Calm Easy GentleBirth
Andrew’s Amazing Birth
Mom Shares Her Incredible Experience
Sunday morning I woke up around 6am feeling crampy, but blamed it on walking around the zoo all day previously and went about our day, meal prepping some freezer meals together with James (dad) and just taking some time to relax and watch some of our favorite shows as a family while we cooked I slowly kept having to stop as my stomach felt off and had to lean over and breath through each "practice surge" as I finally decided this might be more than just some little stomach cramp but more likely my body prepping.
Around 6pm I decided to take a shower and see if I could relax as the surges still hadn't let up. During the shower I listened to 2 different hypnobirthing affirmations videos and while the surges continued i was still able to sway through them and they felt more manageable.
I thought they may be letting up finally after I got out and got comfortable, so I headed out to the couch with James and Anna. A stronger surge occurred while I was talking to James and I had to get on my knees while leaning over the couch seat to sway and focus on breathing through this.
As I looked at James, he suggested I call our midwife or at least send her a text letting her know how the day went. I had been thinking the same at that same moment so I sent over a text around 7 pm telling her about my "practice surges" and how things were going. She suggested I try laying on my left side or taking an epsom salt bath to see if that helped clear them up. I decided on the bath and started running that while dad started getting Anna ready for bed. My midwife felt something was off so she called to talk to me and get a better feel for how I was coping, and asked if I wanted her to come check things out. I told her I was going to try the bath first, and start timing contractions and would let her know in about an hour how it was going. We got off the phone and I got in the tub at about 7:30.
James was still getting Anna ready for bed, and set up the speaker for me to have some music, got me a snack, water, and some gatorade before heading to lay Anna down for the night at around 7:50. I found something floating in the tub and asked James to grab me the net, and it was a small clot of blood. At that point I screenshot my contraction timer and sent that over to my midwife along with a picture of the clot. She said she'd be over in about 40 minutes and I agreed that it was a good idea.
Finding that clot was the first time I accepted he might actually be coming today, as I was still in denial it was real labor up to that point! James texted me from Anna’s room to see how i was doing at about 8:15 and i let him know it was getting stronger, and made sure he had left the front door unlocked for my midwife as she was going to arrive shortly.
He said he was going to get Anna down as quickly as possible so he could come be with me, and I thanked him at 8:21, just as I felt a strong surge coming. As it set in, I felt a pop and moaned loudly trying to get James' attention but quickly changed it midway to his name so he'd know i needed him right then.
As my water bag popped, Andrew’s head emerged and James came into the room asking if I had called him, and saw our baby's head in the water! He leaned down and gave him a little rub before turning to run to the front door to let our midwife in and inform her of the changes since he had talked to her less than 10 minutes before. My body rested for about a minute after his head emerged and I calmed myself enough to rest with my body and assure myself this was really happening and I COULD DO IT, although I never had a doubt this time.
A moment later I felt his shoulders slowly squeezing through, loudly moaned "he's cooomiiinngggg" and reached down to grab my little boy and bring him to my chest. At that moment, 8:24 and only 3 minutes after my last text to James as he laid Anna down, him and our midwife rushed into the room and made sure baby and I were well. Anna got out of bed asking if mommy was okay and dad brought her in to meet her little brother for the very first time. It was everything we had planned for and more I can't express how much both the gentlebirth app and the hypnobirthing book helped me learn the best techniques, to the point I didn't know he was really coming until his head emerged!