nora's birth story

Nora’s birth story

It took me a long time before I could write this story.  This morning I was tickling Nora and she giggled and laughed with such glee it made me melt with happiness.  I  feel  ready now.

In the evening, the day after my due date,  I felt an urgency to get the last things ready.  My mom came that afternoon to help me wash the floor, do the dishes and other list items that I felt I simply must get done.  Tey helped me put plastic under the sheets on the bed because  I had started having contractions that afternoon.  I kept going and around 10:00 pm that night I was feeling so much adrenaline knowing that this would be the last night being pregnant and worrying about the kids waking up.  (Neka  3 ¾) (Nala 1 ½) I was also filled with the fear of the pain I would need to go through.  My first labour was scary and very painful, I didn’t really know what to expect even though I had read lots.  Because of this I visualized going into and relaxing into the pain with my next labour.  It was amazing.  I reached a place I didn’t know was possible.  I really surrendered myself and found that my body was powerful!  For this birth I watched lots and lots of natural homebirth videos and read soooo many stories but I always kept  coming back to a fear that never seemed to leave me.  I  know now that I was afraid of being too overwhelmed with having three children, I felt that I couldn’t manage.  I faught the feeling because I wanted to have another amazing birth experience.  I wanted a water birth and my midwife was going to bring the pool with her but when I called her at midnight to say things were ramping up and that I was having contractions 5 min. apart for two hours already she let me know that my other midwife had just had her baby that afternoon and that the pool wasn’t ready for me.  I felt sad, this was going to have been one of the ways I was planning on coping with the pain.  She said she was on her way and I stayed on my post, the birthing ball in the kitchen.  Before that I tried to lay in bed and rest but I had to sit up for each contraction and breathe through them, I felt the fear mounting to the point where getting up and moving seemed to make sense. 

After the midwife came I took up a new perch in the living room and swayed and rolled on the ball until the wee hours hours of the morning.  Things felt strong and intense for each contraction but they didn’t get closer together and I was wondering why it was taking so long.  My last labour was 6 hrs.  At around 5:00 am my midwife asked to check me before she headed home for some sleep.  I was 3-4 centimeters and I felt like I still had a long road ahead of me.  She left us with the instructions to call when things heated up.  I alternated between laying on the couch and rocking on the birthing ball until around 7:00 am when the girls woke up and my mom fed them breakfast and got them ready to go out for the day to my sister-in law’s house.  After they left it was just me and Tey and I felt so exhausted and discouraged.  Things seemed to slow down and I felt like I couldn’t lay down because it was uncomfortable,  too much pressure.  I sat in a coma like state, drifting in and out of sleep as each contraction came.  I felt trapped in that time feeling like I would never get out and that I would stay pregnant forever. 

Then around 11:00 am I got up feeling very restless.  I felt like I needed to take charge of this labour and take back my courage that I had given away to fear.  I talked it all out with Tey, telling him how scared I was, how discouraged and how tired I was.  He really listened and affirmed me.  Then I started talking about what I could do.  I was afraid of the really hard part and I didn’t see any progress so I felt like I needed to walk head on into my fear.  I said I would start with a shower, I remembered how comforting a hot shower could feel when I don’t feel good so, into the shower I  went.  Suddenly I felt like I needed to wash my hair, then I had a really hard contraction, I quickly switched to conditioner and in between I had to concentrate really hard.  Instead of my deep moaning I had adopted a puffing that was really focused.  Suddenly my mucus plug came out and then during the next contraction my water broke. Tey called the midwife right away because we saw meconium in the fluid (we know this because this happened with our first daughter and the midwife described that instead of being clear the fluid was green).  From then on the contractions were on top of each other and I called Tey to help me out of the shower but when he came all I could do was hang onto him because I felt the most incredible pressure, my body was baring down.  I have never felt a baby move that fast through my birth canal. 

I was shouting  for Tey to get me out of the shower because it felt like the baby was coming out NOW!  (we have an old shower with sliding doors and I didn’t think Tey would be able to catch the baby!:)  He got me out and I yelled “get me to the bed”  but then after a few steps I yelled “put me down.”  I felt like I couldn’t move, I was doing a full body yell as I dropped to all fours on the bathroom floor.  Then I was sure the baby was coming out any second so I yelled for Tey to grab towels and in the same breath  I yelled for him to get behind me because the baby was coming!  Tey was on the phone with the midwife (she was minutes away) and she said to call the paramedics.  Once  on the phone with them  I was tyring so hard not to push but my body was a machine!  From in the shower already my body was baring down so hard I felt like an observer to myself in action.  Once I got out of the way nature went to work!  I remember yelling “do you see the head?”  I felt the baby right there.  One more push and I reached back to feel the head.  Then Tey yelled “push, push” and I pushed as hard as I could and the baby slithered out into Tey’s hands.  I swung my leg over the umbilical cord and sat down to hold my baby.  She wasn’t breathing for  the first few seconds, I wiped her face with a towel and Tey, with the direction of the paramedics on the phone put the oxygen mask over her  face (The midwife had set everthing up before she left).  Nora came to and started breathing and I kept saying  “hey baby you’re going to be okay we love you”  Our midwife flew in and found us in the bathroom.  (Our neighbor told us later that she raced into our driveway so fast her hubcap flew off!)   She had just gotten the baby and was checking her out when the paramedics also ran in and asked if we needed to transfer to the hospital.  The backup midwife rushed in as well and after our midwife had had a good look she declared that Nora looked good and that we could stay.  Then, not five minutes, later I told the midwife that I had to push and I birthed the placenta.  What a good feeling, finally I was done (almost). 

 After Nora and I were on the bed the midwife saw that I needed stitches for my second degree tear.  Oh not fun!  Having had to do this both times before I gritted my teeth and willed it over quickly.    My midwife helped me to the shower and after I washed  I smiled, it felt great to have freshly washed hair!  Once back in bed I cuddled  my baby.  Later I ate a big bowl of granola with milk, I was revenous and food had never tasted so good!  Tey snuggled in with baby Nora and me.   We just looked at her with wonder.  The midwives cleaned everything up ( I won’t lie, the bathroom was quite a sight!)  Later Nora’s sisters got to meet her for the first time.  Wow, I get teary remembering what a beautiful time that was!  In the end we realized that I had laboured for  12 hours before I got into the shower and then ½ hour later Nora was born.  It reminded me again that when you get to the the stage when you don’t think you can do it anymore the end is near!  I felt great and healed quickly and best of all I now have three gorgeously delightful girls.