Birthday of our boy Sam

I think that people are often intrigued by the thought of birth stories. I like to think back on the experience I had, so I am an advocate for sharing, without any sense of judgement on what people have experienced before or will experience.

Just to set the stage, I went into this birth similar to how I had approached Lucy's birth. I wanted it to be as natural as possible without the introduction of medications. I wanted my body to do the work in hopes that the healing would be faster and the baby would be born safely. I chose to go with midwives this time around simply because I wanted a delivery with the care provider present more than 5 minutes before I actually delivered. I really didn't mind the OBGYNs that delivered Lucy, but I also didn't feel super connected with them.

So while we were in VA I chose a practice with both midwives and OBGYNs. Because they had such a large quantity of midwives I was guaranteed a midwife birth. When we moved up here I looked for a similar situation and found a practice with just midwives. I was able to meet with the three midwives several times before the day of delivery, which brought me great comfort. I felt comfortable delivering with any of them.

I hit 40 weeks on June 20th with no indication of labor in sight. So we waited....and waited....and the weather got warmer and we waited. On the 26th I started feeling more crampy and made myself believe that maybe just maybe things were starting. It was also the day that all the cousins got came to stay. And this is where I think it is appropriate to give a mighty shout out to Karen (and Jay) for watching all of the grand-daughters. Amazing people, I tell you!

Karen graciously said she would take Lucy to the cousins' house to sleep that night in hopes that maybe just maybe labor would start. It was a little bit of a gamble, but apparently it worked. At 2:00 am, without much going on before, my water broke. I felt a little pop and then a small gush. So I headed to the bathroom and sure enough my things were beginning. Now you would think my body would have kicked into high gear as this point, but it didn't. I called the midwife just to give them the heads up and she told me to wait to see if things progressed before made the drive. Consequently I had an appointment that day anyways, so if anything I would see them at noon if active labor hadn't already started. After the phone call I lay in my bed from 2-5ish thinking about contractions, but not really having anything measurable. It was kind of a bummer. I decided that maybe walking around would initiate something so Jimmy and I went downstairs and watched some old shows and I moved around just to feel productive.

Around 8 am the girls and grandma Coop returned and I told them of the good news. And we spent the rest of the morning talking about how it was hopefully Coopito's birthday, hoping that my appointment later would result in a hospital stay. I still wasn't having regular contractions at this point.

I took a nap that morning while the girls went to the park and when noon came around Jimmy and I headed to the midwife appointment. The drive was manageable except when going over bumps, but let's face it I was secretly hoping they were also forcing the baby out. We got the appointment they got me right in and listened to baby's heart beat and measured a few of my contractions, none of which were super strong and very close together. The midwife checked me and I was 3 cm and 80% effaced. It was pretty the same place I had been when I went to the hospital with Lucy.

The midwife advised we stick around so we were admitted to the hospital. I was monitored for 20 minutes and then free to walk without monitoring for the rest of the afternoon.  It was nice. Having to listen to my baby's heartbeat constantly is the more worrisome thing. Any blimp sends me into an anxiety attack.

I called my mom and sister and told them to come a little later, closer to six pm, thinking by then maybe things would be moving along a little more. They showed up a little closer to 8 pm and by then my contractions were actually a little more intense and all closer to 5-7 minutes apart. It was hopeful. The midwife was in and out and my nurses were a great support.

By probably 10 pm things really started to change. I became nauseous and shaky and couldn't keep my water down. Side note: my midwives let me eat whatever I want. I had some soup and bread and a popsicle. It was all I could really stomach. I threw up the whole of it at some given point. It was not pretty. Jimmy, my sister Andrea and my mom did a great job being ready. With Lucy I didn't get nauseous, this was a new experience for me. Unfortunately I threw up several times up until the pushing.

Between 10-11:30 pm I took a shower and I changed positions constantly. My favorite position was sitting on the corner of the bed with my feet resting on the ground. By the way back labor is NOT cool. I felt a lot of that. It was probably sometime in this period, probably earlier, that I was checked. I was at 6 cm! This was a huge improvement over my last labor. I now knew that I was going to do it entirely naturally.

The last hour was a blur. It felt like I was in the throws of transition forever. I was starting to feel a little less controlled through my contractions causing me to yell a little more and my legs were shaking crazily. Apparently these were all good signs for impending delivery. I also realized during some of these contractions that  tensing was the last thing my body needed to do and worked really hard to release my body. I believe it helped move things along.

Around midnight, sitting on a birthing stool I was fully dialated. The birthing stool was fine until I need to push, it hurt my back a little too much. So I moved to the bed and laid on my side. It was ... different. And then the midwife without too much direction said, "listen to your body and push!" So I did my best to listen and pushed, sometime ineffectively. Pushing this time around was not quite as relieving as I had perceived before. It was a little more tedious, which was good but goodness did it hurt. After 30 minutes of pushing slowly but surely our little man Coopito was born. 8 lbs and 9 oz of chubby cuteness.

Seconds after he was born he was laid next to me. He was quiet and subdued for a few minutes until he realized what had happened. It was beautiful and surreal to see him next to me. I don't think I ever really understand how babies are capable of living inside of us.

Jimmy cut the cord a little while later and we sat together for what seemed like hours snuggling. I know they weighed him at some point but I was pretty caught up in the moment. We were in the hospital all of the 28th and the morning of the 29th after which we headed home. It didn't seem necessary to stay the extra day. And we have been home one full day, which has been good.

All in all this experience was everything we had hoped for. I was able to deliver without any interventions, I feel really good (albeit tired) and Samuel is healthy. A win all around. The hospital and staff was AWESOME! We liked almost all the nurses we worked with. The hospital was small and quaint and because of that we felt cared for. I think the most important thing I learned was feeling comfortable and in control is worth everything. Mostly importantly I grateful for my support team, Jimmy, my mom, my sister, the nurses, the midwives and all the family that took care of me and my family. We just could not have felt more blessed to have Sam here.