Ahren's Birth

Even with my due date two days away, I was still hoping to perform with my group, at the Tribal belly dance performance on November 18th. I decided to have a nap in the afternoon so that I would be well rested for the event that evening. I didn’t really believe it when the first small surges (contractions) woke me from my nap. I thought maybe they were just Braxton-Hicks that were a bit stronger than usual, but since they didn’t stop I had to conclude I was in labour. My husband, Harlan and I had a good meal and a nice slow walk by the creek near our house. Our two year old daughter Julia happened to already be at her grandparents’ house.

At 6:30 pm I phoned my dancing friend and told her that sadly I would not be coming. By 8:00 pm the surges were still quite far apart and not too strong, and my moral was quite low. I was feeling restless and really missing my sisters in dance. So I convinced Harlan that we could still go and watch the 9 pm performance. As soon as we got there I was sure I made the right decision. Before the show started we all formed a circle for a blessing. Surrounded by all the wonderful female energy and support was awesome. As soon as the dancing started my surges got going! I think the music and spirit of the dance really encouraged things to get moving. By the end of the performance I knew it was time to go home, get into my birthing pool and call my midwives.

We got home just in time. I took two steps into the house when my waters released. Harlan got the pool filled up and I gratefully crawled in. The water felt awesome. We had set up the birthing pool in our family room in the basement. The birthing space was prefect; cozy (with the fireplace going), soft lighting and my opening chant playing in the background. The surges were very intense! But when I looked into someone’s eyes, they were very doable. Luckly Lana, my midwife, Laura my doula, and my dearest Harlan all took turns holding my hand and looking into my eyes. I found it helped if I imagined each surge as a rush… And Oh what a rush! I felt like I could feel my cervix moving up and out of the way. Between surges, I did figure eights and hip circles in the water. The movement felt so good. Although the water was really helping keep me comfortable during the surges, we could get it quite warm enough. We had emptied our hot water tank, and we were boiling water on every burner on the stove, but the water in the pool was cooling off as fast as we could heat it. That fact combined with the intensity of the sensations, made me start to shake all over between surges. A t-shirt and some pressure points on my shoulders helped.

At about midnight Lana, our midwife, thought that it would be time to push soon and suggested I leave the water. They wrapped me in warm towels & my bath robe from the clothes dryer and soon the shaking stopped. Things were going quickly. I did some deep lungs and I could feel the need to breath baby down so I settled down in front of the fire, on the birth stool. Three good nudges and out came our beautiful baby boy; sliding gently into the hands of his loving papa. Harlan then placed him on my chest. That’s the best feeling in the whole world. And so we stayed; chest to chest for the next 2 hours. He had a good nurse and we had time to bond. What a wonderful way to finally meet face to face. We named him Ahren Matteus Berwald.

written by Marie Berwald (Ahren was born Nov. 19, 2006)