii suggested I make the move back to the bed, but of course, I didn’t want to because of the same reason as before, but also because the toilet was particularly comfortable. But I did, anyway, and I got back in bed and resumed holding Alex’s hand (in the bathroom, I was hanging on to the counter next to me). I remember I had two of his fingers in one hand and two in the other and I was pulling his hand against my forehead. Don’t know why, it was just what I needed to do at the time. His other hand held my leg back so I didn’t have to think about that.
I think I was pretty vocal during pushing, too (well, when am I NOT vocal, really???), and I know that I kept saying I didn’t think I was going to make it, but my little secret was I *did* know I would make it, I was just fishing for encouragement. Heh heh. Sneaky. 🙂 Vickii recorded in my notes that I said at 8:30, “This is annoying” and at 8:38, “This hurts. Not it doesn’t it feels weird.” LOL I don’t remember talking much at all, so I wonder what else I said. Heh heh.
When the head started crowning they held the mirror up so I could see it and, oh my goodness was that the most beautiful thing I ever saw. It kept coming in and out a little further each time and it was so perfect, and so stress-free. Alex said I was glowing when I saw that.
During the whole labor they were checking Margie’s heart rate with the Doppler and it was always perfect. It was only towards the very end that the contractions started to wear on her, she was doing so well the whole time. Yay!
Awhile later they told me to stop pushing for a minute and I thought it was because they were trying to prevent a tear (they had been using warm compresses on my perineum), but I guess her head was fully out and they were suctioning her (because there was, indeed meconium in the water) because the next thing I knew they told me to push just a little and then Vickii was telling me to reach down and help my baby the rest of the way out! I was so surprised that she was here already I didn’t understand at first, but then I looked down and saw this little purple body, arms reaching up, and I reached down and pulled her out and put her on my chest and I can’t remember a darn thing about how I felt or what I said at this point. I suspect I felt every possible feeling. I do remember Vickii saying, “Oh my goodness, she’s got a girl’s face!” So I said, “Oh, good, it *is* a girl then?” And Vickii said she hadn’t looked, LOL! So I looked, and yes, she was, indeed a girl. She was born at 9:24am on April 24, 2002. I thought I heard rain, but it had been so sunny and clear the day before that no one thought it could be raining. they opened the window and sure enough – it had rained, beautiful and cleansing, just as my daughter was born.
She wasn’t even crying, just looking around calmly to see what this new place was like. She was so beautiful. Again, I can’t remember much of this part because there was so much to feel and so much going on inside my head. It was beautifully overwhelming.
I do remember, though that the first thing she did – even before I had her on my chest was to poop all over me. Awwwww! So, I took off my nightgown to avoid the spreadage of any more poop. I noticed that I had no modesty left, and I was perfectly comfortable with that. I’m not so comfortable with that NOW, but hormones do odd things to a girl.
After a little while they had me push out the placenta, which was a little small but apparently ok since it did it’s job and produced a healthy baby. The cord was odd looking, though. There was one spot where the veins were all clumped together without much cord protecting them, either. But, again, everything turned out perfect in the end.
I kept holding her and Alex and I were in awe over her and kissing each other and kissing her and just generally happy, happy parents. She was so calm.
Vickii and Aimee checked me for tears of which I had one. I think she said it was just a first-degree tear, but it looked long to me (they showed me with a mirror). In any case they said I could either have stitches, or they could seal it with super glue or they could even do nothing since it seemed to be staying closed on it’s own. I opted for the super glue after the initial shock of someone wanting to super glue my crotch! I felt it was a good idea to have something holding it together, but they didn’t feel the need for stitches, so neither did I.
During all this time, Margie was getting kinda pissed that we weren’t taking the time to nurse her. So Vickii helped me get her latched on and she went sucking away. That girl had a strong suck!
After awhile we cut the cord. Well, I cut the cord, and Aimee made some prints of the placenta for me to keep. Alex didn’t want to keep the placenta in the house or else I would have taken it to Jan who taught our childbirth class, but at least I have my prints. 🙂
I gave Margie to Alex and Vickii helped me get to the toilet to pee. I was kind of nervous because they said the tear might sting, but it didn’t. As I was getting ready to take a shower, someone knocked on the door so Aimee went to answer it and it was Sandy! She didn’t know I had given birth yet, but she brought me coconut cream pie and flowers, it was so sweet of her!
I took a shower and Aimee made me a makeshift peri bottle out of a mustard container they found in our fridge so I could clean myself easily and painlessly. I got out and Vickii helped me get my underwear on without bleeding everywhere. Thank goodness, cause I never could have done that myself!
So I went back in the bedroom and Sandy was still there and she stayed and took pictures while they gave Margie her checkup. My baby was eight pounds even and 20 inches long. Her APGAR was either an eight or a nine, they said it was hard to tell cause when they were checking her reflexes she was very relaxed, so they don’t know if it was just because she was stress-free or what (looking at the medical records now it was 8, 9, 10). Either way, it’s a healthy score so I’m cool with it. 🙂
Then they had me put her diaper on and dress her in her first ever outfit. They laid her next to me for warmth and we shared a blanket.
Sandy left and Vickii and Aimee took care of my tear with the superglue. Then Vickii started cleaning up while Aimee gave me the instructions, which I don’t remember much of, cause I was falling asleep by this time. Heehee. They finished cleaning up while Alex and I feel asleep and then they left.
We spent the next few days cozy and cuddling with our new little love. It was a truly beautiful and peaceful experience and I can’t wait for the next one!
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