Recently I picked up a copy of Ina May Gaskin's new book, Ina May's Guide to Childbirth, and I was excited to see that the first half of the book was nothing but first-hand accounts of births over the past thirty or so years. It was wonderful to read the different stories from a variety of women, all recounting their very personal experience with birth. Giving birth, however it occurs, is a common experience shared by the vast majority of women -- despite country of origin, religion, size, wealth, age -- it is a tie that binds us mothers together. Most women, if you ask them, can recount, with much detail, the events that took place at the birth of their children. Being able to share a birth story, can bring back those feelings of joy, fear, excitement, anxiety, pride, exhaustion, and exhilaration, allowing us to relive probably the most memorable experience of our lives. When we hear or read others' stories, we learn that birth is different for everyone; no one experiences birth the same way. We learn that women are powerful and magical, that we are, for all intents and purposes, goddesses as we create and bring forth life.
When I was pregnant with my first, I was a birth story junkie. I was hooked on seeking out and listening to and reading about others' birth experiences. I hope to share and link to birth stories through this site, as I continue to learn more about the amazing event of birth. If you would like to share your birth story with me, and have it linked on the sidebar, send me the link via comments or an email.
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2 comments:
Feel free to link the post. I just hope it doesn't wig out any soon-to-be-moms! ~Kari
I can't remember how I found your blog, but I wanted to share my birth story, and praise our wonderful doula, Alissa Wehrman who works in the Seattle area.
Our son Max was born at 5:32 AM on Wednesday, May 23, 2008
at the birth center in the Columbia City neighborhood of Seattle. He weighed in at 8 lbs 15
ounces and a little over 22 inches long with plenty of dark hair. He
was born at 40 weeks and 4 days gestation.
My labor was very fast, just 5 hours. At a little after midnight I
started having some mild cramping so I got on my hands and knees in
bed for a little while. I figured this was just some of the same on
and off cramping I'd been having for the last 3 weeks. I became
increasingly uncomfortable and at 12:30 decided to get up. I had some
bloody show and a contraction that was so strong I couldn't stand up,
so I went out to the living room to lean over the birth ball. I
started having regular contractions. Shawn got up and started timing
them, they were around 15 seconds long and 3 minutes apart! At 1AM I
started leaking fluid and having more contractions. Shawn paged our
doula said she would come over to our house right away and told us to
call our midwife. We called the midwife who said she would come to our
apartment in 1 hour to check my progress. I thought this seemed like
too long to wait, but didn't ask her to come sooner. Our doula,
Alissa, arrived at 1:45, she called the midwife soon after arriving
and we left for the birth center at 2:15. I had two contractions on
the way to the car. On the way to the birth center I was leaning on a
birth ball in the back seat on my hands and knees, my contractions
were then 2 minutes apart and I could feel a lot of pressure in my
pelvis.
When we arrived at the birth center I had 2 contractions on the way
into the birth center and I remember leaning on a car parked by the
curb. I immediately leaned on the birth ball once inside and
contractions continued. I got up on the bed with the birth ball, the
midwife did an exam and I was dialated to 7cm. I got into the tub on
my knees, leaning over the front of the tub, with a pillow which was
wonderfully supporting my upper body. Alissa sat on the back corner
edge of the tub and applied pressure to my back. I was disappointed
that there was not room for Shawn in the tub, but he sat beside the
tub and held my hand and counted over and over again "1, 2, 3, 4" as I
rhythmically smacked the side of the tub. I closed my eyes for most
of labor. I started pushing at 4AM after about 45 minutes had to
change positions, there wasn't enough room for the baby to come out
behind me in the tub. I moved onto my left side with my head on a
pillow in the back of the tub. I started pushing and Alissa supported
my right leg. I bared down in the tub with my left hand, I found this
to be grounding. Shawn continued with the counting and continued
holding my right hand. He held my hand during the entire labor, with
the midwife, midwifery student our or doula filling in when he took
short breaks. When I got into the side lying position the midwife
began giving me direction to help my pushes be more productive. She
put her fingers into the birth canal and told me to imagine pushing
her fingers out. This was immensely helpful to me. The most painful
part of the labor was when he was coming through the pelvis. When he
crowned the burning and stretching felt bearable, and I was so glad
that we had done perineal massage so that I was familiar with the
feeling. The head was born and he came out with his right hand on his
cheek. It took two more contractions to push the rest of him out. We
had not planned on a water birth, but once I got into the tub I didn't
want to get out. The midwife quickly brought him above the water and
he started crying loudly. Shawn noticed immediately when he was held
up that he was a boy! They placed the baby on my chest and covered
him in towels. After a few minutes they prepared the cord and Shawn
cut it. They gave the baby to Shawn and I got out of the tub and into
bed with Shawn and the baby. When I got out of the tub I was shaking
and cold and they brought me a robe in bed. They put the baby on me
and in less than 10 minutes he started to breastfeed. He took to it
very well. Alissa helped a great deal with pointers on breastfeeding.
They left the baby on my chest for about an hour. After about 15
minutes in bed the placenta was born, I had to give a few pushes to
get it out. They said placenta looked great the the cord was very
long. The midwife examined me and found one small tear at the back of
the interior of the perinium. She did 2 small stitches. After the baby
had been on my chest for an hour they did the newborn exam, weighing
Max, giving him the vitamin k shot, and checking his reflexes, among
other things. Shawn weighed him, he weighed in at 8 lbs 15 ounces, and
a little over 21 inches long with a head circumfrence of 37 cm. Alissa
went out to a bakery and got us some food. After the newborn exam I
got into a standing position in the tub and the midwife helped me get
cleaned up. I got dressed into a nightgown and robe and back into bed
with
Shawn and Max. We went to put him into his going home outfit, an
adorable sleeper that Shawn's mom bought us in Paris. Max's feet
wouldn't fit into the footies! Good thing I also brought along a
onesie and a sleep sack, that's what he came home in. We tucked him
into the carseat, packed up our bags, and left the birth center around
9AM. The midwifery student, Kat, lives 3 blocks from us and gave us a
ride home. When we got home we called our wonderful friend Rachel who
came over with sandwiches, and all kinds of snacks and remedies.
The birth was very fast and intense. At times it felt like a runaway
train that I couldn't catch up with. I'm glad it happened this way.
There was no time for me to second guess my body's ability to give
birth. We are so grateful that there was a birth center to go to and
that we were able to have a natural birth without any medical
intervention, that our midwives and midwifery student and doula were
so great, and that Max came out in a great position with no
complications. We also are grateful for our wonderful childbirth
classes (Penny Simpkin!), the counting and the rhythm are what got me through the
contractions and pushing.
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