Monday,
June 9th came around, my due date I woke up slightly
disappointed that no baby had come yet. Nothing that I was doing was
speeding up the process of having this child. Weston was sent home
early from work because they new it was my due date and I had been
having contractions, man did I feel pressure to preform now! I went
on with my day just trying my best to get the house clean and do all
I could to have everything ready. Weston and I went for a
two mile walk that afternoon. I took a nap after we got home, I woke
to having some contractions, but they were no biggy. As day got later
they got stronger. Went to bed late and managed to sleep till 1 when
I woke up to some very real contractions. Did my best to relax
between them, they were not super strong, just
enough to take my breath away a bit, but I new this was real and
Aiden would be arriving soon. I turned on my music and put in my head
phones and tried to rest, and see if I could sleep between
contractions. No such luck, I got antsy and decided to get up and
shower and enjoy the nice warm water. When I got out I decided to
wake Weston and inform him that things had started. My contractions
where still about 7 to 10 min apart, but I was really hoping and
praying that things would speed up and become more intense. It must
have been about 2:30am when I went to go wake my mom, after that I
went and made myself breakfast. I was so hungry but nothing sounded
good, it sucked. I made myself some oatmeal, and while eating it in
the kitchen my contractions came down to about 5 min apart. I tried
sitting on my yoga ball but it seemed to only make the contractions
more intense and they felt longer. So I went and laid down on my bed,
my mom and I talked off and on between contractions, but laying down
must have slowed them down, cause I managed to take little naps
between a couple 15 min gaps. At about 4am my mom decided to go back
to bed, I fell back to sleep for 24 min, when I was woken back up by
another contraction, then back to sleep again for 36 min. About this
time I don't remember looking at the clock much, I think it was about
7ish when I woke again, still only having contractions about 10-15
minutes apart. I stayed in my room, just listening to music and
pacing the floor. The contractions had gotten stronger at this point
but were still not too close. Weston mentioned going for a walk, but
I was so tired and sore it was really the last thing I wanted to do.
I continued to rub Essential oils on to help with pain and help with
contractions. I kinda remember about 9:30am mentioning that I could
not stand this anymore and just wanted this to be started so I could
get it over with. I told weston to get his shoes on cause we we're
going for a walk to try and get this moving. The circle that makes up
our neighborhood reminds me of a high school track. We started our
walk out slow only stoping twice the first lap for some intense
contractions, by the end of the second lap I thought things were
going good, but we came in the house and pretty much walked back out
to go again. I told weston they weren't strong enough and had to keep
going. So we started our lap going a different way and then came and
took our normal loop. When we reached our street, I had to stop for a
super strong contraction, I was so excited, I knew things had started
to pick up now. About 50 feet later I had another and it was strong,
I made it to our driveway and had another one. It was time to go
inside and see where these went. I was having contractions every 2-5
minutes now. I positioned my self over my yoga ball that was on my
bed and did my labor sway. While my brain was still working I would
have Weston come and massage my lower back and hip area. I decided
after not to long that getting in a warm shower sounded good. I got
in, but every time would have a contraction it got tough to stand,
and kneeling on our shower got painful for my knees. So I asked
Weston to fill up the tub in the kids bathroom. (Sadly we have no
tub) I transferred my wet body to the other bathroom between a
contraction. I got in and was enjoying the nice warm water when
another contraction started. That tub is so small and shallow I had
to be in on my back, so when the contraction started I was in so much
pain. Weston tried to pull me up so I could change positions, but it
got very difficult to move, that was the only time I started to cry
during my labor. That contraction felt like it lasted for ever. It
finally ended and I got out. I told weston I was getting hungry, he
asked what I wanted and I told him I was craving Mexican. Somehow
during this conversation my mom volunteered to go out and get
Mexican. Wonderfully we live in NM so it is pretty authentic. :) She
and my Dad took the kids out to go get food. I got back to my room
and got on all fours on my yoga mat I set up next to my bed. I went
back and forth from leaning on my arms to the yoga ball. Breathing
deeply during contraction I tried to remember to ask for Weston to
help during my lower back pain, but as labor progressed I forgot to
voice my thoughts. All of a sudden I got very hot and started to
sweat, then I got really nauseous, I got a bowl that I had just
incase that were to happen, since I had not eaten yet it was just
fluids. I told Weston it had started, I was ready to push and he
needed to get ready. During these contractions I really started to
get vocal, groaning and moaning. Weston said he could see his head, I
pushed and my water broke. That part they call the ring of fire,
where the cervix is around the babies head between pushes, I remember
this being the most painful part, it wasn't a burning feeling, just
painful. This was the only time I screamed really loud and cursed,
saying something to the tone of, 'Why did we do this? I must be
crazy.' I pushed again and his whole head was out. A lot more fluid
came out after this. I asked about the cord, Weston said it looked
fine, but then upon closer examination he felt it around Aiden's
neck. I asked if he remembered what do? I talked him through it and
then all was good. I pushed again getting one shoulder out, Weston
told me one more push, you can do it. I looked back with a small
glair saying, I had to wait and wasn't ready for another push. I
pushed again and got the other shoulder out. At that point I thought
he would have just kind of slipped out, like my other two did. But
with another scream and push I got him all the way out. Weston caught
him as I was concentrating to hard on pushing. He came out a little
blueish and had not taken a breath yet, so I had Weston turn him over
and rub his back. He started breathing and thats when I turned around
and leaned against the yoga ball and put Aiden on my chest. I had
Weston go get my Mom from the living room and she helped me get up to
my bed. It was over! My hips felt better, my back wasn't it pain
anymore, it was incredible!! Aiden just laid on my chest as I rubbed
his back, about 5 minutes later I got him to latch on to nurse and
that also helped with contracting the uterus and get the placenta
out. I had another contraction and it was pretty painful, I kinda
ignored it as I was so happy to have Aiden in my arms, the next
contraction I remembered I needed to push to get the placenta out. So
I pushed the placenta out, my uterus had already started clotting so
I had some very large blood clots come out as well. Weston grabbed
all that and put it in a bowl I had sitting around ready for it. At
that point I was done, happy and oh so hungry! My wonderful mom and
husband cleaned me all up and cleaned up the room too. About an hour
after birth we clamped and cut the cord. At that time I was able to
move more freely with Aiden in my arms. I continued to feed Aiden
and then ate my taco's my parents brought home for me. Aiden was
weighed at 7 pounds 12 ounces and 19 ¼ inches long. Months ago when
I brought my birth and labor plan to my then OB she looked at it and
said 'I think of these more like a guide line, they seem to jinxs
everything, nothing ever goes they way you plan.' I couldn't be more
happy about how things turned out for my husband and I during our
unassisted home birth. I was confidant, educated, prepared and
excited about the experience.
