A Birthday Present

Backtracking a bit here, but I want to share the story of Ginger's birth....

So THAT was labor, ouch! Painful yet the most amazing thing I've ever done. I remember thinking sometime near the end of labor 'why do I do this for a living???'

I think it was the curtains I was so determined to get done before the baby came that may have put me into labor. Imagine carrying around an extra 35#, most of which is bearing an incredible amount of pressure on your pelvic bones and lower back. Add to that, crawling around on hands and knees on the floor and measuring, cutting and pinning a bunch of material. Not to mention fending off kittens who want to attack the scissors and eat pins- very dangerous! After an afternoon of this activity, I was extremely achy to say the least and had mild cramping all night that Sunday night ( the 11th). By the 13th I started to realize that quite possibly this baby was going to arrive on my birthday.

I did not sleep well the night of the 12th and somehow decided to go to my last day of work, even though I knew things were getting started. Luckily I skipped out on the afternoon and went home for a nice long 3 hour nap, highly recommended!!

The night of the 13th I woke at midnight with contractions that were mildly painful and tolerable. I managed to fall back asleep at about 330 am and woke up again with more intense contractions at 7 am. I wanted to know how far dilated I was before calling the midwife so checked myself and found that I was 2cm, but easily stretched my cervix to 4cm. The contractions were not that bad, and not coming in a regular pattern and I was hungry, so we went out for pancakes and a walk. As we were walking they started to come more regular and continued through breakfast. I managed to eat a banana pancake (Coastal Kitchen- I recommend getting their breakfast) before deciding these contractions were getting intense and I no longer wanted to be in public. When we got home they were less regular and stopped for about 40 minutes and I had already called our doula to come over. I got frustrated, checked myself, and I was only 5cm after 4 more hours of labor. UGH, I was ready for the ramp up and active labor and things seemed to have stalled. I started downing raspberry leaf tea (an herb that is a uterine tonic) and pacing around to get things going, but they weren't and I was a bit tired. I think it was really a call to listen to my body and just rest and let go of my midwife self.

After talking with my midwife, we took her advice and went to relax and lie down and wait for a more active pattern. We were in bed resting a mere15 minutes when they came every 3-5 minutes and then’pop!” and into the bathroom I ran for a gush of fluid, my water had broken. That was at noon and things got super intense and I got in the shower even though I knew this might risk not enough water for the tub later ( we rented a birthing tub). But I needed that shower, it felt so good! My active labor was going quickly. The midwives arrived and I was in hard active labor with contractions coming every 3 minutes. We filled the tub but it wasn’t hot enough so I did my own labor dance out of the tub. When the tub was ready I was 7 cm, and got in for transition. Wow... that was intense, ouch! I was complete an hour later, about 2 1/2 hours after my water broke. I started to push in the tub, but somehow couldn’t get in the position my body needed. I also got warm and felt weak, so after an hour I got out. After that I didn’t want to get back in, oh well, goodbye waterbirth! I pushed for an hour and forty minutes and Ginger was born on hands and knees in our bedroom! She is beautiful and huge at 8lbs 15oz, born at 405 pm on Valentines Day and my birthday.

John was an amazing support throughout, I even bit him (he actually has teeth marks....ooops.) I almost bit the midwife on the back, luckily she is slim and doesn't really have anything to sink teeth into. But that was only for an hour during transition. The pushing was hard, but at least I knew it was the end. As a midwife, this is about what I expected. Of course the pain and intensity can never be trully understood until you experience it. But it was hard and amazing, and I am lucky to have had a straightforward labor and Ginger tolerated all of it very well.

The curtains you see in the background above in the 1st photo are the guilty ones! They are in what will eventually be Ginger's room, but for now is the guest bedroom.