Liam's Birth Story, part 5

{{To catch up: part 1, part 2 or part 3, part 4.}}

 This was getting intense. While Rod made arrangements to take the boys to his sister's house, I decided it was time for my birth team to come to our home. Liam was coming.

3:18pm

Me (to midwives): I think it's time for y'all to come.

3:22pm 36 seconds

3:25pm 41 seconds

3:28pm 31 seconds

3:31pm 31 seconds

3:37pm 54 seconds

Rod returned home from getting the boys and joined me in our bedroom where I was laboring and listening to music. He rubbed my back, showing his encouragement. I was relieved that he was back and that the house was peaceful so I could fully concentrate.

3:40pm 45 seconds

3:41pm 27 seconds

3:44pm 36 seconds

 3:49pm 42 seconds

3:54pm 41 seconds

3:59 pm 33 seconds

4:01pm 53 seconds

4:05pm 42 seconds

4:06 pm

Renee, my midwife arrived. She entered our bedroom quietly. Her presence and her infectious smile calmed me. As we hugged, she noticed I was wearing a Superman shirt. I told her it was intentional; this was the same shirt I wore when Crew was born. It has become a tradition of sorts, I suppose.

We listened to Liam's heartbeat. It was in the 140's and perfect.

Soon after, Kim, Renee's student midwife arrived. At my request they began filling the birthing tub. While I felt most comfortable with them in our home, I wanted to be alone. I didn't even want Rod around. It was instinctual and unexpected.

I walked to our closet area behind a wall in our master bedroom and labored. I went from bathroom (to empty my bladder a million times) to closet area. Back and forth. Back and forth, recording contractions, listening to the water fill the birthing tub.

4:15pm 1 minute 1 second

4:19pm 47 seconds

4:23pm 42 seconds

4:27pm 37 seconds

Sometimes I'd lean against the counter. Other times, I'd drop to my hands and knees, swaying my hips. Both techniques brought relief. Sitting on the toliet through a contraction, however, felt like torture, so I made sure to pee quickly.

4:33pm 48 seconds

4:36pm 28 seconds

4:40pm 55 seconds

4:48pm 58 seconds

I suddenly realized I could be laboring all night and feared I would grow tired. I've heard of women napping between contractions, so perhaps, I thought, this was something worth trying. I waddled to the bed and permissively stated I wanted to take a nap, almost as if I were looking for approval or asking permission. Rod reminded me that I could do whatever I wanted. I crawled into bed, laid on my side facing Rod while he sat on the floor and caressed my hair. I closed my eyes and began drifting to sleep...... until a contraction hit hard.

4:54pm 1minute 9 seconds

I immediately resumed the hands and knees position, swaying my hips, thinking to myself how impressive it must have been to see me move as quick as I did in the huge condition I was in. The contraction ended and I laid back down.

5:03pm 1 minute 12 seconds

I thought to myself how strange it was that my contractions were spacing out.  It's as if my body instinctively knew I wanted to rest, and so it slowed labor. While a nice gesture (thanks, body!), I wasn't sure prolonging the process was necessarily what I wanted. I decided to get out of bed and change the scenery. I didn't know where I wanted to go, but found myself outside with Daisy, our yellow Labrador Retriever.

5:06pm 40 seconds

She was excitedly anxious. She had stalked me all day, knowing something was brewing. In fact, her stalker level reached Creepy Status soon after my water broke earlier in the day. That entire morning she wouldn't leave me alone so I let her outside, instructing the boys that she was not allowed back in. All the day long, she sat perched in the same spot so she could see into our home. She barked and howled as I came into her view. Needless to say, when I walked outside, she was ecstatic.

5:10pm 1 minute 15 seconds

A few minutes later, Rod joined me outside, unsure what I was doing. I threw Daisy's ball a few times, noticing that my contractions weren't as strong as I wanted. To further discourage me, they were spacing out!

5:17pm 46 seconds.

The last recorded contraction.

I walked back inside where Renee greeted me in the dining room. She asked what was going on, sensing my anxiety. We discussed that my contractions were spacing out and loosing intensity, something no laboring woman wants to experience. I breathed through a few more contractions before she asked that I follow her back into the bedroom.

She had me look into the mirror and asked me how I thought Liam was laying based on how my belly looked. I turned sideways, noticing my belly looked extra heavy near my belly-button. She confirmed that, yes, Liam was flopping forward probably because my uterus, belly and abdominal muscles have been stretched out before making it hard for him to properly align in my pelvis. She grabbed my birth ball and said if I wanted to speed the process along, that I would have to do something I would absolutely hate: lay flat on the birth ball, head and shoulders supported by Rod, and feet against our dresser. It was as if I were in the squatting position, except I was flat on my back on a birth ball.

I looked at her like she was crazy. There was NO way I could endure that position through several contractions. It would be incredibly painful, but I trusted her. I begrudgingly got into position, supported by Rod.

It was excruciating. One after the other contractions would overcome me. Rod reminded me to breathe, something that felt impossible in that position. I was determined to get through more contractions in that awful position because it was working. My contractions were once again incredibly intense and closely spaced.

I had reached that impossible point in labor.

It was me against my mind.

To be continued....