Baby T's Water Birth Story

 [ten minutes after baby T was born]

I have a hard time believing I am a mom of two. I still feel like a little girl at times. We were so excited when we found out we would be adding another little human to our family. This second pregnancy flew by so fast, and now it seems the momentum is not ceasing, baby T will be already two weeks in just a couple of days. It seems that each baby propels life into an even faster whirlwind. 

As any mother, I just wanted a healthy birth. I had my birth preferences typed up, as with baby E. I was just hoping and praying everything goes well - and if it happened just the way I hoped, even better. With the first birth I learned that being in a hospital automatically set me up for 'warfare'. Simply put, my ideas of birth clashed with everyone there, including my OB. I could feel the tension and I wanted to avoid that with this birth, hence we chose to give birth at a small birth center with a midwife. 

What a huge difference! The moment I got there I knew this was going to be different. Everything was so peaceful. From the calm disposition of the midwife to the lights with dimmers, CD player with my favorite guitar music. A big full size bed where hubby and I could nap as my contractions progressed. A tub full of warm water. It all seemed too good to be true.

[the birth tub in the background and daddy with his baby boy]

It was midnight Thursday on the 17th of November. I just put my toddler to bed (yes, that late!) and I've been feeling something, couldn't tell exactly what. All evening I've had some tugging around the belly, I guess those were contractions. The baby was a week and a half overdue and I did not want to get an ultrasound (it would be the first) that Friday. I was dancing all evening with my toddler and bouncing on a balance ball in hopes of getting things going. As I lay down next to baby E, I felt what I knew was a contraction, I glanced at the clock. I timed them, they were eight minutes apart. My husband was supposed to be home from his second shift any minute. Around 12:30 am he walked in and I told him we were having the baby that night. 

I finished packing my toddler's bag and my hospital bag. That included all the food for my husband and I since we weren't in a hospital. Around 2 am we put our toddler in the car in her sleep sack, she was quite upset at being woken up in the middle of the night, of course. We arrived at the birth center at 2:45 am, my mother was waiting there for us to take baby E to her house. My concerns about having a baby en route vanished.

My contractions slowed down when I was put on the monitor for twenty minutes. Then the midwife left and my husband and I took a nap on the large bed. I woke up with each contraction, but they were not very strong. Then about an hour later I woke up to a really strong one and was happy things were progressing. I labored alone for about half an hour and then woke up my husband and called the midwife. It was so nice to have that quiet time alone, without interruptions from any nurses or staff. It was just the three of us in the building.

[snuggling skin to skin with baby boy]

I was ready to get in the tub and I didn't really know what to expect. The moment I got in, I knew it was worth the drive! It really took the edge off the labor. I could relax, I didn't have to hold on to my husband the way I did with the first birth (to the point that he had bruises!). The weightlessness made all the difference and I wouldn't have it any other way. My husband just sat right outside the tub, held my hand, encouraged me, and it was so relaxing for me to see him relaxed and not as worried as the first time. At 5:50 I started pushing and at 5:59 am our baby was born. Okay, so the water didn't really help much during the pushing part, I think they heard me screaming at the hospital across the street. The midwife pulled baby T up out of the water and right into my arms, what an amazing feeling! A few seconds later we realized we didn't even look to see who it was... My husband finally exclaimed "It's a boy!"

I got out of the tub, out came the placenta, I needed a few stitches (something I was really hoping to avoid, but alas not everything goes as planned), we snuggled in bed with our baby boy. We started munching on sandwiches I made and oatmeal raisin cookies. I was starving after all that work! I loved how little interference there was from the midwives, they basically came when I asked them to. Nine hours later we went home. With the first birth I couldn't walk for two days, the twelve hours of intense labor took its toll. This time I just felt great, it was such a relief! I was so happy to finally be holding this overdue baby in my arms!