Hugo Olympus Wonder Bear


 

Is it funny that almost 2 years later I haven't written down Arthur's birth story but here I am, just a few days post partum with Hugo, birth fresh on my mind and ready to write it down. Arthur's birth took some processing, so I wasn't ready to write it down yet. 

But here we are. I started having Braxton Hicks around 36 weeks, infrequent and not bothersome, I knew my body was practicing. Somewhere around 37.5 weeks they started to move lower and I could feel them in my back, but still not bothersome and I assumed I was in prodromal labor..ready for things to still take several weeks. I saw a little mucus two separate times between then and 39 weeks. More signs that my body was getting ready. Whenever I thought of it, I tried to take deep breaths and relax my pelvis and vagina. 

Hugo had been Anterior for weeks (aka, he was in the optimal birth position with his back lined up with the front of my tummy). At my 38 week appointment, he had shifted posterior (sunny side up, aka not optimal and usually a cause for back labor, which I had with Arthur and I was really trying to avoid this time.) I spent a lot of time on my hands and knees, leaning over the birth ball and generally watching my posture and not leaning back. Trying to use gravity to pull his back back to my front. It didn't seem to be working. 

We had a historic heat wave up here over the weekend, with temps up in the 110's. We don't have air conditioning so we were spending some evenings (hottest part of the day) over at my parents who do. On Monday (6/28) while we were over there he was moving SO MUCH I could feel him rotate. All of a sudden I could feel his back back up front! WOO! I went home around 8:30pm and Rich and I went to bed around 10:30. 

I woke up a little before 3am (6/29) with a sensation in my pelvis much like when his head was really low or a fist got up there. It's weird and uncomfortable. I rolled over and shifted my position and it happened again. I sat up to focus and when it happened a third time I decided to get out my contraction timer and see how long it was happening for. I timed 2 more and then woke up Rich. "Hey bud. I think I'm having contractions" I said very matter of factly while leaning over his face sleeping. He was wide awake and later told me his heart rate accelerated. He wanted to jump up and shower and I just wanted to time them for an hour to gauge what was happening. At this point they were uncomfortable, not painful and I was loosely breathing through them. I was assuming I was in early labor and we had awhile to go. We went out to the living room and tidied up and Rich was running around trying to prep a bunch of stuff. 

We called the midwife at 4am. For the last hour contractions were averaging every 4 minutes and lasting for a minute. She said she was on the way in her cool, calm & collected voice. We called our doula, and let her know the midwife was on the way, where my contractions were and decided we'd call her back when the midwife came to let her know where I was. I was having to pace and cope a little more at this point, focusing more on my breathe through each contraction. We called our friend Leann who was going to come be with Arthur and asked her to be here by 7. We called our friend who was going to photograph it as she needed time to take a ferry over here. By the time the midwife came at 5:10am, I was definitely in active labor. I needed Rich's hand giving some counter pressure on my back (thank god it wasn't back labor, just normal pressure) and he was rubbing my shoulders with his other hand. My breath had moved to sounds, "OOOOOoooooooooos", low "ohhhhh" sounds through each contraction. I was on the birth ball, or leaning over the side of the couch swaying my hips. A few times mid contraction I would yelp "ow!" from the pain but then get right back to my breath, sounds and swaying/rocking. The midwife and her assistant got to work FAST and set up the tub and got all the post partum stuff ready, she could tell this was happening fast (although she never said that to me!) I didn't have one single cervical check my entire pregnancy, which was something I desired. I wanted to trust my body and listen to my instincts to know where I was in my labor instead of having someone tell me. 

Just before 6am the tub was ready and they said if I wanted to get in, now was the time. I started feeling like I needed to push so I got in and the warm water felt great on my back. I had a few contractions and on the 3rd one I just pushed with everything in me. I was on my knees, leaned over the side of the tub, it was set up in our living room next to our sliding door (which was open) so I had the cool breeze of the morning air, I could hear the birds chirping and I was ready to meet this little guy. I pushed a few more times, at some point the midwife said he was crowning which I didn't hear, but Rich relayed to me and I reached down and touched his head. I knew if we were this far I didn't need to pace myself so I gave those last few contractions everything I had and yelled at the top of my lungs out the back door for all the world to hear and his head came out. I waited there for the next contraction and pushed the rest of his body out, turned over and pulled him out of the water and onto my chest. I definitely said "holy shit" and "what the fuck" within those first few minutes as I could not comprehend that he was here. 

14 minutes of pushing. 3 hours and 18 minutes of labor. I'm still a little mind blown. I can honestly say I wouldn't change a thing. Since the moment he arrived both Rich and I have felt like "all is right in the world", like we can't imagine life without him. I DID IT! 

Comments