Cedar's Birth story

*Here's my birth story. I wrote it last year about a week after he was born. It was on my doula blog so some may have read it. Cedar Knox Richards was born on June 29, 2010. It was a beautiful and enjoyable (yes, I said enjoyable) home birth!!*

Let's just say first of all, I'm not a very good client of myself as a doula!! :) I tell my clients all the right stuff, but it's hard to take your own advice. I started getting very antsy and ready to have this baby about 2 weeks before this baby was due. Now, in all fairness, I have to say that most of this was due to anxiety of how big the baby was going to be. My last baby was 11 lb. 4 oz. and she had shoulder dystocia. So I didn't want this baby to get that big. Plus, my labor with my last one was 9 hours long with 2 hours of transition because of her size. I didn't want that again either!! So I talked with my midwife about some natural labor progression techniques. I used some of the ones that I have put in my blog before. I used some homeopathics, borage oil, and then castor oil. None of it worked!! That was about 3 or 4 days before my due date. My midwife said she wasn't worried about the size of the baby at that point. She did not think it was going to be nearly as big as the last. So she told me just to relax and wait. So I did....

Three days after my due date, on June 28th, I went in to my midwife's office for my scheduled appointment. I had been 4 cm, 90% effaced, at 0 station for four days now!! I had been woken up nightly with huge contractions--each time thinking "this HAS to be it" only to have them fizzle out after a few. I had had diarrhea for a couple of nights in a row as well, and I had lost my mucus plug a few days earlier. I couldn't imagine what was keeping this baby in!! I knew though that all the signs were there, and my body was ready!! After checking me, my midwife said that none of the above had changed, but really, I couldn't be much more ready!! She did say, though, as she manually felt the baby that she thought it was definitely time to get baby out. She said she estimated about 9 1/2 pounds. And although we both agreed that I could certainly handle that, we didn't want to push it any further--especially since we couldn't know for sure!! So we agreed that if nothing happened that day, she would come that night and rupture my membranes (break my water) to get the contractions really going. I obviously had some oxytocin working there to get the contractions going but just couldn't keep them strong.

All day I had regular contractions--just not really strong ones. But I knew my body was in early labor (I think it had been for a week!) So my midwife came that night around 10. Oh, I forgot to say earlier that I had tested positive for Group B Strep so I was going to have to have 2 rounds of antibiotics while in labor before the baby was born. That was a reason as well to try to "control" the labor as much as possible--to make sure I got those. If not, the baby would have had to have a blood work up afterward. I wanted to avoid that if possible. So that afternoon around 5, I went into the birth center and got my first dose of antibiotics. I got the second dose at 10 when she got to my house. She checked me and my cervix had dilated to 5 cm at that point. She felt really good about that because she said she really liked moms to be at least 5 cm if they needed their water broken. So at 10:30, she broke my water. 

Contractions still continued to feel the same but just came closer together for about an hour. I timed them for about 30 minutes just to see. They were about 4-5 minutes apart and about 1 minute long--pretty standard for knowing you are in labor. Around 11:30, I started feeling like they were getting a lot stronger. I got on the birthing ball and got my husband. He sat behind me and rubbed my back and especially my lower back. I leaned over the footboard of the bed while I swayed on the ball. His counter pressure on my lower spine really helped relieve the pain of the contractions. He HATES using oil to massage so this was a huge sacrifice for him b/c I made him use a lot! :) He did some hip squeezes and good massage for about 45 minutes. It was amazing as I was sitting on the ball, completely in tune with my body. I could feel the baby turning and descending even more. I could feel every move he made and knew that he would be making his arrival soon! Around 12:15 I sent my husband to tell my midwife that I was ready for the bathtub. Contractions were coming fast and strong. And I knew I was about 7 cm. She wanted to check my vitals first, but when I had three contractions right on top of each other she said, "Just get in!!"

The water was such a huge relief. It truly is the natural epidural for me! Once I get in, I get a break in my contractions for probably a good 7 to 8 minutes. They started back up though coming fast and strong. I couldn't get the water as high as I wanted to cover my whole abdomen so my husband poured water over my stomach over and over. That felt great, and it was so much harder during the ones where my midwife was checking the baby with the doppler and he had to stop! I was in the bathtub for probably about 30 minutes when things REALLY  started getting hard. I knew transition was coming--I just didn't know how long it would take!! Those last 2 cm are the real test of labor. I knew to just relax and surrender to what my body was doing. That's the only way. When you fight labor pains, it makes it longer and harder. So all my concentration went into relaxing every part of my body and telling myself exactly what I tell my clients--that my body is doing exactly what it's made to do, trust my body, and allow it to open up and let my baby descend out. I started to groan with my contractions, making sure that my throat was open and never closed. Your sphincters are related so when your throat is closed, your cervix has a harder time opening up. My body was shaking all over, and I knew I was in the middle of transition and the end was near. I could do this. I am strong, and my body is capable. I only had about four transitional contractions and I had to push. I told my midwife, and she had me breathe through one pushing contraction. She checked for fetal heart tones with her doppler. We both knew that I would need to get out of the tub. We didn't think that I'd have the same problem with shoulder dystocia, but we both felt better about me being in the bed--just in case. 

I stood up to get out and had another pushing contraction. I grabbed onto my husband but had to sit on the edge of the tub. I was seriously afraid that the baby was going to come out right there. I could feel the baby's head coming! I knew from previous experience that I was not going to have to push very many times to get this baby out. After that one, my husband helped me quickly to the bed, called in all the entourage of people (plus our children) who were there to witness this blessed event, and we were almost there! 

As the kids came in with their sleepy eyes and bedhead, they had many emotions. The older ones were totally excited while my five year old was a little apprehensive. I had talked to them all about it before, and they knew that they could leave if they wanted. I asked them if they wanted to stay or leave, and all of them wanted to stay. I got another urge to push and pushed the baby's head out with that one. My midwife told me that the whole head was out--which meant that there was no dystocia. I was so relieved!! I looked around at all the beautiful faces of all of my precious miracles witnessing this one, and I was overwhelmed with gratefulness. They were in awe. After a couple of minutes I gave one last huge push to get the shoulders and body out, and immediately my baby was on my chest--as pink as he could be from the beginning! It was 1:26 am--less than 3 hours after she ruptured my membranes. I didn't even think to look and see what the sex was (because we hadn't found out) until my midwife asked! :) I lifted him up and saw that my "hunch" had been right. He was indeed a boy! I announced that he was boy and then made the long awaited announcement of his name (which we had also kept a secret) "Cedar Knox Richards." He didn't scream right away, but he was breathing great. He was just peaceful and calm. His birth was amazingly quick and empowering--right in the comfort of our own home. There were 15 people in the room at the time of the birth--all people who will care for and love Cedar and be a part of his life. I couldn't ask for more for my baby--to be welcomed into this world by all this love! We all laughed and celebrated together at the miracle of another child of God.

We waited for the placenta to detach and be expelled naturally. Then we waited for the cord to stop pulsating before it was clamped. My husband cut the cord along with two of my children who wanted to "help." After drinking some orange juice and celebrating, I put Cedar to my breast. He immediately knew what to do, and didn't even need prompting!! He nursed for about 20 minutes on one side. I then gave him to my midwife to weigh, measure and check over. He weighed 9 lb. 9 0z. and was 20 1/2 in. I'd say my midwife is a pretty good estimator of weight!! :) She gave him back, and he nursed on the other side for another 20 minutes or so. 

This is one of the many reasons I love homebirth!! Maybe if I could get the hospitals to add king size
beds in the delivery rooms to accommodate my amazing kids after the birth, I might
consider birthing there!! :) No, not really!

Eventually, the room cleared, and my husband and I were left with our precious miracle. It was about  3:45 am at that point. My husband was exhausted, but I had that adrenaline rush that wouldn't let me sleep!! I spent most of the night staring at my new bundle. I went to sleep around 5:30 I think.

I'm still in awe of how God has blessed my life with all six of these amazing miracles. Motherhood is an overwhelming joy and an overwhelming job! It's my privilege and joy to be able to help other women as they enter this sacred calling.