Birth Story - Part II

Read Part I  here.


Despite my waters breaking at 12:30 on Saturday, March 19, I had no contractions or any other signs of labor.  We called my midwife, the same woman who had checked us that Thursday evening, and she congratulated me and told me to call her when the contractions began.

At that point, we set to work preparing.  T did the dishes, made food, and completed the laundry.  We were going to give birth at the birth center in our city and, as it is their policy, you leave the center and return home 6 hours after birth.  Therefore, being that we were committed to co-sleeping, we needed our sheets to be clean for our little man!

I showered and shaved (of course!) and then took a nap on the couch.  At this point I was thrilled, but did not want to become overly excited as I know adrenaline can stall labor.  Napping did not work very well, but I did get a bit of rest.  At this point, I called my parents and proceeded to cry once more.  It was their plan to come visit us and our newborn one week later, but the excitement of the moment and the fact that I was not yet contracting sent my mother into a mad dash to pack, fly across the country, and make it in time to see the birth of his first grandchild.

We also called our doula, who happens to be a labor and delivery nurse at a local hospital, and informed her of our situation.  She was headed in to work the night shift that evening, but told us to call when labor progressed and she would leave work to attend to us.

At around 6:00 pm, I was trying to enjoy a dinner of pasta that we had made. I did not have much of an appetite but I tried to eat as much as possible for energy reserve.  Upon standing, my waters broke completely as they had only been trickling up to this point.  Just as I had seen in the movies, I ran to the bathroom and stood in the bathtub.  T stood there and watched in disbelief.  If we weren't sure we were in labor, at this point it was a done deal!

By 9:00 pm, and still no contractions, my mother arrived and we went to pick her up.  That supermoon that I so desperately wanted to begin my labor shone brightly, leading our way to the airport.  Upon returning home, T climbed to the roof of our building to document it.

By around 11:00 pm, we phoned our midwife to tell her that I had yet to begin contracting.  She then suggested nipp.le stim.ulation to get them started.  She said if that did not work, to go to bed and get some rest.  In the morning we would try castor oil if my body did not begin on its own.  Not wanting to wait for castor oil, I humbly covered myself with a blanket and T repeatedly brought me warm wash cloths to start stim.ulation.  Within 30 minutes, my contractions started to roll in, but nothing too strong and they were virtually painless.

We all decided to go to bed at this point to get some rest so we were prepared for what was to come next.

Read Part III.