I was true to my regular labor pattern and had been having prodromal labor for about three weeks with strong, regular contractions getting down to about 4 minutes apart with sessions lasting for 4 hours at a time before petering out and stopping.
My due date (2/16) was approaching and the contractions were off and on, but nothing regular. I re-read my birth stories from my three previous homebirths and saw a lot of similarities between this pregnancy and my 4th. Libby had been 2 weeks late and we had realized that not only was she posterior (as all my others had been), but her bottom was also leaning out at the top of my belly so that her head, although engaged, was not directly on my cervix.
I had used the belly holding technique described in “Back Labor No More” by Janie McCoy King and she had been born in an hour. : ) I talked to my midwife on Tuesday (2/15) about how to get the baby in a more vertical position instead of all out front and we decided to use my Maya Wrap as a rebozo and use a method taught by Mexican midwives at Midwifery Today conferences.
I laid down on the sling with the rings on my right side, brought the sling around the front of my belly and threaded the tail back through the rings. Mike pulled it as tight as he could get it and when I stood up, I felt great relief from my low back pain as the sling supported my belly and held it in enough to lift the baby. I walked around like that all day Tuesday.
In the afternoon, Mike called from the barn to say that Rosie, one of our Jersey milk cows had had her calf, so the kids and I went to the barn to meet him. I joked about breathing in the birth vibes and felt confident that I, too, would birth my baby the way God intended.
Wednesday (2/16) - Jeffrey’s Birthday!
I didn’t have much in the way of contractions all day and didn’t particularly feel like today was “the day”. I baked banana bread and made a late dinner (after having a late lunch ; ) and we were eating about 8:30 when I had a REALLY intense contraction - more intense than they had been. I had another about 10 or 15 minutes later and decided I wanted to get in the hot tub for relief (not to have a baby - I really had NO clue he was going to be born anytime soon.)
The water really took the edge off the contractions - I was only feeling them at their peak, so it was much better. It was dark with just a small lamp on, the jets on the hot tub drowned out the other household noises and I really relaxed between contractions which were now about 20 minutes apart. Since they weren't getting closer together, I was certain I was not in labor.
I continued in the water until 10:00 and had been counting contractions. Between 8:30 and 10:00 I had only counted 12 contractions, so did not consider this “active labor”. In fact, I was just about to get out and go to bed as I was getting tired and thought I could probably rest now. Mike was on the phone with my sister and with the next contraction, it felt really good to bear down just a little. ; ) Tori was sitting in the rocking chair next to the hot tub and I said "Tori, will you ask Dad to change and get in the hot tub?" She said, "Do you think the baby might be born tonight?" I said, "Since I was pushing with the last contraction, it's possible". : ) She RAN into our room and told him. He told my sister what was going on, hung up and went to change.
When he came into the sunroom, he sat down in the chair next to the hot tub and looked at me. I had had a couple more bearing down contractions while he was getting ready, so I said "Are you going to catch this baby or am I?" He looked a little surprised and climbed in.
I must have been in transition at that point because while I have always turned inward in transition, not speaking to anyone – this time I was fairly vocal. :-) Tori asked me how far apart the contractions were and I snapped at her, “How should I know? I’m not wearing a watch!” So she asked if I wanted to borrow hers because it’s waterproof. LOL!
I also let Mike know that I did not like his t-shirt and take off your cap and why didn’t you put your contacts in? LOL!
The contractions were STILL between 5 and 10 minutes apart and I was thinking that I would wait until they were closer together before calling the midwives. I had no idea where I was as far as dilation etc. but I knew that my body needed to push with the contractions. Once I had the thought - "what if I'm not complete and what if there's a cervical lip?", but there wasn't much I could do. Of course I had been doing the tummy lift with contractions to get him up vertical and it felt good to bear down. I know what a lip feels like and I didn't have that pain, so I just started pushing, then would put my head back and blow through the rest of the contraction.
In between I was feeling my belly and noticing that it was feeling a bit emptier. I could still feel feet and legs, but not much else. I couldn't imagine that his head could be in the birth canal already because I didn't think I could possibly be as far as that. I hadn't had what I considered active labor contractions until they started changing about 10:00. In fact, with the next contraction, I felt his head cross my bowel and went "whoa!" I was still in denial. This did NOT feel like labor the way I had known it five times before (Of course this was the first baby who had not been posterior throughout my pregnancy.).
It was then 10:35, and I asked Tori to call the midwife. (Mike had talked to her earlier in the evening and had jokingly told her I probably wouldn't know for sure I was in labor until I was pushing but we'd call as soon as we could.) She said she had to pack her things in the car and pick up her assistant (which is on the way) so it would probably be about an hour.
Mike was facing me for a change. I'm usually on my hands and knees with my back to him with my posterior babies, but this time I was facing him, so he could actually see my face when I was pushing. He kept bumping my knee saying "breathe!" I found it really annoying, but couldn't speak to tell him that. LOL! I pushed like I always do, but he had never seen my face when I was pushing. ; )
With the next one, I felt his head moving down the birth canal and I was able to grunt "HEAD". Mike told Tori, "get the kids". They were at the tub in seconds and Tori went to grab the camera and by the time she got back into the room he was out already!
I was pushing almost continuously at that point and I felt the ring of fire. I asked Mike if his head was out and he said, “half way”. I decided having a 14 ½" head halfway out wasn’t extremely comfortable and pushed again. We still just had a lamp on, so there wasn't much light for seeing under the water. Mike felt around his head, trying to figure out where his face was (this was HIS first time catching an anterior baby, too!) As the rest of his head was born, he felt it rotate. He felt around the neck and there was no cord, but he ran his hand along the baby's bottom shoulder which stretched my perineum a bit and he SHOT out like a torpedo. : ) It was 10:45.
Mike picked him up and brought his face out of the water (which you can see in the photo album) and he just was perfect - purplish pink and alert and looking around and opening up, kicking his feet. He didn't look like a newborn. There wasn't much vernix at all and he just looked older (I guess after Emily was born at 37 weeks it was a bit of a change).
