Vegan Birth Stories

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Cort's Birth Story

My unmedicated birth story

On Thursday Dec 26th I spent most of the day trying to induce labor...acupressure, homeopathics, sex, herbal tea, and in the evening, a dose of castor oil (I wouldn't suggest this). I think what did it was my fool proof method - red raspberry leaf tea for 3 days 3-4 cups a day.

I went to sleep Thursday night and woke at 1:30am with side effects from the castor oil and mild contractions a minute long and a minute apart. I started timing them and they got a bit more intense. Since they were so close together I called my midwife, Jane. She sent me to the hospital because they were so close together. I asked if I should wake everyone and call my Kathy (Mother in Law) in NH to come down as she was going to be the support person in the room for my 5 yr old daughter. She said to hold off for now until we see where I'm at.

I woke Mark and told him I was driving myself to the hospital. He asked if I was sure and I said yes. On the way the contractions got a bit harder to handle. When I got there I tried to find a parking spot and had trouble, so I went into their parking garage and found a spot near an elevator. I got all my loot and went to go in, but the doors were all locked. I wanted to cry...contractions were getting harder to handle, so I opted to walk out of the garage and around to another hospital door, looking for a way in.

It was very surreal to be having contractions at 3:30am in the middle of an empty hospital parking lot, looking for an unlocked door. I got about 1/3 of the way around the entire building and finally found a way in. I was still in the wrong building but fortunately they connect internally so at least I was warm.

I finally got to the ER, where you are suppose to register if you labor in the wee hours...not a soul around. I trudged to the elevators and went to maternity, thinking "Screw it...so I'm not registered. They'll deal with it." I was probably looking pretty drawn when I got to L&D. The nurses seemed to know who I was and one of them took me to do a 20 minute fetal monitor strip. That was pretty beastly as the chairs were semi-reclined and I had to sit back to get a good reading. I really wanted to get on all fours. When she checked me afterwards I was 5 cm dilated and obviously not going anywhere. She knew I wanted to labor in water so she called to have it filled as it takes a while. My midwife, Jane came in and stayed with me thru contractions. She mentioned that she hadn’t meant for me to drive alone…just not to alert everyone that labor had started.

I called Mark and told him to make the calls and get here. It was about 4:30am by now. I still seemed in good spirits between contractions and that was helpful as they had no prenatal file for me, somehow. So in between contractions the nurse is asking silly questions like are you an IV drug user, and do you have enough food in your home. I thought I was pretty good natured about the whole thing, even smiling.

When the tub was full I was wheeled down to my labor room. The lights were dim and it was pretty cozy. In the room with me were 2 nurses and Jane. I got in the big jacuzzi and worked thru contractions. I asked if many moms choose natural childbirth here and they said not many. Even so they were very good about being supportive thru contractions and helping me stay very relaxed, instead of tensing up. Not one soul mentioned drugs. Everyone had read my birth wishes and knew I was a hypnobirthing mom.

My husband got to my room around 5:15am with my daughter Faith. Kathy wasn't there yet. Mark sat beside the jacuzzi and helped me relax during and between contractions. The hypnobirthing didn't do as much for me as I would have liked. I blame that on our less than consistent practice during my pregnancy. I had some trouble coping during the last 45 minutes or so of labor...it was so fast that I had trouble getting ahead of each contraction. I think the labor went that fast because I took a homeopathic remedy on Thursday. In between each contraction I felt like I could make it...during each contraction I was fantasizing about the anesthesiologist....fortunately my husband kept saying to me to remember that "the waves always come to shore". We had talked about this before labor and I told him that if he reminded me each contraction would surely end, it would help. It did.

Around 6am I said I wanted to be checked, and Jane said I'd have to get out of the jacuzzi. I couldn't deal with lying on my back on the bed...it seemed excruciating. I remembered an Alexander Technique to use side lying when you are in transition, so I did that. It was more bearable. Jane checked me and said I was "close". That was too vague for me and I asked her what close meant. She said I was about 9 1/2 cm. She asked if I wanted to get back in the tub and I was indecisive, so I stayed put on my side. Moving anywhere seemed out of the realm of possibility. A lot of my contractions were quite sharp in my low back and at times I wanted counter pressure from my husband. Other times I totally DID NOT. He was "Johnny on the spot".

Soon I was feeling different somehow and I thought something was coming out...it just didn't feel like a head, smaller. I called for Jane and she said it was the bag of water. She punctured it and the fluid was clear. Within minutes I had the urge to push (which I didn't ever have with my daughter). I pushed a couple times without crowning...Jane said to put my hand down and feel his head which was just inside me. I did, and massaged the top of his head. This helped me see the light at the end of the tunnel. On the next contraction I pushed and the head was out. I was a little frightened of splitting in two as the contractions were SO intense. Jane reassured me and told me not to be scared. Within minutes, on my next contraction, his body slid out very quickly, with no help from anyone.

His dad pretty much caught him and put him onto my stomach. Everyone's hands were instantly on him, Mark, Faith, me, Jane, the nurse. Everyone was very gentle and covered him and me with warm blankets. They waited about 15 minutes before cutting the cord, and only did it then because he was so calm and wouldn't cry and they wanted to be sure he didn't have mucus in his lungs (he did). They cut his cord and brought him under the warmer. His APGARS improved and they gave him back to me as Jane stitched a very minor laceration for me. Faith asked Jane if she could look at where her brother lived and she showed her the placenta which Faith was very interested in.

Cort was born at 6:23am and soon the sun started rising. Kathy arrived around 7am, and heard all the details. My midwife told me later with tears in her eyes that she had really enjoyed my labor and was honored to be able to sit in the rocking chair holding Faith during most of my labor. She was extremely proud of Faith, who stayed in the room the whole time and watched the whole birth.

Later in the morning when we moved to the postpartum unit, Faith got to give her brother Cort his first bath. She did the majority of it by herself with a nurse to help hold him. We had planned a Leboyer -style bath in his first hour but because his temp was lower than 98 he couldn't, the hospital refused. We were touched that the nurses did so much to include Faith.

Breastfeeding is going well and we got his cultures back from Group B Strep. They were negative. They think it really helped that the water broke minutes before he crowned, as he wouldn't have much time to get in contact with the virus. This was very good news as we opted to be in the hospital in case the GBS caused any problems. We are now home relaxing and basking in our new family of four.

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