Early labor was so different this time around. I had like 5 or more false alarms where I thought “oh this might be it”. Ben even stayed home from work one time. I only called the midwife on one of those occasions. (So I don’t feel too bad.) She was amazingly nice and we kept in touch for a few hours until I reported that nothing was changing. Every time I would have contractions that would stick around but they would never get more intense. I would often go to sleep and then wake up the next morning with nothing happening. I thought for sure I would go early with this baby because of how different my circumstances were from when I was pregnant with Hallie. With Hallie we had just barely moved to VA and I didn’t know anyone (plus it was HOT) so I sat in my apartment and watched T.V. all day. This time around I was super busy chasing Hallie and keeping us busy. I went to the gym and the mall to “walk” him out several times and I figured that with everything I was doing it had to help speed things along. I was wrong. I now believe that the baby comes when they decide. Kyle decided to come right on his due date.
I woke up in the middle of the night with some contractions. I remember having the thought again, “this might be it”. The contractions kept coming but I was able to fall back asleep. When I woke up the contractions were coming every 10-15 minutes regularly. I called my midwife and we decided to keep in touch through out the day. It was a Friday so Ben was home. We packed the car, went to the grocery store and the UPS store, ate at Subway and then came home and put Hallie down for her nap. By this time my contractions were coming every 5-7 minutes and were getting more intense but did not hurt at all. We decided that because my last labor was only 5 hours and it was Friday we didn’t want to risk the chance of getting stuck in traffic and having the baby in the car. So after Hal’s nap we dropped her off for a possible sleep over at our friends house. (Ben had told her earlier that she would get to go play at Paige’s house and she talked about it the rest of the day. She didn’t want to do anything else but “go pay paige house”.)
We got to the birth center at 3:30 p.m. and got settled in. My contractions were still coming but nothing hurt. I was dilated to a 5 and was relaxed, calm, and excited all at the same time. We took a walk, ate some food, read from a book that we’ve been working on together and chatted with the midwife. Things started to pick up and people started arriving. My birth assistant and hypnobirthing instructor both came. Plus, a new birth assistant who needed to attend more births came. (They asked me if I cared if they called her and invited her. I told them I didn’t mind and we would have a party. lol) After my hypnobirthing instructor Sarah got there we decided to take another walk. It was while on this walk that I really had to start concentrating on relaxing during my contractions. They started coming every 1-2 minutes so we walked back to the birth center. (During this whole time we are just chatting and telling jokes.) Ben was so encouraging. He would tell me over and over again how good I was doing and how proud he was of me. (The perfect coach.) When we got back I listened to my ipod with my hypnobirthing scripts and tried to relax. I asked to get in the jacuzzi but the midwife said that it would slow things down and I wasn’t far enough along. Hello!!! I was having contractions every 1-2 minutes and was defiantly far enough along. We blame hypnobirthing for fooling them. 🙂
During the whole thing the midwife and 2 birth assistants stayed in the other room and came in intermittently to check the baby’s heart rate and then leave again. (This is what I requested in my birth plan.) Sarah, Ben and I read scripts and talked during the next hour or so. Things really started picking up and I started to get very uncomfortable. I was in a lot of pain and my contractions were coming right on top of each other. I kept breathing and Ben tells me now that I was still really relaxed. (Although in my head I was thinking this sucks!) I felt like I needed to push but my water hadn’t broken yet. They encouraged me to push anyway and boom my water broke! (with gusto I might add) haha. Two minutes later I said I wanted to stand up and out came Kyle’s head on that very push. (Gotta love gravity) My midwife told me to stop pushing for a second and then she coached me when to push and when to take a break. I was very grateful she did that because I ended up not tearing at all!! Kyle came out with his hands behind his head like he was sun bathing at the beach. My midwife said she had never seen anything like it before. Lucky me… I got to deliver his head and arms at the same time! They laid Kyle on my chest and then after checking his color they left us alone for half an hour for “family bonding time” they call it. After that time was up they came in did his weight etc. and I showered. We rested and signed papers then went home 3 hours later.
I’m so grateful I did hypnobirthing. I now believe it is the best way to have a baby naturally. If you ask Ben how this birth was compared to Hallie’s he will tell you night and day. With Hallie I was freaking out for 5 hours this time he said I only freaked out for the 12 minutes I was pushing. This labor was also 5 hours long which isn’t bad compared to a lot of women’s. I’m so grateful I have healthy pregnancies and deliveries. What an honor it is to be part of God’s plan in bringing His children into the world. I can’t believe I have two now! I can’t imagine my life with out either one of them.
So who wants to borrow my hypnobirthing book?!
Me at the birth center.
Ben and Kyle at the birth center.
Brand new Kyle!!
Very tired parents!
