While Skye was 7 months pregnant she decided to leave her OB and go for a birth center instead of a hospital birth. Surrounded by her loving husband and a sisterhood of powerful birth workers she had the natural birth she wished for.
"I feel like I knew my son before conception. I knew he was going to be a boy and I knew he was going to be big. I assumed his labor was going to be fast and prepared myself for the possibility of him being born in the car. I didn't have the best relationship with my OB and made a decision a bit late into pregnancy, about 7 months, to switch to a natural birth center and give birth with a midwife and Doula support. I had had my last 3 babies without medical pain management in a hospital, but I wanted a truly intervention free birth for my last baby.
I started experiencing prodromal labor around 36 weeks and had to work hard at not stressing about it. With my birth facility being over an hour away I was worried labor would progress very quickly and was terrified to give birth in the car. With the help of our Doula and midwife and more than a trip back and forth to the natural birth center, I was able to relax and go with the flow.
" I was able to relax and go with the flow. "
After what seemed like many labor starts and stops, I woke up one morning a couple of days before my due date and had this calm that washed over me. I managed to have had a lovely night sleep. Well rested and refreshed, I decided to go to an Art Fair with my mom and my husband. While out and about I got a massage in one of those massage chairs at the mall and shortly after had a nice petite contraction. Thinking nothing of it, I went to lunch where I had several more contractions and headed home to rest. I relaxed in the living room with my family and didn't think much of my contractions because of the prodromal labor I had been having the last few weeks.
" I woke up one morning, a couple of days before my due date and had this calm that washed over me. "
Between contractions, I enjoyed the company of my children, husband and mom and sat on my birthing ball. I decided to go lay down at 9pm while my husband rocked our two years old daughter to sleep. I heard him finishing up with her when I felt a little pop. Instinctively, I knew exactly what it was. I waited a few minutes for my husband to come check on me because I knew he was laying our daughter in her bed and told him that my water may have broken. He suggested maybe I had to pee, so I went to the bathroom where we both heard an audible pop and gush and there was no denying that I was indeed in labor.
We called our Midwife and Doula and drove to the birth center. They had the tub ready for us when we got there. I labored for a few hours in several positions. The birth ball, the tub, the bed, with my Husband and my Doula there supporting me the whole time. The lights were dim and everything was calm and almost surreal.
" The lights were dim and everything was calm and almost surreal. "
My husband played my labor playlist and we even joked and laughed. Transition came upon me like a storm. Before I knew it I was in the thick of the harder part of labor and childbirth. Excited and at peace I had been awaiting my son's arrival for so long and knew I was so close to finally getting to meet him. I was panicked because I couldn't find the right position, the urge to push didn't feel right, I almost lost myself. It took my doula urging me to come back to her for me to regain my composure so that I could take a minute to figure out what I needed to do. I so badly wanted to give birth squatting or on my hands and knees because I had never been given the opportunity to before. I could not get his head out despite my best efforts in pushing. My midwife gently suggested that I try pushing on my back because it's the position I was most familiar with. My previous babies came into this world in just a few pushes, it seemed like a cruel joke that this was so difficult. What was I doing wrong? I did all the things! When I got on my back I still wasn't feeling a strong urge to push. I needed the baby out, so with my contractions I pushed hard and with strength that came from an unknown source within me. When I felt him crowning I was so happy and relieved. How strange to be relieved while crowning! Haha. I knew that it really truly was almost over and my body was exhausted.
" I pushed hard and with strength that came from an unknown source within me. "
I concentrated hard on getting his head out, it took several pushes, but I needed a significant break before trying to birth his shoulders. It felt like hours, but I know that's not accurate. His shoulders were stuck. I shifted my body weight a little and felt him turn a little, so I pushed and popped one shoulder out and then another. I slowly pushed the rest of his body and don't fully remember what happened after that. My husband told me that he caught our son and gave him to me and I rested while we waited for the placenta to detach itself several minutes later. My husband cut the cord and I snuggled with our new baby who was perfect, pink and content in my embrace. Our midwife and our Doula gave us some space and left the room to rest. When they checked on us a couple of hours later we discovered that my son had released meconium all over my tummy. We all had a really good laugh about that. It was then that my midwife explained to me what had happened during the birth that made it so much more difficult than with my previous children. My son was very large. 10lbs and he wasn't in a good position. He was occiput posterior and presenting military/brow. Meaning he was backward, his chin was not tucked and the largest part of his head was presenting first instead of the smallest part. I am happy to say that even though his was my most painful and difficult delivery, that it is a special memory and not a traumatic one. I delivered a beautiful and perfect son in hands free/intervention free natural birth center being supported by my loving husband and a sisterhood of powerful birth workers. I will forever cherish the fact that I got to have that experience.
" Supported by my loving husband and a sisterhood of powerful birth workers."
It almost makes me want to have just one more baby. But we have a full house, so I chose to become a birth worker instead."
- Skye