The Birth of Aesop

At midnight, I was awakened by mild surges that came every 5-6 minutes. I left our bed and crept downstairs alone. I drank a glass of water as I walked around in the dark. The surges kept coming consistently. For a while, I wasn’t certain if it was the beginning of active labor or simply more of the prodromal labor surges like I had experienced on Tuesday evening.

The house was so dark and peaceful. I enjoyed my quite time. Lying on our sectional sofa. Squatting on the steps. Doing some pelvic tilts and gentle stretching on the living room floor.

After an hour (1am), my surges hadn’t subsiding, and I had a feeling that this was “the real deal.” I reached out to Esther, our birth photographer/videographer. She had the farthest distance to travel, so I wanted to give her the most notice.

As we text messaged back and forth, I continued to rest and breathe through surges downstairs. I began using pillows from my son’s Nugget to position myself, as leaning slightly forward began to make my surges feel more manageable.

After another hour (2pm), I woke my husband, Mathew. He carried our sleeping, bed-sharing toddler, Elam, from our room to our guest bedroom where my Mama was still sleeping.

At that point, we reached out to our birth doula, Jennifer Bookamer, and stayed in contact until her arrival.

While I took a shower, Mathew inflated and positioned the birth pool in our bedroom. Then, woke up my cousin, Erica, and she brewed some red raspberry leaf tea per my midwives’ instructions.

I drank my tea and began listening to my Birth Affirmation track from The Calm Birth School, a 4-week online video class based on the principals of hypnobirthing.

Esther arrived at 3am and Jennifer (doula) arrived at 4am. My surges began to feel more intense, categorized as moderate. Even though, leaning forward for the double-hip squeeze was the most comfortable posture to manage my surges, I wanted to find a more restful position.

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Mathew helped me problem-solve. I finally discovered that side-lying on our floorbed with a foam kneeling pad (which I had purchased for the members of birth team) positioned underneath my bottom hip provided enough firmness that Mathew could press down on my top hip during surges. It was almost as relieving as the double-hip squeeze when I was upright.

I was able to rest – and even drift in and out of sleep – while gesturing to Mathew to press down on my top hip when a surge occurred.

Around 6am, light from the rising sun began to peek into our bedroom. Through our open windows, I could hear birds chirping from the trees in our backyard. I felt a sense of renewed energy.

I got up from our bed and crept in to where Elam was still sleeping. I wanted to snuggle him as my only baby one last time. I ended up waking him up as I entered, but we were still able to cuddle and share a sweet chat about it being time for our baby to be born.

At that point, I began dropping to my hands-and-knees for double hip squeezes. I wasn’t able to talk through my surges, but once they ended, I kept walking around and connecting with my family. It felt so normal and natural to be at home. To be waking around in my own space. To be in a space in which I had control.

At 7:30am, Aimie (Daysprings Midwifery) arrived. She asked to check my cervix and I consented. We needed to make a plan. Aimie wasn’t yet attending Daysprings births independently, and the other two midwives were unavailable. (Inga was attending another birth and Jenn was on an airplane returning from visiting her family.)

Aimie was very surprised to discover that I was 8 centimeters dilated. She actually had to check twice to be sure. She called Kim Palmer (HazelTree Midwifery), whom we had never met before, to serve as back-up.

8:00 A.M.

My surges became noticeably more intense and I became a little more vocal, but I was still able to engage with my family in between them. This was very comforting.

8:15 A.M.

Kim arrived.

8:30 A.M.

I entered the birth pool.

9:00 A.M.

I helped Elam into the pool with me. He wanted to nurse, and I felt like the nipple stimulation and release of oxytocin would help my labor progress. We shared a precious moment.

After he finished, I asked for him to give me some space. I began to feel a little distracted by his presence, and I needed to get into my *zone.” I even remember explaining to my birth team that I was concerned that my surges weren’t intense enough. With my waters intact this time, they felt so much milder compared to my very short, very intense labor with Elam.

Immediately after nursing Elam, my surges became even stronger. I asked for our bedroom curtains to be drawn. I wanted darkness and silence. I closed my eyes and even covered my ears to block out the conversions my midwives were having as they completed unloading their supplies. I was catch off guard by the increased intensity. Just a few moments ago, I was nursing and playing with Elam in pool!

9:55 A.M.

During a surge, I felt my waters release into the pool, and I announced this to my midwives. Suddenly, I also began to feel nauseous. Erica (cousin/doula) began fanning a cotton round with peppermint EO in front of my nose, which provided instant relief. I was still positioned on my hands and knees leaning forward in pool.

9:58 A.M.

My baby was so low and there was enormous pressure. I felt my body give a gentle push for the first time. Fetal ejection reflex was beginning. I continued to breathe and relax to allow my body do the hard work.

10:00 A.M.

I felt my baby move down even a little more. I wanted to switch position to make sure I was able to catch, but it was overwhelmingly difficult. My body wanted to lean forward, be on my hands and knees. I remember straightening upright, then panicking and saying, “I don’t know. I don’t know. I don’t know.” I wasn’t sure if I could endure a different position, but I wanted so badly to be able to catch my baby. Finally, I tried a “running-start” posture (kneeling on my right knee with my left leg up/forward. It was tolerable if I was still leaning forward over the side of the pool.  My midwives announced that my baby’s head was visible.

10:03 A.M.

In my new position, I reached down to feel my baby’s head. My body gave another gentle push during a surge. Head squeeze was happening.

During this second stage of labor, I left very ungrounded in the pool. I felt as though I was floating around in the water. The sides and floor were soft and squishy. I couldn’t brace against anything, and it was unsettling. I didn’t expect to feel this way, as this weightless feeling was often described as relaxing by others. I tried anchoring my upper body using the handles on the side of the pool and even some webbing straps I had attached, but I needed to grip into something with more than just my hands. I ended up holding on to one of  Aimie’s thighs. She stood next to the outside of the pool, and I wrapped my entire arm around it. For some reason, this made me feel secure in space and allowed me to then be able to completely relax my pelvic floor and lower body.

10:07 A.M.

Crowning. I felt like I had so much control. My body eased my baby’s head out during a surge. I breathed deeply, allowed for the stretching burn and downward pressure. I was able to slow this process way down.

10:09 A.M.

Our baby’s head was out and Kim (midwife) announced that a tight nuchal cord was present. My husband helped lift me back into a semi-reclined position to allow my midwives to manage the cord and me to catch.

10:35 A.M.

My bleeding slows.

11:05 A.M.

Aesa came back to me.

11:15 A.M.

First latch.

12:00 P.M.

Newborn exam.

12:15 P.M.

Kim departed.

Inga arrived.“ ~ Abigail