Caterina's Birth Story
Let me start by saying thank you to this group. I feel like I learned so much
from you. I read the posts faithfully right up until my daughter's birth. I
didn't post at all, but still feel like I 'know' most of you.
I also have to admit that I was a horrible student. I rarely practiced my finger
drop technique and I hated being 'off' ever. I intentionally only ever listened
to the CD's in my sleep after the first time. I was not comfortable in off, so I
would program my iPod to play the pregnancy affirmations and then whatever
script I was supposed to listen to. Then I would fall asleep during the
affirmations and stay asleep through the script. Well guess what. It totally
worked. I had such a peaceful, easy birthing time. I am so grateful to
hypnobabies for making me believe this was possible. :)
I am not sure when her birthing time actually began. I had been having
contractions for about two months, lol. But seriously, over the past few weeks,
almost every night I would have some pressure waves. I think that over time I
just began to anticipate them and know that they were not the real thing.
Friday night was no different; I had regular pressure waves all night long,
probably about 10 minutes apart. Of course in the morning, they went away. We
went about our day as usual. They started again during the boys' nap on
Saturday, maybe around 2 pm (we have two sons, both age 2 - Antonio & Ignacio).
They were also about 9-10 minutes apart. Then after the boys woke up (3 ish), I
still had some pressure waves, but I thought they would eventually dwindle as
they had always done.
They continued, but I was not convinced that this was it. I thought - maybe we
will have our daughter by tomorrow night, how exciting! But at the same time, I
didn't let myself think that too much because I had the feeling the pressure
waves would go away like they always had. I told Carlos (my husband) that I
wanted to go to the Vigil Mass - just in case we would be in early birthing time
tomorrow morning.
So I bathed the boys & got them ready for Mass. I meant to time the pressure
waves before Mass, but things got busy with bath time and we I also wanted to
stop at the store on the way to Mass because we were out of a few essentials at
home.
We attended the 5 pm Vigil Mass at our Parish. I definitely felt pressure waves
during Mass, but I wasn't able to time them during Mass obviously. We left Mass
around 6:15 and got home around 6:30. I told Carlos that I felt that we should
give our Midwife the heads up that we may be calling her much later that night
or early tomorrow morning. She had asked that we give her ample time, even
before we wanted her there. So I prepared dinner for the boys and started
feeding them while Carlos called the MW. He told her that we thought the
pressure waves were about 6-7 minutes apart, but that things were slow going and
that we would not need her any time soon.
Within minutes of Carlos hanging up the phone with the MW, I started feeling the
pressure waves more frequently. So I timed a few of them and found that they
were about 2-3 minutes apart. I thought that was good, but let's just see if
they stay this way or if they go back to being less frequent.
So I decided that I would time some again after we put the boys down to bed
(bedtime is 7, we were a little late – so this was about 7:15). During their
bedtime routine, I felt the pressure waves get more intense. I am not sure if
this was because Ignacio was nursing the whole time or not. But as soon as we
closed the door to their bedroom, I told Carlos – please fill up the tub & call
the MW. So he started with that. He called the MW by 7:30 ish & asked her to
come. I spoke with her on the phone & told her that I was not sure if this was
it, but that I felt like she should come just in case. We told her to take her
time.
We also called Jackie, who was our designated person to watch the boys during
the birth. Since they were in bed already, we told her to take her time coming
over & to bring a book to read.
Jackie & the MW both arrived around 8:15. The MW started setting up her
things and asked if she could check me around 8:30. I was 100% and an 8! I was
so worried that I would not be dilated at all or just a 2 or something. The MW
later told me that she thought I was going to be about a 3 or a 4 based on how
COMFORTABLE I was. Note that my MW is a HypnoBirthing instructor & she thought
that I looked very comfortable!
I asked her if that was good enough to get into the pool. She said that I could
but that if things slowed down, I would have to get out. So I changed into my
bathing suit, waited a few more minutes for some hot water to be added & got
into the pool around 8:45.
I was chatting with Carlos, Jackie, and the MW in between pressure waves.
When I felt a wave, I just put my head down on the side of the pool and closed
my eyes & relaxed. Eventually the birth assistant arrived & the MW went upstairs
to talk to her. I felt that the waves were starting to come very frequently,
almost one on top of the other. Then I felt my water break around 9:15. I asked
Carlos to go up and tell the MW. I felt the waves change immediately & felt like
she was moving down. So I made Carlos run up and tell her that.
The MW and Birth Assistant came down to our room. I stared breathing the baby
down (without pushing at all). I dod do the "ahhhhing" thing & it worked so
well! Within a few minutes, her head was out and in Carlos's hands. The cord was
around her neck once. The MW removed it. Her shoulders were not turning like
they are supposed to. The MW told me that I was going to have to push her out
NOW. I was worried by her voice and I tried to push really hard, but she did not
turn. So the MW told me to stand up & turn around & squat. I did that & she slid
right out into Carlos' hands (no pushing). I thought she went back underwater
after that, but Carlos said that was just a bunch of other `stuff' that went
under, lol.
I was soon holding her in the pool. Her official time is 9:26 pm, although it
was actually a few minutes before that. I can honestly say that her birth was so
PEACEFUL and EASY that I would do it all over again right now. I feel so good.
She is nursing well; the only thing she doesn't know how to do is latch off,
haha. The boys love her. They keep asking to `hold it'. When she squeaks,
Antonio says, "she's sad" and Ignacio says, "Feed it". Um, boys – it's a girl,
not an it