I absolutely love birth stories. I love reading them, I love hearing them from anyone who cares to share their personal birth stories with me. There is something so very special about the day a new life is brought into the world. And no two stories are the same. Just how each person is unique, each story of how they come into the world is as so. And so, I have been wanting to write up Willow's birth story ever since we got home from the hospital, while it's still fresh in my mind. Not that anyone who is a part of a birthing experience could ever possibly forget the day, but I do know that small details fade away as I try to think back to Judah's birth story. If you're interested, I did write a post about his birth here.
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My OB told me I was 1cm on June 1st. By the following week, I was 2-3cm. And I stayed there until active labor started early on Friday, June 22nd...
Judah's little pitter patter came into our room and climbed into our bed around 7am that morning. When I woke, I could feel a lot of pressure in my lower back, but it wasn't much different than the pressure I'd been feeling off and on the rest of the month. I got up, ate breakfast, showered and dressed, but I did have to stop every so often to lean over something to try and stretch out my back and breathe through what felt like contractions. I'd been having Braxton Hicks contractions all month too, some of them strong enough to land me in yoga positions to ease the pressure, so I assumed this was more of that. I messaged my Doula, Rachel, that things may be happening today, just a heads up. At 8:30a, Phil called Rachel and said he thought she'd better come, since my contractions were pretty regular at 10 minutes apart. He also messaged my Mom to come and pick up Judah.
Rachel arrived and came to be with me in my bedroom, where I had already plugged in my headphones to tune in to my Hypnobabies. Oh Hypnobabies..I could write a whole separate blog entry just on this. I used this method prepping for Judah's birth too and it helped me immensely during my delivery with him, so I knew I would use it again for my next pregnancy. It retrains your brain to eliminate the fear of birth and replaces it with thoughts of positivity and peace. I'm a huge fan of anything that brings me peace. I can't say enough about how much I credit the lack of pain I felt during both of my births to Hypnobabies.
I spent the next few hours walking around my house and just following my body's lead. I laid down in bed with Phil, walked around our bedroom and house, and spent some time on our back porch to get some fresh air. I remember thinking wow, it's such a beautiful day and also I will always have this part of Willow's birth in our forever home, laboring here and then bringing her home here. In twenty years from now, even if our home looks different and our back porch has changed, I will have those memories of looking at the trees in our backyard as I breathed through contractions that brought our baby girl closer to my arms.
The time I spent laboring at home was so peaceful. It was serene. And beautiful. I remember feeling the urge to pee, a lot. I guess when there's a little tiny human head pressing more and more on your bladder as they descend down, your bladder's like just went pee? better pee again! During one of those bathroom trips, Rachel said she saw a change in me mid-contraction and suggested Phil call the OB to let them know we were heading to the hospital. At first I was hesitant, since I felt so calm and peaceful at home, I didn't want to leave yet. But a few more contractions later and I knew that we'd better head out since I wasn't prepared to have this baby at home.
From what I was told after, Phil drove about 60mph to the hospital on our windy back roads in small town NY. Apparently he was worried I'd have the baby in the car. I was pretty zoned out so there are details I don't remember simply because I was tuned into my Hypnobabies. I sat in the back seat, leaning over my birthing ball and bracing myself against both head rests so I didn't fall over. I had two contractions on the way there but the 10-minute drive is pretty blurry at this point.
We arrived around 1:30p and Phil carried everything but the kitchen sink in one trip while Rachel helped me through my contractions on the walk up to the birthing unit of the hospital. Again, I was told all of this afterward. I know there was someone in the elevator on our way up, but I couldn't tell you what he or she looked like or what was said on the trip up. We got to our room and the nurses put the monitor on my belly so we could hear the beautiful heartbeat of little miss. The OB had not yet arrived, so one of the nurses checked me and said I was 7cm.
I spent the next bit of time sitting on my birthing ball beside the bed, leaning into Phil's lap. After another check determining I was about 7-8cm, my contractions started coming very frequently and more intense. I stood up through most of them, leaning into Phil, while Rachel did acupressure on my back through each contraction. At some point, I know the contractions changed and I felt the urge to push. There was only one nurse in the room at the time, so Rachel mentioned that she should probably go grab someone since she could tell I was getting close to pushing. Three more nurses came in and suddenly I felt my water break while standing up beside the bed. The nurses quickly had me climb up onto the bed and somehow I managed to get on my back. With two or three pushes, her little head came out (thanks to Judah and his much larger head for paving the way for miss Willow. Ha! Two hours of pushing with Judah was a far cry from pushing this little one out). The nurses told me I had to push the baby out with the next push since her head was already out. So with the next push, out she came. I saw her land on the bed as the nurses rubbed her little back to pink her up. They put her on my chest and, just like that, the OB missed her delivery. I am so grateful to the wonderful nurses at the hospital who did a fabulous job delivering our girl. The OB arrived shortly after Willow's arrival, so the nurses waited for her to come in and deliver the placenta, and then Phil cut the cord. With Willow on my chest, they could've been cooking a four course meal in the room; all I cared about was this tiny little babe that we had waited so long to meet, and now she was here. She looked up at me, gave a tiny little cry, latched on to nurse and we begun the beginning of our relationship outside of the womb in a beautiful release of relief and tears.
I am so in awe of birth. I told Rachel that someday I will probably be a Doula myself, so I can experience it from the other perspective too. I'm so grateful to the nurses at our hospital that had complete respect for our birth plan and just let me labor however I was comfortable, until they came in to catch the baby (although I don't think they expected the pushing stage to come up so quickly, or the OB may not have missed the birth!). Phil and Rachel were my power team, coaching me the whole way and helping me stay in a place of calm and peace. To anyone going through birth and delivery -- a Doula is a lifesaver.
I love Judah's birth story. I love Willow's birth story. I love thinking about the very beginning of both of their lives and how they've folded themselves into our family. Willow Jayne, born at 3:20pm June 22nd. 7 lbs, 12 oz; 20 inches. Sweet and delicious. We're so glad you're here.
