Grace's Birth

On Monday the 20th, Nora and I spent the morning with our friends Katie, Miles and Evie at the petting zoo. I guess I was having some contractions all day, but really if I say that, then the truth is I was having them all week! That evening was pretty normal. We ate dinner and Brandon put Nora to bed and went to McCoys for a birthday party. I spent the evening stretching and putting my birth cd on my laptop. Brandon got home around 10 and we went to bed. I had a weird feeling that maybe I would wake up with contractions, and even made a joke to Brandon about Nora waking up to a crying baby. I laid down and noticed a few harder contractions. Then I felt a bubble move around my belly and POP! My water broke at 1042. I ran to the bathroom to clean up. I called Debbie to let her know the clock had started, but she should go to bed and I would call her. I was a little upset since my plan was for her to be born in the caul (in her sac). I had a positive GBS culture a few weeks ago and the homebirth plan was still on, but plan B was to go to the hospital if my water was broken longer than 4 hours with no labor. This also meant that no one was going to check me which is hard for a control freak like myself. Luckily my contractions started quickly. I told brandon he could get some rest, but a few minutes later I told him it might be better to get the pool up and ready and then rest a little. It took him about an hour and a half to do this however, which meant no rest for the daddy. My contractions came every 5 minutes and were getting stronger. This was foreign to me since my contractions never became regular during Nora's marathon birth. I called Grace Seeley to let her know and see if she wanted to come. She listened through a contraction and said, "oh Megan, I will come, but I dont think I will make it." This was sad, but I kind of believed her. I decided to lay on the bed and do some relaxation exercises until Brandon could be with me. I did about an hour of this and felt like a lot better. In fact, I got nervous that my labor was going to slow down. Brandon came in and all of the sudden, the lady's voice became irritating and I made Brandon turn her off. Brandon sat behind me and held my belly and helped me breathe through contractions. By this time contractions were about every 3 minutes and I threw up. As a midwife you would think I would get the clue that we were probably in transition, but with my history, I was afraid I was transitioning from 3-4 like last time. (silly Megan). we called Debbie anyway and asked if I could get in the tub and told her she should come soon. She listened to me through a contraction and said ok. This was 200am. I got in the tub. With Noras birth this brought so much relief, but this time I felt swallowed up by the tub and could not get comfortable. On the next contraction, I locked eyes with Brandon which is another good sign of transition, but Im sure Brandon thought I was about to kill someone. On the next contraction, my body began to push, I could not stop the force and I felt out of control. This happened a couple more times and I did not know how much more I could handle. I went ahead and checked to see where we were. The baby was right there. I told brandon we were going to have her before Debbie got here. He hopped in the tub and told me the baby was coming. Pretty soon her head was out. At this point, I felt a lot more calm. I told Brandon she was going to turn and then she would come out. We pulled her up and she was just perfect. Then Brandon caught the placenta and Grace started nursing. A few minutes later my team arrived. "Why didnt you call me?!?!?" Debbie said. We told her we didnt want her to worry. :) They checked out vitals and helped us get cleaned up and in the bed. What an amazing experience. Brandon felt so proud and I was so pleased with our accidental unassisted home birth (although I do not support this and I am glad that help was coming.) This was such a different experience from Noras birth and I am so thankful for the experience. I was so defeated by Nora's birth and this time I told Debbie, I felt like I did a good job!