Lucille Isabel's Birth
Born 3/08/2007
7 pounds 10 oz, 20 1/2 " long

I woke up Thursday morning just a little after 4 AM with my first pressure waves. I wasn't
exactly sure if this was it, but I knew they were qualitatively different than the belly
tightening ones I'd been feeling for months. Instead, these were concentrated on the
bottom of my uterus. I stayed in bed for probably 30 minutes, and they were starting to
get a bit more intense, so I finally got up at around 5 and knocked around the house for a
while. I tried timing them (looking back now at my timing sheet, they were about 3
minutes apart), but kept getting distracted, so finally around 6:30 I figured that this was
probably the real thing and decided to go back to bed to try to rest until the family started
waking up. As soon as I was horizontal in bed, I felt/heard this pop and then felt my water
gushing.

I hopped right out of bed (as well as any women who is 39 weeks pregnant can "hop") and
said, "Dave, my water just broke." Now this is a man who normally wakes SLOOOOOWLY,
but he was up on his feet and getting dressed in about 3 seconds. The next 30 minutes
were sort of a whirl of me trying to get dressed, him trying to time my pressure waves
while calling my parents (who are 9 hours away), calling our midwife, calling our friend to
come get our daughter Roxanne, and packing our last-minute items, etc.

Once my water broke, things intensified immediately. So now it's about 7:00 or so, my
friend shows up for Roxanne, we're trying to get things together, still trying to time
pressure waves, which seem to be 2 minutes apart, about 45 seconds long (we're thinking,
"that can't be right"). Dave rinses his hair, I think about taking a quick shower, but am
really needing to concentrate by this time through the surges, so we decide to head right
to the hospital.

On the drive, I kept thinking, "are we jumping the gun here?" I'd planned to labor at home
as long as possible, and here I was jumping into the car as soon as things intensified. But I
wasn't sure what to do – things were very manageable thus far, yet I knew they were
strong also, and since they were so close together, we decided to keep going. During the
ride, I finally got the chance to listen to my birthing day cd and turned off as much as I
could (actually I couldn't completely go to "off" so I stayed in center).

We checked into the ER, and were sent up to L&D. Things were definitely getting more
intense and the pressure was very strong and the waves were coming closer together. I
had a serious wave of nausea while waiting for transport. Soon we were on our way
upstairs.

I was so excited we got one of the newer, bigger, deluxe birthing rooms with squat bars,
birthing balls, tubs, etc. I changed into a gown, and got on the bed for the 20-minute
baseline strip. They were checking me in and my midwife Susan came and was talking to
me and making everyone be quite through the surges, and complimenting me when they
were over. Dave was patting my face with a cool rag and it felt like heaven! Susan asked
me if I wanted to be checked and I hesitated because I didn't want to hear I was only 3-4
cm, though I told myself whatever she said would be fine. She said it would be good to
know where I am because we'd handle things differently if I was only 1 cm as compared to
if I was 4-5 cm, so I said yes. So she checked me and said, "Oh my god, Denise. You're 9
centimeters! You're about to have this baby!" I couldn't believe it. I was in transformation
and yes, things were really INTENSE but COMPLETELY manageable!

She and the nurse were both amazed, and Susan said she NEVER would have guessed I was that far along from how relaxed I was. That was the first time she said she wanted to know more about HypnoBabies.

With a few more very powerful surges, I literally felt my cervix open the rest of the way. It
was such a powerful feeling and hard to explain, but I immediately felt pushy at that point,
and told Susan I felt like I needed to push. She told me to do what feels right and to trust
my body. Dave kept asking me if I wanted to listen to a script but I didn't want him to
leave me for a second, and he kept saying things from the birth partner's guide and the
birthing day affirmations and that was exactly right for me at that moment.

The first pushing wave I wasn't sure what to do. I had been laying back because of the
monitor strip (I was still working on my 20-minute baseline strip), and they immediately
took it off when I said I needed to push, and I didn't want to lay down but wasn't sure
what to do with my body. Susan lowered the foot of the birthing bed, which basically
makes the bed become like a supported chair with a big platform for feet, midwife to sit
on, etc. With the next surge, I sort of half stood on that platform, and put my arms around
Dave's neck and he pretty much supported my body while I pushed. I said I thought I
needed to go to the bathroom and Susan said that was the baby moving down, though it
REALLY felt like I needed to go to the bathroom, so I said that again, and she said, "then
go, that's all right." So I pushed and could feel the baby's head crowning. Just like that –
first real push and I felt the baby's head crown.

This also surprised Susan and my nurse, and Susan grabbed her gloves and just barely had
them on before I was pushing with my next wave. With that the baby's head came out, and
then the shoulders and the rest of her warm, wet little body slid out of me and it felt so
wonderful. That is such an incredible feeling, and then they plopped her little body on my
belly and in my arms, and Dave announced, "It's a girl!" I couldn't believe we had done it,
and I kept saying to Dave, "we did it!" He said, "no, you did it" but I felt like it was such a
team effort, all of us. Yes, my body knew what to do, but the emotional support from him
and Susan were so important to me, too.

She didn't cry, but just sort of looked around at us and seemed so content. Her first
Apgars were 8 and 9. I couldn't believe it – we had our dream birth, drug-free and pain
free! Susan and the nurse both said it was one of the most peaceful, remarkable births
they'd ever seen, and kept saying they would be talking about this one all week. I felt like
such a superstar! Susan checked the computer and said that Lucille was born 37 minutes
after we checked in through the ER, and this was just over 4 hours since I woke with my
first pressure wave.

Lucille weighed 7 lbs, 10 oz, and 20 ½ long. She is sweet and beautiful, has been nursing
like a champ, sleeps in lovely 1 ½ - 2 ½ hour spells at night (so far at least) and I am
already so in love with her!

So, I wouldn't say that it was always completely comfortable, and during the end of
transformation and during pushing it was really intense (can't stress the intensity enough),
but I don't think I ever thought of it as being painful. I was aware of making low, moaning
sounds towards the end of things that helped get through the surges, as did the cool, wet
rag (try it – it felt SO good!).

Susan said I seemed so composed the whole time, which surprised me because I felt like maybe I was starting to loose it a bit towards the end, but that may have been more on the inside than what was coming through on the outside, and Dave did such an incredible job of helping me get centered again when that started to happen. I know I was lucky in that things went really quickly after a decent amount of sleep the night before (well, 4 hours or so) so I was well rested and never got the chance to get tired out. And as far as enjoying the new, deluxe birthing room, well, I never made it off the birthing bed before Lucy was born.