Tuesday was my 38 week appointment with my midwife. BTW my midwives were so awesome – loved them! Linda (MW) felt my baby’s position (which had not changed in at least 3 weeks). She said, “I study baby’s positions and your baby is in a good position but it could be better.” He was head down, his back along the right side of my belly. Her prediction was that my water would break first (yeah right) and that it would be a hard, fast labor. She said either try to move the baby to the left or be prepared for hard and fast labor! She also said I was 2 cm dilated and asked if I wanted her to sweep my membranes – I said – absolutely not. I am not ready for this baby to come quite yet.
Tuesday night I went home and had Mike massage my belly just like she said. Lightly encouraging baby’s back to the left. After 5 minutes of messaging I felt the babies head drop and it was like he clicked into place. A moment later, as I laid there in bed, I felt a hot rush of water. I could not stop it! It was a complete rush and my face lit up at Mike. He knew to look down and sure enough…the bed was soaked. It kept rushing and I could not move for fear of what would happen next. Mike looked at me calmly and informed me that my water had broken. I started shaking…uncontrollably! I told Mike that I was “not ready for this yet”, but he said, “you are ready and you will have this baby soon.” Mike was my rock! He calmed me and we prayed for awhile…a sweet memory for me. So my water officially broke at 10:45.
Mike called our midwife and told her. She told us to call back when I start experiencing contractions…which was right after Mike hung up the phone. And it came hard and fast! I am so glad we had some ideas of what to expect. My contractions were 5 minute apart from the beginning. Mike started into rapid packing mode while coaching me and keeping the washer and dryer running constantly. We had piles of wet sheets and towels, yuck!
By 12:30 I was very obviously in labor with contractions coming every 4-5 minutes. By 2am I was vomiting after hard contractions. Time had flown by. We were determined to labor at home for as long as we could but I told Mike that we needed to go. Oh man, from my memory of it I was completely drained from throwing up five times, but I was on a mission to have the baby.
We arrived at OHSU about 3am. I had a great nurse who was breathing with me and helping me to stay calm until Mike got to the room from parking the car. I felt out of control to the point that I could not open my eyes. They started filling up the water birth tub and did a v-exam. I was 8 ½ cm dilated and my body was already transitioning. By 3:45 I was ready to push. The tub takes 1 hour to fill up. So I didn’t make it. I knew that he was coming and I got a physical break to mentally prepare. The only other time I remember opening my eyes was to see the midwives putting on their gowns and caps. Since the room had been kept dark they now turned a spot light on me to see what was going on. I will spare you all of the pushing details but I will never forget Mike on one leg on that wonderful nurse on the other with the midwives encouraging me.
Baby Jackson came at 4:26 with his right hand out above his head (the midwives had said he was like superman on a mission). He cried before he even came out – a little screech to help motivate me to get him out. Once he was out they laid him on my chest with Mike’s hand on his back. We nursed and had a sweet little bonding time. The End!
Jackson takes lots of naps on his daddy's chest. These are some of his sleeping faces.
Jackson takes lots of naps on his daddy's chest. These are some of his sleeping faces.
