Lea's Story- 9 lbs., 2 oz.- Home

9 lbs., 2 oz.

21 inches

Home (Ontario, Canada)

Mother's Height: 5' 5"

How was your pregnancy?

Normal, no complications.

Description of your birth experience:

2am, Friday, December 8th, 2006 – I hear my son wake up and send Brad in to him to settle back down.  I roll over and snuggle up next to my 2-year old daughter to go back to sleep only to be gripped by a strong contraction.  Not overly painful, but enough to get my attention.  As I’d been having practice contractions for quite some time, I planned on just going to sleep anyhow.

No such luck, as another contraction starts just a couple of minutes later.  I get up – go to go pee and get a drink. 
By 2:30, there is no ignoring these – so I go and wake my hubby up.

Between 2:30 am and 5:00 am, we time some of the contractions – they are quite strong, enough that I need to breathe through them – and find little to no pattern.  From 2 to 5 minutes between, but no longer.

As 5:00 am rolls around and the kids wake up, the contractions space put – going up to 10 minutes between.  I alternate between pacing the hall with my daughter shadowing me, and bouncing on my yoga ball.

Somewhere between 6 and 7, the contractions space out even more – I go run a nice warm bath, I’m already exhausted, having only gotten 3 hours sleep the night before.  Brad calls our doula to put her on alert though – just in case things pick up.  I stay in the bath for about a ½ hour – no contractions at all, and I’m feeling very sleepy, so I head off to bed.  In bed, I have a few, but am able to work through them and rest some, even if I’m not sleeping.

Get back up around 8:30 or so – contractions are still sporadic and strong, and I’m seeing some of what I can only guess is my plug, but no bloody show yet.

I ½ lay on the couch and literally sleep (snoring!) between contractions for a while, and just kept up with the sporadic contractions for a while.  I lost track of  time, but know that I did get back into the tub a second time at some point.
Around 11:45 I was nursing my daughter down for her nap – laying in her bed with her – she was almost asleep even – when the first “real” contraction hit.  By real, I mean the first that hurt a lot.  After a couple of those coming close, I had to pee and finally saw some bloody show. 

Called my doula and started leaning on my yoga ball while handling (sort of) the contractions – lots of low moaning from me – I am not a quiet labourer.  Also got Brad to get the pool and start filling it with water – I’m glad we’d already inflated it.
At 12:10, the hose for the pool flew out of the pool, spraying the wall and window with water – you know, you need comedy relief even during labour !

5 minutes later, the fire alarm went off.  We live in a high-rise apartment building, and they were doing the monthly test.  Thankfully, I didn’t have any contractions during the alarm, as I was trying to comfort our 4-yr old son, who gets very frightened by the alarm.

It was right then that, our doula arrived.  The extra set of hands was great – she really helped to keep the kids occupied, even gave them little “helper” jobs – getting cold washcloths and having them rub my back, and helping me to reassure them that I really was “ok”.

Things really start to run together at this point for me – the contractions are coming about every 2 minutes or less, and are REALLY strong too.  Brad and our doula were having a hard time getting the pool warm enough – but they eventually did and I got in the water.

It must have been a little after 1pm then, as the doula paged our midwife pretty much as I got in the water. 
Being in the water was really helpful to me – it was familiar territory, and the water itself felt good on my skin, cooler and supportive.

The contractions started coming one on top of the other before too long – and my moaning went from low to very high.  Not quite screaming, but not far from it.

Around 1:30 or so, my water broke – I asked both Brad and the doula several times to confirm that it was clear.  They’d both told me it was, but I kept needing the reassurance.

Commence screaming phase – this is likely transition, and the part of labour that I really and truly hate.  No break between contractions, the intensity is feeling insurmountable, and I’m begging for someone to make it stop.  It doesn’t feel like I can take another moment, but my doula keeps her calm, trying to reassure me that we’re close now, and that I’m doing good.  I’m almost sobbing as I tell her that I’m NOT doing well.

I can feel my baby coming down, but can’t feel the head yet – a few more contractions (and screams) and I can’t help but push – SHOVE – to bring this baby down. 

We realize now that the midwife hasn’t returned the page, and the doula goes to the phone and pages her a second time.
As she’s on the phone with the paging surface another contraction comes on and I shove for all I’m worth – the baby’s head is there now.  One more contraction and I’m hollering across the room that the head is OUT !!

I get a momentary break, a minute maybe, to catch my breath.  Then it’s time to get this baby out – I don’t like pushing, and I can’t do slow or small pushes.  It’s all or nothing.  One contraction, two more huge pushes, and baby is in Daddy’s hands.
Here is the only moment of worry in this birth – I want to see my baby, but Brad and our doula are literally pushing my leg down (I was on my hands and knees) so I can’t turn over.  I’m fighting them both.  Our doula says that the cord is around his neck and I HAVE TO stay still so she can unwrap him !

Okay – staying still, those few seconds felt like forever to me.  I couldn’t see my baby – I didn’t hear him either – and I was worried sick.

In just a moment, likely under a minute, I was given the okay to turn over and handed my baby for the first time.  He was big, purple, and snuffy.  But breathing and absolutely gorgeous.

He was really stuffy – I put him semi-reclining in my arms and rubbed his back – he sneezed and coughed out some mucous then started crying.  His little voice sounded like a kitten.

I called my mom, then got out of the pool and onto the couch.

Doula put in a 3rd page to the midwife then, and we eventually did hear back from her that time.
We waited about an hour, maybe an hour and a half, for the placenta to show.  Baby Wyatt nursed almost constantly during that time.

The midwife arrived about 2 hours after his birth.

Baby Wyatt made his grand entrance at 1:50pm, weighing in at 9lbs 2oz, and measuring 21 inches long.
He’s nursed like a champ since then.