Life with Jaxon: Jaxon’s Birth Story: Part Three—The Actual Birth of My Little Guy

Here is the story of my labor and Jaxon's birth:

Sunday, August 10th: I got out of bed around noon still a little tired. Drew had the day off (luckily) so we lounged on the couch together. Around 2 p.m. I started having minor contractions. These felt different from Wednesday and Sunday's false labors. These were like the Braxton Hicks contractions that I had had the last 3 months of my pregnancy only stronger. Even though they were different I felt that they were another episode of false labor and so did Drew. We continued to lounge for a couple of hours and the contractions continued to come. They were coming about 10-15 minutes apart and were noticeable but not painful.

At about 5 p.m. we started officially timing them. At about 6 p.m. I asked Drew to go to the grocery store to stock up on food since we were low on the basics. I wanted to make sure we had food to eat if I was in labor and for when we returned if I had the baby. Also we had been watching the Ace of Cakes and I decided that I would make a cake to keep me occupied since early labor is supposed to last 6-12 hours and you are supposed to do something and not focus on the contraction. He went to the store. While he was gone for that hour the contractions went from noticeable to painful and went from 10 minutes apart to about 5-7 minutes apart. When Drew came home he said, "How should I park the cars in the garage? I go to work early tomorrow." I said, "Uh, you better put mine on the outside because I think we are going to use it tonight because I think I am in labor." He was a little shocked. Then he handed me the cake mix. I looked at him like he was crazy and said there is no way I can make a cake now. We called my doula, Annie, and told her that we thought I might be in labor but I was still unsure and thought it could be false labor. She talked to me for a while and said to call my midwife just to give her heads up just in case we do come in that night. She told me to continue to time them and to call her when they were consistently about 5 minutes apart or I couldn't talk through them. That occurred around 10 p.m. She was at my house around 11 p.m. and we called my midwife to tell her that we would be in when my contractions were 3 minutes apart.

Let me tell you about my doula, Annie. She was amazing. Having a doula is the best decision we made hands down. Neither one of us knew what we were doing or what to expect and she was like a calm expert who made the experience as stress free as possible. I could focus on pain management and Drew could focus on me and not worrying about what to do. She helped me find positions that were comfortable for the back labor I was having and she was doing massage techniques to alleviate the pain associated with it. Even if you are having a baby in a hospital, no especially if you are, I highly recommend having a doula to help make your experience better. I highly recommend mine! We will use her for the birth of our next child. Actually we will do the whole thing the exact same way.

Anyway we spent the next three hours with Annie going through my contractions, as they progressively got more intense and closer together. I still didn't believe I was in real labor. I thought it would eventually stop as it had before mainly because it was 2 weeks early. Annie said that it could stop still but that she believed it was real labor. I was starting to have back labor so I basically kneeled with head and arms draped over my couch during the contractions. I did this for the entire 3 hours until 2 a.m. I couldn't lay on my back or stand up during them. The contractions were about a minute and a half long. When the contractions went away for two or three minutes I was back to myself and I was actually making jokes about different parts of my labor such as the sounds I was making or how silly I felt. Annie kept Drew occupied by having him time the contractions while she reminded me of breathing techniques and rubbed my back. The time actually flew by and before I knew it she was calling my midwife to tell her we were on our way. We got into the car for the drive from our house in Everett to the birth center in Bellevue. It ended up being about a 25-minute drive. I would say that was one of the longest parts of my labor. I felt every bump in the road and was telling Drew to stop going over them. He thought I was crazy. It wasn't like he could avoid the road.

When we arrived they had me lie on the bed (after I had a contraction) so they could check to see how far along I was. I was 7 centimeters! Only three more to go before I could push. I thought that this would be quick since transition (the last 3 cm of labor) is supposed to go the quickest. However, since my early and active labor went so quickly in the end they all ended up being equal in time amount (about 4 hours for each section). Once they finished checking me I was quickly undressed and put into the birthing tub. Since I couldn't lay back and relax due to the back labor, I ended up kneeling in the tub too with my head draped over the edge. Drew sat behind me in the tub rubbing my back through the contractions. My doula, midwife, and midwife's apprentice all sat outside the tub and monitored me. For four hours I went through the toughest part of labor with Drew rubbing my back and my doula reminding me to breathe and stay present. It is funny, when you are in labor you in a different state of consciousness. You know what is going on, you comprehend it, but it is just different. Here is an example…I was quite warm in the tub going through labor. They brought over a metal bowl filled with ice and water. They took a washcloth and dipped it in the bowl. I thought that it would be so cold and I couldn't believer they were going to put that on me. I almost said something but when they put it on me I could barely feel it I was so hot. I just kept thinking this is insane. I knew that a washcloth with freezing cold water was being put on me but I couldn't feel it. I was conscious of what was happening but the effects were different than I expected.

After about 4 hours of intense labor I started to doubt that I could continue. I kept saying that I can't do this. I remember reading in my natural childbirth books that when you started to thing this is when it was almost time for the baby but it didn't help me feel like this would be over soon when I was actually feeling it in reality. My midwife said that usually meant it was time to check my dilatation because usually that meant I was nearing my time to push. They checked me and I was 9.5 centimeters. I needed to be 10 centimeters to push, which she said should be soon. A couple of minutes later my water broke, which was an interesting experience in the water to say the least. Once that happened they pulled me out of the water because it was time to push and I couldn't do that kneeling in the tub as the midwife did not have access to where he would be coming from. Since I could not lay in the tub due to the back labor I was not going to be able to have my water birth. Instead I was put on a birthing stool, which is a frame that I can squat on kind of like a toilet seat with no toilet under it. I tried this for a push or two and hated it. They then tried moving me to a sling. This is like a swing attached to the ceiling that I can hang from to help me squat. This was too hard for me as my legs were exhausted from kneeling and squatting on them for the past 11 hours. I couldn't support myself and I started to breathe improperly. They periodically checked Jaxon's heart rate throughout my labor with a handheld Doppler. When I was hanging from the sling they checked him and his heart rate had dropped. They moved me to the bed and had me lie on the bed. I was in severe pain whenever I was in this position so I tried to fight my way out of it but they needed to get me in a position that would raise his heart rate. They put oxygen on me and kept having me change positions. This was the only point that I could see Drew getting nervous or worried. Me too. But in the end it was fine. We just needed to change positions.

Finally they moved me back to the birthing stool and Jaxon's heart rate improved. I began to push. Pushing felt good. Like I was accomplishing something with my pain. Plus you could feel the progress, which wasn't true of the contractions. It took me 4 or 5 solid push contractions to get Jaxon out. Once he was out they put him directly in my arms. Drew was sitting behind me and he hugged me from behind and cried. He was born at 7:16 a.m. on Monday, August 11th. The three of us sat there for a few minutes as a family taking each other in. Jaxon cried of course but we were in love. Luckily we have this part on film (from the second trip to the birthing stool on) with no gratuitous body shots. After a couple of minutes they moved Jaxon and I into the birthing tub again so that we could make us warm, initiate skin to skin contact for bonding, and allow me to give birth to the placenta. After 20 minutes or so the placenta still wasn't coming out so they gave Jaxon to Drew (with his shirt off to keep him warm) and I continue to wait. Finally after 40 minutes it came out and I could get out and shower. Once I was done I got into bed to try to breastfeed Jaxon. It didn't go as planned as he wasn't latching. We tried for over an hour and then decided that we should let our families in soon since they had been waiting since before my water broke. First we stitched me up since I had a minor tear and we did all of Jaxon's screenings. He weighed 6 pounds 10 ounces and was 20 inches long. The entire time he never left my sight and was always in mine or Drew's arms. Finally our families came in and visited with us and met Jaxon. We spent about an hour or so as a family taking pictures and greeting this new life into the world. At about 11 a.m. we packed up our stuff and got Jaxon dressed. We put him in his car seat and headed home. In all I was at the birth center about 9 hours. It was an amazing experience and I feel so proud and accomplished. My doula came over later that night and then again a couple of days later to check in on us. My midwife checked on us two days later. All was going well of course!

So that is my natural child birth experience. Not quite the water birth I had hoped for but just as amazing and empowering as I wanted. In the end I had no interventions or medications and I went home the day my son was born with a healthy and alert baby & a healthy and alert me.

Some pictures from the birth suite and first day home.