Weighing the baby
At exactly midnight on June 17th, I was jolted out of bed by a contraction. For several weeks, I had been having on again off again contractions, some as close as 4 minutes a part but none of them compared to the intensity of the one that about threw me out of my own bed. I had been so nervous that I would not know when I was truly in labor and had even made a false alarm call to my doc the week before when they started getting close together. My previous experieces at the hospital all included them breaking my water and labor beginning almost immediately. What if my water did not break on its own? Anyhow, the doc would not even leave her house and told me over the phone that I was not in labor. The same question that I had asked her many times before came out of my mouth again...."how will I know?" Her response, "oh, you'll know." Well, she was right. I got up and walked to the bathroom, where I had another one. Attempted to brush my teeth, another one. Walked to the living room to find my phone, another one. My first call was to Mr. B who was at work, all I could say was "now!" In between bent over contractions, I made the call to the doc and a couple more people. I also managed to get a text out too. Mr. B had called Senora X from next door, who came over and grabbed Miss O and Miss P, both who had coincidentally both woke up at the same time. I had been mentallly preparing for this moment for so long, and I immediately went into action lighting my candles that had been so perfectly placed weeks prior all in between contractions. My mom arrived and then a friend, Ms. D, from church came next. Senora X came back to stay in case Miss M woke up, but she had always made it clear that she was not interested in watching and she stayed in the living room taking care of opening the door. As quickly as I was jolted out of bed, is as quickly as the contractions turned from intense to 'OMG'!!!! Mr. B was still no where to be found and neither was the doc. At 12:35 I could not take it any longer and needed to get into the birthing tub. With the help of Ms. D, I got into the tub. Whoa, what a difference the water made. Immediate change in how the contractions felt. Yes, they were still very, very intense but the water really did help ease them. In all of my preparing for my water birth, I had always pictured myself leaning back against the tub, but when I got in the first position I went into was on all 4's. It just felt like the right position. A few minutes after getting in the tub I began to feel warm water being poured on my back and I knew Mr. B had arrived without even having to open my eyes. At that point, I completely let go of trying to keep the baby in and allowed my body to fully get to work. With absolute silence in the room and small candles lighting the area I had a few more contractions. I used many of the hypnobirthing techniques to focus and really allow my breathing and body take over. There was no screaming or yelling or telling Mr. B that I hate him. The only sounds I made sounded more like exaggerated breathing. In between a few contractions, I would open my eyes and look around to see a few new faces, but still no doctor. I also took the resting period of labor to take in all of the special and sentimental things that I had placed around the room. The room that I chose to have the baby in is also the room where my grandma took her last breath last fall. I felt that it would be a full circle of life to be able to have the baby in there and that also added a very special meaning to the room. I looked to a shadow box that held flowers from my grandma's services and had a very, very real sense of peace and sense that she was there with me at that moment. With the next contractions, I felt the baby's head come out and told Mr. B. Without skipping a beat, he moved into action. I took one extreamly huge, deep breath after that and knew that my next contraction my son would make his debut. At 12:51, just 51 minutes of that first contractions our son arrived. As if he had done 1000 deliveries before, Mr. B brought the baby up from the water. I was helped into a sitting position and the baby was handed to me. There we sat in the water, staring at our little miracle. He was so quiet and calm, that Mr. B thought that he may have not been breathing and kept trying to suction his mouth and nose. I on the other hand, knew he was just fine and did not need it. I just knew that our sons gentle appearance into the world did not allow for him to be startled or fussy. There was no immediate rubbing of the baby, rushed movement in the room, loud sounds, or premature snipping of the umbilical cord, just a room full of love at the sight of a new baby. Finally after several minutes the doc arrived, but most of the work had already been done for her. After the umbilical cord stopped pulsating, she allowed Mr. B to do the honor. Then I was able to get out of the tub and deliver the placenta. Be careful which bowl you eat out of at my house, it may just be the one that held my placenta!! The doc's assistant arrived and all the checking out of mom and baby were conducted in the comfort of the bed. After everyone checked out great, everyone left. Just as quickly as they all arrived, then they were gone. It was just Mr. B, myself and our new addition who still did not have a name at that point. It all happened so fast that we were both just staring at each other, thinking....did this just really happen? Finally, I looked at Mr. B and said Rio John Morel. Without skipping a beat, he shook his head OK! Everything was just perfect and all the months of preparation paid off. It was made even more special by Mr. B delivering his first son.
