Our baby boy was born on Nov. 18, 2004 @ 11:49 pm in Colorado. He weighed 8 lbs 13 oz and was 21 ¼ inches long.
Our first surge began around 8 am on Tues. morning, Nov. 18th. The surges simply felt like mild, achy menstrual cramps low in my abdomen. We were unsure if this was the “real” thing so my husband decided to go to work about 1 hour away.
I continued to do menial things around the house and ended up calling my husband around 12:30 or 1:00 pm to have him come home so we could start some relaxation together. He got home around 2:00 or 2:30 pm and I climbed into bed where my husband played the Rainbow Relaxation tape and read me some additional scripts.
I called my CNM around 4:30 pm to let her know that we were laboring and she told me to call her when I decided I didn’t want to labor at home any longer. We continued to do some relaxation with some other music and continued on with our scripts. Around 6:00 pm we called our CNM and told her that I wanted to come in. She said “well, we’ll see if they will admit you, but I’m not sure if they will.” She didn’t think I sounded like I was “really” laboring to the extent that the hospital would admit me and keep me. (The only reason I felt like going to the hospital was because I wanted to know if I was making any progress. I wasn’t sure if my surges were making a lot of headway or not and my preoccupation with that thought was causing me to lose focus.)
We ended up checking into the hospital at 6:30 pm and our midwife was surprised to announce that I had already opened 6 cm. She thought for sure that I would only be at 3 cm or so. The L&D nurse was surprised that I was so calm and so collected especially since I was already opened to a 6. We climbed into bed where I continued on with my relaxation and I labored on my side in bed until I was opened to 9.5 cm. At that point, we determined that I had a little cervical lip left and it was preventing me from opening to the full 10 cm. I labored at 9.5 for about an hour and was becoming frustrated that I wouldn’t open the last .5 cm. My midwife ended up pushing the lip the rest of the way so that I could finish opening.
After that she persuaded me to get on the birthing stool…it was heaven! Once I got onto the stool I had the urge to push our son out. I actively pushed for about 45 min. He was born at 11:49 pm.
He nursed well from the get go, was very alert, aware and calm and in the end we had our midwife, L&D nurse and even nurses that were coming on shift say that they wanted to stay in our room to just sit and relax! They said it was one of the most relaxing births that they had ever attended or witnessed and said that they could see the benefits of it in our son.
I loved pregnancy and even loved our birth. The next day I told my nurses that I could do that again and that I couldn’t wait to have our next baby. They said they hardly ever hear those words out of the mouth of a new mom!
I never wanted medication, never swore or yelled at my husband. It was an extremely loving, tender moment that bound my husband and I tightly together and bound the three of us in love for forever!
We are very excited to have another wonderful experience with the birth of our newest baby in May '06 but this time it will be in the comfort of our home! :)
Warmly,
Brandy L. and Family