Labor & Delivery: the Long Version

Pre-labor kicked off on Sunday night under a nearly full moon and a storm. Everyone tells me there are more births under full moons and with low-pressure systems. I don't know about that, but it was rather special to walk around under the moon while we were waiting for things to pick up. The weather was beautiful, the sky so clear you could see the man in the moon.

Pre-labor continued on Monday with irregular mild contractions. On Tuesday, they picked up and began to be painful. We thought Tuesday might be the day, but the contractions were still irregular. I took a bath to slow them down and went to bed for an hour or two, then woke up boom! at 12:30 a.m. Wednesday. This was it! Todd said he knew it must be time when I was willing to call our doula (labor coach) at 2 in the morning.

Our doula, Susan

What's a doula? A woman trained and experienced in labor coaching. She stays with the laboring mother during the entire process and helps with aids such as massage and relaxation techniques.

We had decided to look for a doula and found, much to our surprise, that one of the two in the entire south metro area happened to live on our street. It seemed like God was looking out for us. She has turned out to be a good friend and was worth her weight in gold during labor. I don't know that I would've made it halfway through without her guidance. I had decided that I wanted a drug-free labor if everything went well. I knew that in going in that direction, we might be fighting the staff at the hospital, many of whom are in favor of a more controlled approach and not necessarily patient with a natural birth. With a doula to support us, we felt we had a better chance at keeping to our plan. Also, Todd felt that having a doula would give him the opportunity to be an emotional support but, since he hadn't experienced birth, not feel responsible for knowing everything. Susan was a great resource. Todd picked up a lot from her and was a wonderful support throughout the whole process. They both helped me with massage, changing positions, letting me lean on them, and all kinds of things. I was glad to be able to labor at home for several hours. The pain during that time was intense but manageable. We headed to the hospital at about 10 a.m. and found I was at 5 centimeters and 100% effaced.

The Midwife, Eileen

When I began seeing the doctor here in Newnan, there were no midwives working with the practice. I had wanted a midwife but was not willing to deliver at a hospital an hour away just to have one. When I was maybe 5 months along, my doctor hired a part-time midwife who began delivering in the spring. I got to meet her at an appointment in April and was thrilled to find that she shared my attitude towards birth. She was only on call once a week but told me she was willing to come to the birth anyway if the time was convenient to her. Although I liked my doctor very much, I began to pray that Eileen would be on call for our delivery since she was so supportive of natural childbirth and I had felt such a rapport with her. She also was willing to "buck the system" in the hospital to get what we wanted. God answered that prayer, and Mira waited to come until Eileen WAS on call. In fact, I was in labor at the hospital almost from the beginning of Eileen's shift until the end of it.

The Nurse, Gloria

We also had an amazing nurse who only works at that hospital one day a week. She "just happened" to be the person responsible for re-writing the hospital policy on intermittent monitoring. Being able to monitor the baby like this is really important if you want a natural birth, and I had been getting mixed answers about whether or not I would be "allowed" to. Gloria was totally willing to do it and was a really kind person besides. Again, I felt God was looking out for us.

We all thought Mira would come in the afternoon, but although both she and I were tolerating labor without problems, progress was slow. By late afternoon, I was dilated to 8 centimeters. If I had known then that it would be 6-7 more hours, I might've signed up for an epidural right then, but the midwife and others assured me that the end was probably very near, and I figured I should keep trucking if that were true. I was exhausted, though, so we decided I would take a shower to relax me a little, and I ate Popsicles to give me a little energy boost. I made it to 9 centimeters and again felt discouraged that it wasn't going faster. Finally my water broke, and I got excited thinking this meant things were progressing. They WERE progressing, but again, not very fast. Again we thought it wouldn't be long once I started pushing, but the pushing lasted 2 ½ hours. Usually pushing is much shorter without an epidural, but no such luck for me this time. Pushing started out not feeling so bad but then became extremely painful. The worst was having to push through the pain, which makes the pain even stronger! I was in another world, which is just as well, since I wasn't aware of how long it was taking. I had four people holding on to me as I pushed and yelled. I managed not to yell at Todd during the whole labor, but during pushing, I made it clear he was not allowed to say anything. Somehow I just couldn't take a man telling me that I was doing a "great job."

The nurse (Allison---Gloria's shift ended) set up a mirror so I could see Mira come out. Most of the time, though, I had my eyes closed, and when Eileen told me to look up and see how well I was doing, I was sick that the "great progress" was just a tiny patch of Mira's hair. It was dark hair! Where did this child come from, since both of us are blond? After that I refused to look in the mirror until her head was actually coming out, and even when that started, I was skeptical and shut my eyes tight.

At the very end I felt almost as if I were sprinting at the close of a race. The pain was just as bad, but then I had the sense that it was going to end soon if I worked really hard, and it did. I was so relieved to have labor over with. Todd helped catch her with the midwife. They put her right on my chest, and she was covered in creamy white vernix, which looks like thick cold cream. She peed on me immediately, but I didn't really feel it. She looked so strange and alien, and BIG! She wasn't really a big baby, but the thought that something so large had come out of me was mind-boggling. How was it possible? Her eyes were wide open, and she looked at Todd and me as if she wasn't quite sure what she was doing here.
[for the "short version" and photos, click HERE]