It was about 9pm and my husband and I had just got our older 2 children down for bed. He left to get me ice cream because I had been craving it for days. I laid back on our couch, getting settled in to watch the newest season of Bridgerton, and I felt a pop. At the very moment that I thought about what it could have been water started to leak out. I grabbed my phone and ran to the bathroom. I called my husband to come back and forget the ice cream. He then called his parents to come get our older 2 children and I called Alex to let her know my water broke. She said she would come check the baby's heartbeat to make sure everything sounded good. She arrived about 30 minutes later. Baby sounded great and she left and said to let her know when things started to progress or if there were any big changes.
About an hour later I went to the bathroom and there was brown coming out with the amniotic fluid. We called Alex and it was determined that it was most likely meconium coming out also. There was still clear fluid coming out so she felt it was still safe to stay home. My contractions were about 15-20 minutes apart. We laid down to try to sleep and both of us were barely able to get any sleep. At around 3am I was getting a couple contractions 5 minutes apart but then there would be a 20 minute break. We called Alex because I was getting nervous about the meconium still coming out. She decided to come check the baby's heart rate.
When she arrived the baby sounded good and she was not concerned. She did decide to stay and her birth assistant arrived about 30 minutes later and they finished setting up the birthing pool. With my first 2 home births being a little crazy my goal was to have a calm and relaxing labor this time around. They set up the room so beautifully. Candles and lights with quiet music playing. Unfortunately every time I got into a position that usually progressed my labor in my previous births (sitting on the toilet, hands and knees, squatting) my labor would stall. I was still having 2 or 3 contractions just a few minutes apart but then would have a 10-15 minute break. I was starting to get frustrated. I moved around the house from the birthing pool, to the toilet to my bed, squatting trying to get in a good position to help things progress. My husband and I finally figured out if I sat on my bed at a slight incline my contractions would stay a bit more consistent.
At around 9am Alex saw something happen in my belly. She grabbed her doppler to check the baby's heartbeat and she was having a hard time finding it. She finally found it but it was very quiet. I remember thinking "that's weird. It has been so easy to find it so far". Alex wanted to palpate my stomach but things started to progress much quicker. After about 30 minutes I started feeling the urge to push. I did not feel good pushing while I was lying on my back so I got up and kneeled next to my bed with one knee up. After a few pushes I started to feel the burn which always told me before, that baby was crowning. I felt the baby start to come out and I kept pushing and pushing and pushing but never felt the head come out. After a few pushes I stopped making progress.
Alex came up next to my head and said "Hannah, your baby is coming out breech. She is currently out to her chest but her arm is stuck up above her head. I need to go in and get it out." I said ok and started praying to God "please let this baby come out safe" over and over. I started to push again as Alex was getting her arm out and as soon as her arm was out the rest of her body came out too. As I pushed again to get her head out I felt no progress. I started to get a little scared because every time I pushed I didn't feel anything happen. I finally tried to push as hard as I could, I wouldn't let myself fully relax because I felt her head start to move and I pushed again and again without relaxing because I didn't want her head to come back up. After about 3 pushes like that her head finally came out. I stayed face down on the bed waiting to hear her cry. After just a few seconds I heard a whimper and I prayed again "Oh thank you God". My husband handed her over to me and that's when she really started to cry and what a glorious sound that was to hear. We got snuggled up in bed and after being awake for almost 24 hours straight we rested with our newest addition Rosalie Kay Wolfe. It wasn't the relaxing calm birth I had hoped for but it rarely is what you expect. Alex and Gretchen did a wonderful job and my family and I are so very grateful for everything they did for us.
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