Korah Jane Gillhespy 8-13-11
Mitch and Jordyn Anes
This was our 2nd baby and our 1st home birth
Fremont, MI 49412
Early in the week I had been experiencing regular contractions which were not very strong and thought that my water had broken, by the end of the day my contractions had faded and hadn’t had any more gushing of fluid. Then because I didn’t continue to have much leaking or gushing we concluded that maybe my water didn’t break but thought it would be wise to use necessary precautions to avoid infection. On Friday, the 12th,during the day I didn’t have hardly any contractions and that night I push mowed the lawn and didn’t even get any contractions from that but for some reason I thought that it could be the night. I went to bed around 10:30 but could not sleep because my baby was being so active then about midnight I started having uncomfortable, stronger and regular contractions that were about 5-7 min apart. I think that was when I got up and called and told Patrice to give her a heads up since she told me to keep in touch. I then called Mitch and told him what was going on and he decided to finish up what he was doing and would head home from work. I took a shower and I believe that is when I thought that my water had broken for sure this time. So after I got out of the shower I called Patrice and she said that they were on their way which I was happy about because I wanted them to check and make sure that the baby’s heart tones were good because I had a lot of fluid which posed the risk of a cord prolapse. Mitch got home and took a shower and then relaxed on the chair and played on the computer while I was just trying to relax and encourage my cervix to open through each contraction. I have to admit that for some reason having all of the midwives at MY house was difficult for me during the labor. I felt bad that they had to be there with me over night and not getting any sleep. I also felt the most relaxed while I was doing stuff around the house. I tend to over think things and it helped to keep me busy and relaxed between contractions. I felt like my contractions were very bearable the whole way through and was able to relax quite well through them. I stood for almost all of my contractions while I swayed my hips, rubbed my belly and said “open” over and over and tried to visualize my cervix opening.
I went into what I hoped was transition. My contractions were about 2-3 minutes apart and the contractions were quite intense and felt like they were really down low. This was around 6 or 7 in the morning. I was mostly feeling the most relaxed laboring by myself in the bedroom at this point. I had the lights off and was listening to music. Mitch would come in and check on me quite a bit. He’s so wonderful. I found it helpful to rub him when I was having really intense contractions. I don’t like to be massaged and am quite independent during labor for some reason. So at 7:43 I felt the head drop down and pushy during one contraction and I had Mitch tell Patrice and she came in and checked the babies heart tones which were good! I asked her how I would know when I could start pushing and she said that I would just know. I think that at this point that I was probably fully dilated because my contractions became less frequent and I should have listened to my body but thought that it was because Patrice, Amanda and Barb were in the room while I was having contractions incase the baby was coming soon and I wasn’t relaxing as much. I continued to labor standing up or side lying in bed which was quite intense. I also took a shower and enjoyed singing. Baby’s heart tones still good. I was also leaking clear fluids this whole time and really unable to urinate other than during contractions which was strange for me. Finally at 11:40 Patrice asked if I minded if she checked me and I said no absolutely not and I had A FULL bag of waters!!?? I was surprised and I was at 9+ with a big lip on my cervix which Patrice thought was from being dilated for quite a while. So Patrice held my cervix while I tried to push but really wasn’t getting the urge to push with contractions. I tried lying on the bed on my back but was super uncomfortable so I got on the birth stool and tried pushing and I think I only had a couple real urges to push and just had to force myself to push. My bag of waters was SO BIG that it took so much work to push this time. Oh my goodness it was intense. Finally I broke the water with pushing and that was like a fountain. Then I finally pushed Korah’s head out and could not believe the pain and couldn’t do anything but breathe and try to bear the pain. Then I could quite find the strength to push her shoulders out so they helped me to stand up and turn around to push to get her out so she wouldn’t suffocate. I was so relieved to get her out and see her curious big body and face. She looked so different than I had expected but she was so healthy and beautiful. She was 9#9oz and 21 inches long. I am a proud mommy. The midwives helped to clean me up and made sure that my uterus was shrinking well because of how stretched out it had been from all of the excess fluid, and go to the bathroom and what not. Oh yes and we discovered after I pushed the placenta out that I had pockets of fluid in the placenta or something like that and that is where the fluid came from which we thought was my water breaking but it couldn’t have caused any infection .
My favorite part of Korah’s birth was finally getting to see her face and long dark hair and finding out how much she weighed and being able to meet her after nine months of getting to know her inside my uterus, I just knew she was going to be so sweet.
If I had another baby I don’t think that I would do anything differently besides maybe trust my body a little more during labor rather than over thinking things and I might have been able to push sooner if I would have listened to my instincts and have had Patrice check me and wouldn’t have had that lip on my cervix. But it’s hard to know what is going to happen.
You ladies all do a wonderful job. You’re all so different and each brings great qualities to your team. I especially appreciate your postnatal and infant care, it was wonderful you’ve helped me so much.
