Born November 27, 1997
3:44 am 21 inches approximately 10 pounds
Most of the evening of the 26th, I had been irritable and uncomfortable. This pregnancy had been nothing like my previous 3 and I was heartily tired of the whole thing. Exhausted and unable to focus for long on any of my projects, I went to bed around 11:30 or midnight. Big mistake.
I hurt. I couldn't get comfortable. None of my tricks worked. In desperation and near tears of frustration, I went to take a hot shower around 12:20. That helped a little, I could feel the hot relaxing water helping my body to unlock tense muscles and soften painful cramps. They were only coming and going by 12:30. I sighed in relief, wondering if I dared get out of he tub; then I realized they were coming and going! My husband walked in and asked if I was ok. I said I was and asked him to time the next "cramp" or two. They were 2 or 3 minutes apart and about a minute and a half long. I said I thought this was it!
As though only waiting for me to realize what it was doing, my body suddenly shifted into high gear. The contractions came crashing in on me and in the time it took me to get out of the shower, clear some space in the living room and lay down a pad, they were coming so hard they required all my concentration to get through.
By 3am I was pushing and grateful to be doing something active. I got my second wind and was excited and confident for about half an hour...then she started crowning. I finally understood that "ring of fire" all the natural childbirth educators had talked about. I was sure I couldn't do this. I don't know what I thought I was going to do instead and it hurt too much to stop, so I just kept pushing. Then my husband said "Stop! Her hand is beside her face!" So that's why this hurt so much! I blew and breathed through a contraction while he gently pushed her hand back where it belonged.
When the next contraction came it was not to be denied. As I pushed I could feel her eyes and nose and chin slide out and I felt her head turn. One more contraction and her shoulders and body slipped out. Silence. Mr. Brand ran for the aspirator bulb as I held my slightly blue baby. She wasn't moving, was she breathing? I couldn't tell. Seconds felt like an eternity until she finally coughed and sputtered and cried a little.
As Mr. Brand came back into he room I cuddled her close and asked for a blanket. About 20 minutes later I handed her to her proud father so I could get back up into a squat to push the placenta out. What an incredible, beautiful experience!
Your comments and questions are welcome.please make your subject birth story.
copyright 1997 All the written content on this page is copyrighted by Mary M Brand
