{ birthing process }

* WARNING: this post is being published solely for my sake so that I can remember everything about giving birth to my baby. Feel free to either read on or skip this post entirely - just consider yourself warned *

A week before Orva was born, I had a doctor's appointment and found out I was dilated to a four and eighty percent effaced. I had not had any contractions up to that point, so I was happy to see that I was at least doing something. I tried very hard not to get my hopes up and just kept going about my normal business, knowing that I could easily stay at a four for two weeks. I did a great job being patient until the next Sunday when I started to have regular contractions that lasted for about four hours and were consistent whether I was standing up, walking around, or laying down. We were somewhat hopeful and got the diaper bag and hospital bag all packed and ready to go, just in case. By 9:00 that night, though, I decided to just go to bed and see what happened. The next thing I knew it was Monday morning - no more contractions. That whole next week, Brad and I did a LOT of walking. We walked around our house every morning and then around the mall every afternoon or evening. Almost every time we walked, contractions would start up again but they'd also stop again as soon as I sat down. We were very impatient, but decided not to do anything besides walking to try to start labor. I kept the house very clean, kept up on laundry, and went to bed early every night just to be ready whenever she decided to come.

Thursday night, Brad and I sat down to go over some of our birthing class materials and write out more of a plan for the birth. We'd talked a lot about it all, but wanted to write some of it down. We ended up watching the Olympics instead...and even joked that since we didn't get our planning done, she'd probably be born that night. We also talked about how glad we would be if she was born that night that we had spent time together just relaxing. It was actually very nice to just be together and stop thinking about trying to get labor going. We went to bed after a few hours of watching Olympics.

At 2:30 a.m. (now Friday), I woke up to go to the bathroom and my water broke. I went and woke Brad up, but I still wasn't having any contractions so we decided to go back to bed. I really wanted to go back to sleep, but within fifteen minutes of laying down again, contractions started to pick up. By about 3:30 a.m. I could tell they were pretty serious. I got in a hot bath and things still kept progressing. By about 4:30 a.m., contractions were pretty intense. We called my mom to have her come over. At about 5:00 a.m., I told Brad to call her back and tell her to hurry. She got there at about 5:15 a.m. and by then things were steadily progressing and getting more and more intense. This whole time I was able to really feel the contractions progressing and it was not at all easy, but I was really able to stay relaxed and I felt really good about how things were going. At about 6:30 a.m. we left for the hospital (about one minute away). When we got there, I was dilated to a seven and in transition - hurray! Obviously the contractions were long and hard (they were double-peaking at this point and I really wasn't getting much time in between), but I was still able to stay very relaxed and work with the contractions. We had a couple issues with a nurse who was not used to dealing with mothers in labor without medication and didn't understand why I couldn't just lay flat on my back to be monitored. Luckily, the midwife came in soon after that and started monitoring me with a hand-held monitor so that I could move around with the contractions as I needed to (which I was definitely needing at this point). By 8:00 a.m., I was dilated to a ten and fully effaced. I was on my knees on the bed with my arms over a birthing ball, which felt wonderful. My mom was squeezing my hips to relieve pressure, and my doula was rubbing my lower back with tennis balls - which also felt wonderful. Brad was talking me through contractions and helping me stay very relaxed. Things were going so well and I was really feeling great about the whole process.

The midwife suggested that, with my hip problems, delivery may be easier for me on my hands and knees. I stayed in that position and pushed very gradually and slowly for the next twenty minutes. At that point, I was feeling so relaxed and refreshed - my contractions seemed so easy and so far apart. I felt like I could push forever if I had to. After about ten minutes of pushing, I asked how close we were (I was picturing maybe having to push for an hour more or something) and the midwife said, "Oh, honey. Reach down here and feel!" I was able to reach down and feel Orva's head already crowning - it was amazing! The midwife also tricked Brad into helping deliver at this point...she had him supporting Orva's head while she held the monitor on my stomach. When she was ready to actually deliver, she just let Brad stay right there and do it all. It was very fun to have him so involved. One thing I remember about this part is just wanting to take it very slow and really ease up on the pushing so that I wouldn't tear - I'm so glad I did this because it really paid off! I also remember Orva still being very active during pushing. As I was pushing, she was still kicking. The midwife even stopped monitoring her because we could all see her moving from the outside. I was not expecting that and I kept thinking, "Come on, child. I'm trying to focus here - please hold still!"

After about twenty minutes of pushing, Orva was born! They passed her to me through my legs and I just sat down and held her for a long time right there. The nurses and midwife were so good about letting us take our time with her before they cut the cord or anything. We held her for about 45 minutes and I got to nurse her and everything before they took her to weigh her. It was heavenly! The atmosphere during the whole process was very calm and relaxed and peaceful...it was exactly how I wanted it to be.

Things could not have gone better - we feel so lucky!

For those of you who made it this far (if anyone did), here's a little comic relief...

* Brad played these videos for me at the hospital after I told him I didn't like how often the nurses asked me to rate my pain on a level of 1 to 10 (I've never liked that system). The second video is the one that applies to this, but the first video leads into it and is pretty funny as well. *


Brian Regan - Emergency Room, Part I



Brian Regan - Emergency Room, Part II