It was the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. Every body was really rushing me to have this baby, it was nearly two weeks late and my family was going out of town for our annual family reunion. Everyone including my doctor was really pushing me to be induced but I held out because I so deeply wanted to have an at home, natural birth. We pretty much kept it to ourselves that we wanted to do this at home. We told a few people but we quickly got sick of their negativity and reluctance to accept our choice.
I went ahead with my prenatal with my OBGYN without breathing a word of our plans. It was difficult for me not being able to be honest with family about our plans, and if I have another baby I will be more honest and just deal with the negative comments. In the beginning I inquired some about hiring a midwife, but it was way more money than we could afford without planning for it ahead of time, but as time went on and we entertained the thought more of having an unassisted birth the less I wanted anyone besides my husband to be present.
It was about 10pm when I started feeling some contractions I
thought I'd go to bed so I could get some rest in case this was really it. I
say this because there had been several nights like this, I'd swear this was it
only to wake the next morning with no baby and no more contractions.
By midnight I was pretty sure so I told Bob. He was so cute; he
went into the living room to do some last minute reading on the Bradley Method
book, it really helped him understand what I needed at different stages of my
labor. In the first couple hours I really wanted to be left alone except if I
needed a refill on my ice chips. (I was an ice fiend during this pregnancy) I
decided I wanted to get in the bathtub to help relax. It did help, but as things
progressed it seemed too much to deal with trying to put more warm water in
after it got cold and I just didn’t feel like verbalizing details so I got out.
I knew I was getting closer. My contractions were almost on top of each other.
I went into our bedroom and got on the floor. I never felt scared. I was focused
on what I knew I had to do. Bob kept asking if I wanted to go to the hospital
but I was sure I didn’t. He put down a shower curtain underneath an old
comforter for me to lie on. He told me to lie on my side, which totally felt awkward and uncomfortable but I did it to appease
him because I certainly wasn’t in the mood for arguing. He was only trying to
help. He left for just a second because he heard stirring in the other room,
Hayden was just waking to use the bathroom but I think it kind of startled him.
During this time, I felt the baby move down. I thought it was going to shoot
right out of me. [I almost started hyperventilating.] I was relieved when he
came back in the room. Finally I decided I wanted to start pushing, it seemed
like the right time. I got on my knees with my hands mounted on our dresser;
bob was behind me rubbing my back in downward motions. This helped me so much to
visualize my baby coming down. When I felt a contraction I would push. I
actually felt so much better by this time. I think those endorphins were
starting to kick in. I knew I would hold my baby soon. He told me when he could
see her head and that she had hair. I pushed with everything I had within me and then pushed some more. I was determined that she wasn’t
going to come out purple. Out this little miracle came into her daddy's hands,
absolutely perfect and beautifully pink, breathing right away and blinking her
little eyes at us. He handed her to me. I was a little shaky, but instantly in
love.
Lily was born at 4:00am. Dad went and woke brothers, they were so happy
she finally made it.
