Nathan's Birth

On June 29, 2009 I had my 39 week checkup at the doctor’s office. That morning I had started losing my mucus plug, which is what happened at 37 weeks with my older daughter Catie, so it didn’t mean that labour was imminent, just on the way. At the appointment I found out that the baby had dropped a lot – my belly had gone from measuring 35cm to 32 cm. And I was 1.5 cm dilated and 60% effaced – so some progress. I had a feeling that the baby would be coming sooner rather than later – likely in the next couple of days. Around supper time I started having some more serious contractions. They weren’t regular, but felt stronger than regular practice ones. My parents and Alison came over and made us a steak dinner, and Dave was visiting as well.

Matt and I were booked for our tour of the hospital maternity ward that night, so we went out to that at 8pm. While we were there I knew we would be back quite soon, and it was funny to think that I was possibly already in early labour during the tour. When we got home from the tour Catie was waiting for us to put her to bed. It was nice to snuggle with her head on my giant belly and read stories. I had a feeling that would be the last time for it. Dave, who is Catie’s godfather, was spending the night with us, so we knew it would be easy to head for the hospital if and when we needed to during the night. I had more irregular contractions throughout the evening, and was hoping to sleep through the night before labour started more intensely. But my body had other ideas. I couldn’t sleep at all, so got up to time contractions around midnight.

They were definitely regular, and starting to feel stronger. I called my doula, Aimee, who said she would be over shortly. I was listening to hypnobirthing tracks, and relaxing music, and found that if I rubbed my belly during contractions (like light touch massage, but on the stomach) that it really helped. Aimee arrived shortly after that and we spent most of the night timing contractions while I sat on the rocking chair in the baby’s room. I couldn’t sleep, but because of the hypnobirthing techniques I was relaxed and calm, and just breathed through the surges without using much energy. Towards morning the contractions felt stronger. We moved to the living room, and Aimee rubbed my back for a few contractions. At this point the general tracks weren’t enough to keep me focused, so Aimee read prompts depending where I was – either prompts to get through the contraction or to completely relax when it was over. They were getting longer, stronger, and closer together. Sometimes I would have a double contraction, where a second peak would happen before the first one had fully relaxed. I was hoping to wait until morning to go to the hospital, and this was about 6am. The surges were getting much stronger, and it took a lot more focus to get through them. I said to Aimee that I hope I’m fairly far along in the labour, and we should probably go to the hospital soon.

I was about to go wake Matt up when all of a sudden I ran to the bathroom and threw up. While it wasn’t pleasant, I knew that it was likely a good sign that labour was progressing. Aimee got a cool cloth for my forehead, and Matt called the doctor to say we were on our way to the hospital. As Matt was loading the car I was labouring in the living room again, and had several very strong contractions. I felt a huge relief as my waters released – that really is what it felt like - release.

Of course at that point I felt like I really needed to push, so Matt and Aimee helped me get into the car. I had a momentary thought that this baby might be born at home and they might be calling 911 in a few minutes! But I really did want to make it to the hospital. Once the waters released then the contractions changed. They were now easy to deal with, except that the urge to push was so strong that I had to focus very hard on relaxing instead of letting my body push. So Matt drove with one hand out on my belly to reassure me and was saying calming things – I was repeating ‘I’m not pushing, I’m not pushing’, and ‘calm water, relaxed’, to get through the surges without pushing.

We arrived at the emergency room at about 6:45am, and I could barely walk while Aimee held me up. It was a bit ironic because the whole labour thus far was so calm and relaxed, and then we had a very dramatic entrance to the hospital. She got me a wheelchair and quickly wheeled me up to labour and delivery while Matt had to move the car from the emergency entrance. When we got to the floor the nurses got me into a room and checked to see how dilated I was. I think they were rather shocked to see that I was fully dilated, and the baby’s head was right there! Then they broke into action – a lot of people entered the room, and the head nurse was preparing to deliver the baby if necessary because no doctors were there at the moment. They found meconium in the water, so called in people from respiratory care to be ready when the baby arrived. The OB resident arrived after a few minutes, and fortunately Matt got back from parking the car as well. For a few minutes I thought he might not be there for the birth because it was happening so fast! The pushing was harder than I remembered, and because of the meconium they did want the baby to come out fairly quickly. Fortunately a few minutes into pushing Dr. Miller arrived. If we hadn’t called from home for the heads up then he wouldn’t have made it in time!

Matt was holding one of my hands and reassuring me, and I was focused on our baby coming to us so soon. It felt like the head was part way out for a long time, and I couldn’t tell if there was any progress. Matt says that there was – that with each push the head emerged just a little bit more. I didn’t feel any of the ‘ring of fire’ that people talk about – I honestly didn’t feel anything except the need to push. One of the nurses was telling me to push as hard as possible while holding my breath and making no noise so that all the energy could go into pushing. I found that really hard to do, and also was trying to use the J-breathing to work with the breath instead of holding it entirely. Dr Miller said eventually to let me push on my own, that I was doing fine. Finally, finally, I felt the head emerge, and the rest of the body just slid out afterwards. Dr Miller said ‘it’s a boy!’ and I said ‘Our Nathan is here!’. He was born at 7:25am. They cut the cord quickly, and moved him to the side where they suctioned out his nose and mouth. Nathan really didn’t cry at all after birth, and seemed perfectly healthy. I wasn’t worried about the meconium – I knew he would be fine. His umbilical cord had a full knot in it, which is apparently very rare. It was loose, so it wasn’t constricting blood flow, but was amazing to see. He was exactly 7 pounds – the same weight as Catie! After Nathan was suctioned and cleaned up they put him in my arms, and we tried to breastfeed. It took a few minutes of trying, and he had to cough out some more mucus from his mouth and nose first, but eventually he latched on beautifully and nursed for 45 minutes.

One of my biggest hopes with this birth was to not need an episiotomy and not have a large tear. I got that wish – just a small tear and a few stitches. It was amazing how good I felt even right after giving birth. Because I was so relaxed during labour I wasn’t physically tired from it, just a bit tired from pushing. It was exactly the labour I hoped for – completely natural and intervention free. So far Nathan has been a very relaxed and happy baby. He only fusses occasionally, and is doing very well at breastfeeding. Catie is such a proud big sister – she loves to hug and kiss him, sing songs, and read stories. We feel very lucky to have him in our lives.

Written by Susan McLellan, August 2009