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My daughter (firstborn)
Just before 6 am on April 14th(four days after my edd) I woke up to a contraction. It was the first of my many contractions that actually roused me from sleep, so I knew that this was the change I had been waiting for. I slept between contractions (about 8 minutes apart) for the next hour and a half before getting up to face the big day that I'd anticipated for so long.
I called my mom upon waking and she said she'd be over soon. Our plan was for her to be my doula. I called the midwives to inform them I was in early labor - they were already at a birth (that was transferring to a hospital), and said they'd check in later if they hadn't heard from me. I walked a mile to the grocery store and back, and waited for my mom to come. My husband had a meeting at one that afternoon so I sent him on his way. My mother and I walked to the video store and got some funny movies to watch, and my contractions grew stronger with our walk. My husband was home by the time we got back, and I laid down to try to take a nap.
I couldn't sleep, the contractions were three minutes apart, but lasting only about 30 seconds. The midwives called around 5 and I told them where things were, so they came over to check me. I was only 4 cms and 100%, so they decided to go get some dinner and return in a couple hours, with instructions to go for a walk to get my contractions lasting longer. Well, the walk sure worked - They started lasting about 90 secs, and were still three minutes apart - needless to say we didn't get very far, just around a couple blocks. When we got back to my house, about 8 pm, the contractions were getting painful in my back, so I got in the shower for some relief while my support ate some dinner. I labored in the shower until the hot water ran out, and then labored on the couch until the midwives returned just before ten.
They checked and I was at 7cm, and the next few hours became a blur. I labored on my couch, in my bed, and on my nursing stool. I hit transition about 130a, but things stalled, and I was at 9 cm forever. The midwife broke my water around 345a, but there was still one part of the cervix that just wouldn't dialate. She tried pushing back on the cervix while I pushed through some contractions - which was really hard because I didn't yet have an urge to push, so I didn't know what to do (she told me to push like I was pooping). We got the cervix to finaly release that baby, but her head wasn't molded at all because the water hadn't broken. I started pushing shortly after four am, and I pushed and pushed and pushed until that baby finally came out at 8:17. It was really hard, and I was so exhausted throughout the pushing. When her head came out we realized what took so long - her elbow was up next to her face, so as I pushed her out, the elbow was pulling her back in.
But, I did it! And with no drugs what so ever. It did hurt, but it was so worth it. Leila weighed 8 lbs, 13 ounces, and was 22 inches long. I had a second degree tear, and I think getting stitched up afterwards was worse than the birth (maybe because the birth pain resulted in a nice little baby?). I never thought I'd have such a big baby or long labor - I was only 115lbs pre-pregnancy, 5'6".
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