Mara An's Birth Story
When I first found out I was pregnant for the second time, I knew
exactly what I needed to do to make my pregnancy and birth what I
wanted it to be. With my first daughter, I had planned for a natural
childbirth but I wasn't prepared for it. After 2 weeks of prodromal
labor and skyrocketing blood pressure I had to be induced at 40 weeks
and all plans of a natural childbirth went out the window.
The second time around I knew right from the start that I needed to
educate myself from the beginning if I wanted to have my perfect
birth experience. I immediately signed up for Bradley classes and my
husband and I started attending in my third trimester. While I found
Bradley to be very informative, when it was over I did not feel like
I was prepared for a natural childbirth as it didn't give me anything
to cope with pain.
A friend of mine had just had a successful Hypnobabies birth and
recommended it to me. So, at 35 weeks pregnant I started the accelerated
course (3 weeks instead of 6). On Monday, August 27th I finished the
accelerated schedule so on Tuesday, August 28th I decided to listen to the
tracks that you listen to while you are actually in labor. The Hypnobabies
book recommends listening to them at least once to make sure you have the
complete set and nothing is wrong with it, but also says to wait until you are
at least 37
weeks since they just might actually put you into labor! Well, after
listening I went directly to bed. I awoke feeling crampy and rolled over to
see that it was only 3:00AM. I attributed it to the full moon so I got up,
went to the restroom, and then returned to sleep.
At about 6:00AM I was awoken by more cramps, and I realized that I was probably experiencing pressure waves. I decided to start timing them to see if there was a consistent pattern. They were 4 minutes apart and lasting 45 seconds long. I went to the bathroom and was having bloody show. I woke up my husband to let him know that I was having pressure waves but that they were not painful so he didn't need to worry right away.
He called his mom immediately to have her come down to our house as soon as she could to take care of our older daughter. I called my doula to ask her what to do. She is actually an old Bradley instructor with no hypnobirthing experience but was comfortable with my choice to use Hypnobabies at the last minute. She said that it sounded like early labor, I obviously wasn't in pain as I was talking through the pressure waves. She said that they also needed to be about 60 seconds long and more intense, so she told me to call her back later if I was still having them.
My husband and I decided to take our daughter for a walk because we wanted
to make the pressure waves stay! After about 30 minutes I was done walking
and we went home. I was pretty sure "this was it" so I called my aunt, my
mom, and my grandmother to come over and be with me at home before we went to
the hospital. They came over and my husband left to take the cat to the vet.
We were all just sitting on the couches in my
living room watching my daughter and my cousin play and chatting. Every time I
would feel a pressure wave my aunt would time it to see if it was more than 45
seconds long. They were not what I would consider "painful", I had to breath
through them but they were very
mild and I was able to sit around chatting. While they stayed consistent at 4
minutes apart they were not getting to be longer than 45 seconds long, so I
thought I had a while to go.
At 11:00AM I was really tired so I decided to go upstairs and listen to the
Birth Day
track and get some rest. I called my doula and said I was still having
pressure waves so she decided to head on over to my house. My husband was
back from the vet at this point and he was getting my older daughter down for
her nap so my mom came up to rest with me. My aunt and grandma had left to get
lunch for everyone. Things happened fast from this point. As soon as I
started listening to the track my pressure waves started to feel a little bit
more intense. I wouldn't say I was in pain but I was shaky.
My mom called my doula and said that she thought we should start heading to the hospital. I started throwing up. At this point my pressure waves were one on top of another and the Birthing Day track was done (45 minutes). My mom was trying to get me out of bed so we could leave but I didn't want to get up. She finally gets me into a sitting position and I feel immense pressure on my bladder and said that I had to pee. All of a sudden we hear a pop and my water breaks all over the bed. She rushes and gets a towel and puts it under me and tries to get me dressed to go to the hospital.
She tries to stand me up but I can't and I am on my hands and knees leaning on the edge of the bed feeling pressure and an urge to push. I feel down with my hand and I feel Mara's head. I told her that she was coming out so she runs to the other bedroom to get my husband. He comes in the room and hands my older daughter to my mom. He was trying to get me to lay down in bed but I didn't want to. At this point I was standing up and so he just starts throwing blankets under me. One more pressure wave and I push and her head is out (pushing felt awesome!). My husband kneels under me and I push one last time and Mara is born into her father's hands while her grandmother and big sister watch.
I sit down on the blankets and my husband gets the bulb syringe to suction
her out and
a towel to wrap her in. I immediately start nursing her. My mom had called
911 at this point and my aunt and grandmother had returned. My aunt ran
upstairs and saw me on the floor holding Mara as my mom says to get something
to tie off the cord. She sees a pink ribbon on my dresser and grabs it and
ties Mara's cord with it. The paramedics arrive soon after and cut the cord
and transport us to the hospital.
We left after 24 hours "against medical advice" (would've left sooner but they kept stalling us). We are all doing well 1 month later!
Mara An was born at home on August 29, 2007 at 12:15PM after only 6
hours of "labor." She weighed 7lbs 4oz and was 20 inches long. It
was the most amazing birth experience and was what I could have only
dreamed of. I had really wanted a homebirth from the beginning but
my insurance didn't cover it and so we reluctantly planned a hospital
birth. I guess Mara knew what her mom's heart desired and decided to
give it to her as a birth day present!