Hello, friends!
I wanted to (finally! ;) get on here and post our sweet Nathaniel's birth story for those who are interested in that type of thing. :) This was our second home birth, and I am so grateful for how well everything went throughout the process! I wrote quite a bit down, so forgive me if it's a little long...I wanted to try to remember as many of the details as I could. Here we go! :)
Nathaniel's birth story
My pregnancy with Nate was so incredibly hard, it's difficult to describe—especially the last 6 weeks or so. From 26-35 weeks, I was on pretty much complete bed rest, due to uterine hyperactivity. Basically if I was upright, my uterus was contracted hard, and didn't stop till I sat or laid down. Thankfully I did not go into preterm labor with him, but the contractions would wear me out so quickly it was almost impossible to do anything other than get up to use the restroom, shower, or other extremely short term activities.
Once I hit 35 weeks, I was cleared for having him at home, which I wanted desperately after such a wonderful home birth experience with Eben. However, as soon as I finally reached that much longed-for 35 week mark, I came down with PUPPPS. Basically a full body poison ivy type rash that I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy. I have had allergic reactions, chiggers, severe reactions to mosquito bites, etc., and have NEVER experienced itching this intense. From my neck to my feet, I was covered with swollen, dark red bumps that worsened to the point that I was only sleeping a couple of hours at night, if that. The only actual cure was to have the baby, but I went to a specialist to try to get SOME form of relief—he said I had the worst case he had ever seen. Thankfully, I was able to get a steroid that did take the edge off the itching and pain enough that I could at least function. I was able to go to church regularly and see other people for the first time in almost three months! I was so swollen from the rash that I actually lost 9 pounds after getting on the steroid. So insane. By the time I was 37 weeks along however, even the steroid was beginning to stop helping, and the rash was flaring back up worse every day. I was absolutely desperate to have the baby before it reached the point that it had before I went to the specialist. I was walking, doing all sorts of exercises, squats, eating the dates, taking the Evening Primrose Oil, doing ALL the things to help things get going. While I love Sabrina and she is an amazing help during my whole pregnancies and births, she is not a fan of trying to hasten labor's arrival for any reason. As I neared 38 weeks, I was becoming so discouraged and frustrated with the complications that just seemed to be piling up day after day, that I decided to go visit my family a couple hours away, just to have a little break from the routine, have some fun shopping, and a couple days of “distraction” so to speak. So I headed up there on Tuesday, September 28, and planned to come back on Friday, October 1. My due date was not until October 12.
On Wednesday morning, I went to an amazing chiropractor that lives near my parents, and got adjusted from head to toe, as well as some acupuncture done that supposedly can help get things going. I didn't have much hope of that by now, but figured why not? That evening, I lost my mucus plug, which was the first sign I'd had of anything even beginning to happen. However, sometimes that happens a couple of weeks before labor actually begins, so I didn't get too excited over it. On Thursday the 30th, Luke had a really stressful day at work, and I decided to surprise him by coming home a day early. As I was getting ready to leave, my mom hugged me, and said “Hopefully VERY soon, I'll be coming to meet your new baby!” and I replied, “How about tomorrow?! That would be just great.” (With some sarcasm thrown in because at this point I was pretty sure I'd be pregnant forever, haha!) Well, I did surprise Luke, and we played some online games together that night with some friends before heading to bed around 10:30.
At 2:30 A.M., I had the sudden urge to use the bathroom, and clambered out of bed with my massively pregnant self, still half asleep, but with a very strong urge to go. ;) Before I even made it to the bathroom door, I felt a distinct “shift” inside and my water broke all over the floor! I gasped loudly, nearly giving Luke a heart attack since that gasp is what he woke up to, and told him my water had broken. I was in absolute shock and rather insanely thrilled and excited, because I'd had weeks of prodromal labor with hard, strong contractions that went nowhere, just like with Eben, and this time I KNEW it was actually going to continue and turn into real labor, one way or another! After getting cleaned up, we went back to bed, Luke to sleep and me to try to sleep. ;) I was having strong contractions off and on, but not too painful yet. I think I was just too excited to fall back asleep. But I did lie still and rest till about 6, when I got up and started packing a bag for Eben and puttering around getting things ready. I texted my mom and said, “You know how we talked about you coming to meet baby today?? Well, come ahead!!” ;) She and Mercy got here around 3:00 pm, and were mostly in the bedroom until the end of my labor.
Luke's parents came and got Eben at 7:30 or so, and for the next couple of hours things progressed fairly slowly as we got everything set up for the birth, played a couple games of Bananagrams, and just relaxed around the house between contractions that were only gradually becoming more difficult, and were around 4-5 minutes apart. I really enjoyed this time with just Luke and I, it was just a sweet time of excitement waiting for things to progress. Sabrina came by around 11:30, and checked baby's heart rate, etc. I didn't want her to check my dilation at that point, because I was pretty sure I was only about 4 or 5 cm at most, and didn't want to be discouraged in case it was even less than that. ;) So she headed back out to some other appointments, and told us to call her as soon as things intensified more.
Around 1:00pm, things picked up quite a bit, around 3 minutes apart and very painful, so we called Sabrina back. She came and got the tub ready to go, and checked me at 3pm. (Around the same time Mama and Mercy got here.) I was between 5 and 6 cm dilated, and she said it would be fine for me to get in the tub if I wanted to. I did, very much, because the water helps SO much with the pain of the contractions! However, the water makes my labors stall out. Like a LOT. Which I knew from Eben's birth, but had hoped would be different this time since my water had broken beforehand and kicked things off. Not so, unfortunately. My contractions went from three minutes apart to around 10 or even 15 minutes apart if I didn't do squats or lunges to force them to come. So after only a little while in the tub, I realized I had to get out in order to keep labor progressing. For the next few hours, I mostly labored in the kitchen, leaning over the countertop (even if I sat down on my exercise ball my contractions would space back out again, so I pretty much had to stand the whole time!)
Around 6:30, I was sitting on the ball to rest with Luke's arms around me from behind. We were swaying and watching the sunset, and he was joking with me in between contractions and making me laugh a ton. That was a really sweet and special time looking back...he is so wonderful!!
During those few hours from about 4pm to 7pm, (as I moved from 6-8.5 cm or thereabouts) I was going to the bathroom every ten to fifteen minutes...my body was cleaning itself out COMPLETELY. :/ Not. Fun. I drank over a gallon of electrolyte drinks and water over the course of my labor just to keep hydrated and replace all the fluids I was losing. I tried to labor on the toilet as much as I could, because I knew that usually would help dilation along. Luke was so sweet to support me through this entire time...labor sure will show a partner the most vulnerable things you can imagine! ;P
One thing that was different with this labor was that I began to get “double contractions” where one would start to die down and the next one would begin almost immediately, before the previous one had ended. In this way, I had several contractions that were nearly 100 seconds long. This may not sound like a lot, but when you're hanging out in the transition stage of labor for over an hour, 100 seconds feels like an absolute eternity. By 7:15pm, I started to feel a bit like I needed to push, so I got back into the tub. What a huge relief!! My surges spaced back out again, so at 7:45 I got out of the tub and transferred to the shower for a few minutes. I started pushing in earnest while I was in the shower, and didn't like it at all—I wasn't comfortable in there because there was no good place for me to lean on or be supported against. So I went back to the tub again. This whole time, I was in a strange pattern—some contractions I would have a strong urge to push, so I would, but then the next one I would have no urge at all, just intense pain and pressure. Sometimes I would have the urge toward the beginning of the contraction, but it would go away towards the end. I was confused by this, because it seemed like if it was time to push, I should be pushing every time, right??
Sabrina checked me at 8:15, and said that I was fully dilated except for a tiny piece of cervix (almost like a thread) that was just not quite getting out of the way (hence the odd pushing pattern). I think just from her checking me, it finally moved aside, because from that point till he was born at 10:08pm, I was pushing hard with every contraction. I pushed for those two hours in several different positions, but Nathaniel's head was cocked slightly to one side, so it was HARD hard work and very slow progress to move him down the birth canal. My sweet husband was absolutely the best birth partner I could ever ask for during the entire experience...he tirelessly held me up in the birth pool as I pushed, put cool cloths on my forehead, gave me drinks (a lot) and was constantly supporting and encouraging me with soft words, touch, etc. My mom, my midwife Sabrina, and her daughter Helena were also hard at work helping me. I threw up once and got close to it a couple more times, which wasn't fun, but I didn't do that nearly as much as I did during Eben's birth, which was such a relief!
At about 10pm, Sabrina suggested that I should lift one leg and put it on the ground flat footed as I knelt at the edge of the birth pool. Because Nate was turned just a bit and progressing so slowly, she thought this would help him finally come. And as hard as it was to change positions, this was finally what made it happen. I blew hard and fast to avoid pushing during the ring of fire...SUCH an intense few minutes!! Finally, his head and elbow came out at the same time—he had his little arm up across his face. Yet another reason it had been so difficult to move him! ;) At 10:08pm on October 1, 2021, our little Nathaniel was fully born. It took him a few minutes to give a good enough cry to get the junk out of his system, so Sabrina gave him just a bit of suction, but overall he did great! I had the placenta about 10 minutes later, which was much sooner than Eben's, and also much more painful than I remember his being. After about 15 minutes in the tub, we cut his cord and handed him to his Daddy so I could go shower and get in bed. I had only very minimal tearing, which healed completely within just a day or two. Very thankful for that!
Sabrina weighed baby, and he turned out to be 8lbs, 8oz—nearly a full pound heavier than Eben had been, despite being born two weeks earlier!! I was SO thankful that Nathaniel had come at 38 and 2 rather than at term or late...I think he would have been at least a 10lb baby had that been the case. He was 21.5 inches long. He grew by leaps and bounds from the very beginning...on October 11, he weighed 9lbs, 2oz—a 15 oz. gain in 6 days!! (Typical weight gain at this age is about one oz. per day. Our midwife was a bit shocked. ;P) At one month, he weighed 11lbs, 13oz, and at 4 months, he was over 17lbs! The first three days or so after the birth, I had extremely intense cramping, it got pretty brutal during feeds especially, but other than that, I felt like my recovery process was so smooth! Evening Primrose Oil helped immensely with the hormonal adjustment afterwards.
Sabrina weighed baby, and he turned out to be 8lbs, 8oz—nearly a full pound heavier than Eben had been, despite being born two weeks earlier!! I was SO thankful that Nathaniel had come at 38 and 2 rather than at term or late...I think he would have been at least a 10lb baby had that been the case. He was 21.5 inches long. He grew by leaps and bounds from the very beginning...on October 11, he weighed 9lbs, 2oz—a 15 oz. gain in 6 days!! (Typical weight gain at this age is about one oz. per day. Our midwife was a bit shocked. ;P) At one month, he weighed 11lbs, 13oz, and at 4 months, he was over 17lbs! The first three days or so after the birth, I had extremely intense cramping, it got pretty brutal during feeds especially, but other than that, I felt like my recovery process was so smooth! Evening Primrose Oil helped immensely with the hormonal adjustment afterwards.
And there you have it! :) God is so good to have allowed us to have another wonderful home birth and a speedy recovery. If there is anyone reading this who is considering home birth but not sure about it yet, I honestly cannot recommend it enough! I just love having complete freedom to have my favorite candles burning, music playing, freedom of movement, etc. So special!!
I hope you all are having a great week so far!
Love,
Mykaela
