Full Circle Midwifery

On Tuesday, July 2nd I noticed a bloody show when I used the bathroom at work. I texted Patrice and my husband, Aaron  to let them know. I worked the rest of the day feeling very excited that my baby was going to be on her way. This would be my first biological baby and I figured it would take a while. I had my first contraction leaving work and contractions about every 15 minutes throughout the evening. They spaced out to about 30 minutes that night, so I did get some sleep. 

On Wednesday morning, I debated going to work, but good sense prevailed and I stayed home. Luckily, it was also Aaron’s day off. Contractions stayed manageable and about 10 minutes apart. We let Patrice know what was going on. I cleaned the house and did a lot of cooking. (Apparently, I really want to cook while in labor.) Aaron took 3 of our kids to a previously scheduled doctor’s appointment, leaving Chris, our oldest son with me. Then he made a quick grocery trip and bought blinds, so it would be easier for our daughter to sleep downstairs. My mother and grandmother were on their way from across the state to help with our kids ages 8-13 and would be using her room.

Aaron got home at lunchtime and we all ate together. Once he was home the contractions became noticeably stronger. He started to use an app to time them. The kids enjoyed recording the contractions on the app, too. I continued doing things around the house after lunch and spending time with the kids.

After dinner the contractions became closer together and more intense. Aaron called Dorothy and Patrice headed home from Manistee. Patrice arrived about 8:30pm and my mother and grandmother soon after. 

It seemed like I had probably progressed enough to use the tub. So I relaxed in it beginning around 10pm. Unfortunately, this was a super hot day and the water was hot. I liked it, but everyone else was melting. (We got air conditioning after this experience.) I got out of the tub around 11pm and vomited. Then I felt really tired and went to bed. The contractions slowed and then stopped. Patrice offered to check dilation, but I declined. I didn’t feel like anything was wrong. It felt right that labor would stop because I needed a break. Around 4am I leaked a small amount of fluid. I thought maybe my water broke. Patrice decided to go home at this point, because contractions had not restarted. 

I slept the rest of the night. It was quite nice, though Aaron and I were disappointed that there was no baby yet. I felt sore in the morning in my low abdomen. After talking to Patrice, Aaron drove me to Gerber Hospital for a consult around 10am on the fourth to make sure I didn’t have a urinary tract infection that was causing problems. Well I didn’t have an infection, my water had not broken, but I was 9cm dilated! We checked out of the labor ward and drove home excited again. My contractions had restarted on the way to the hospital. Aaron excitedly called Patrice. And she was surprised! Aaron told me not to have the baby in the car on the 25 minute ride home.

We got home a bit after noon and Patrice arrived about 1pm along with Dorothy and Barb. I labored in the pool again. I got out of the pool around 4:20pm and Patrice checked my dilation. Then my water broke all over with a splash. After this things started to pick up and I felt a lot more uncomfortable. I tried pushing in every position and they all seemed awful. Patrice and Dorothy helped by taking turns holding back a lip of cervix that remained. I asked why anyone would do this more than once! It seemed to me like no progress was being made.

Around 5:45 Dorothy could see the baby’s head! At 6:10, I laid down in bed and it felt better. I tried different positions in bed, then went back to laying down. The progress seemed so slow, I wanted to be done! 6:50pm Enid was born! Wow, it was wonderful to have my baby and be done pushing! Enid had been in an unfavorable birth position and had lots of head molding. The kids and my mom got to see Enid just a few minutes later. It was an amazing birth!

Kathleen