Emma Rose~ A Redemption Birth

Emma Rose

I thought it was about time to write the birth story of our newest wee one...such a vastly different story than her brothers birth. This was the healing birth my husband and I really prayed for and needed. A redemption of sorts, restoration for the soul. After a dramatic birth with our first, and the loss of our second, this birth and this baby represented so much hope. One of my favorite verses is Jeremiah 29:11 "For I know the plans I have for you...plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future". Our children represent our dreams, our hopes, and most of all our future. I can honestly say I know God had us in his hands in all three of our birthing stories and am so grateful to have two beautiful, healthy children. So here is the story of Emma Rose :)

Our daughter was "due" Dec 30th 2011, so it made for a cautious christmas, not certain how far from home we could go, with my only birthing history being that of super fast progress. But as Christmas came and went, and I felt nothing unusual (other than all the things you feel at 40 weeks!) I settled in for the wait. An internal check to determine if she was head down for sure told us that I was already almost 3 cm dilated at 38 weeks, so I had been sure she would show up early. We really wanted to celebrate new years with our friends so we decided to have everyone over to our house. There's nothing quite as festive as hanging out with friends, ringing in the New Year around the blow up birth pool in the living room! We joked about having the new years baby and would it count if its a home birth? The 1st came and went. On the morning of the 2nd, I woke up feeling great. By 10am I noticed I was feeling every so slightly a small area in my lower abdomen that was cramping, but I could hardly feel it so I ignored it (cautiously this time) and went on with our day. My aunt called and said she felt she was supposed to pray for me and baby right then...I didnt tell her I was feeling possible contractions. I hung up with bittersweet tears in my eyes, thinking of her words telling me I had two daddys watching over me when the time comes, my own and my heavenly Father. I so wished my dad could have been here to meet his newest grandaughter, but I knew he would be cheering me on.

By lunch time the cramps hadnt stopped, hadnt changed in intensity, but were almost a minute and a half long and 10 minutes apart when I timed them. I let my midwives know things seemed to be going and they said they were in town to check on another client, they would pop by and see how I was doing. They arrived around 1:30 and I still felt great, no change. At their suggestion I opted for a stretch and sweep to see if that would stimulate the contractions a bit more. Our student midwife warned me that its a very uncomfortable procedure but I said its ok, I feel good so lets try it. Amazingly enough, we were all chatting while she did the s&s until she finally said "are you feeling that at all?" and I realized it didnt hurt at all. She then said it could be because I was easily stretching to 6 cm. After they left I finished inflating the birth pool, gathered our home birth supplies, got supper prepped for Zac. Gabriel was on alert and nearby at work so I kept him up to date. Actually, I think he called me every half hour to ask what I was feeling now, lol.

We had two of our good friends on call to come when things picked up since my doula was in Florida. Gillian and Chris arrived around dinner time and were a great help. Chris took such good care of Zachariah that he still asks when auntie Chris is going to come over again and play with him, lol. By this time the contractions were getting more intense, meaning they felt like period cramps. Still about 5-7 min apart and LONG, a minute and a half to two minutes each. When I went to lay down with Zac at bedtime (8pm), I realized then it was really going to happen, and probably soon. I was so uncomfortable laying down, it was a good thing he fell asleep quickly. I had borrowed a TENS unit from my doula/friend and as gabe was filling the birth pool, I decided to give it a try just for fun. The contractions were growing in intensity but were still very manageable compared to my first labour. I was enjoying the good company, great music on the ipod, Gillian was discreetly taking photos of the whole thing. The calm and peace and joy in the house was such an opposite of my sons birth, and I am so grateful that I could have a redo of sorts. This is how birth should be.

When I had the TENS on one of the highest settings a few hours later, I decided it was about time to get into the tub and see if that helped. The midwives were now on their way. I wasnt sure at this point how much longer it might be...nothing was the same as the first time so I felt a bit lost, but in a good way. When contractions started coming about every 3-4 minutes, before I got into the pool, I felt a warm gush and assumed my water had broken. Gillian suggested I look to see (why didnt I think of that? lol) I took a peek and saw blood. Lots of it. And just then the midwives arrived. Inside I was panicking, thinking that if I tell them about the bleeding they will rush me off to the hospital. My reasoning was that as a doula, I had been at births where bleeding was present and it was always treated as a bad, scary thing. So I assumed the same. I told my primary midwife that there was a gush of blood and she said ok! Must be almost time then. I still wasnt sure so I showed her how much and she said yup, thats ok, not unusual. PHEW! I was so relieved. I jumped into the pool with the grace of a birthing hippo, and the rest is a bit of a blur after that. I had been posting updates on facebook up to that point and much later I had so many people telling me I had left them all hanging at 11pm at night, waiting to hear what happened. HA!

I remember my hubby kneeling beside the pool, runnig his nails up and down my arms. I have no idea why he thought this was a good idea but it made me want to jump out of my skin! lol. Everything was so intense at that point, I was fully dilated, I assume my water broke in the pool, and then that powerful, uncontrollable, spontaneous pushing began. The only thing that was like my first birth except this time I worked hard to keep it calm and controlled. I DID NOT want tearing like last time. I remember her head was crowning and I used everything in me to hold back the pushing for a few moments, allowing the perinium to stretch. I remember saying to myself then, "lets finish this now" and giving that one last push. I was kneeling in the pool, midwives catching from behind and allowing me to reach down and bring our baby girl up myself, onto my chest in the water. Cord was left intact. A shot of oxytocin as a precaution because I bled heavily with my first birth. And the first thing I said was "hello precious girl! You are a tiny little thing!" because I was convinced she was going to be bigger than her brother.

A few minutes after, my wonderful hubby helped us out of the pool and onto the couch beside it, where we were wrapped in a cozy housecoat and towels. Emma was still attched to me by her umbilical cord and we waited for the placenta to be delivered a few moments later before cutting the cord. It was all so peaceful and sweet. I asked what the damage report was and to my great relief and surprise they said not really any tearing at all, two small stitches for superficial tissue just to help it heal better. Wow! This was one happy mama. Our son woke up looking for mommy, and one of the most precious memories for me was when he was snuggled beside me on the couch, eyes still closed, and Emma was snuggled on my chest skin to skin...Zac finally opened his eyes when he heard Emma give a little cry, and he said Hi Baby! You came out!

We were all tucked into bed by midnight, my sweet, excited boy and my new 6lb 11oz baby girl...and I felt amazing. No pain, no trauma, just sweet joy and needing to sleep. My girl slept and ate like a champ, and we greeted the morning with awe over this new little life. Emma is now just 4 months old, weighs 14 lbs and sleeps through the night. I stand by the belief that often babies birth like their personalities, at least its proven true in our family. My fast and furious birth with my energetic, dramatic little man, and the peaceful, laid back birth of our sweet little girl, Emma Rose.

The Fast and the Furious-Zachariahs Birth Story

On this the evening of my firstborn's 4th birthday, I am again reliving the wild ride that was his birth. When he woke up beside me this moring, we snuggled with his new baby sister and I told him his story once again. And again, I found I could laugh at even more of it now, instead of the feelings of shock and denial. So here is my short/long story :)
At 10am on my due date, I went for my second accupuncture appointment in the hopes of reducing the duration of this my first labour. An hour later, while having tea with a friend in Bolton, I began having very strong but short cramps, which I chose to ignore, because I had LOTS of time I knew. My husband called me and I told him I was having mild contractions but it was nothing to worry about, things probably wouldnt pick up until that evening or into the night, if it even continued at all. Looking back now I can safely say those were strong contractions for my body's way of labouring. When I could no longer focus well on our conversation over tea, I decided I better drop in and see my sister/doula. We were planning a home birth at my sister's home in Bolton with the York Region Midwives (because at the time there were no practises that would deliver in our area) She and I walked my little niece to the school bus at noon for her half day of school and she was so excited that when she got home she might be able to see her cousin being born. While standing at the bus stop I was swaying back and forth with the cramps but still calm on the outside because of course, I had LOTS of time. I told my sister that I would drive (45 minutes) home to pick up our bags and come right back, since I probably had many hours still to go, and I still had to stop and pick up some homeopathics for labour. What I didnt tell her was that contractions were coming about every 7-10 minutes, and getting quite uncomfortable. So many details after this...On the drive home I called my dad at work to let him know his grandson would be making an appearance soon. He suggested I go to their house and get Gabe to meet me there instead so I wasnt driving further than I had to. Their house was conveniently located across the road from Headwaters Hospital. I declined and told him it was ok, I still had a long way to go for a first time labour I was sure. I stopped in orangeville to eat lunch at subway and when I realized I was audibly breathing through contractions while trying to eat, I figured I should head home. But not before I ran into Harmony Market to pick up a remedy I might need later, you know, in case labout didnt progress :) While in the store, I found myslef squatting with every contraction, carefully studying everything on the bottom shelves, until a sales person asked me if I was ok. I quickly made it out of there and into the car. Down the road was my parents house and across the street from them was the hospital. But I had LOTS of time. So I headed to Shelburne.
By the time I reached the lights 5 minutes from home, contractions were coming every 2 minutes, lasting at least a minute, and I was lifting my bottom off the seat to relieve the pressure in my bottom, while pressing the gas pedal. Once home I almost crawled into the house. Again, so many funny, small details...I took the time to heat up my rice pack to put on my lower back because with each contraction it felt like my spine was being ripped in two. I crawled up the stairs to my bed, got on all fours, and called my sister to tell her that if early labour was this painful I would surely need an epidural. She laughed and said Oh No! She suggested I try the hot shower for my back so I crawled my way there. Into the shower to try and stop the crazy back pain, my husband was driving home from a meeting in toronto, and checking in with me I assured him I was fine but that he might want to go faster since this seemed to be going a bit quicker than I had expected. I still hadnt called my midwives. Or 911. I had LOTS of time. Another call from my sister while I was in the shower crying because of the contraction pain, as soon as the cramo would release I could talk like everything was hunky-dorey and seemed fine to people on the phone. Until a contraction hit while I was talking on the phone with her and spontaneous pushing began. With two words, "I'm pushing!!" I hung up on her and paged my midwife. Then with another overwhelming contraction, my water broke with an audible gush and a rainbow of color. Then I panicked. I thought my baby was not going to be ok. Reality hit like a truck load of fear. I was praying at the top of my lungs, please let him be ok, please let him make it through this. My midwife called within 2 minutes, and the only words I could get into the phone were "I'm pushing and there's mec (meconium in the fluid) and I cant stop this!" I ended in a whimper and I remember hearing an Oh Sh*t come from the phone. She called 911 for me from another line, and at the same time started giving me instructions. Get out of the tub, on the floor, bum in the air, head to the ground. She asked me if I could check and feel where baby's head was if in the birth canal. I checked. I didnt have to go far. He was crowning. She calmly told me she would walk me through how to deliver my own baby. I told her I was about to throw up.
Within 5 minutes, 6 of our towm's finest paramedics were standing in my hallway introducing themselves to my very naked self, while on my hands and knees holding my sons head from crowning. "Nice to meet you, I'm Holly, and I'm sorry we have to meet this way" is what I managed to say in between trying not to push. Now, my hubby's last conversation with me was before pushing started. My sister, unable to get me back on the phone, called him and told him I was pushing and at home alone. Needless to say there was some panic happening, poor guy. He then called our 80+ year old neighbor Bessie to ask her if she could look outside and see if there was an ambulance in the driveway. She said there were two ambulances. She then came over to see if she could be of any help, bless her soul. So there I was, still naked, now on the living room floor, in front of my neighbor and 6 strngers who were helpful enough to keep telling me to NOT PUSH. Right. Since they couldnt imagine me finishing this birth at home or without and episiotomy, I was loaded into the ambulance as my hubby pulled into the driveway and saw our baby crowning. Hi hunny, how was your day?...Down the street, around the corner, and POP! I swear thats what I heard when my son came flying out on his own, making an entrance that to this day has his personality all over it. The ambulance pulled over on Main St. to check on baby, and Gabe took the stop as an opportunity to run over to a police car nearby and ask permission to speed. Lol. He didnt know why we stopped. In the 7 minutes it took us to get to Orangeville I noted the time, 3:10pm, and had a nice chat with the two men in the back with me. they had a good laugh when they discovered I was a doula and childbirth educator. One even said, "You must have thought you had LOTS of time..." So when we arrived at the hospital and they opened the ambulance doors, there was my sweet, anxious husband waiting for me, and I introduced him to our happy, healthy first born. They wheeled us directly into labour and delivery to save us from going through the ER, naked momy and baby swaddled in ambulance blankets. 4th degree tearing, many stitches later, and a good case of post tramautic shock, we went home a family of three the next day. In my bare feet I might add, in the snow, because I arived there without shoes and no one remembered to bring me any with my bags. It made for great coming home pictures :)