THE GREEN(wald) HOUSE … (growing rosemary & raising a little wolf)

I was lucky enough to see a pre-release screening of the Ricki Lake produced documentary The Business of Being Born a few weeks ago at my midwife’s birth center.

Obviously I am a fan of giving birth at home, having had both Rosie and Sam at home in our bathtub, so the movie was like preaching to the choir for me. I also know that a homebirth is not the right choice for every woman, but this movie has a lot of great information that I think most mainstream moms don’t realize when they check into the hospital to have a baby. The sad truth is that a great number of decisions made during the labor and delivery process are made for the convenience of the doctor and hospital, and to avoid any possibility of a lawsuit - not necessarily what is best for the mother and baby.

I highly recommend that every woman see this movie - heck, every person should see this movie. It will be released in a few markets in January, and then available on Netflix shortly after that.

Here are some details, taken directly from the press materials for the movie:

Birth is a miracle, a rite of passage, a natural part of life. But birth is also big business.

Compelled to explore the subject after the delivery of her first child, actress Ricki Lake recruits filmmaker Abby Epstein to question the way American women have babies.

In 2001, Ricki Lake gave birth to her second child with the assistance of a midwife in her home bathtub. She made the choice for a home birth after she experienced unwanted medical interventions while delivering her first child at a hospital birthing center. Ricki succeeded in giving birth on her own terms and the experience was so unexpectedly empowering and life-changing that she felt every woman should know what they could be missing out on. Ricki approached filmmaker Abby Epstein (Director of Emmy-Award winning UNTIL THE VIOLENCE STOPS) to collaborate on a film that would examine birth culture in America.

Epstein gains access to several pregnant New York City women as they weigh their options. Some of these women are or will become clients of Cara Muhlhahn, a charismatic midwife who, between birth events, shares both memories and footage of her own birth experience.

Footage of women having babies punctuates THE BUSINESS OF BEING BORN. Each experience is unique; all are equally beautiful and equally surprising. Giving birth is clearly the most physically challenging event these women have ever gone through, but it is also the most emotionally rewarding.

Along the way, Epstein conducts interviews with a number of obstetricians, experts and advocates about the history, culture and economics of childbirth. The film’s fundamental question: should most births be viewed as a natural life process, or should every delivery be treated as a potential medical emergency?

As Epstein uncovers some surprising answers, her own pregnancy adds a very personal dimension to THE BUSINESS OF BEING BORN, a must-see movie for anyone even thinking about having a baby.

What We Learn From

THE BUSINESS OF BEING BORN

To most people, the idea of giving birth outside of a hospital seems foolish and even dangerous: why would any parent limit their newborn’s access to technology in the event of an emergency? Why would any couple put their child’s life in the hands of a midwife instead of an obstetrician?

“Most obstetricians,” we learn from obstetrician Dr. Michel Odent, “have no idea what a birth can be like.”

Adds Susan Hodges, president of the organization called Citizens for Midwifery: “Very few doctors have ever observed a normal birth, either in medical school or in the hospital. It [normal birth] is almost an oxymoron.”

Epstein’s camera verifies this when she asks three female OB/GYN residents at NYU’s Bellevue Hospital Center how often they get to see “a fully natural birth.” “Rarely,” one says. “Almost never,” says another.

Indeed, Epstein’s own obstetrician, Dr. Jacques Mortiz of New York City’s St. Luke’s Roosevelt Hospital, tells her, “I always think that midwives do a better job at the normal deliveries than we do. For a normal, low-risk woman, it’s overkill going to a doctor, it’s almost too much. The doctor is not really excited about things when they’re normal.”

“An obstetrician is a trained surgeon,” explains Carolyn Havens Neimann, a certified nurse-midwife.

“They should be doing childbirth surgery all day, every day, when needed,” adds Elan Vital McAllister, president of New York’s Choices In Childbirth. “They should not be doing normal births because they’re not trained in it. They have no idea how to do it.”

In America, midwives attend less than 8% of all births and less than 1% of those that occur outside a hospital. At the same time, the US has the second worst newborn death rate in the developed world.

So how did we get here?

In 1900, 95% of all births took place in the home. In 1938, half the births took place at home, and the trend continued to spiral downward.

According to Robbie Davis-Floyd, a PhD in medical anthropology, “In the early 1900s, physicians in the east but also in the deep south to some extent went on a very effective smear campaign against midwives.” Davis-Floyd cites one poster that invoked racist imagery, depicting “a black granny midwife in a very poor home.”

“It was sort of a cultural shift where midwives were portrayed as a vestige of the old country,” adds Tina Cassidy, author of the book Birth: The Surprising History of How We Are Born. “They were [portrayed as] dirty, they were ignorant, they were illiterate.” At the same time, “Hospitals were offered as this gleaming, wonderful place where you could go and have a baby that would be cleaner and safer. The reality of course was that giving birth with an obstetrician at that time was much more dangerous than giving birth with a midwife because as doctors were graduating from medical school, many had not witnessed a live birth before they went out to practice.”

As public heath expert Nadine Goodman puts it, “All of sudden, the concept of ‘normal’ changed,” as hospitals specializing in obstetrics started springing up around the country, creating a demand for their services as well as some stigmatizing alternatives.

But as new drugs, technologies and techniques developed, did hospital childbirth get safer? Not really. Indeed, when it comes to obstetrics, mainstream medicine seems to feel its way – dangerously – in the dark.

THE BUSINESS OF BEING BORN touches on a number of past medical interventions that have gone terribly wrong. The film explores the use of the drug scopolamine in the 40s, 50s and 60s that put mothers into a kind of “twilight sleep” that didn’t stop pain, but merely eliminated the memory of pain by attacking the brain functions responsible for self-awareness and self-control, resulting in a kind of psychosis, followed by post-traumatic stress-like memories in thousands of new mothers. In the 30s doctors routinely took x-rays of the pelvis, resulting in babies with cancer. In the 70s, use of the drug thalidomide, used for morning sickness, caused birth defects, while in the 90s, the drug Cytotec was used to stimulate contractions in mothers who had undergone previous Cesarean section. This was later found to cause ruptured uteruses and high infant mortality.

“The point here,” observes Dr. Marsden Wagner, former director of Women’s and Children’s Health, World Health Organization, “is there’s not a good history in obstetric practice of careful study of the long term effects of all these interventions. This is why, if you really want a humanized birth, the best thing to do is get the hell out of the hospital.”

The film points out that some of the most traditional practices of contemporary obstetrics have everything to do with the convenience of the physician, but can actually make delivery more difficult for the mother.

Every woman depicted giving birth on TV or at the movies is shown in the “lithotomy position,” on her back on a gurney, legs suspended in stirrups, the doctor standing between her legs and encouraging her to “push.”

“The lithotomy position is the most physiologically dysfunctional position ever invented,” says medical anthropologist Robbie Davis-Floyd, author of Birth as an American Rite of Passage. “Putting the mother flat on her back literally makes the pelvis smaller, makes it much more difficult for the woman to use her stomach muscles to push, and therefore makes it much more likely for an episiotomy to be cut, or for forceps to be used, or for the vacuum extractor to be used.”

Obstetrician Dr. Ronaldo Cortes prefers the mother to squat during labor, explaining that while this position is easier for the mother and her baby, squatting is much more stressful on the doctor, whose job is to “catch” the baby.

It also seems like every conversation about an impending birth includes a mention of the coveted “epidural,” a lumbar injection that kills pain below the waist. But, as Ricki Lake observes, the introduction of one drug during her first delivery caused “a big snowball effect.” The epidural kills pain but it also retards natural contractions. To keep contractions active, a drug call pitocin is often administered. The pitocin makes contractions longer, stronger and closer together, causing more pain, and then consequently another epidural. This then requires more pitocin, which again causes longer and stronger contractions, and stress to the baby. Ultimately, this often triggers an emergency Cesarean section. The sum total of such interventions is ostensibly a shorter labor, benefiting the hospital, but certainly a more stressful one for the mother and baby.

Finally, statistics indicate that the use of Cesarean section, a major surgery, is being widely employed, more as a measure of convenience for both doctor and patient instead of a last resort in the event of an emergency.

Dr. Michael Brodman, Chief OB/GYN at New York’s Mount Sinai Hospital, cites a study that reveals the peak hours for Cesarean section procedures are 4:00pm and 10:00pm. Brodman interprets the data from the perspective of the hospital-based physician: “It’s obvious,” he says, “that four in the afternoon is ‘It’s late in the day, I don’t know what’s going on here, I want to get out of here and the ten o’clock at night is, ‘I don’t want to be up all night.’”

“Somebody clearly is going to have to step in and stop the trend” of high C-section rates, Brodman warns, “or else we’re going to get to 100%.”

After completing THE BUSINESS OF BEING BORN, Epstein and Lake have drawn the conclusion that many women unknowingly give up a potentially life-altering and empowering experience. A hospital environment is not conducive to the true needs of a laboring woman, making a birth without intervention almost impossible. As a result, the physician, instead of the mother, delivers the baby,

During a visit with Lake at her home in California, Epstein, who was pregnant at the time, asked about Lake’s contrasting birth experiences. It’s clear that Epstein was there as both a journalist and someone who was making some very personal decisions about the delivery of her own child.

“I wanted a home birth experience almost as much as I wanted a second child,” Lake offers. “I love pain medication, I love numbing myself. I don’t want to feel even a headache. I’m that person, too. But when it came to giving birth, it wasn’t an illness, it wasn’t something that needed to be numbed. It was something to be experienced.”

In a subsequent interview, Lake tries to explain the significance of the event:

“That is just everything to me,” she says. “I could start sobbing right now. It was so empowering. This was what I was after. This is what I wanted for my child.”

Like most American women, Epstein always imagined herself giving birth in a hospital, and, due to the premature arrival of her child, this was indeed her path. But she remains convinced that THE BUSINESS OF BEING BORN makes a compelling argument for more humanistic approaches to birth, challenging the ideals of our technocratic society which places absolute faith in machines and technology.

“In a culture where all of our rituals have become standardized and commercialized, birth is the one rite of passage that can remain individualized and sacred if parents are exposed to the truth behind the medical myths,” Epstein said recently.

Epstein and Lake also hope audiences and policy makers will recognize the economic truth about birth outside of a hospital: it’s cheaper, something insurance companies should theoretically embrace.

Carol Leonard, a nurse-midwife and director of the New Hampshire Birth Center, cites that hospitals in her state charge $13,000 for a normal vaginal birth, while she charges $4,000 “for everything, including post-natal care.” Births that take place with multiple interventions and Cesarean section can cost as much as $35,000.

However, as medical anthropologist Robbie Davis-Floyd points out, the medical-industrial complex – the relationship between hospitals, the powerful lobby group the American Medical Association, and the insurance companies – has a history of discouraging home births, and discouraging midwives who practice in a hospital setting. Indeed, Epstein’s camera captures one birth center associate struggling to get an insurance company to re-process a claim from a new mother who gave birth at their facility. While Mayra, one of the film’s expectant mothers who chose home birth, reports that her insurance company had a hard time understanding that there even was an alternative to hospital birth.

“The whole insurance thing has been kind of crazy,” Mayra tells Epstein. “Everyone was acting like I had a third eye. It’s cheaper to have a birth with a midwife; you’d think they would be all over it. So it kind of makes you wonder what the agenda is.”

“Why has the medical model of birth gone unchallenged for so long?” Epstein and Lake ask. “And why do less than 8% of Americans take advantage of the benefits of midwifery, which is statistically safer and cheaper than physician-attended birth?”

As the nation’s heath care crisis continues to grow, the filmmakers hope THE BUSINESS OF BEING BORN will ultimately play a role in heath-care reform and raise awareness of the options for parents of the future. They also hope to enlighten and inspire parents to advocate for themselves and to “own” their birth experience wherever it takes place.

I found this photo when going through some new ones I just uploaded from last week…

This was right when my labor with Sam started - it was about 7:30pm on Thursday July 5th. An amazing summer thunderstorm had just rolled through and when the sun came back out there was this awesome double rainbow in the sky (you can only see part of it in the photo).

I remember thinking that it was a great sign for the upcoming labor and birth…
What a cool way for the universe to announce the upcoming arrival of my son.

Forgive me as this is a long story - and I might continue to edit as time goes on and I remember more details - but I wanted to get it written while the experience is still fresh in my mind. Today is Sam’s “due date” and he is 11 days old and adjusting to life outside the womb beautifully. He is such a mellow baby and I am really thankful for that.

These are the nitty gritty details of how he came into this world - some images or descriptions might be disturbing to some - so read at your own risk.

July 2nd – lost a bit of my mucous plug in the morning – after having emptied my bowels every morning for the past 6 days – had a few light contractions – a bit more noticeable than the Braxton hicks I had been having - thought that this was definitely the start of something…my body was preparing…

July 3rd – had my mom come in from Florida “just in case” – so she wouldn’t miss the birth this time – still having irregular contractions off and on throughout the day – bowels still emptying every morning

July 4th – lost another pretty good amount of my mucous plug just before bed – more sporadic contractions but nothing regular – contractions definitely feeling stronger

July 5th - Rosie slept great the previous night– even through all the fireworks – we joked that maybe she knew something we didn’t and that none of us were going to get any sleep on this night – I lost some more of my mucous plug in the morning and this time it had some light streaks of blood in it… We spent the day swimming at my Mother-in-Law’s and joked that I would for sure go into labor since it was the farthest I had traveled from home in over a week…I was having some stronger contractions throughout the day – most noticeable when we were driving in the car – but they were still not regular

Got home from swimming around 4pm and I laid down on the couch on my left side and noticed the contractions were now coming every 7-13 minutes – we timed them until around 7 and called my midwife, Bridgett to let her know that they were getting stronger and coming semi-regularly (I had been updating her every couple days on how I was feeling). Bridgett said to call back at 8pm with an update – but by 7:45 they were coming in regular intervals of 6-7 minutes and were getting MUCH more intense – to where I had to stop and breathe through them. I called her back and Bridgett said she would be on her way (as she is about an hour away – and my last birth was only 4.5 hours). We also called my friend S who would be taking photos, and Joe’s sister-Pauline and Mom-Carol who both wanted to be present for the birth as well…

I started to sit and lean on the birth ball and have Joe press on my back during the contractions. Joe had brought me gnocchi and donuts for dinner (I was craving both) but by this point I was feeling shaky and cold, yet sweaty – my body was already moving into birth mode – and all I could eat was a few bites of chocolate donut (I figured the sugar would give me a good energy boost.) At this point (around 8:30)– The contractions were getting much more intense and I was kneeling over the birth ball – trying to relax – but it was getting more difficult - Rosie was getting a bit tired and obnoxious – and I was just getting ready to retreat upstairs to my bedroom for some quiet – when Rosie leaned down during one of my contractions and gave me the sweetest kiss. My heart swelled with love and I started to cry thinking of the beautiful big girl she had become and how I was getting ready to bring her sibling into the world.

I went upstairs around 8:45 and put on my playlist of mellow birthing songs I had compiled on i-Tunes on my computer – I continued to move and sway through the contractions – sometimes leaning over on my birth ball – sometimes dancing and swaying with Joe – sometimes sitting on the birth ball and circling my hips. One of the songs on my playlist was “Amen Omen” by Ben Harper – it was a song that reminded me of when Joe and I first started dating – he held me during that song and asked me if I could have imagined when we first heard this song that 4 years later we would be getting ready to have baby #2. We both were swaying to the music and crying.
Around 9:10 (according to her notes) Bridgett arrived – I was sitting on the birth ball – breathing through a contraction – they were about every 2-3 min apart now – sometimes shorter. I think I heard her say she thought I was getting close to transition – which I was happy to hear. Rosie’s birth was only 4.5 hours from the first contraction until I was holding her in my arms – so I was hoping for a quick and easy birth this time as well. After a few more contractions – I decided to get in the tub – but I wanted Bridgett to check me first – to see how much I was dilated. I was dilated to 8 – 100% effaced – and at +1 station with a bulging bag – the baby’s heart rate was 130 (again from Bridgett’s notes). Everything was good and we were well on our way to having a baby….

We ran the bath and by this point the other midwife, Linda has arrived – she lit all the candles in the bathroom and got everything ready for us. I got into the bath and it really relaxed me and made the contractions much more manageable. I felt calm and prepared to meet my new baby shortly – It was aroung 10pm and I was thinking I would have this baby before midnight.

Everything kind of blends together in my mind at this point – I know Carol and Pauline arrived – as did my friend S to take photos – I was just trying to enjoy the moments between contractions as I let my body do its work in birthing this baby. The contractions continued to intensify and I was trying to make myself as comfortable as possible – Joe was sitting behind me in the bath and I was leaning back on him in between contractions – and when I would feel a contraction come on – I would say “push” and have him push me up into a sitting position and I would lean forward and he would press on my low back and I would push back against him as well… This seemed to work for a while – but at some point it stopped and I kept trying other ways to relax – I was already feeling “pushy” during the contractions and I was getting tired and hoping that this baby would be here soon. Bridgett checked me and found I was completely dilated, but still had a bit of an anterior lip. She suggested I lean back a little more (I was kind of leaning forward and squatting forward at the time) and thought it would help to get the lip to go away. I kept trying new positions - keeping moving somewhat was helping. I was trying to sway my hips and lower body at some point – and I did the “Stevie Wonder” head and upper body sway from side to side as well…everything seemed to work for a little while – but then it frustrated me when it stopped working – and I was starting to get really pruney and uncomfortable in the water. I think Joe asked someone what time it was around this point and I was surprised to hear that it was already 12:30am – the morning of the 6th – I remember thinking (saying?) that this baby’s birthday would be the 6th – instead of the 5th as I thought earlier.

I think Bridgett checked me at this point and found that I still had a bit of an anterior lip – but she thought I could push through it. I started to aggressively push with every contraction – and after a while I got frustrated that I wasn’t feeling any progress… Bridgett checked again and the lip was still there – so she held it back during the next few pushes and I could finally feel progress. I continued to push for a while longer and Bridgett helped with the lip a few more times. Then I started to feel intense back pressure as the baby’s head came down and started under my pubic bone. This baby was stubborn and it took a while to finally get under the pubic bone, again Bridgett helped with her hands somewhere inside me – not sure where – but I know my pushing was much more effective with her helping me. At some point around this time – my bag of waters broke. I was so tired and my legs were shaking and my ab muscles were sore and I remember thinking and saying “I just want this baby out”. I felt like I had been in labor and in the bathtub forever.

Finally – The baby’s head cleared my pubic bone and I could feel the baby’s head moving down the birth canal and I could finally feel a little of the baby’s head starting to crown. A couple more pushes and the baby’s head was halfway out and I was feeling the familiar “ring of fire” – I reached down and was holding the upper part of my yoni to keep from tearing. The baby’s head was out up to the point of right under his nose – I stayed like that until I felt another strong urge to push – then I got the rest of the head out up to the neck and the release of pressure felt great. Bridgett reached in and felt for a cord around the neck – and there was none - I had a few more contractions and pushed – but the baby was not moving. I pushed a few more times and still the baby seemed to be stuck – I thought “uh oh – shoulder dystocia” for a second – but tried to think positively and pushed again with all my might and thought “come on baby – down and out”. Still no movement – I think Bridgett reached in and tried to hook her finger under an arm – but couldn’t quite reach – so she said – “OK let’s get her out”.

I remember being perfectly calm and not worried at all as Joe and my midwives hoisted me out of the tub and onto the bathroom floor onto my hands and knees. I almost anticipated this – I had been re-reading Ina May’s Guide To Childbirth – and the last birth stories I had read were those centering around dealing with shoulder dystocia and the infamous “Gaskin maneuver”. So, while I am sure Joe was freaking out and wondering what was happening – I knew exactly what we were doing and why and never really got scared – I knew this is what needed to happen and trusted my body and my baby and the midwives – I never had any doubt things would be OK.

Once on my hands and knees – things definitely took on a more urgent tone. Bridgett was all business – instructing me to push with all my might – I remember grunting and groaning and putting my head down on the ground and just pushing as hard as I could. I think it took 2 pushes (and Bridgett’s help) to get the shoulders out and I expected the baby to just slide out after that – but this baby was stubborn and would not budge – Bridgett grabbed him around the chest and wiggled him from side to side while pulling him out – she had to keep pulling to get the legs and feet out too – this baby was really wedged in there. The head was really blue from being stuck outside my body – but started to pink up after a minute or two – he was breathing softly and his heart rate was great – and I was holding and rubbing him and he was making some soft cooing noises – then finally he let out a loud cry and everybody felt a little better. I was holding his little body in my arms with a towel wrapped around him – but we didn’t know the sex yet – the midwives had grabbed a pink hat and put it on as soon as the baby was born – but they said they just grabbed the first hat and didn’t know the sex. I felt a little sqiishy, warm thing hanging on my arm, and I peeked under the towel and, sure enough, it was a little scrotum I was feeling – I told Joe – “it’s a boy honey” and he burst into tears. He had been SO wanting a boy – so I knew he was very happy. The midwives said “I’m sorry little guy” and they replaced the pink hat with a blue one. We sat for a few more minutes and I could feel the pressure of the placenta pushing against my yoni – so, with my midwives help, I leaned back and pushed and birthed the placenta. It was perfect and whole. The midwives said it was the most perfect placenta they had ever seen. It looked like it was a fundal placenta – sitting right up at the top of my uterus. The baby was still attached to the placenta, so Bridgett took the placenta and wrapped it in a big waterproof pad – and helped me up so we could get off the bathroom floor and get into bed. It felt SO great to be out of the bath and done with the birth and just be able to lie down in bed and relax finally.

After the birth – we realized the reason for the difficulties, the baby’s head was tilted or asynclitic – so his head was presenting at an angle, which made it much larger than it should have been – coming down the birth canal. Also, there was a significant bruise on his left wrist and forearm, so the midwives said he probably had his hand up by his head, also making the delivery and pushing more difficult. Add to that the shoulder dystocia, and I think he was also doing yoga – baddha konasana – or the cobbler pose – with the soles of his feet together and knees out to the side –(his legs seem to naturally fall into this pose) this is why he was so darn hard to get out! All that and I didn’t tear one bit!

I felt like the entire birth lasted forever – but looking over the notes from the midwives – prodromal labor from 4-8pm – 1st stage of labor 3 hours 40 min – 2nd stage – 1 hour 40 min – 3rd stage 11 min – for a total of 5 hours 31 minutes of active labor and delivery. So, in the grand scheme of things it was still a pretty quick birth – amazing considering all the challenges we encountered. The head was showing at 1:10am, crowned at 1:17am, birthed at 1:19am – and the entire body was out at 1:22am on Friday morning, July 6, 2007. 11 days early and 8 days before his big sister’s 2nd birthday.

After about 20 minutes of lying in bed and cuddling – and a few attempts to nurse (he latched on great – and would suck a couple times then would seem to lose interest)– Joe finally cut the umbilical cord and we did the newborn exam and weighed and measured him. His apgar scores were 8 and 10 – he weighed 8 lbs, 11oz and was 21 inches long. My perfect baby boy. We named him Samuel Arthur Wolf. Sam after my dad, Arthur and Wolf for Joe’s grandfathers.

It was definitely more of an extreme, adventurous birth that I had anticipated. I learned that - just because your first birth is quick and easy - it doesn’t mean your other births will be the same. But everything is great now, it all worked out fine, and we have an amazing family of four. I have a daughter and a son. And an amazing husband. And I am very happy.

*once again, photos courtesy of the fabulous S (gearhead mama)

Samuel Arthur Wolf was born early this morning at 1:22am. He was 8 lbs 11oz (and that is 11 days early!) and 21 inches long.
Will update more later with the whole birth story…

*photos courtesy of the fabulous S (gearhead mama)

Ok - since “guess the sex” and “guess the due date” are everybody’s favorite pregnancy games - let’s make it official…
Comment with your guesses on whether this will be a boy or a girl - and what the birthdate will be… If you want, you can guess time of day, weight, etc. too…
Oh - My technical “due date” is July 17th - I will be 40 weeks then - but since Rosie came at 37 weeks - and this baby is already WAY low and the head is engaged in my pelvis - the odds are looking like it might be another early baby… But - who knows? Watch this baby be late just to surprise me…

My guess - boy - born July 1, 3:44pm - 7lbs 7 oz.

i ate a tiny piece of my placenta - it was the 4th day after birth and i was crying at everything, which i know is totally normal…but i decided i wanted to try it anyway… i had read so much about it - i figured it couldnt hurt…
i had it in the freezer since the birth, so i thawed it out and used my kitchen scissors to cut off a chunk about the size of a large vitamin, i rinsed it really well and put it at the back of my throat and swallowed with water.
i dont know if it helped with ppd or not, but i didnt feel like i needed to eat anymore after that first little bit…
it didnt really taste like anything, and it didnt gross me out like i was afraid it might. it made me feel really cool and empowered afterwards…

the rest of the placenta is still in my freezer waiting to be planted with a tree at a later date…

on another note, my mw gave me a great idea for the umbilical cord, i formed it into the shape of a heart and put it in the sun to dry…
it turned out sooo pretty, a deep shade of red, and i am going to put it in a shadowbox with a photo from her birth

Well, a mere 14 days after the birth of my first babe, here is what I wasn’t prepared for:
-that you could tear on the upper, inside area of your vagina - I thought the only place I had to worry about was the perenium
-that the shoulders would hurt worse than pushing the head out
-that I could begin labor and have contractions already be 4 min apart!
-that I would cry every time I look at my daughter - just overwhelmed at the love I feel for her

I woke up early Thursday morning 7/14 after not having slept much, just the usual, couldn’t get comfortable, had to pee every hour, etc. I had been having some low back pain for a couple days which I attributed to the baby starting to drop, and I had a little bit of loose stools the day before - but I thought that was because I had been eating tons of fruit. I ate some breakfast and felt a little crampy like I was going to have diarrhea again. I decided to try to go back to sleep around 10:30am - and slept a bit off and on until around 11:30 - I woke up again with diarrhea cramps and went to the bathroom again and saw that I was starting to lose my mucus plug. Up until then, I did not even consider these signs of early labor, because I was so early (37 weeks exactly) and I thought I would for sure be late with a first baby.

I went into see Joe in his office and told him that I was having diarrhea, low back pain, and that I thought I was losing my mucus plug. He said “what does that mean” and I said “I think it means we are having a baby today”. I called my midwife’s emergency answering service and while I was waiting for her to call back, I went to the bathroom again and lost the rest of my mucus plug and started to leak amniotic fluid. It still had not really hit me yet that this was IT and that my baby was on her way. My MW, Bridgett called back and said that it sounded like early labor and to start timing the contractions and call her back in an hour with an update.

I went back into Joe’s office and told him it was time to stop working for the day because his job now was to time the contractions. As soon as I realized that this really WAS labor, and I put my attention on it, the contractions came fast and furious. The first contractions we timed were only 4 min apart. I called the MW back and told her that things were moving fast and she needed to be on her way (we are an hour from her).

We were planning on doing my belly cast that day, and for a few seconds, I considered trying to rush and get the belly cast done right then - until another contraction hit and I realized that was NOT going to happen. I got in the shower and let the warm water run over my lower back and circled my hips around and moaned with the contractions. They were still around 3-4 min apart and lasting about 30-45 seconds each and getting stronger. At this point I made Joe get in the shower with me to apply counterpressure to my low back and I told him I could see why people get epidurals, because it was getting really painful, and if I had been in a hospital with a nurse offering me pain relief, I don’t know that I could have said no.

I decided to get out of the shower to save the hot water for the tub for later, and went downstairs and decided that I should eat something for energy. Joe cut me up some watermelon and made me a PB&J sandwich and I had some iced pregnancy tea - I took one bite of the sandwich and couldn’t eat anymore, but did eat most of the watermelon.

The contractions were still coming fast and hard and I was fluctuating between pacing back and forth and kneeling with my head and chest on my birthing ball. I continued to leak amniotic fluid with a couple bursts of fluid during contractions and then I also started to see blood. I made Joe call Bridgett to see where she was and to ask about the blood to make sure it was ok - she was only 15 min away and said the blood was normal and that it was just from my cervix dilating.

Around this time, the contractions started to feel like I had to poop - so I started going to the bathroom to sit on the toilet during contractions - continued to have some bloody show, and just tried to relax during the contractions. I was really in pain and pacing and decided I wanted to get in the bathtub - but I wanted to wait until the midwives got there to check me first. Once the midwifes arrived, I told them I was already feeling the urge to push during the contractions, and they checked me and I was at 7cm - but was dilating to 9cm during the contractions, and that was why I was already feeling the urge to push.

I got into the bathtub and my midwifes said it was ok to push a little bit if I felt the urge and just to let my body take over. I was kind of kneeling in the tub with my head on a bath pillow and Joe was pushing on my low back during contractions, and that worked for a while, and then I flipped over and was on my back in kind of a supported squat and Joe was sitting on the edge of the tub behind me with his knees under my arms - holding me up. The midwifes checked me again and said I was ready push the baby out, I had been pushing a little bit and still moaning and grunting and making a lot of noise with each contraction, and the midwifes told me to try to visualize the sound coming out my bottom instead of my mouth and my contractions would be more effective.

I pushed a few times using this new method and started to really make progress, the baby started to crown in the next few pushes, but I was trying to take my time because I didn’t want to tear. I reached down at some point to try to hold the area that felt like it was tearing and could feel my baby’s head and it was so surreal! I remember saying “it hurts” in regards to the dreaded ring of fire. It took about 4-5 more pushes to get the baby’s head completely out, and I was so relieved once the pressure was gone. The midwives checked to make sure there was no cord wrapped around the baby’s neck, and then it was another 3-4 more pushes and the shoulders came popping out and the midwifes told me to reach down and get my baby.

I reached down and brought her to my chest and she was still all purple and covered in vernix. Joe was crying and I was just so in awe of the whole experience and so glad that the pain was finally over. It was 4:23pm - only about 4 hours from the time the contractions really started until my baby was in my arms.

The baby’s breathing was a little phlegmy sounding so the midwives turned on the oxygen and put it near her face to help her to get some good air in her lungs, she started to pink up a little bit and we were rubbing her down with a warm, wet towel, and at that point I had to look and see if we had a boy or girl and I peeked under the towel and told Joe that we had a girl!

The midwifes put a little pink hat on her and we stayed in the tub for about another 15 minutes until I passed the placenta with no problems, and Joe cut the cord and we moved into the bedroom and relaxed and took a bunch of photos (our photographer arrived right after the birth) and the midwifes checked her out thoroughly.

She weighed in at 6lbs, 15 ounces, 20 inches long, and is just beautiful and perfect.

Joe and I were both saying it was kind of nice that she was so early and unexpected, because neither one of us had time to be freaked out or nervous or anything - it was just so perfect! I had a totally intact perenium, but a few skid marks up and inside.

It was exactly the birth I wanted. Throughout my whole pregnancy, I kept visualizing a quick and easy labor and delivery. I told myself that I would be dilated to 6 before I even knew I was in labor. I am amazed at the power of my body and I feel like such a super-human for bringing a new life into the world. Being at home was better than I even imagined, spending the next few days in my bed, surrounded by family taking care of my every need so DH and I could just focus on loving our new daughter.