Thursday, February 11, 2016

Continued Adventures in Home Birth

She waited as long as she wanted


Arabelle was late. Well, late by our estimation. There is so much guess work in determining a due date, she may have been born right on time. But as of Sunday, Feb 7th 2016, this baby was two weeks and two days "late". (I almost spelled "latte" there. I am so tired.)

We went grocery shopping Saturday night since walking around is one of the things they tell you will get labor started. Plus we wanted a ton of snacks on hand for the possibly long labor. We came home with food around 9pm, but it was around 11 that Laura started to feel sharp pains that "could be a contraction". So we all went to bed.

where it gets real, really fast

Laura got up around 2:30am, which is typical of her nightly bathroom trips she'd been making for the last few weeks. With her insomniac nesting she'd been up to since 39 weeks, I was used to her going missing in the middle of the night. She would tell me later that she couldn't sleep because of contractions, but she wanted me "to get more sleep"; labor is a long process, I might as well sleep through the boring part, right? Have I mentioned she's way too considerate?

At 5am, I was awakened by the sound of loud labor moaning that I've heard on only two other occasions. After briefly considering trying to go back to sleep, I got up to see how she was feeling. "They're pretty strong. My back hurts now." That tells me two things: I need to set up the birthing tub, and things are moving fast. So I start moving fast.

I get the tub out and set up the space in the living room with a shower curtain to protect the carpet from spillage. Then I realize I forgot to charge the electric air mattress pump. So now I'm on the floor, blowing dozens of liters of air into the tub, taking short breaks to wait for the dizziness to wear off. Every time I stop I hear "how much longer 'til you can fill it?" 20 minutes later, we have a tub starting to fill with warm water.

By now I've confirmed the contractions are strong and ~2 mins apart. Time to call the midwife.
Now that our midwife is on her way, all we have to wait for is the tub to fill. 20 more minutes of "wow, that one was strong" and "is there enough water to get in?"

6:15am "Yes, let me help you in."

plenty of time (warning - birth is graphic)

Laura is in the tub, water still pouring in, I sit down and start timing contractions again. Long, strong, but further apart in the tub. We still had hours last time, I just need to be supportive.
One contraction. "I feel like I need to push soon."
Two contractions. "The water isn't helping much, that really hurt."
With Laura sitting, leaning back against the tub, I take a peak at the situation. Bag of waters (aka amniotic sac) is bulging out. I'm thinking "oh well, her water will break soon."
Next contraction. Amniotic bubble is still intact, but much larger, and there is now a baby's head inside it. 

Oh, so we're doing this. Deep breath. Okay.

I reach under to check for a cord. Nothing around the neck, nose is facing down. All good.
Last contraction. Mimicking the motions I've seen in videos and previous births, I gently push down to free the shoulder and she's out and in my hands under the water. She's shrouded head to knees in the sac with just her feet sticking out the end. So I gently grab the membrane at the top of her head and it slides off her like gossamer. Then I say "ready?" and lift her just out of the water and into Laura's arms. We wait a few seconds and baby girl takes a breath, and another, and then starts a little cry. Perfect. I grab towels to wrap her and Laura looks at me with a face that just can't believe it.

This face:

That just happened
So baby is breathing, pinking-up, covered in "baby cheese" (Vernix Caseosa; Latin, "cheesy varnish"), midwife and midwife-in-training on their way, our toddler sleeping through it all in the next room. 6:30am.

Did I fish out afterbirth like it was nothin'? Yes, because nothing bothers me anymore.

There was another fun quirk of technology: At some point just after the catch and hand-off, I had pulled out my phone, dialed our midwife, hit speaker, and tossed it onto the couch next to us, hoping she'd pick up and we could update her like "baby is out now, situation normal", but because of highway dead zones, it went to voicemail and they got a recording that is both special for us and too low quality to post here. Snippets of speech, a baby cries, we're ecstatic and nervous; pretty much what you'd expect.

dear diary - what a day...

Planning a home birth is mostly being prepared for all the possibilities. Life is messy, unpredictable, joyful. Sometimes you have to be ready to catch your own baby.
Our birth team came in and took over, handled all the aftermath in a few hours, got Mom and Baby settled, and were gone again by afternoon. I drained and deflated the tub, washed the towels, and put the coffee table back in the middle of the floor. Same house, same family, just one more of us, only 12 hours after labor started. 

2 comments:

Kathleen said...

Wow! This is such a thrill. Thank you for sharing your labor story!

Diane said...

What a delight to read this birthing story. Thanks for sharing this!