First: A tribute to doulas:

I am so grateful for my training as a doula, my work with laboring mothers and many conversations amongst doulas over the years.  I believe all of these things paired nicely with faith, prayers and the experience of having labored naturally once before gave me the perfect background for my second labor to be nearly perfect.   Doula’s, thank you all so much for the work you; and mothers-thank you so much for allowing me to be a part of your birth stories.  Please feel free to read my condensed or long version of my birth story if you would like to hear a happy mama’s success story.

Here's my grateful story...

if you just want the short version go down to the bold/italics section

I am blown away by my birth story with my son. It started 3 days prior to my 37th week, when I started getting contractions every time I sat up or stood up. I didn’t really think I was in labor, but I was definitely on the couch all day while my mother-in-law took care of my toddler. This continued almost every other night in the middle of the night for the next 4 weeks.  For the first 2 of those, I was constantly nervous and wondering if my time had come, but then I decided to just “enjoy” it.  I didn’t really enjoy the sleepless, restless nights of contractions, but the fact that I was nearing the end of my pregnancy and soon would not be only the mom to my daughter, but to two children. So I openly accepted the next 2 weeks. 

I was so blessed by my in-laws to stay at their home near Dayton the week before the baby came. Because we were using the birth center in Dayton we were starting to get nervous about making the trip up during labor, so we went to stay with them to be closer. They let me take naps and do word puzzles while they cooked and took care of my almost 3 year old. I would watch movies at night when everyone else was asleep, though I couldn’t fall asleep yet.  It was a precious time.  This time just so happened to correlate with my birthday and Father’s Day as well.  So although I was quite uncomfortable, unable to move very quickly and still having to eat every 2 hours throughout the day and night; I unexpectedly enjoyed my birthday. I’m used to my husband pampering me on my birthday and/or being on vacation or with my own family. But this time I was 9 ½ months pregnant, away from my house, away from my parents and not really planning anything specific to do for me.  But with loads of friends praying for me to have a quick, healthy labor and be free of fear and frustration, God came through and blessed me in just those ways and more!

Friday night (4 days late and 1 day before my birthday), I began to use Clary Sage on my feet to try to kick labor in (or at least lessen the pain of contractions along the way).  Saturday morning, my birthday, I saw the first sign of labor approaching.  A great birthday gift at 7am in the peacefulness of the country quiet and while everyone else was still asleep; my mucus plug began to release!  Then I went to a dear place to me: The Dayton 2nd street market.  We had crepes for breakfast, bought some Amish strawberries and picked up our organic grass fed, milk from our herdshare. Yum! All this with a happy toddler.

We returned back to their home and walked around their property, fiddled with the garden, spoke with the neighbors and just had a pleasant, calm day. I got to see my mom at a bridal shower for a dear friend, take a nap, then received a “handmade” gift from everyone: a water bottle (that I used in labor) with my husband and daughter’s handprints on it J, and cupcakes too.  We all went to sleep realizing I wouldn’t be sharing my birthday with my new son or daughter, but glad for a birthday to remember.

Sunday, Father’s Day…the rest of my mucus plug released and it pleased me again to know that something was happening, and thank you Clary Sage for helping me sleep well that night.  Though I was still not in labor I was determined to keep being thankful of the time I had. So we went to church with the family, then to a Father’s Day brunch with my husband’s mom, dad, and brother. It was again, enjoyable and relaxing. Followed by a John Deere Gator ride for my daughter at her uncle’s work J  We headed home for another nap and some more word puzzles.  I started to get my daughter an appetizer before real dinner around 5pm.  And that’s when the next story begins.  I was no longer interested in helping her, as the contractions began again and this time a little harder and more consistent than the previous 4 weeks. We migrated to the living room to watch Dora the Explorer (the episode where Dora’s mom has twins), and we talked my daughter through her baby sibling’s birth one more time and how she is to stay with her grandparents while mommy and daddy are at the birth center.  At this time, I still do not feel as though I can pull the trigger and claim this is as labor because it wasn’t quite as I had remembered it with my first (INTENSE)!  But I did begin to get ready anyway, then laid down in order to rest a few minutes before starting bedtime routine of books and snuggle time.  My husband brought me a book and my toddler for me to read to her.  I began to cry during a contraction when my husband told her that I’d probably be having the baby tonight and I realized that this was probably the last time I’d read to her 100% alone for a good while.  That’s when I knew-yep, it’s time to call my midwife and head to the birth center. 

So I technically labored at home for 3 hours and then made it to Family beginnings around 9pm. In the car, my husband was still rooting for me to birth the baby in the next 3 hours to give him a Father’s Day gift. I firmly requested he not suggest that anymore, because that could mean a very quick and intense labor.  But guess what, we both got our hopes.  I skipped right through triage, had some very intense contractions in the hall leading to my birthing room and cried a couple times along the way because I was just so excited he/she was on the way.  I was already to 7 cm when I got checked, though I was still smiling occasionally in between my contractions and talking to everyone like it was a normal day.  But I was ready for the tub since I was far enough along to not slow it down. So I sent my last text to a handful of friends and family that we were ready to have a baby soon. 

I got in the tub and my midwife and her midwife student joined us within about 15 minutes. Again, I was still pretty alert and talkative, so as all my doula experience and research had taught me, this was kind of eerie to think I was so far along in dilation, but having a relatively “simple” labor. Contractions were plenty uncomfortable; I had to concentrate very hard, relax completely and close off everything else; but the simple tap of my pointer finger against the tub for a distraction to concentrate on something beside the pressure in my abdomen; and the warmth of someone’s hand on my low back was enough to get me through each contraction.

It was now 10 o’clock and not much had changed. I was still dealing with my contractions physically mostly by myself, but also with the emotional support from my awesome birth team of my husband, nurse and 2 midwives when my mom and sister came in; followed shortly by my mother-in-law (who had been putting my daughter to sleep then passed her off to my brother-in-law so that she could come get videos of the birth).  Everything was perfect now.  I wasn’t worried about my daughter staying overnight away from my husband and me for the first time in her life, and my complete crew was with me. Still wondering why labor was seemingly so manageable, but thanking God wholeheartedly all the while, since I had been so scared to have the same intense pain as my first labor.  One of the biggest blessings in this labor was thus: I really thought people were crazy to ever say that it wasn't painful, but I really just relaxed my abdomen and my bowels and I could feel him move down.  That was the crazy part too-I had prayed that I might be able to feel him working because with my first-it was so painful I couldn't determine anything specific; it was all painful and I couldn't pinpoint anything that she was doing. This was completely different and I was so grateful to be able to feel his movements!

Time in the tub continued to be calm and manageable until transition/pushing came.  I feel like this all hit at approximately the same contraction.  It was very painful and difficult to control my efforts, but with my husband behind me in the tub, my midwives talking me through each wave we did it. Also my past experience reminded me that I had to change my way of dealing with the pain this time or lose all control like I did with my first labor.  So the best 2 pieces of advice/reminders that I received from my midwives were that I needed to lower my tone of voice and get “on top” of the contraction.  Don’t let it sneak up on me.  I distinctly remember with my first labor that I tried to pretend the pushing contraction wasn’t coming. I thought that if I pretended it wasn’t coming, maybe it wouldn’t; but in actuality it just made it impossible to control the pain. So this time, I ACCEPTED the situation I was in and started pushing slightly before the contraction even got underway. This was crucial and super helpful.  Though pushing continued to stay painful and overwhelming, I know that it could have been much worse without this technique.  Not 35 minutes later, our baby was born in the water.

My first birth, I was overwhelmed when everyone in the room announced it was A GIRL before I even came back into reality. So this time I made sure everyone knew to keep the gender a secret until I decided it was time to look.  I got to tell everyone on FATHER’s DAY at 11:01 pm that it’s A BOY! What an honor to get to mother a girl and a boy now.  The 2 last things that were icing on the cake to his birth story was that my husband and both grandfather’s got to see their grandson on Father’s Day.  My father was in the room within minutes of the birth and my husband’s father came from his house and walked in the room at 11:59 pm.  It was so neat!  And secondly, the joy of a natural birth makes me wired to go.  So while everyone fell asleep I pretty much stared at my new little one all night long.  I finally fell asleep for 45 minutes around 5:30am.

Thanks be to God, my son and my past and current birth teams for all the help and support to make this a great experience!