I woke up to a huge contraction at 5:42am and immediately thought, "Ok, that one was worth writing down...!" and I started to time them. They were five minutes apart; I timed them as I was up doing dishes. I had to go to the bathroom so after I did my business, I could almost feel Levi's head getting lower and my contractions went to three minutes apart. A few minutes later, realized I needed to go to the bathroom AGAIN, did more business, and contractions went to two minutes apart. Decided at 6:30am to call my midwife to let her know what was going on.
At this point, I was able to talk calmly until a contraction came, and then I'd have to say, "hold on" and would quietly breath through it. Based on this (I was later told), she said, "I think we're still awhile out, so there is no hurry...make sure you eat something, especially some protein, and call me in awhile to see how things are going". We were waiting for my mom to get to our house to get our four year old ready for preschool, and were packing last-minute items and getting the bags in the car. I ate some peanut-butter toast and eggs. My mom freaked out when she got here, because she and my sister had all their kids in four to six hours, and we were approaching that timeframe...she kicked us out of there and told us to get the show on the road!
I tried to call my midwife on the way there, but the bumpy road and being strapped into my seat were horrible for my contractions. I wanted to lean over and sway like I had been, which was obviously impossible. My midwife noticed the change in my tone and we agreed to meet at the birth center ASAP.
We got to the birth center before our midwife and got settled in. She checked me first thing to see how I was progressing, and I was at 6cm and "paper thin". Since things were moving right along, she got the tub set up for me and I got right in. I got a few minutes of relief, but my contractions picked right up and were almost instantly coming back-to-back. I would get on my hands and knees, while my husband pushed down on my lower back (I had major back labor this time) and would breathe, loudly, through them.
There was a student midwife with us who stayed in our room the entire time, while my midwife was in and out of the room since she had appointments scheduled that morning. I asked the student if she could get our midwife in to check me, because I was feeling the urge to push, but I wanted to make sure I was complete, and my water had not yet broken. My midwife came in and checked; I was between 8 to 9cm and my water bag was bulging, so she thought I could try pushing, and if it hurt, then it wasn't time. If it was relieving, then I could push right past that last centimeter or two. It felt great to push; made my contractions feel much shorter and like they were working toward something, which was mentally comforting. My water broke with my first big push...and there is definately no mistaking when your water breaks, even if you're IN the water! I felt Levi move down immediately and flipped from my hands and knees to more of a sitting position, leaning back on my husband. After ten minutes of pushing, Levi was born, much bigger and more vigorous than my first son! It was such a relief and I couldn't believe I had accomplished this perfect birth! Everything went exactly the way we wanted it to, before, during, and after his birth; we are so blessed!
As for the four to six hour (natural) births for the ladies in my family, I'm glad my mom kicked us out when she did, and my midwife was absolutely astonished! We got to the birth center at 10:00am and Levi was born at 11:39am. We were out of there and back home at 4:00pm, had visitors until 10:00pm, and I feel amazing! Sore (my previous episeotomy scar didn't tear, however, I had a few little "skid marks" that needed a few stitches), sleepy, but so amazed at this birth! My first was so traumatic that this one was just what I needed to reassure me that there IS another way, besides the completely intervention-happy hospitals that surround us here.
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