Sayla's Birth

October 16 came and went on the calendar. I had been ready for
three weeks knowing that "any day" could be "the day". It was hard
to be patient and just let Sayla pick her birthday. On the morning
of October 19, Rick and I got up and made French toast for the
kids. He had the day off of work and I was looking forward to
getting the house clean and then going out for lunch. We started
working on the house and I noticed that my Braxton Hicks
contractions were a little stronger and more frequent than usual. I
wondered if today may be "the day". I was busy doing laundry and
cleaning the kid's rooms and they just kept coming as long as I was
staying busy, so I kept working.

Around 10:30 am, I called Jennifer, my sister/doula, and my midwife, Michelle, to give them a heads up. I called Jenn again an hour later and asked her to come
whenever she could since I wasn't sure how fast I would go and I
knew that it would be nice to have some extra hands for awhile. I
fed my kids lunch and decided that maybe we should call my SIL to
have her come pick them up. During this time, Rick started filling
up the birthing tub and Eli (2) kept trying to "help" him and I was
starting to get tired of distracting him. My birthing waves were
still infrequent and comfortable.

Occasionally I would get astronger than normal wave which is a good thing because those waves were telling me that this is a sure thing. Jenn arrived around
1:00, the kids left around 1:30. I was wondering if I had called
Jenn prematurely (and I am sure she was wondering the same thing),
because there wasn't anything regular about my wave pattern and I
was very comfortable. I suggested we get out of the house and take
a walk to ensure that my labor kept going. Dh finished up filling
the pool, and we left for the store. We picked up some ingredients
for my post-birth dinner then stopped at the video store and rented
Click and She's The Man. We left the video store at 3:00. We got
home and started watching Click, for the first half hour I was
having a few birthing waves, but they soon required more
concentration. We took the movie upstairs and I got into the
birthing tub around 4:00. The tub was great, but after a half hour,
I was concerned that my waves were too easy and I didn't want them
to peter out. I called my midwife at 4:30 and asked her to come
over. I got out of the tub and went and layed on my bed.

Michelle arrived about 5:00 and immediately my birthing waves were much more
intense. I started using my switch at this point and it instantly
worked to relax me and I focused on keeping my breathing deep as I
vocalized through the surges. She took my vitals and listened to
Sayla's heartrate, everything was perfect. I then moved to a
kneeling position beside my bed for a few good, strong waves. I
could feel my legs shaking and I really had to let go and just let
it happen, I knew I was in transformation. I wanted to get back
into the tub because I knew that I was getting close. I got up as
soon as one wave was over and headed into the living room where the
tub was all ready to go. I felt a wave come on right as I
approached the tub. I quickly knelt down next to the tub and rested
my head on a recliner. I could feel Sayla's head start to move down
and I suddenly started to feel my body pushing. I had no control.
I said out loud to everyone "I…..CAN'T……STOP……." This caught
everyone by surprise and dh quit fiddling with my tankini top (he
was going to help me put it on before I got into the tub) and he
knelt down to catch the baby. Her water broke right as her head
emerged and she came out quickly, all at once. Dh wasn't prepared
for that and he actually fumbled her a bit.

It took me a few seconds to recover from the intensity of the experience then I
reached back and dh handed Sayla to me as I sat down on the plastic
sheet covering the carpet. She was so beautiful and perfect. We
cuddled for second then we got into the recliner and cuddled some
more. She was born at 5:25pm.

She wasn't too happy at first about how quickly her birth happened,
but as soon as she latched on, she decided that it would be ok.
Her apgars were 9 and 10. She weighed in at 7lbs 12oz, 20 inches
long.

I feel excellent. I really think it is a quicker recovery at
home. It is nice to be able to cuddle up in my own bed, next to my
dh and eat some good homemade food while we adore our new baby. It
was such an incredible experience.

Caralee