I am the mother of a new baby girl!
Her name is Imriel Bryce, and she was born October 4 @ 1:11pm. 7 lbs, 21 inches. She was born under water at home after a little more than 9 hours of labor.
We had a great birth. I woke up about 3:30 Saturday morning with little twinges, but was able to go back to sleep for a couple of hours. Then I got up and checked the news, ate breakfast, and read a book. By 7:30 or so the contractions were 3 minutes apart and strong enough that I couldn't ignore them any more, so I took a couple of Tylenol and woke Andy. It was a very manageable labor, actually. Turns out I can birth a baby, no problem. Between the shower, counterpressure, and counting my breaths, I had very little pain and only some real discomfort. It was actually manageable enough that I was wanting to squat, which makes the contractions both more intense and more productive.
By 11 or so, I was really wanting to get into the birth pool, but we foolishly hadn't bothered to set it up beforehand. Andy and Jax went into the other bedroom to set it up, and realized that the water hose I bought wasn't long enough to reach the tub. My father-in-law kindly brought us another potable water hose, and then took a very bored and restless Jax to the park. Poor Andy was an awesome labor partner. Between the pool and having to compress my hipbones (the only labor technique that was working for me by this point), he worked as hard as I did. (but lost points with me afterward by saying so. Repeatedly.) I should also say that Jax was a great helper. He rubbed my arms for a long time, and also cleaned up all his toys by himself and helped blow up the pool. I am so proud of my awesome boy.
About noon, I started feeling like I was in transition. My contractions were double and triple peaking (a couple of times, even more than that) and I was able to sleep in between. Andy looked at the clock and said, "Nah, we've got at least a few more hours before we're done." And I was thinking I wasn't going to put up with any more of these crazy five-minute long contractions, much less several hours' worth. And what does he know about it anyway? Tell me I'm not in transition...
Regardless of where we were in the game, the tub wasn't completely full yet but I was determined to get in. I floated around for a few minutes and then realized her head was beginning to crown. Andy had already jumped ship at this point, and wouldn't believe me when I insisted it was time to push. So I just did it anyway, and in a few minutes Imri was born. I have never known a feeling like that - to birth your baby into your own hands is the most powerful feeling in the world. It was... exhilarating.
Although I was holding her, I looked away and let Andy see the sex first. When he said that we had a daughter, I cried. And oh! she was (is) perfect. Nice pink scalp, ten tiny fingers, little bitty lips... It makes me sad to remember Jax being this age. She looks just like him.
One fun thing about having a baby at home is getting to leave the house when you get tired of being there. We had the baby, all took showers, got dressed, and went shopping. Because what do you do when you don't have anywhere else to be? Go to Hobby Lobby, of course. All parents will remember taking their infants to the store and being stopped by 1000 strangers asking, "Awww! How old?" Well, when you say, "Five hours." people really freak out. They want to know how you got out of the hospital so soon, and then who attended your home birth, and then how you got so brave, and then how you're able to walk that soon after much less be out buying scrapbook paper. And you know how Andy and I both love to shock people.
I was completely cognizant of everything I had going on. In the Bradley course we took, the dads were told to be vigilant about things like making the mom drink water between contractions, and making her walk to the bathroom every hour, because we're supposed to be off somewhere in Birthland where we can't think about those things. Not me. I was completely able to handle all those things. I was aware of the baby's station, of my degree of effacement, everything I needed to do to birth her. I had previously coached Andy on some little things like Gaskin's technique for birthing stuck shoulders, but I think I would have remembered anything I needed to. I think it's an issue of familiarity with how labor feels combined with good labor techniques. I needed Andy for other things anyway, so I'm glad he didn't also have to think about "Hmm, how dilated is she?"
I have so much more i could say here, as I'm still euphoric.
Posted by
wakeful dreamer