MaKenna's Birth Story

It always amazes me at how a woman's body "knows" when labor is going to happen. With Parker, I could just feel the shift about a week before he came and the same thing happened with MaKenna. About two days before labor started, I had this strong desire to clean my house. No matter how clean it actually was, it just wasn't clean enough! I knew then that she would be coming soon. The boys and I spent the Thursday before hanging out at the nature preserve with some friends. We had been talking about how the weekend would be a perfect time to have her come...little did we know! The night before, Blake kissed my belly and told MaKenna she could come out now. She must have trusted her big brother...I woke up around 5 am after a very restless night of sleep with mild contractions that were about 10 minutes apart. I had been having some pre-labor contractions on and off for a week or so, so I really wasn't counting on this being labor quite yet. They continued to progress and by 6:30, they were coming about every 5 minutes. I waited until about 7:30ish to call my midwife. I didn't want to call prematurely, but I was pretty sure this was the real deal. After getting off the phone with her, I called my friend who started the "birth day" phone calls...all my good momma friends lit a birth candle in support of my birthing time. My midwife's assistants showed up around 8 and did a quick listen and blood pressure check. My midwife was finishing up a birth, so she came a little later. Things were starting to get a little more intense, although still manageable. I have to "walk" my babies out...if I sit, the contractions stall and there was no way I wanted that to happen, so I spent the rest of the morning pacing around the house. When my midwife came, she checked my progression at my request and we were all surprised to learn I was 7 cm dilated already! So far, I was able to use my hypnobaby techniques to get me through my contractions. I continued to walk and walk...I could have burned a path in the carpet in my room. I would sit for a little while just because I was starting to get a little tired and my feet were hurting, but again, the contractions would stall a little, so I tried not to sit for too long. Sometime around 12:30 or 1, they began to get really intense. Peter must have sensed that things were kicking into gear because he asked me if I wanted to start running the water in the tub. I think I said not yet, but at this point I had moved into the bathroom anyways. Two contractions later, we had the water going and I was definitely feeling the pressure! I began the typical transitional moans and couldn't wait to get in the water. I was having some intense back labor and was hoping the warmth would help ease the uncomfortableness. Transition was pretty intense and I would say, up until this point I had no pain, but those last contractions hurt! I was getting a little overwhelmed with the pain in my back...my midwife was so supportive and kept reassuring me that things were coming along great. My bag was presenting itself first...unbroken, so after several minutes of pushing, we were finally able to break it which allowed MaKenna to descend further. I could feel the top of her head although I couldn't see it very well. I was pretty exhausted at this point and with every push, the pain in my back just intensified. I finally had had enough and pushed with every bit of strength I had left in my body. I remember my midwife saying "there's her head" and I thought she meant she was crowning, but in fact she was out! I then had to stand up because I was actually sitting on her a bit. I remember looking down and seeing her "fall" into the water and thinking "thank god this is over!". The delivery went so smooth and I only suffered a very, very tiny tear. Once her chord stopped pulsing, we got out of the tub and snuggled into bed for a while. The boys came back from lunch when she was about 20 or 30 minutes old. They got to spend some time with her before they did the newborn exam and then it was back with momma to nurse. I couldn't have asked for a better birth!