Heather's Birth Story

Heather's Birth Story

Heather was born Thursday October 29th 2015 at 6:19pm. She weighed 8lbs 13oz and was 21 inches long. Her labor was very quick and exciting, which wasn’t too bad because she came a few days late. Due dates should really be called guess dates. No one can tell you exactly when your baby will come. Ultrasounds are not as accurate as doctors make them out to be, especially when it comes to measuring the size of a baby.

 The last photo of me pregnant
with Heather. 6 cms and smiling. 

My pregnancy with Heather was pretty easy. At the beginning of my pregnancy we decided to start a search for a home birth midwife. We interviewed two different practices. The first was way too holistic for us, so we moved on. The next lady we met we loved, so we decided to hire them. However her partner (who we didn't meet till the second or third visit) got weirder, and weirder. They were a lot more holistic than they seemed. When I was about 36 weeks pregnant I decided I did not want to deliver with them. They did lots of water births which I not at all comfortable with, I have nothing against them it’s just not for me. I felt like they kept trying to persuade me to have a water birth and I did not feel supported in my decision not to have one. Feeling 100% supported during your labor and delivery is priority number one in my opinion. We cut ties with them. Luckily I had been seeing the practice who delivered Rose throughout my pregnancy for tests, and ultrasounds. I decided to deliver with them at the hospital. I had a very good experience when I delivered Rose so I was sure I would have a good experience again. After Heather’s L&D we were VERY glad we made the choice to deliver at the hospital.

I was hoping Heather would would come early but she didn’t. Week 38 came and went, week 39 came and went. At my 40 week check up I was 1-2 cms dilated, and about 75% effaced. My midwife stripped my membranes, which barely hurt. After she did it she said, “You're VERY tolerant!” Every time I receive a procedure like that the doctor is impressed at how high my pain tolerance is. We scheduled a NST(Non Stress Test), but my midwife was pretty confident I would go into labor before then. I felt pretty crampy driving home from that appointment but nothing real started. I think the appointment was on Friday but I am not 100% sure.

A few days later I started having more contractions. We had our sitter come over that evening, my contractions were pretty consistent but not very painful yet. I tried to get some sleep and I was able to get a little but my contractions were keeping me up. They were still not painful just uncomfortable. I went down stairs and bounced around on my birthing ball for a while and watched a few movies to stay distracted. RJ woke up pretty early, and we walked around the block a few times while Rose and the sitter were still sleeping. My contractions continued to progress. I decided to take a shower which was relaxing. During lunch I got super nauseous and thought I might puke but I didn’t. Our sitter had to go to school so she left around 2. Of course as soon as she did my contractions started to get painful. I was coping really well and breathing through them pretty easily but it was time to go to the hospital.

Our neighbor offered to watch Rose which was great, and so helpful. RJ and I loaded up the van and headed to the hospital it was about 30 minutes away. RJ was hungry, it was almost dinner time so we stopped at McDonalds on the way. I was very uncomfortable during the drive. It was not easy to work through contractions in the car. I remember yelling at RJ and telling him to hurry up and eat, when we were sitting in the parking lot while he finished his food. I’m glad he understands I am quite unreasonable during labor. I had a few contractions on the way up to triage. We checked in and I got taken back to a triage room. They hooked me up to all the monitors and my midwife came in. I was a little nervous because this was one midwife I had not met before. Luckily she was amazing, and was very supportive when it came to my wishes. She checked me and I was 6 cms and 100% effaced I was so relieved! I had a fear I wouldn't be very dilated, and I had a lot longer to go but 6 cms was a great!

The hospital was in the middle of a shift change and it would be a little while till they could get me into a labor and delivery room. I started to panic a little bit because my contractions were getting more intense. Luckily someone was able to move us to L&D and we started to get settled. I didn’t love our L&D nurse, and if things would have gone slower I probably would have asked for a different nurse. She wasn’t used to someone doing what they wanted instead of conforming to hospital norms. In triage we decided not to put in a IV. I was negative for group B, and there was no other reason why I would need a IV. I had to have a IV during Rose’s L&D, RJ hated having to worry not pulling it out. Not having one was definitely easier. RJ and I decided if an emergency came up they could put a in a IV then, but we didn’t expect anything to go seriously wrong (everything went smoothly I’m glad I didn't let them poke me for no good reason). My labor and delivery nurse triple checked and tried to convince me to get one we still said no. I pretty much refused to sit down in the bed, and leave the monitors on. I just wasn’t comfortable there. She finished asking questions and said she would be right back.

I went to the bathroom and started to feel that pressure. Those other moms out there know what I’m talking about. When it’s time to push it feels like you need to take a giant dump. With Rose I couldn't tell the difference but with Heather I knew exactly what was happening. When I got up from the toilet I had one big oh shit contraction, and had the, “oh no I can’t do this moment”. Just a minute of panic. Luckily RJ was right there and helped me breath though it. He then helped me back to the bed which we promptly turned into a chair, where I could squat a little. It was very comfortable. The nurse looked quite shocked when she came back in because we had basically completely rearranged the furniture, and it definitely was not common to do so. We told her to get my midwife because I was feeling the urge to push. My midwife got there pretty quickly and checked me again. She stretched me to 8cms. It was about around this time when my doula showed up. It was great to have her there.

Heather was ready to come out, whether anyone else was ready or not, my body was telling me to push. Everyone started getting the room ready. My midwife told me if I felt like I needed to push just push, she trusted my body. I started pushing. Heather had one big decel at one point so the nurse asked again to attach the monitors, I told her to keep holding them like she was. I remember her telling me like she was trying to scare me into holding still. The belts were incredibly itchy, and at that point I knew Heather was only a few pushes away. No matter what happened she was coming out and if something went wrong they could deal with it after she came out. The midwife asked RJ if he wanted to catch. He REALLY wanted to, he got suited up with a gown and gloves. I’m so glad he go to catch. It was really cool for him to be the first one to hold our little girl.

 I LOVE this photo, it perfectly captures birth.
The exhaustion on my face but the pure joy behind it.
Birth is very hard work but it is so very rewarding.

As quick as Heather's labor was it was almost worse than Rose’s, it was so fast it was very intense, and very tiring. I kept pushing, it was getting more and more intense. I’m so glad we had a doula there, she said exactly what I needed when I needed it. The midwife broke my waters just before Heather crowned, it was a huge relief of pressure when she did that but she discovered light meconium. The respiratory team was called in. It was getting quite crowded but I was too busy pushing a baby out of my hoo-ha to notice. Heather’s hand was on her neck (instead of being down by her side), and one of her fingernails caught one of my inner labia on the way out. She put a little hole in it. I didn’t discover the hole till probably a week later because it was quite small and hardly noticeable. Sorry if that was TMI, but from what I’ve read it’s pretty common. It didn’t take very many pushes to get her out probably 20-30 minutes of pushing total. The cord was wrapped around her neck twice. RJ put her on my chest as soon as she came out. The cord was cut promptly by RJ and she was carried over to the respiratory team. My placenta was delivered without poking, prodding or massaging which was nice. I just gave it a little push once it had detached. I was concerned I would bleed heavily or hemorrhage because I did with Rose. Luckily I only had minimal bleeding. I think the Iron supplement I was taking Floradix may have had a lot to do with that. I also didn’t tear which I was really proud of myself for because of how quick and intense my L&D was. I did start shaking/shivering uncontrollably, after the placenta was delivered. I’m especially glad we had a doula this time, RJ was with Heather making sure she was ok and it was very nice to have a familiar face with me. Apparently shaking uncontrollably after birth is pretty common. The huge hormonal shift is what sets it off. I remember my mom complaining about it, she thought it was the epidural (she had an epidural with all of her L&Ds) but apparently it's just birth!

Heather was brought over to me relatively quickly after the respiratory team decided she was alright. She latched quite well, and nursed a lot. We discovered her blood sugars were low. They tested them because she was on the big side. Apparently our quick L&D made her use up all her sugar deposits, so we had to supplement with a bit of formula because my milk had not come in yet. Her blood sugar came up quite quickly after a bit of formula.

We really wanted to go home. My midwife was more than happy to sign my papers and let us go home as soon as possible. Convincing them to let Heather go so soon took quite a bit of pushing and prodding. But we were able to go home just over 24 hours after Heather was born.

Rose has been a amazing loving sister since day one.
I am so glad she is such a good big sister. Now that
Heather is crawling they play together amazingly.

I am so glad we chose to deliver at the hospital with professionals. If we would have delivered at home light meconium could have turned into a serious issue and had serious effects on her health, when at the hospital it was as small quickly solved hiccup. I am so happy it was a easy experience and my midwife was amazing. I didn’t feel like I to fight the hospital as much as I did during Rose’s L&D. I’m not sure if it was because it was so quick or if the midwife I had was better at helping moms get exactly what the wanted. Either way it was awesome experience. I do fear if my next baby comes even faster we might not make the 30 minute drive to the hospital. We have a hospital closer but I do not want to switch practices, hopefully the next one isn’t in any more of a rush than Heather. I’m sure people will think I’m crazy when I say this but I cannot wait to do it again! We are trying for number three (I know I’ve already said it a million times but we are so excited)! When Rose was Heather’s age I was already pregnant with Reggie (the sweet boy we lost). We are hoping to get pregnant ASAP! Heather and the next baby will already be 17 months apart, if got pregnant tomorrow. It’s crazy how fast time passes when you are enjoying life!

Heather's going home outfit.