Calm Water Birth {Every Little Thing Is Going To Be Alright}

According to my dates and cycle tracking my “due” date was August 27th, but I knew that I would go past that date. I had my heart set on a September baby this time, with good logic… “If their birthdays will only be about 2 weeks apart, then I want them to at least have their own months.” So as the other women in my August “birth month group” all had their babies I patiently waited, watched, and congratulated them, all the while holding my breath that I would make it to September. Once midnight on August 31st had come and gone, I was far more relaxed. I spent Saturday the 1st relaxing, watching the Gator game with Eliza and napping off and on, as she happily played.

At 4:30 the morning of the 2nd, I woke up to a strong and decently long contraction. After another, I decided to get up and tiptoe to the bathroom. Once I got back in bed the contractions continued and I decided to let Kyle sleep until his alarm went off. Of course, he hit snooze and since I was still fairly comfortable, I let him catch that extra 10 minutes since I was sure he would need it. Once his alarm went off again, I reached over grabbed his hand and gave it a squeeze. “What’s up?” he asked.

“I’m having contractions.”

“Should I call in?”

“Yes.”

“I’ll call right now then.”

We both got up then, leaving Eliza to slumber in peace. He called work and I started to walk around the kitchen/dining room putting away odds and ends thinking, “I don’t want this in my birth pictures” since my friend was going to come over and photograph the birth for us. Once he was off the phone we discussed the birth tub, where to place it, what to put under it and how to fill it. I helped him move the dining room table and chairs around, and then he set to work on finding the tarp, laying down the blankets, getting the tub in the house, and hooking up the hose to the water heater. He decided it would be easiest to fill and empty the tub if he got a spigot for it. I called my best friend Heather and told her it was “go time” and we’d need her to head over, after stopping off to grab a few odds and ends, in case Eliza woke up. Looking back I’m sure if anyone had been observing me they would have been laughing, since I was calmly walking all over, putting things away and even going to the end of the driveway to grab the Sunday paper, just pausing now and then for a contraction. I also made sure I was wearing my birth necklace, which Kyle bought for me, and grabbed my beaded necklace from my Blessingway, clutching it like a rosary.

Once things were set and Heather was on her way, Kyle left to head to the store for the spigot. As soon as he left, things got intense for me. I lay on the couch trying to get as comfortable as I could as wave after wave of contractions came. At some point, I decided that if he did not get back soon I just needed to get into the bathtub since it had helped me during Eliza’s birth, so I moved into the main bathroom and just laid my face on the edge of the tub since it was nice and cool. I began to push through the contractions since I knew (remembered) that when they got this intense that pushing helped them to not to be overwhelming and I had that familiar “pushy” feeling. By the time Kyle returned and Heather arrived I had been pushing for a little bit and they began filling the birth tub and making Laborade for me, Heather pushed a glass of water in on the floor for me in the meantime. Once the tub was filled and ready, I gathered my strength, waited for a break between contractions, then in one quick motion got off the floor, came down the hall, and stepped into the birth tub. Sinking into the warmth of the water and just hung my arms and head over the side, waiting for the next contraction to come; which happened immediately. Kyle asked if we should call the photographer and I said yes. So he handed the call list to Heather and I asked her to call from outside so I could concentrate. As soon she stepped out and closed the door, I eased the baby’s head out as I supported my perineum. I announced, “The head is out,” as I held it in my hands.

“Oh wow, really?!” Kyle answered and then continued making Laborade at the kitchen counter.

 “If you want to see this, you better get over here now,” I warned.

Then Kyle came over just in time to watch the baby turn and come out. As I turned and sat back, I slowly brought our baby to the surface to meet that sweet face for the first time. The baby was calm and slowly stirred as I drank in that sweet face. Heather came back inside just about then, with a look of complete shock (which is perfectly appropriate for my births, since at least one person needs to have that face during them), since there was definitely no baby when she left the room.

Once baby had stirred more and snuggled into me, I checked and told Kyle, “You got your boy.” I sat and enjoyed the calm, snuggly little new baby boy that I held. Once I felt the urge to push once more, I birthed the placenta and brought it to the surface to look it over. After a short time, the cord had stopped pulsing and Kyle took care of cutting it. At this point I was ready to get out of the water and get comfy on the couch for new baby snuggles and nursing. Once we were settled in, Eliza woke up and Kyle went in and got her up. She was not sure how or why a new baby was there, but since she likes babies, she was fairly happy that he was there even if she was still waking up.

Lennon Carter James ~ September 2, 2012~7:00am~8lbs, 8oz~21 inches

Dad meeting first son.

Happy and healthy mom and baby.

Meeting big sister.

 {Photo credit is given to: www.minusthetail.com and www.facebook.com/minusthetail }