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Garrett's Birth

My last labor was a long hard 36 hours, and I knew I couldn't handle
that again. My former midwife thought labor had been long because Emma
was posterior, so this time around I did every thing I could to
prevent that presentation throughout my pregnancy.  After 3 weeks of
prodromal labor though, I noticed something, (finally!) when he was
anterior I couldn't get his head engaged, but in a posterior position
he just snuggled right in. I got to thinking about my previous labors
(4 in all) and a light bulb went off. With each of my previous babies,
the more we'd done to turn the baby in labor, the longer labor was. My
last was with a different midwife then the middle two, and she was
much more hands on and active about turning the baby, but she ended up
posterior at birth any way. So, I decided that I would try to let this
baby do what he wanted, and the midwife agreed it was worth a try. For
what its worth, I think the Fear Release cd had a lot to do with my
realization.

Wednesday night was no fun. I was 41 weeks pregnant with no end in
sight. I was up all night, going to the bathroom. I'd go, lay back
down for 5 minutes, and have to get up again. Finally around 4 I was
able to get to sleep. I ended up sleeping until noon when Raoul got
home for lunch. At 1 I started having pressure waves that were
different than all the prodromal ones I'd been dealing with. They hurt
way down low like the cramps you get with a period and were coming
about every 7 minutes. I told Raoul to go back to work and wrap things
up. He came home about 4, and by 7 I was having bloody show. The
pressure waves were still 7 minutes apart, with no increase in
intensity. Raoul was cleaning house like a madman to get ready for the
midwife and my friend Emily to spend the night. We called Emily at 10
and told her we'd call again when I got to 5 cm.  My labors typically
last about 24-36 hours, so we were preparing for a long haul.

Raoul went to bed at 12:30 and by 1:30 I was feeling really
discouraged. The pressure waves were really starting to hurt even in
the shower, but I wasn't progressing at all. I had tried using the
finger drop, but I wasn't concentrating really well, so it wasn't
effective. At that point I called my mom and cried. I was ready to go
to the hospital for an epidural. It looked like this was going to be
another labor like Emma's. I called the midwife at this point too and
told her, "I don't need a midwife yet, but I do need a doula." Brenda
lives about 2 hours away, so I knew I'd have a while to wait. I ended
up talking to my mom for about an hour. We didn't talk about anything
in particular, but she kept me distracted. I'd have her hold on for my
pressure waves, and then we'd resume our conversation. She did a great
job of supporting me, even though she was 12 hours away. She gave me
permission to go to the hospital if I wanted, which actually helped me
to know I wasn't stuck at home. I had options. After I got off the
phone with her, I made Raoul get up. I told him he just needed to stay
with me until Brenda arrived. He told me later, that this is when he
realized I was actually in labor.

At this point I pulled out the Hypnobabies cds. I had been using the
techniques, but I found I responded much better to listening to
Kerry's voice. I had been standing up for most of the pressure waves,
but I could sit and relax when listening to the recording. Raoul
massaged my feet while I sat and relaxed. He did more doula like
activities for me this time than he ever has, which helped
tremendously. He offered to rub my back and that helped quite a bit
when we used Clary Sage and olive oil. I don't have what I would call
back labor, but I do feel pressure waves in my lower back. The massage
really helped me relax that area.

When Brenda arrived at 3, we did all the usual checks on bp. heart
tones, etc. Everything was fine, but I was getting the shakes, like I
do in transition. I took some calcium then, about 1000 mg of Calcium
lactate.  At around 3:30 I started having to stand up for pressure
waves again. I found the three places I could stand and set the cd
player down in the living area. I would concentrate on what Kerry was
saying through the pressure wave, while leaning against the wall. At 4
I had Brenda check me, and amazingly enough I was at 6 cm! I have
never progressed to 6 this fast, so I had Raoul call Emily. She said
she would leave at 6, which would put her here at 6:30. At 5 she
walked in and said she couldn't go back to sleep. Things started to
pick up then. I had pressure waves right on top of each other that I
really had to pay attention to. I started to feel a little pushy at
the end of pressure waves, so I had Brenda check me again at about
5:45. I was disappointed to only be a stretchy 7 cm. I ended up
getting back in the shower, which I made really hot. I should mention
that this is the first labor where I've been aware of the baby's
descent and rotation. With the others I just felt the pain of pressure
waves. It was really awesome to be more aware of him moving through
birth canal. Hypnobabies stresses feeling pressure and tightening
sensations, which is what I felt.

While I was in the shower the pressure waves started putting intense
pressure in my low back. I used the hot water shooting right there to
help me relax, and I told myself to open and allow the baby to
descend. The pressure waves were feeling much more pushy, but I
thought it was my water needing to break.  I found at this point that
hanging on things felt better, so I would hang on anything nearby. I
ended up going to the bathroom, and had one pressure wave on the
toilet. After that I'm not sure how, but I was squatting in front of
the sink and pushed a tiny bit to break my water. It gushed out, but
the need to push didn't go away. I hollered as I reached down and felt
a head. Raoul ran in and asked if I was okay, but all I could manage
was "baby, baby." Brenda came in and said, "Did your water break?" and
at that moment his head literally popped out. I don't remember pushing
at all, and his body slithered out a second later. I sat down and
asked Emily to get the other 4 kids. They were disappointed to have
missed the birth, but Kitty was happy to cut the cord.

I'm still in shock over the speed of this labor. I wouldn't say I was
in active labor until 1 AM, and Garrett was born at 6:16.  I'm not
sure if he's my last, but if he is it was a great ending. It was
finally my ideal labor. My criteria were: be patient enough to go into
labor on my own, natural, and fast. The speed I'm contributing to
Hypnobabies and allowing him to be born the way he needed. It went
against everything I know about the birth process, but I'm glad I
listened to my intuition. He weighed 10 pounds, 8 ounces, and is 22.5
inches long.