Birth Story

I know it has taken me long enough to post this. I'm even going to abbreviate it quite a bit since it was a 23 hour labor. Everyone knows I had been trying to get things started for a week and nothing. On Sunday evening, I was having some very light contractions and Debi came by about 9:30pm. She checked me and I was 3cm and 70% effaced. She "ruffled my feathers" as they call it and left. About 10 minutes later I was in the shower and I could tell my contractions got closer and a little stronger. I went to bed about 11pm and tried to sleep. Although the contractions were not very hard, they were too close for me to drift off to sleep between them. I got up by myself and let everyone else sleep. After a couple of hours, I called my mom and told her this was it and asked her to come keep me company. She came down to be with me during the night. My contractions stayed pretty much the same all night. I called Christina (my doula)about 5am asking her to come. She came about 6:30 am. I probably called her too early, but it was good to have company. Michelle came by about 9am to see how labor was going and i was progressing. I was still 3cm and 80% effaced. I was disappointed as this had been going on all night, but I could tell I was still in early labor. I decided to go see the chiropractor to see if she could do anything to help speed labor up. While some things she did felt good and I do think they moved me along a little bit, it did not have the affect I had wanted. Another friend of mine, Kathy came over and made us soup for lunch. I was able to eat which is good. My labor did start to progress more at this point although I was still in early labor. I kept waiting for things to speed up. It seemed like my contractions were getting a little stronger, but were not going anywhere. My afternoon is a little blurry to me. I know some more friends came by to be here for the birth and I know my labor got harder. Michelle came back over to check things at some point in the late afternoon. I was 4cm. That was very discouraging as it had been around 16 hours of labor at that point. She had me take some herbs and go walking in my backyard. The walking was very difficult, but it did make my contractions come closer. Michelle stayed after this. I wanted a bath to see if that would help because my contractions were getting very strong. The bath did help some. I stayed in for a while. I know labor was very hard now. I was having trouble dealing with it. mainly because I was tired and this was going on a lot longer than I had thought it would. Debi finally came about 8pm. She checked me and i was 5 cm, but she pulled my cervix to the front and said I was now 6-7cm. I finally felt a little encouraged and knew the end was in sight. This does not mean it was not still very hard and I didn't know how much longer I could make it. Finally I was on the toilet and I was feeling a little pushy. It felt better to be there and I stayed for a while. i went back to the bedroom and one point, but then back to the toilet. Finally, Michelle heard me grunting and came and got me to go to the bed. Debi checked me real quick and said I could push. My pushing contractions still felt like my transition contractions. Normally, they change and you get a little break with them. I did not, so I was pushing very hard to get it over with. It felt like I pushed for a while, but they said I did not. Soon we saw the head and that made me push harder. It was pretty cool, because my water never broke and you could still see the amniotic sac over her head. Finally a strong push or 2 and her head quickly followed by her body came out. I immediately had her and looked and saw it was a girl. She was perfect and healthy so I didn't have to let her go. Soon I knew something wasn't quite right with me, but i will post more about that on another day since this is long enough. I got to nurse her and then get my herb bath with her and watch her newborn exam. All things I did not get with Lily. Over all, a very hard experience and one I may not want again. My labor was 23 hours- 4 hours more than Lily and I had been hoping for shorter than lily's. I can't say I am not thankful though. I had my homebirth, the baby was healthy, the people I wanted were there, etc. Things never go as planned with birth as I always tell my clients. It seems that is still something I really need to learn.