On Wednesday morning Oct 6th at about 5 am I started going into labor. I began having contractions and more and more of my mucus plug began to come out. My water didn't break though even though I was having strong contractions. From the start, my contractions were pretty painful and my lower back was already burning. I had been fearful of back labor because I'm pretty sensitive to back pain and unfortunately that's the card that was dealt to me. I tried to lay in bed and rest as per the midwife's instructions, but already the contractions were way too intense to sleep through. Ryan actually went into work for an hour or so to get some stuff done and by the time he got back I needed him to massage my back through my contractions because it hurt so badly. He was such a champion, and when I would pace through the house to ride out the contractions he would literally follow me around rubbing my back. At 1 pm my water broke and the contractions started coming fast and strong. We called the midwife to update her and she ended up coming to the house around 3:45 pm.
Ryan and I were so excited that midwife decided it was time for her to come to the house. We felt like we were making good progress and we'd have our baby soon! When she got to the house she checked my cervix and told me that I was between 7-8 cm dilated already. We were SO excited to hear that. THEN she gets a funny look on her face and goes "huh, that's interesting." Never a good sign. She told us that when she was checking my cervix she felt a butt not a head...the baby was breech. The midwife assured us that we weren't in any more danger having the baby at home and that she was comfortable delivering him in this position so we decided to continue with our natural home birth.
From there things began to slow down for some reason. I had started pushing almost immediately upon the midwife's arrival because I was feeling the urge with my contractions and she told me that I should listen to my body and if I felt the urge, go ahead and push. This was definitely not a typical birth where you wait until you're 10 cm and then you push right at the end to get the baby out. I was "pushing" most of the time I was in labor since that was what felt right for me. As the hours wore on I tried changing positions, took lots of hot showers and tried to talk to Cooper and encourage him to make his appearance in the world!
The hours wore on and on and my contractions actually started slowing down. There was a fine balance between being up and moving around to encourage my cervix to open those final few cm and exhausting my body so that it started shutting down. The midwives and Ryan had all been encouraging me to eat and drink but I had zero appetite and was slightly nauseous. Then the midwife suggested some subcutaneous oxytocin. I'm not sure what time that started but she filled a multi-dose syringe with 10 doses and over the course of the next few hours I got the full syringe. It was truly incredible how fast the medication hit me. Some of my contractions lasted over 2 minutes after a dose of oxytocin. Still, however the last tiny bit of my cervix refused to soften and fold back and so through all of my pushing he was barely moving down.
Around 2 or 3 in the morning, everyone was exhausted and sleeping all over the house. The midwives were suprisingly hands off during my labor and left Ryan and I alone most of the time. They would come with a hand-held doppler machine and listen to the baby's heartbeat about every 15 minutes but even when I was on the bed pushing with my legs open they'd come and check and leave us to it since nothing imminent was happening.
Finally around 8 am (I think), after everyone had some coffee and perked up, Ryan and the midwife could see the baby's bottom as I was pushing. I ended up pushing over the toilet for a good amount of time using gravity to help the baby come down. FINALLY after pushing since 4 pm the day before, Cooper's bottom was coming out and even staying out while I wasn't pushing, he was finally almost here! The midwife moved me to the bed and everyone started getting all the essentials ready for his arrival. Receiving blankets were warmed, washcloths were soaked with warm water, we were ready to go!
Since he was breech he came out tushy first folded in half. The midwife maneuvered his legs out and then just his arms and head were still inside. His arms were above his head (like in a diving position) so that took a bit more maneuvering and then they were ready to get his head out. At this point things became a little more difficult because I stopped feeling any pressure to push against. They were telling me to push and push and push because his head was not coming out but I just couldn't. The midwife assistant jumped on the bed and pushed down hard on my pelvis while the midwife wiggled his head free and he was finally out! His body had been out with his head still inside for about 4 minutes and so when he came out, while he wasn't blue, he wasn't breathing or crying. He was hooked up to oxygen for about 2 minutes and vigorously stimulated with warm receiving blankets, and after what felt like an eternity, he started making noises and let out a little cry. Our baby was here, alive and healthy!
Since I was already on my bed all we had to do was drag me back to the pillows and I got to rest in my own bed for about 2 straight days. That was so fantastic. I loved being in my own bed and not at the hospital :). At the end of the day I am glad that we did the home birth even though labor was 28.5 hours long. I would have certainly gotten a C-section at the hospital and, not to say that that is bad, but I have a wonderfully healthy baby who was born naturally at home so who's to say one way is better than the other.
Now we are just working on bonding, nursing, and loving each other :)
