Noah Wynn made his grand entrance into the world at 6:33 AM, Thursday, September 16, 2010. I was 41 weeks, 6 days pregnant (WOW).
Here's not-so-little Noah's birth story.
All day Wednesday, I had been having very sporadic contractions. These contractions were completely different than the contractions from our false-starts. I just kept an eye on them throughout the day; they were anywhere from 5 minutes apart to 90 minutes apart. They were different though, because they would come in like a wave and would actually hurt a bit, then ebb off. My other contractions hadn't ever hurt. We decided to call our midwife, Val, just to let her know what was going on, and that this was possibly it, but we really had no idea, since Sea Monkey had been a little trickster beforehand. She said to call her around 10 and let her know how things were going.
Thankfully, Zach and I had decided to go to bed early the night before, so we were both fairly well rested. I also took an hour long nap (which is unusual for me) during the day, and then Zach and I took a 45 minute nap when he got home from work. Turned out to be a wise decision. =)
We ate dinner around 7, and that's when the contractions started coming more regularly- they were about 7-10 minutes apart. We decided to go on a run to WalMart to get soda and chocolate (I'm not really sure why, but it was fun). Contractions in the car sucked. When we got back home, around 8, the contractions were about 5 minutes apart and it was taking more effort to work through them.
At this point, we put down the protective plastic liners on the floor and inflated the birth pool. Around 9:30, we called our midwife to let her know that the contractions were coming around 5 minutes apart and that I was beginning to have trouble working through them. She arrived at our house around 10, took my blood pressure, checked Sea Monkey's heartbeat, and told us to just keep doing what we were doing.
We decided to watch Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog (because it's HILARIOUS, and one of my favorite movies), so Zach turned that on while I rocked and rolled around on my exercise ball (after owning it for 6 years, I FINALLY got use out of the thing).
At 11 PM, Val checked me. I was dilated to 4 and 75% effaced. She went downstairs to take a quick nap and Zach and I kept watching the movie (I made him pause it every now and then when I was having a particularly difficult contraction). Val had said to wake her up if my water broke or if I started feeling like I needed to get into the pool. I think around midnight I started feeling like I needed to get into the pool. Zach woke Val up and she suggested she and I go on a walk up and down the street while Zach filled the pool. So we did. We had to stop periodically so I could work my way through contractions.
When we got back to the house, I put my bathing suit top on and stepped into the pool. The water was warm and felt amazing! It didn't take away all the pain, but it made it so much more manageable.
Around 2 AM, I started feeling like it might just be impossible to bring this baby into the world, and Val checked me again and said I was at 8 cm, 100% effaced. I think around this time, Val called the secondary midwife, Kim, to come over.
Mali was wandering around in the office and even jumped up on the top of the pool a couple times (she apparently didn't realize the pool was filled with water, otherwise she may not have been so keen to see what we were up to). It was pretty entertaining having her around (at least when I was paying attention enough to notice it). I was on my knees for a while, leaning on the top of the pool, and resting my head on the top when I was having a difficult contraction, and every so often, Mali would stand up on her hind legs and sniff my head. It was cute. =) She stayed awake the entire time I was laboring and only went to sleep after Sea Monkey was in my arms. =) Cutest cat ever.
Anyway, I don't remember a lot of what happened after that aside from the contractions getting closer and harder to work through. I changed positions every so often (the midwives had to remind me to do it; I was kind of out of it). Zach was in the pool with me for the majority of the time, and I leaned on him and tried to squish his hand or leg (or both) like jello every time I had a contraction. When I started feeling pressure and the urge to push, Val checked me and said that there was just a tiny lip of my cervix still in the way. I was supposed to push lightly with contractions so it wouldn't swell up. I don't know if I did that very well. I think she had to help it out of the way while I was pushing. I'm not really sure.
I was zoning out or dozing off in between contractions a lot, and I'm pretty sure when I felt another one coming, I made a sad, mopey face.
At one point during this, Val said she could see some dark hair. I remember thinking something about how glad I was that this kid has hair, with all the heartburn I had had (even if the heartburn/hair thing is just an old wive's tale).
I have no idea how long I pushed. It was intense. A couple times, I reached down while I was pushing to see if I could feel the head- I did, and it was encouraging and bizarre. Eventually, after what felt like hours more pushing, Sea Monkey's head was out and before I knew it (I had my eyes closed), Val had put him on my chest. It took him a second to cry, and when he did- wow. He's a big boy and has a big cry to go with his big body. I think Val said his initial Apgar score was 8... Zach was sitting next to me, and I was holding Sea Monkey to my chest and talking to him, rubbing his back, trying to soothe him. After some indeterminable amount of time, I asked if anybody had seen what Sea Monkey was, so Zach lifted Sea Monkey's legs up a bit and said he was a boy. =)
A few minutes later, he started nursing. The nursing helped the placenta detach from my uterus, and I delivered that a few minutes afterward. After the placenta was delivered and one of the midwives made sure it was in tact and not missing pieces, they clamped the umbilical cord and Zach cut it.
I think around this time, I asked Zach what he was thinking name-wise. We had had a few names in mind to possibly use, but we wanted to meet Sea Monkey before deciding on one for sure. Zach said he was thinking Sea Monkey was a Noah, and I agreed.
After that, I think we decided to move into the bedroom. Zach stood up, I handed Noah off to him, and tried to get up. I had to sit for a second because I felt a little queasy or something, from my organs shifting around. After I felt ok, Val helped me out of the pool, dried me off, and we made our way to the bedroom. I think around this point, Val and Kim did a full check-up on Noah and declared him practically perfect in every way (they didn't really say that, but it was true). They weighed him and told us he was a whopping 9 pounds, 14 ounces, and 21 1/4 inches long. I have yet to pick my jaw up off the floor from hearing that. I was expecting Sea Monkey to be big, since he was almost 2 weeks past his due date, but not almost 10 pounds! I gained a little less than 30 pounds through the whole pregnancy, and he alone accounts for about 1/3 of it! It's crazy. But he's so, so cute, with his chubby little cheeks and fingers and toes. =)
After checking to make sure Noah was fine, Val checked me. Other than one teeny tiny tear that doesn't need stitches, I'm just fine. Tired and sore, but just fine. =)
An hour or so later, I think, Val and Kim headed out. Val will be back tomorrow to see how we're doing, and make sure everything is still fine.
Noah is nursing well, as far as I can tell. I asked Val if we were latched ok before she left, and she said yes and gave me a few things to look for to make sure we're doing fine.
And that's our home/waterbirth story. =)
I have a few pictures that Kim took of everything, and I'll post them later (they're not graphic- you can see that the water looks murky, but there's nothing gross or inappropriate to see).
Zach, Noah, and Mali are all sleeping, and I think I'll be joining them shortly. =)
