At the second appointment with Mattie, she gave us a binder of her Midwife info. It was pretty much read front to back in that car ride home from her house and one of the main reasons we had decided before we ever got home we were going with her! She talked about everything you could expect from her, all the things that could go wrong and how she was prepared to deal with them, how she wanted you to eat and drink in labor because you burn so many calories. She probably says "we will feed you" about a hundred times throughout the book haha. And at some point "if you vomit, that's ok, we'll feed you again". I was amazed. Who is allowed to eat in the hospital? She mentioned how babies are rarely "late" or "big", and "I've never met a woman who was pregnant forever and I doubt you'll be the first." We both literally laughed out loud at that. She had a whole page for Dad for the event he needed to deliver before she got there or something too. It was a super informative book, and I sent it home with my Mom to read too, and she was VERY impressed and on board. Dad took some convincing haha. He trusted my judgement and said women have been doing it for years, but also wanted my cousins to be in the flight medic helicopter waiting in the backyard. I politely told him that wasn't needed but that out of my TEN paramedic friends in a mile radius and Mattie's experience, I wasn't at all concerned!
At around the 32 weeks visit, she gave us our birth checklist of items we needed to gather for the delivery, including regular household items like towels, washcloths, duct tape, shower curtains or drop cloths, alcohol, small mixing bowls, trash bags, etc. It was very detailed. She even had a list of foods and drinks that were good to have on hand, because again, she wanted me to eat! We were to have those items ready by the 36 weeks mark which is when she would go "on call" for me, and baby is pretty much able to come at any time.
We had ordered our birth pool and done a test run, and knew how long it would take to blow up. We had all the items she wanted in a nice neat tote. The pack and play was set up, and the house was spotless. We had the kids bag packed and sent to my Dad's, the alternate ride the bus to Papaw's note sent to Camden's school, and all the friends and family on standby for if we needed them. My sister was coming into town the week we were due to hopefully be here in time, my Mom was praying he'd come that weekend so she was here too... We were ready!
At 39 weeks we were dilated 1-2 cm and were genuinely concerned he wouldn't make it into March for his birthday! I kept having little spasms of contractions that were just enough to be annoying.
40 weeks came and passed, and nothing changed. At that point we started doing all those silly things like walking, using my breast pump, sex, spicy food, stairs, lots of pineapple.... none of them worked.
We hit the 41 weeks mark and I was truly miserable. I didn't particularly FEEL bad, but I was so ready to be done. I was not sleeping at all, could hardly walk, my feet were enormous swollen, and the general I AM SO OVER THIS had set in. I was having bouts of contractions every few days that were just a feeling like a balloon was blowing up and deflating every little bit, a tightening feeling. Not the crampy feeling I remembered from labor before. Every time, they stopped after about an hour.
We saw Mattie every Monday and checked in sometimes inbetween, and on the Weds I turned 42 weeks I got actually concerned.
I knew good and well a pregnancy can go a full 42 weeks with no cause for concern. Babies are safe from 39-42 weeks and dates can be off enough. After what happened with Cailee especially, I wasn't about to rush to induce him out. Every time I posted something silly on Facebook, I got a SLEW of comments from support to those who "couldn't believe they were letting me go this long" and "couldn't believe I wouldn't let them induce me". That got frustrating really quick. I didn't WANT to be induced and wasn't going to without reason. My BP, which had gotten slightly high about 38 weeks, was being managed with daily magnesium tablets and was normal, and everything else was going perfect. Why should I kick him out for no reason? But I still feared that we only had SEVEN more days for him to decide to come before we might have to intervene and let Mattie do a sweep of membranes or break water, etc.
That day when she checked, we were at THREE cm (YAY!) and she said he was ready but his head wasn't engaged. He was forehead first, not the crown of his head first. So all the things I had been doing to get him low, we needed to stop doing. She gave me exercises to invert and get upside down and lift him up so he wasn't so wedged in and had room to tuck his chin. She said if he would tuck his chin, he'd be on his way! We did those exercises all day Monday through Weds, and Weds I went to the chiropractor and got an adjustment.
On Thursday morning, which was 42 weeks and 1 day, I woke up and came downstairs to get Camden ready for school. Kris had been going in late for a week or so, so that he could drop Camden off and I didn't have to get out. When I got to the bottom of the stairs, I said "uhmmm Kriiiiissss?? I'm... wet." LOL I had soaked my shorts, but knew I hadn't peed my pants, and it wasn't enough to think my water had broken. So I called Mattie, and she wanted general info about color/smell/volume etc to make sure we knew it wasn't urine, and if it WAS fluid that it was nice and clear. She wanted me to go through the morning as normal to see if I had any contractions or lost any more fluid or anything. I told Kris to take Camden to school and come back. By the time he got back I was having contractions that were NOT the balloon feeling. They were the crampy, cant get comfortable walking through them, "we should time these" kind haha. So we did. They went on for about 45 minutes at about 6 minutes apart, and I got really flustered. We checked my BP and it had shot up, so... we went and took a magnesium like I had been doing. They very shortly stopped after that. I was beyond frustrated. Mom came over and decided to work from my house and we went to lunch. At lunch we discussed the magnesium and are we sure it isn't stopping them. I had looked into it before because I knew it was used to stop preterm labor, but could never find anything that associated it with blood pressure or contractions. So we called Kris' Aunt who is a pharmacist and asked. He called back after lunch and said magnesium will stop ANY muscle contractions and definitely labor. So the entire time I had been having contractions we have been slowing them down. We went about the day as usual and while uncomfortable, no more labor pains. Mom and Kris both worked as normal on Friday because nothing was happening. We had dinner plans for Friday night with my whole family because my cousin was in town and for Dad's birthday. We had an awful dinner experience, ended up leaving one place and going to another, and ate very late. Got home and put the kids to bed around 10. Almost as SOON as we were home, I just felt awful. Ate too much I assumed. Mexican food and birthday cake with an enormous belly? Duh.
At 10:30 I started having contractions, and had 3 by 11:00. We started timing them and they were HARD ones and 6 minutes apart. I wasn't in "pain" but wanted to stand in one place and couldn't get comfortable to sit down anywhere from pressure in my pelvis. I told Kris to straighten up in case anything progressed, and he did... AFTER the ballgame went off LOL.
At midnight, I called Mom and said we've had these for an hour and we are NOT taking magnesium and they aren't stopping, so you should head over in case. I called Mattie and told her what was going on and she decided to come on too. I knew it would take her about an hour to get to my house because being Amish and not driving, her assistant Tiffany comes to get her. When Mom got to the house at about 11:30, contractions were 3 minutes apart! Kris started filling up the birth pool, because we knew we might need to let the hot water heater cycle twice to get it full and hot enough. By the time Mom got there, I was standing by our couch, on a towel, because every contraction I had, I was losing water. No big "my water broke", but instead I was one of those whose water broke a little at a time. I was TICKED haha. I HATE being wet, and I was essentially peeing my pants every 3 minutes. I had tried a pad at first to ensure the fluids were clear and normal, but after the first few times I gave up and just stood on the stupid towel. I was in "my bubble" and did not want to move. Mom stood behind me and applied counter pressure to my back with each contraction, which she remembered I liked in labor before. At no point still was I in "pain" per say. I was uncomfortable. Lots of pressure.
Mattie arrived at 1:30, and right away checked his heart rate, which was good. Then she asked about the fluid, we updated her on that and she was pleased. She wanted to check to see where I was dilated wise if I felt like it. I felt I was probably at maybe 5 or 6 because that's when they say "transition" starts and I had yet to get to a painful point. So she checked.... 9-10! I was freaking pretty much DONE before she ever got there. In an hour and a half!!! I stood in the middle of the living room with my face in a blank stare haha. I just couldn't believe I went through all of that in that amount of time and never in enough pain to stop talking through them. I was laughing and joking the entire time. She was even surprised herself. The pool was ready to get in, but I told her that I didn't feel like I was in enough pain to get in yet. I was pretty much baffled. So she said ok, you get in whenever you need to. I probably had 4 or 5 more contractions before I had any discomfort enough to want to get in, so I did. Holy amazingness. I had been saying the entire pregnancy whenever my back hurt so bad when I got in a hot bubble bath, that if that amazing feeling for that pain was so great, I couldn't imagine what it would be like in labor. Well it was all I expected and MORE. The water let all the pressure in my pelvis go away, and I was so relaxed. I did have to try a few positions to get comfortable. I labored on my knees hanging over the edge for quite awhile, because I didn't feel like I could get upright enough while I was leaned back. Kris held my hands the entire time when I wanted to squeeze him, and I pretty much phased everyone out and went into my own little world. The time I spent in the pool felt like the "laboring down" I did between being fully dilated and pushing time with Camden where you just let your body relax a bit and get ready. That was nice. I told Mattie I could tell the contractions were stronger, but I didn't have that push urge at all yet, and she said ok. When you do. I think she's done this enough she knew what I was going to say before I said it lol. I laid back on my back because with feet as swollen as they were, they were asleep and I couldn't stand to be on my knees anymore.
Then I had one contraction where when I hummed/groaned through it that everyone looked at me and said I sounded way different that time, and I did notice it was different. The very next one was a definite pressure to push feeling. I had about 3 of those really close together before I actually felt I needed to. Two pushes in and I yelled at her that he was stuck haha. He was definitely the hardest to push out, but one more push did it. Three pushes! I was only in the water for an HOUR!
In the last few weeks, I had done even more reading and watching about water births and made Kris aware of some differences in them and normal delivery. Water babies shouldn't be pulled to the surface super fast, just like normal babies, in case of a short umbilical cord. They should just float to the surface slowly and won't breathe any until their face is simulated by air. I told him they are sometimes a little more blue or gray than red, and that they are pretty clean when they come up out of the water. I had told him that they wont immediately give a loud cry all the time and might sound a little gurgly and thats totally fine. But... I hadn't told my Mom those things haha! So when he came out, his cord was wrapped twice around his neck, but not tightly. It probably wrapped in the last 24 hours when we did all the inverting to let him tuck his chin. It was never tight, she could get her hand between it. When he was out, she calmly unwound it and plopped him up on my chest. She said he had one of the LONGEST cords she had ever seen, which was really good since it was wrapped.
We rubbed him all over to stimulate him to breathe and out came that first cry! He was a little gray and no sooner than he made that cry turned just as pink as could be! He was still totally covered in his vernix, which means he was not late at ALL!!! Late babies have lost that and would have dry wrinkly skin. I immediately said "it's Camden!" because he was identical to when they laid Cam on my chest. We rubbed him the whole time he was on my chest to make him cry and clear his lungs, and let his cord totally drain and stop pulsing before we cut it. (if you're expecting, PLEASE do that, it's very important!) Tiffany leaned in and told me he was born at 4:05. :) His APGAR scores were 8 and 10!
Since we had gone into labor after the kids were asleep, we decided to let them stay asleep and not have Dad come them like he was supposed to. And luckily they both stayed asleep until Cailee woke up and she came down the stairs about the same time the laid him on me. We had stationed my Aunt Lisa at the stairs in case she woke up and she intercepted. But she had already seen him and her eyes got huge and she said "IS THAT BABY CALLAN!?" She was so excited!
Once he was free from me, Tiffany took him and sucked his nose out and then they went to wrap him up. He immediately pooped on them haha. I stayed in the pool another 15 minutes or so to deliver the placenta, which was huge she said and super healthy. (another sign he wasn't a bit late!) They made me eat a yogurt and drink some juice before I got out to ensure I wasn't lightheaded when I stood up. (They had also made me drink quite a bit of juice in labor, but I never had to eat since we had JUST eaten dinner when I went into labor!)
As soon as I was out, they checked me over (no tearing or downstairs trauma again! WHOO! 3 for 3!) and he immediately got to nurse. He latched on right away and nursed for almost 30 minutes!!!! I was shocked! Both the other two had latch issues. When he was done, they wrapped him up tight and Mattie went around and got everyone's guesses on what we thought he weighed. We ALL guessed 8 pounds or under. He was NINE even! I couldnt believe it, he didnt look big at all haha!After he was weighed, they handed him to Kris and he went visiting to everyone. I got cleaned up and dressed and situated back on the couch and comfy. Mattie and Tiffany did his newborn assessment. Compared to the hospital where they just do his APGAR, weight, height, etc and a different nurse might do all of it- these girls did about a HALF HOUR worth of assessments. Mattie inspected him from head to toe, made sure all his folds matched, measured him from head to toe. He had a 13 1/2" head, shoulders, AND waist which MIGHT explain the harder pushing haha. He's a linebacker! He was 22 1/4 inches long! They checked his eyes, ears, nose, reflexes, and tons of other things I never saw them do in the hospital and ONE person did all of it. That was awesome.
Mattie and Tiffany went over some basic info with us and paperwork about the rest of the day and we sat and visited. They always stay 3 hours after a delivery, but we were all cleaned up and the house was in order with a half hour to spare so they had a cup of coffee and loved on him so more. We set up times for her to come back at 24 hours and then on Weds to do his PKU bloodwork and footprints, etc. The great thing about Mattie is that compared to where the ped would see baby in the hospital then you don't go back for 6 weeks- Mattie comes back at 24 hours, day 4, day 10, ANY time I need her in between if he won't latch, feeding issues, I have pain, and then 6 weeks. Almost four times the attention you get in the hospital with no appointments and no extra costs. Its just standard.
When they left, Mom and Kris ate a quick bite but then just crashed. I couldn't come down off the high and I just sat holding him, staring, and pretty much in shock. Mom kept asking me if I was ok or if I needed to eat. I told her I could not get over how that had went. I mean, start to finish 4.5 hours. Never in any pain until time to push, and even that went so easily.... it couldn't be real. I couldn't have been more amazed at what I finally got to experience.
Kris decided that the biggest difference in the entire experience was the AFTER labor. In the hospital you never rest. There is always someone telling you to wake the baby up to eat because its been exactly two hours, and checking your vitals, and just you're generally restless. Baby is bathed and poked and prodded and all too. Us? We slept a bit, had visitors, sat on the couch, passed him around, ate, Kris helped me get a shower, and we just relaxed. There was never one second of stress in the entire experience. EVERYONE commented about how great I looked (which honestly, I felt like I looked awful haha), but compared to the other two when I got hit by a freight train, I guess I did look great. And I FELT great. Aside from the general soreness/tenderness I wasn't a hot mess!
In conclusion, I just have to say I'm still amazed. I will probably read this myself a hundred times over the next few months to believe it. I got my perfect water birth. If I could go back I would do all three the exact same way, and I'd have six more the same way. (ok maybe not any more but you get the point.) Birthing at home is definitely NOT for everyone, and you do need to meet all the norms to even consider it. If you're expecting though and have the opportunity to do so in the water or brave enough to do it at home, I will answer ANY question you have. And I would never do it any other way! I think the biggest problem women have in labor is the FEAR of labor itself!
Thank you to all of you who have been so supportive the entire time about the decision, you have no idea how much difference that made to us, and I hope you enjoyed reading about it now that it's over!
Callan Patrick Klein
March 21 2015 4:05 am
9 lbs 22 1/4"
See pics here: (nothing too graphic)
https://plus.google.com/photos/115030769300960686010/albums/6130722439143907361?authkey=CLv-g9jst7qQGA
