Pauline has six children. Her first was an induced vaginal birth with vacuum extraction. Her second was a spontaneous medicated vaginal birth. Her third baby was an emergency cesarean due to placental abruption. Her fourth baby was a planned repeat cesarean, which resulted in a NICU stay for her baby. Her fifth baby was a planned HBA2C with a midwife. This is the story of her sixth and final baby, her second HBA2C, which she chose to deliver unassisted.
On February 27, 2009, at 41 weeks 6 days, I started having some contractions at around 4:00. I’d been having them on and off for days so didn’t think too much of it. At around 6, they hadn’t stopped and I noticed that I’d also developed a leak. I went along as usual and the contractions started to pick up. I had my husband fill the pool in the hope that I might have the baby faster than my last or at least have some pain relief as things got more difficult. While in the pool at around 10, I got a big gush of fluid. I had several more gushes over the next few hours, one of which caused my oldest to stay away, he thought I peed myself! I labored all night and through the morning until about 11:00.
At this point, my contractions slowly tapered off and spaced to about 20 minutes apart after a couple hours. I stalled in my last labor at around this time, so I thought it was just normal for me. After about 4 hours with no progress I did ask my husband to have a quick feel to see if I had made any progress at all and I had. I started to wonder after about 5 hours, so I called a couple friends and got online. After a while, I realized I wasn’t sure I wanted transition to come. I’d had some worries about how things happened in my last labor. I was worried about the pain as well as the lack of an urge to push. Although I thought I’d put these feelings aside, they were still there. I asked my friend her opinion and she was blunt and honest, her words were what got me through the hardest part of my labor. She told me I needed to decide now if I wanted another major surgery or if I could put my fears aside and allow my body to do what it needed to do. My contractions were back before our conversation had ended. I knew the hospital was not the place for me but if I didn’t allow my body to continue, that is exactly where I would end up.
My labor was back in full force by 8:30. I labored on-with a little help from Bob Marley‘s music- without too much problem until around 9 when I got this pain. It wasn’t like any others and didn’t come with every contraction at first. I knew I was well into transition because this was the exact way things happened when I had my last home birth. I was still hoping to get the urge to push so I did what I could to get through them. Soon it became apparent that I was losing control. I screamed, begged and prayed for this pain to stop! It’s odd, this kind of pain for me is almost like an urge to push. Once I literally couldn’t get through them, I knew I had to push and my baby was born in less than 15 minutes at 10:32 PM on February 28th-his brother‘s birthday. I pushed in my bed on all fours which is new for me. I was able to guide his head out by using small pushes with no tearing and hardly any hint of the ring of fire but my husband caught. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him more proud of himself.
All in all, it was a great birth and I’m so happy that my little one is here now. My oldest son (10) cut the cord. He was a little nervous and worried about hurting the baby at first, but he did a great job! My 7 year old daughter clamped it, my husband coached her through. My 2 year old was the best little labor partner, he kept me happy and laughing during times when I didn’t think I could. My 8 year old slept through the birth she tried so hard to see. She’s quite the little midwife already. She was up with me half the first night doing anything I asked from pouring water on my tummy to passing me drinks without so much as a word.
After things settled, we got him weighed and checked his length. He weighed 9 pounds 2 ounces and was 22 inches long--my largest baby! He nursed well and was quite a demanding little guy!
On February 27, 2009, at 41 weeks 6 days, I started having some contractions at around 4:00. I’d been having them on and off for days so didn’t think too much of it. At around 6, they hadn’t stopped and I noticed that I’d also developed a leak. I went along as usual and the contractions started to pick up. I had my husband fill the pool in the hope that I might have the baby faster than my last or at least have some pain relief as things got more difficult. While in the pool at around 10, I got a big gush of fluid. I had several more gushes over the next few hours, one of which caused my oldest to stay away, he thought I peed myself! I labored all night and through the morning until about 11:00.
At this point, my contractions slowly tapered off and spaced to about 20 minutes apart after a couple hours. I stalled in my last labor at around this time, so I thought it was just normal for me. After about 4 hours with no progress I did ask my husband to have a quick feel to see if I had made any progress at all and I had. I started to wonder after about 5 hours, so I called a couple friends and got online. After a while, I realized I wasn’t sure I wanted transition to come. I’d had some worries about how things happened in my last labor. I was worried about the pain as well as the lack of an urge to push. Although I thought I’d put these feelings aside, they were still there. I asked my friend her opinion and she was blunt and honest, her words were what got me through the hardest part of my labor. She told me I needed to decide now if I wanted another major surgery or if I could put my fears aside and allow my body to do what it needed to do. My contractions were back before our conversation had ended. I knew the hospital was not the place for me but if I didn’t allow my body to continue, that is exactly where I would end up.
My labor was back in full force by 8:30. I labored on-with a little help from Bob Marley‘s music- without too much problem until around 9 when I got this pain. It wasn’t like any others and didn’t come with every contraction at first. I knew I was well into transition because this was the exact way things happened when I had my last home birth. I was still hoping to get the urge to push so I did what I could to get through them. Soon it became apparent that I was losing control. I screamed, begged and prayed for this pain to stop! It’s odd, this kind of pain for me is almost like an urge to push. Once I literally couldn’t get through them, I knew I had to push and my baby was born in less than 15 minutes at 10:32 PM on February 28th-his brother‘s birthday. I pushed in my bed on all fours which is new for me. I was able to guide his head out by using small pushes with no tearing and hardly any hint of the ring of fire but my husband caught. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him more proud of himself.
All in all, it was a great birth and I’m so happy that my little one is here now. My oldest son (10) cut the cord. He was a little nervous and worried about hurting the baby at first, but he did a great job! My 7 year old daughter clamped it, my husband coached her through. My 2 year old was the best little labor partner, he kept me happy and laughing during times when I didn’t think I could. My 8 year old slept through the birth she tried so hard to see. She’s quite the little midwife already. She was up with me half the first night doing anything I asked from pouring water on my tummy to passing me drinks without so much as a word.
After things settled, we got him weighed and checked his length. He weighed 9 pounds 2 ounces and was 22 inches long--my largest baby! He nursed well and was quite a demanding little guy!
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