Anyone who is not comfortable with the mention of bodily functions is welcome to click out of this post now. :)
Also, I won’t be offended if this sort of thing doesn’t interest you – it never interested me until I was pregnant. But I feel compelled to write it down so I don’t forget the details.
Hello. My name is Erica Lea. I gave birth. Here is my story.
It’s funny how everything seemed to slip into place just before I went into labor. I feel that God had been preparing my mind for the ordeal – it wasn’t with a sense of fear that I anticipated labor, but a sense of urgency to get it over with and start recovery. And there were various little things that we needed that we received just before I went into labor. Our midwife brought the birth pool (I had decided to try a water birth) THE DAY that I went into labor. Talk about perfect timing!
It’s funny how everything seemed to slip into place just before I went into labor. I feel that God had been preparing my mind for the ordeal – it wasn’t with a sense of fear that I anticipated labor, but a sense of urgency to get it over with and start recovery. And there were various little things that we needed that we received just before I went into labor. Our midwife brought the birth pool (I had decided to try a water birth) THE DAY that I went into labor. Talk about perfect timing!
Around 3:00 PM I started to have cramps. I had been experiencing some mild cramping during the days leading up to labor, but I could tell that these were different – more intense. Like full on menstrual cramps. I was able to snooze on the couch for an hour or so, but it drove me nuts that I didn’t know if I was actually in labor or not.
Then, around 9-10 PM I had a bloody show. I had heard that it could be a few days after a bloody show that you go into labor. Reuben Googled it – a few hours to a few days. Rats – I still didn’t know if this was it. My cramps started to get more intense.
They made me so uncomfortable that I was finding it impossible to go to sleep. It was about midnight. Reuben had already gone to bed, so I crawled under the covers and tried to get some shut-eye. Almost immediately, I felt a strange gurgle (at first I thought it was the baby kicking). I jumped out of bed, heading for the bathroom. But it was too late: I felt liquid uncontrollably gushing onto my legs and the floor. I felt so helpless. Reuben grabbed me a towel to clean up. Now I knew that the time had come.
The cramps had definitely turned into contractions by this time. I started timing them and found that I was farther along than I had thought. And they were getting pretty miserable. I decided it was time to give our midwife, Rebekah, the heads up. I called around 2:00 AM. She confirmed my feelings that things were moving along and to me that I should call her again when things started picking up pace.
Reuben decided to head to bed and try to get some sleep. That was out of the question for me. The next few hours were spent timing my contractions, trying to sleep on the couch between them, and hopping up and doing deep breathing, pelvic rocking, hip circles and other pain coping techniques as the contractions came. I couldn’t STAND to be laying down when a contraction came. At some point (I’m not sure when), I threw up. It wasn’t as bad as it sounds. Just another part of labor.
I decided to wake up Reuben at 5:00. I held out until around 5:30.
“Reuben, I need you.”
Everything was too intense to face alone.
With a terribly strong contraction, I jumped into the shower to try to assuage the pain. I begged Reuben to call Rebekah; she didn’t answer. At 6:19 she called back and wanted to know if I wanted her to come. Yes, yes I did. She was a couple hours out.
A little bit later I threw up again and expelled more amniotic fluid.
“I’m sorry,” I apologized to Reuben as I stood there helplessly.
“It’s okay, girl,” he assured me as he wiped my legs with a towel.
I hopped back into the shower to clean up further.
After trying to cope with the contractions for a while longer, I begged Reuben to start filling the birthing pool – he didn’t realize how far along I had progressed (later Rebekah told us that I had probably already gone through transition). At around 7:00 he started filling it.
As I slipped into the warm, comforting water I could feel my body relax. It felt so good. But the contractions kept coming. They spaced out some but grew in intensity. Reuben kept the water warm with kettles of hot water.
At around 8:30 Rebekah arrived. I was so incredibly tired, having had basically NO sleep. It was very hard for me to stay calm through the contractions now – they seemed to build to an intense crescendo each time. Rebekah suggested that I try to empty my bladder, which could help with the pain. It was impossible for me to do so.
Around 10:00 I started having the urge to push. After a few pushes, Rebekah checked my cervix to make sure it was okay for me to push. She felt the baby’s head was low, but the cervix wasn’t quite ready yet. I tried not pushing for a few contractions, but had to keep going.
I was exhausted and wishing desperately for sleep. At around 11:30 we decided to move to the bedroom so I could get some rest. There I continued to push, and at 12:03 PM, we said hello to our little Helen.
Rebekah put the little girly in my arms immediately. It was so sweet to finally meet her, grey skin and cone head and all.
About 10 minutes later I had the placenta. And we had a bit of a scary moment. I started to bleed heavily.
“I need you to stop bleeding,” Rebekah said.
“Oh great, I’m gonna die,” I thought.
“Oh great, my wife is going to bleed out after having our baby,” Reuben thought.
But Rebekah had it under control – she put two dropperfuls of some sort on tincture under my tongue and had me drink half a cup of lemon juice. Soon the bleeding slowed. Rebekah massaged my uterus to make sure no clots formed – that hurt!
By the time Rebekah left, Helen was nursing well. I was so happy and thankful that we weren’t having troubles with that!
“You did such a good job,” Reuben told me.
And that’s how my labor went. I don’t know how I could have done it without the help and support of Reuben and Rebekah. It was so hard and tiring, yet nothing compared to what I had to face ahead. But that’s another story.
Until next time,
Until next time,
Yours ever,
Erica Lea
March 11th, 2013 at 6:55 pm
I’m looking forward to reading your next installment of recovery & life as a new mum, I need all the information & encouragement I can get if I ever want a baby!!
March 11th, 2013 at 9:22 pm
March 11th, 2013 at 10:10 pm
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March 12th, 2013 at 9:02 am
March 12th, 2013 at 9:25 am
March 12th, 2013 at 2:48 pm
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March 13th, 2013 at 9:42 am
March 13th, 2013 at 2:19 pm
March 13th, 2013 at 3:33 pm
Congratulations on giving birth to your beautiful daughter. I have been a follower of your blog cooking for seven for several years. Thank you for sharing your engagement, wedding and now the birth of your daughter. Helen is so adorable and I am so happy for you and Reuben!! I have been praying for you all. I am glad to hear of the safe arrival of Helen and will continue to pray that things will go well for you….remember the first one is the hardest….the second time around is a snap!!! All the best and God bless.
Love Janice
March 15th, 2013 at 1:24 pm
March 18th, 2013 at 9:32 pm
it seems like only yesterday that we had our little baby boy, Seth, yet he is now 7 months!
I loved reading your story, it brings me so much excitement and joy for you!!! CONGRATS!!!
April 16th, 2013 at 8:48 am
April 17th, 2013 at 12:31 am