The day leading up to Micah’s birth was like many others, except it wasn’t, it was almost his birth day! We had a prenatal appointment that afternoon and had to have the conversation about what would happen if I were to go past 42 weeks. This is something each client covers at this point, but our history with Simon’s 43 week pregnancy made it even more relevant. I had stated frequently throughout the earlier prenatals that I was not going to do anything about it if I go late. No castor oil and more importantly no panicking. Everything was looking great. I allowed a vaginal exam to see if I was making any progress and was pleased to know that I was 3cm dilated and 50-60% effaced and the head was engaged.
After the appointment, I grabbed my headphones and went for a walk. The music was exactly what I needed to hear and it really lifted me up and filled me with renewed joy. The walk was quite short but I definitely was feeling contractions off and on and when I tried to explain them, I found they felt “real”.
We had dinner, a nice venison stew/soup that Jon made, hung out with the boys for a little bit and then they went to bed. Jon told them they needed to get their rest because mom was going to have a baby soon and they might have to wake up in the middle of the night. He seemed so confident that I was going into labor that night. Jon and I sat down to watch a movie, The Transporter and I hooked up to the breast pump to try and get things to start. After about 20 minutes it was quite clear I did not need the pump to maintain the contractions so I turned it off and let them run their course.
The movie ended and I was tired but was afraid if I went to bed the contractions would stop…hum…if they did, then I really wasn’t in labor, if it’s real labor, they weren’t about to stop. Silly me! Anyway, we got a second movie ready and debated setting up the birth supplies and readying the house for a birth. It seemed a bit early, so I suggested we wait.
Before we started the movie, however, a bathroom break was needed and I was surprised with the passing of the mucus plug. Yea! More progress. I also found that the more I moved, the stronger the contractions got. I decided it wouldn’t hurt to bring down the supplies. By the time I brought down some of the things, it seemed a safe to bet to get everything ready. It was about 10:30 and we were debating calling the others who would be at the birth. I hated to call them if it was a false alarm and yet both of the friends joining us were moms who needed to make arrangements for their children and one friend had an hour and a half drive.
A few contractions later, I decided it was safe to call them. I couldn’t believe how fast things were progressing. Nothing was painful or hurting, just really strong. As each contraction hit, I would have to stop what I was doing, put my head down and just relax wherever I was at the moment.
Jon was simply dancing with excitement. It was so fun to watch him. He had taken the whole week off of work due to the fact that the Fourth of July was on a Wed and it seemed a good time for a break. I had hoped to give birth late the previous week so he would have the whole week with the new baby. I always envisioned calling him home from work due to labor, but not this time. I am glad God waited until he could be there to witness the whole process start.
I called my friend the furthest away first. Her response was so cute, “I’m going to cry I’m so excited!” That was the exact excitement I was looking for with this birth! The second friend was called and finally the midwife. The midwife lived close to us, so I simply let her know that when things got closer we would call her. In the meantime she could rest up!
By midnight both friends were here, the home was set and ready for a birth and we were all giddy with excitement! We tried to watch a movie but that wasn’t working so we just labored patiently. At 1:20am, while I was sitting on the couch noticing that the contractions were getting stronger, the water broke. What a surprise that was! With the previous births it happened in the pools and I never noticed. This was quite obvious. The funny thing was, I found myself wearing both my laboring mom’s hat and my midwifery student’s hat and noting that I will need to check the fluid to make sure it was clear! As the thought went through my head I chuckled at the absurdity of it. It was clear, by the way =)
We called the midwife then and moved into the pool for a bit of relief. The midwife was there shortly and we woke up Stephen and Simon. The birth party was complete, save for the baby! The midwife had me get out of the pool for about 45 minutes or so and then I returned. There was no way I could stay out of it any longer!
The contractions were very intense by this point and it took every bit of effort to stay relaxed through them. It’s curious that in between them, I was still able to maintain some normalcy with everyone. I still smiled at the boys and tried to crack a few jokes. It may have been because of them that I did that so they wouldn’t get scared. I needn’t have worried; they thought it was great fun! I don’t think my friends realized how close I was. The midwife wasn’t fooled, though and I got excited when I saw her washing up and getting her gloves on!
My goal was to catch this baby and I had made this Jon’s number one job to help me with. I also wanted to reach down and feel the baby’s head to assess how close I was. We were getting very close to the birth, the contractions were very hard and Jon told me to get off of my hands and knees so I could reach down and see if I could feel anything and prepare for the catch. I tried to tell him I couldn’t, but thankfully he didn’t let me get away with that.
I felt nothing and I have to admit I was a little disappointed. There was no need to be, though. With the next contraction, the head descended the last little bit. I have never felt anything so intense. Apparently I was biting the back of my hand during this, though I have no recollection of this. I do remember biting onto the handle on the pool and thinking that I was really acting like an animal and was kind of embarrassed, but at the same time found much pleasure in it. I noticed the teeth marks on the top of my hand after the birth! At the end of that contraction, the head was in a full crown! WOW! That was fast! After a brief break, I pushed the head out, the whole time I had my hand down there feeling and stroking my child’s head! I tried to give a little push to see if I could get the rest of the baby out, but my uterus said “no way! I need a short break before we finish this off!” So with the next contraction, he slowly came out. I remember having to give him a good push to move him, while muttering “out, out, out” but then he was out and I was pulling him back to me in the water with my right hand, trying to get my left hand to participate in the catch as well. And then there he was! My beautiful child in my arms! 3:26am on the fourth of July roughly 5 hours after it all started.
The big brothers were so excited! Stephen was right up front with probably the best seat in the house! Simon simply circled the pool trying to see the baby from all sides. And the baby, a boy, had his eyes open, looking around, taking us all in. Gently starting to breathe and let out with little tiny cries as he said hello. A week later, Stephen said to me, “birth was cool, mom! We should do that again!”
Micah Jon weighed in at ten pounds four ounces and 22 inches long surprising us all. He has been an amazing little baby and is surrounded with love!
After the appointment, I grabbed my headphones and went for a walk. The music was exactly what I needed to hear and it really lifted me up and filled me with renewed joy. The walk was quite short but I definitely was feeling contractions off and on and when I tried to explain them, I found they felt “real”.
We had dinner, a nice venison stew/soup that Jon made, hung out with the boys for a little bit and then they went to bed. Jon told them they needed to get their rest because mom was going to have a baby soon and they might have to wake up in the middle of the night. He seemed so confident that I was going into labor that night. Jon and I sat down to watch a movie, The Transporter and I hooked up to the breast pump to try and get things to start. After about 20 minutes it was quite clear I did not need the pump to maintain the contractions so I turned it off and let them run their course.
The movie ended and I was tired but was afraid if I went to bed the contractions would stop…hum…if they did, then I really wasn’t in labor, if it’s real labor, they weren’t about to stop. Silly me! Anyway, we got a second movie ready and debated setting up the birth supplies and readying the house for a birth. It seemed a bit early, so I suggested we wait.
Before we started the movie, however, a bathroom break was needed and I was surprised with the passing of the mucus plug. Yea! More progress. I also found that the more I moved, the stronger the contractions got. I decided it wouldn’t hurt to bring down the supplies. By the time I brought down some of the things, it seemed a safe to bet to get everything ready. It was about 10:30 and we were debating calling the others who would be at the birth. I hated to call them if it was a false alarm and yet both of the friends joining us were moms who needed to make arrangements for their children and one friend had an hour and a half drive.
A few contractions later, I decided it was safe to call them. I couldn’t believe how fast things were progressing. Nothing was painful or hurting, just really strong. As each contraction hit, I would have to stop what I was doing, put my head down and just relax wherever I was at the moment.
Jon was simply dancing with excitement. It was so fun to watch him. He had taken the whole week off of work due to the fact that the Fourth of July was on a Wed and it seemed a good time for a break. I had hoped to give birth late the previous week so he would have the whole week with the new baby. I always envisioned calling him home from work due to labor, but not this time. I am glad God waited until he could be there to witness the whole process start.
I called my friend the furthest away first. Her response was so cute, “I’m going to cry I’m so excited!” That was the exact excitement I was looking for with this birth! The second friend was called and finally the midwife. The midwife lived close to us, so I simply let her know that when things got closer we would call her. In the meantime she could rest up!
By midnight both friends were here, the home was set and ready for a birth and we were all giddy with excitement! We tried to watch a movie but that wasn’t working so we just labored patiently. At 1:20am, while I was sitting on the couch noticing that the contractions were getting stronger, the water broke. What a surprise that was! With the previous births it happened in the pools and I never noticed. This was quite obvious. The funny thing was, I found myself wearing both my laboring mom’s hat and my midwifery student’s hat and noting that I will need to check the fluid to make sure it was clear! As the thought went through my head I chuckled at the absurdity of it. It was clear, by the way =)
We called the midwife then and moved into the pool for a bit of relief. The midwife was there shortly and we woke up Stephen and Simon. The birth party was complete, save for the baby! The midwife had me get out of the pool for about 45 minutes or so and then I returned. There was no way I could stay out of it any longer!
The contractions were very intense by this point and it took every bit of effort to stay relaxed through them. It’s curious that in between them, I was still able to maintain some normalcy with everyone. I still smiled at the boys and tried to crack a few jokes. It may have been because of them that I did that so they wouldn’t get scared. I needn’t have worried; they thought it was great fun! I don’t think my friends realized how close I was. The midwife wasn’t fooled, though and I got excited when I saw her washing up and getting her gloves on!
My goal was to catch this baby and I had made this Jon’s number one job to help me with. I also wanted to reach down and feel the baby’s head to assess how close I was. We were getting very close to the birth, the contractions were very hard and Jon told me to get off of my hands and knees so I could reach down and see if I could feel anything and prepare for the catch. I tried to tell him I couldn’t, but thankfully he didn’t let me get away with that.
I felt nothing and I have to admit I was a little disappointed. There was no need to be, though. With the next contraction, the head descended the last little bit. I have never felt anything so intense. Apparently I was biting the back of my hand during this, though I have no recollection of this. I do remember biting onto the handle on the pool and thinking that I was really acting like an animal and was kind of embarrassed, but at the same time found much pleasure in it. I noticed the teeth marks on the top of my hand after the birth! At the end of that contraction, the head was in a full crown! WOW! That was fast! After a brief break, I pushed the head out, the whole time I had my hand down there feeling and stroking my child’s head! I tried to give a little push to see if I could get the rest of the baby out, but my uterus said “no way! I need a short break before we finish this off!” So with the next contraction, he slowly came out. I remember having to give him a good push to move him, while muttering “out, out, out” but then he was out and I was pulling him back to me in the water with my right hand, trying to get my left hand to participate in the catch as well. And then there he was! My beautiful child in my arms! 3:26am on the fourth of July roughly 5 hours after it all started.
The big brothers were so excited! Stephen was right up front with probably the best seat in the house! Simon simply circled the pool trying to see the baby from all sides. And the baby, a boy, had his eyes open, looking around, taking us all in. Gently starting to breathe and let out with little tiny cries as he said hello. A week later, Stephen said to me, “birth was cool, mom! We should do that again!”
Micah Jon weighed in at ten pounds four ounces and 22 inches long surprising us all. He has been an amazing little baby and is surrounded with love!
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6 1/2 years later!
I am thankful for my third child who, challengingly enough, is JUST . LIKE . ME! My good AND my BAD! Though learning how to communicate with him...and yes, I'm still figuring it out...I am learning so much about myself. God blessed me with a mirror for me to see myself though my strong, tough, feisty, hard working, hard core child! He loves hard and he fights hard. He is "extremes" and I love him for those! |
Jennifer Davis . Labor For Love Birth Services . [email protected] . 320-493-5110
