I started having contractions about 3 weeks before Thatcher was due-- but they always died out after a couple of hours, and never built up to anything more than uncomfortable. The hard ones would wake me up several times every night... and just as I was getting excited thinking it might be real labor they would go away completely. Very frustrating. The day before Jacob's birthday I was really tired of my ongoing labor, and asked my midwife Wendy to sweep my membranes (if you don't know what that is-- go ahead and google it...I don't want to get too technical :) ) in hopes that it would kickstart my labor. I was dilated to a 1-2 and 50% effaced. I had more contractions, but nothing "real", until we went out for Jacob's birthday.
We walked around San Tan mall for a couple of hours and my contractions got harder. I was still in denial but Jacob thought it might be labor this time. We went home to watch West Wing and see what happened... and the second my butt touched the couch my contractions stopped all together. The same thing happened on and off for the next 3 days, and on Tuesday I went back in to Wendy and asked her to do another membrane sweep. I'd never had such bad "false" labor before, and it was exhausting. I doubted I'd know when I was in "real" labor until I was pretty far advanced... which ended up being true. So I went in Tuesday morning, and when Wendy checked me I was dilated to a 4 and 70% effaced. I was so happy-- at least all of that prelabor was doing something! I had always been in active labor by the time I was dilated to a 2, and had an epidural by the time I was a 4, so I had a feeling that this baby was going to come really fast when it was time. Wendy asked if I wanted to try castor oil to speed things up. She thought that it would probably put me into labor that night, so of course I was all for trying it.
I went home and did 2 doses of castor oil, at 11:00 and 12:00. I felt my normal contractions start up again around 1:00, but nothing serious. The castor oil wasn't a big deal for me like I'd heard it would be. A couple of not-so-pleasant trips to the potty, but that was it. At 2:30 my contractions were 3 minutes apart, but I was sitting on the couch watching Grey's Anatomy with Angie (I just had to breathe more deeply when I got one)-- still very comfortable. I called Wendy just to be sure, and she said to call her back in 30 minutes or when I couldn't watch tv through them anymore. Jacob came home from work, and I had him call Wendy around 3:15 when I got my first few contractions that were hard enough to be true labor.
By 3:30 I knew we would be having a baby that night, though I wasn't having any problem relaxing and breathing through my contractions. They stayed about 3 minutes apart, and lasted about a minute. Wendy arrived at 3:45, and my contractions were building really fast. Each one was stronger than the last, and I started having some back-to-back ones with only a 30 second break. I tried laboring in the tub, in my bed, on all fours with my head on the bed, and finally found the postition I was most comfortable in-- sitting backwards on the toilet with a pillow on the tank. At 4:30 I was overwhelmed with how intense my contractions were, even though I'd only been laboring an hour. I didn't think there was any way I could handle that amount of pain for several hours more-- especially since I had heard that transition was so much harder than earlt labor, so I had Wendy check me to see what I was doing. She checked me, and I was at a 9! I had already made it through transition and I only had minutes, not hours, before I delivered my baby. I felt much more ready to tackle labor knowing I was so close, so I went back to the toilet to finish laboring. The next fifteen minutes were the most painful and intense minutes I've ever experienced, but it helped knowing it would be over soon. Suddenly in the middle of a contraction my body started bearing down and pushing all by itself. It scared me a little because I didn't know if it was time to push yet, but I couldn't stop it. I felt what I thought was his head coming down, but it was my bag of water. It exploded like a water balloon in the toilet, and his head followed quickly. I started panicking and telling Jacob (who was right behind me) that the baby was coming NOW, but I couldn't stop pushing until the contraction was over. Jacob kept telling me we needed to move so the baby wasn't born in the toilet, but I told him I had to wait-- my body wouldn't stop pushing. (all of this took only about a minute) As soon as the contraction let up Jacob helped me into the bathtub. I told him to get Wendy, who was out on the couch, but before he could even leave the bathroom my body started pushing again and Thatcher's head came out. I've heard horror stories about the "ring of fire" when a baby's head is born, but honestly those last few contractions hurt so much that I never even felt it. Jacob tore himself away for a second to yell "Wendy!" and run back to support Thatcher's head. Wendy (and Mom, Dad, Tiff, Layla, Paisley, Angie, Jess, and Jamie) came running in to the bathroom. Wendy told Jacob he was doing a great job and didn't look like he needed any help, and she checked for a cord warapped around Thatcher's head. (he did have it around once, but it was very loose) As soon as she unlooped it over his head, she told me I could push him out when I felt like it, so I gave my first voluntary push and out he came at 4:54! Only an hour and a half after my first real contraction!
It was such an incredible experience, and I know if we have another child we will do it at home again. It was so different from the rushed and hectic hospital birth experiences we've had before. I loved how laid-back Wendy was-- she just let everything happen on it's own. She checked on the baby periodically throughout labor, but left Jacob and I to labor alone like we wanted the majority of the time. She had all of the emergency equipment ready just in case, but none of it needed to be used. After he was born, I got to snuggle with my sweet baby boy, my husband, and our little girls on our couch instead of having to lie on a hospital bed. I wouldn't have changed a thing. <3
We walked around San Tan mall for a couple of hours and my contractions got harder. I was still in denial but Jacob thought it might be labor this time. We went home to watch West Wing and see what happened... and the second my butt touched the couch my contractions stopped all together. The same thing happened on and off for the next 3 days, and on Tuesday I went back in to Wendy and asked her to do another membrane sweep. I'd never had such bad "false" labor before, and it was exhausting. I doubted I'd know when I was in "real" labor until I was pretty far advanced... which ended up being true. So I went in Tuesday morning, and when Wendy checked me I was dilated to a 4 and 70% effaced. I was so happy-- at least all of that prelabor was doing something! I had always been in active labor by the time I was dilated to a 2, and had an epidural by the time I was a 4, so I had a feeling that this baby was going to come really fast when it was time. Wendy asked if I wanted to try castor oil to speed things up. She thought that it would probably put me into labor that night, so of course I was all for trying it.
I went home and did 2 doses of castor oil, at 11:00 and 12:00. I felt my normal contractions start up again around 1:00, but nothing serious. The castor oil wasn't a big deal for me like I'd heard it would be. A couple of not-so-pleasant trips to the potty, but that was it. At 2:30 my contractions were 3 minutes apart, but I was sitting on the couch watching Grey's Anatomy with Angie (I just had to breathe more deeply when I got one)-- still very comfortable. I called Wendy just to be sure, and she said to call her back in 30 minutes or when I couldn't watch tv through them anymore. Jacob came home from work, and I had him call Wendy around 3:15 when I got my first few contractions that were hard enough to be true labor.
By 3:30 I knew we would be having a baby that night, though I wasn't having any problem relaxing and breathing through my contractions. They stayed about 3 minutes apart, and lasted about a minute. Wendy arrived at 3:45, and my contractions were building really fast. Each one was stronger than the last, and I started having some back-to-back ones with only a 30 second break. I tried laboring in the tub, in my bed, on all fours with my head on the bed, and finally found the postition I was most comfortable in-- sitting backwards on the toilet with a pillow on the tank. At 4:30 I was overwhelmed with how intense my contractions were, even though I'd only been laboring an hour. I didn't think there was any way I could handle that amount of pain for several hours more-- especially since I had heard that transition was so much harder than earlt labor, so I had Wendy check me to see what I was doing. She checked me, and I was at a 9! I had already made it through transition and I only had minutes, not hours, before I delivered my baby. I felt much more ready to tackle labor knowing I was so close, so I went back to the toilet to finish laboring. The next fifteen minutes were the most painful and intense minutes I've ever experienced, but it helped knowing it would be over soon. Suddenly in the middle of a contraction my body started bearing down and pushing all by itself. It scared me a little because I didn't know if it was time to push yet, but I couldn't stop it. I felt what I thought was his head coming down, but it was my bag of water. It exploded like a water balloon in the toilet, and his head followed quickly. I started panicking and telling Jacob (who was right behind me) that the baby was coming NOW, but I couldn't stop pushing until the contraction was over. Jacob kept telling me we needed to move so the baby wasn't born in the toilet, but I told him I had to wait-- my body wouldn't stop pushing. (all of this took only about a minute) As soon as the contraction let up Jacob helped me into the bathtub. I told him to get Wendy, who was out on the couch, but before he could even leave the bathroom my body started pushing again and Thatcher's head came out. I've heard horror stories about the "ring of fire" when a baby's head is born, but honestly those last few contractions hurt so much that I never even felt it. Jacob tore himself away for a second to yell "Wendy!" and run back to support Thatcher's head. Wendy (and Mom, Dad, Tiff, Layla, Paisley, Angie, Jess, and Jamie) came running in to the bathroom. Wendy told Jacob he was doing a great job and didn't look like he needed any help, and she checked for a cord warapped around Thatcher's head. (he did have it around once, but it was very loose) As soon as she unlooped it over his head, she told me I could push him out when I felt like it, so I gave my first voluntary push and out he came at 4:54! Only an hour and a half after my first real contraction!
It was such an incredible experience, and I know if we have another child we will do it at home again. It was so different from the rushed and hectic hospital birth experiences we've had before. I loved how laid-back Wendy was-- she just let everything happen on it's own. She checked on the baby periodically throughout labor, but left Jacob and I to labor alone like we wanted the majority of the time. She had all of the emergency equipment ready just in case, but none of it needed to be used. After he was born, I got to snuggle with my sweet baby boy, my husband, and our little girls on our couch instead of having to lie on a hospital bed. I wouldn't have changed a thing. <3
