Ezekiel's Birth Story Part ONE

I have been wanting to write a birth story like this for years. Almost 3 years ago I wrote Amielia's Birth Story and although it ended with a happy, healthy baby & mom, I was disappointed that I was unable to accomplish the birth I had planned. I'm going to give some background, but you can skip to Part TWO, which is the actual birth story if you want.

So, when I found out that I was pregnant with baby #3, I knew that I needed to make some decisions about what to do to better prepare for the birth. So I hired a Midwife (CNM) who could deliver at the hospital. And I hired a Doula who could help me labor calmly and effectively. Andrew and I also spent a lot of time reading "natural birth" books and discussing what we needed to do differently to achieve an unmedicated, unaugmented, non-induced, calm, birth. (I think I made up a few of those words, oh well!) We had a joke in my family that it was "Third times the charm." My sister had 2 c-sections before she finally had her completely all natural VBA2C. My cousin had also had 2 medicated inductions before having an all natural birth center birth. So we joked that my 3rd birth would be my all natural birth.

Here were some of the things that we knew we needed to change with this birth: First, I needed to trust my body. I needed to be able to trust that when my baby was ready to come, my body would know what to do, and I wouldn't question it. This meant that we wouldn't be doing any cervical checks to "give us an idea" of when labor would start. We wouldn't be inducing or augmenting labor in any way. And we would be patient. 

Second: We would be utilizing a doula to help us labor at home until we felt like we needed to be at the hospital. Previously we had gone to the hospital too early, and that lead to interventions. So we would work with a doula and stay home as long as possible. 

Third: I would NOT give up. I gave up when things got tough in Ami's labor, and when I panicked and asked for an epidural, Andrew didn't know what to say to get me to re-evaluate and stay on track. So we talked about me staying strong, and if I didn't, Andrew would stay strong for me. 

So, around 38 weeks I started to get anxious. I knew there was a GOOD chance that I wouldn't have my baby until 40+ weeks, but I was hoping to have him soon. Every week we would talk about what we had going on that week, and when we would "want" to have the baby. As my due date approached, I started prepping every day for my baby. Doing dishes, laundry, cleaning, shopping, etc. Everything. So that just in case I went into labor that day, I'd be set. 

On my due date 4/26/14

My due date came and went, just like any other day. The only thing worth noting was that the next day, at 40w 1d, I lost my main doula. Early in my pregnancy I hired Natalie, a great doula, who I grew up with. Unfortunately she had plans to leave the country just a few days after my due date. She had set us up with a back up doula, just in case. And sadly, because we hadn't had our baby by the date we set, we would be working with our back up doula. She is amazing as well, we were just sad to lose our original doula.

  And at 40w 2d I had an appt with my Midwife. She didn't want to check me still, as I was Group B Strep + and she didn't want to increase the risk of infection. So, she measured my belly, listened to my baby, and then we talked about the future plans. She started to mention induction, in the event that I went to 41 weeks. I was NOT happy with the idea. Even with hearing some of the risks, I still wanted to start labor on my own, when I was ready. My Midwife, Kristi, said that we still had plenty of time and there was no rush to make a decision about an induction. We scheduled our next appt for 40w 6d and crossed our fingers that we wouldn't need that appt. I struggled with the idea of an induction for the rest of the day. I was down and depressed that maybe I was not "cut out" for labor. That maybe I was going to have to be induced at 41+ weeks and I'd just have to settle for that. 

The next day things continued as usual. No contractions, no signs of labor, no acceptance about an induction. My aunt mentioned that maybe I should try some home remedies for labor. I was against this idea because I didn't want to spend hours trying to "go into labor" only to be disappointed when nothing happened. Trust in my body right? My aunt mentioned that she had heard of people trying acupuncture and having great success with it for encouraging labor. I had NEVER done acupuncture, but it sounded like something that had immense benefits besides just encouraging labor. I needed some relaxation anyway right? Why not give it a shot? Luckily a local place had an opening that evening and I went and had a quick session done. It was super relaxing and I even had a few painless contractions during the session. I spent some time during the session really focusing on being READY for this baby to come, and being at peace with whatever was going to happen. After that I grabbed a yummy salad, headed home and Andrew and I put the girls to bed.

From the beginning of the pregnancy, I had anxiety about the logistics of going into labor. Would it happen in the middle of the night? Would my water break? What if we had to wake up the girls and they didn't go back to sleep at Grandma & Grandpa's? What if things went WAY too fast, or slow? These were constant concerns of mine. I was also worried about exhaustion. Andrew was working long hours in preparation for Zek to come, and I didn't want to put extra stress on him by going into labor at midnight after he'd already had a long day. And for me, any sleep would be good right?

After the girls went to bed we stayed up and watched a show. We got into bed around 9:30pm. Which was early. I was really relaxed after the acupuncture session, and I was happy to go to bed. ( The acupuncturist said she would do a few "needles" to help me sleep since I had been struggling with that). Andrew and I again talked about the "what ifs"....what if I needed an induction, when would we do that, how would we do that.....etc. I told him I just really felt like I HAD to trust my body and I wouldn't be comfortable inducing for a while. He was bummed since he really wanted to meet Zek, and he was exhausted from the extra work he'd been doing. I told him a few days wouldn't be a big deal, but lets not think about it until we get there. Through out the evening I'd had a few contractions, nothing major or really painful, so I was trying to just ignore them. At that point we went to bed, and I slept pretty well. Only getting up a few times to use the bathroom. Some nights I was up 6-8 times, so only 3 times was great.

To Be Continued.......