Birth-My Way

Wow...5 months since I have written an entry...wanting to and thinking about doing so everyday...but WHO has the time to blog when they have a new baby?!  As I can see from my last entry...I was 14 days overdue by that point and going crazy with the waiting...not knowing when baby was going to come...battling with our doctor to not induce birth and avoiding speaking to everyone and anyone who had an opinion about waiting so long (which was pretty much everyone)....and our little baby waited until 18 long days after the due date!!!!  It was the longest my Doctor had ever seen anyone go, and same with our Doula...and it was emotionally draining...but Ivan and I knew it was the right thing to do for us.

The days kept passing by, and I continued with my prenatal yoga and our daily walks and felt excellent.  My mom and dad returned from their cruise (excited because they thought they would miss babies arrival...but really arrived just in time) and we enjoyed a dinner together here, but we had asked them to spend the night at a hotel...just in case I went into labor...and at around 1am on October 17 I began to get a tummy ache....at first I thought it was gas pains...or some sort of plumbing issues...but after an hour I realized that FINALLY these were my first contractions...whoop whoop!!!!  I tried not to get too excited, as I had read and researched much about the birth process and didn't want to exhaust myself....I knew I had a long night and day ahead of me.

The contractions were mild throughout the night, but uncomfortable enough not to let me lie down...so I spent most of the night in the rocking chair, on the floor and on the couch...trying not to disturb Ivan so at least he could get some sleep. I started timing them, but they were anywhere from 5 to 15mins apart...I knew not to panic.

I was so excited to call my amazing  Doula Candice from Cherish Childbirth the next morning to let her know I was finally in labour...but managed to hold off until around 8am.  She advised me that I could very likely have contractions for many hours, so to go about my day as usual...get lots of sleep, eat lots of good food and call her later to keep her posted....just as I hung up the phone I felt my water break!  So I called her back and she explained this was likely going to speed the process up and that my contractions may now come more intensely....but to still try to enjoy the day etc...

Ivan made me a giant bowl of oatmeal and that was pretty much the last thing I ate over the next 18hrs...had I of know that I would have eaten a pizza for breakfast too..hahah.   Well I tried to relax, but the contractions were coming stronger after a few hours...we attempted to go for a walk, but it was really slow going and I felt a little strange and uncomfortable stopping every few minutes to pant like a dog and groan like a mad woman in front of people on the street.  So after about 2 blocks we turned around and went home.

I had read so much about the birth process in Ina May Gaskins books and learned so many cool techniques on how to experience contractions from prenatal yoga...but everyone said all of that would go out the window when it actually happens.....but it didn't for me.  Everything came back to me and with my amazing husband Ivan...we went through all of the breathing, and exercise techniques and sitting here writing about it brings on a sort of pride...I feel proud of how we experienced our labor and birth.

By noon the contractions were coming closer together and I felt it was time to call Candice who came over around 1pm.  I tried laboring in the shower which felt nice for a while and then switched and went back to the rocking chair where I was able to get myself into a sort of meditative state, drifting in and out of sleep between waves.....by around 3 or 4 (bit of a blurr) my waves were so sporadic...some coming only 1 min apart and I was now feeling the urge to "take a dump" sorry to be so graphic...but there really is no other way to describe the feeling.  Candice knew it was time to head to the hospital....this made me nervous, because I know many women go there too early thinking they are dilated, only to be sent home... .but they calmed my fears and off we went...sporting an ever sexy robe, and slippers....I don't think I could ever of cared a less about my appearance at that moment in my life...needless to say the hospital photos were not so cute.

Once in the hospital they popped me onto a table as I moaned and groaned through my waves...they wanted to check to see how far along I was... I laid on the bed listening to a gal next to me screaming at the top of her lungs...only to have the nurse say...sorry dear, you are only 3 cm's.  So I was completely relieved when I was told I was already at 5.....they promptly prepared a room for me.  The next few hours were spent slowly walking the halls and in the big soaker tub. Ivan and Candice were such an amazing team, feeding me tiny bits of crackers with jam and little sips of water.  They massaged me and cheered me on and I certainly appreciated everything they did. It had been hours since I had my oatmeal for breakfast and if the effin pain wasn't so effin bad I could have eaten 10 pizzas!  Just when I thought I had reached my maximum tolerance, the doc checked me and I was fully dilated....I let out a celebratory wooo hoooo as I had achieved my desire!! 

And so... the pushing began. I felt I was a pretty good pusher...it was kind of hard to do though...something that you really can't be taught...but I LOVED when they brought in the giant mirror that they placed by my feet so I could see my progress....the pushing part was the most difficult...and nothing really seemed to be happening after a few hours so I tried about 6 or 7 different positions...still the progress was very slow....so slow in fact that my contractions began to slow down from every minute to every 15mins...then every 20mins so I was taking one step forward and two steps back.  Eventually our lovely Doctor said "Heather, I know you are totally against taking any drugs...but it has now been over 4hrs of pushing and this baby isn't coming...your contractions have slowed down and are too far apart and I don't want to end up having to use other methods to get the baby out (aka C-section, forceps or vacuum etc) so I am suggesting we give you a tiny shot of oxytocin to speed the contractions up and bring them closer together...and the baby will be out in 20mins."  This was a lot to digest...I was mentally and physically exhausted, but so happy that our very understanding Doctor was doing her best to honor my wishes and give me a choice.  I asked everyone to leave the hospital room so I could discuss the options with Ivan and Candice...and it almost felt like my contractions had completely left the building...so I finally agreed to take the smallest amount she could possibly give me...and true to her word...the contractions sped up...I regained momentum and our precious little Dutch Dennison Cermak was born about 20mins later at 2:31am October 18th 2011....most memorable experience of my entire life.

As I sit here holding my beautiful little boy on my lap...I know babies were made purely to enjoy!