I
became pregnant with my second child when my daughter, Hannick, was 5
months old. It was completely unexpected, but exciting. I knew right
away that I wasn’t going to go through what I had with Hannick’s birth.
Hannick was born after a very short, very intense, medicated labor. I
thought that I knew a lot about birth, but I really didn’t. A week past
my due date with Hannick, I was lying down to watch ER when my water
broke. My husband Joel and I went to the hospital a couple of hours
later when my contractions started. I was 4-5 centimeters dilated when
I arrived. I walked down the hall and was re-checked after about 20
minutes; I was 6-7 centimeters dilated.span  Then, instead of
being redirected and helped through transition, I was put into bed with
full monitoring and given Nubain. I don’t remember anything after that
until waking up with the urge to push. I had pushed through about 5
contractions with everyone yelling to “Push, push, push!” when I was
given an episiotomy. I gave birth to my daughter and the nurses cut the
cord and whisked her away, much to Joel’s dismay. He had really looked
forward to the time when our baby was just born, but my daughter was
blue and not breathing from the Nubain. They injected her with Narcan
and stuck a tube down her throat to suction her out. Fifteen minutes
later I was handed the most beautiful little girl that I had ever seen.
She wanted nothing to do with nursing from the Nubain, but we
eventually worked it out.

span            So here I was, 5 months
later, a doula myself from my drive to empower women and their families
through their own births, and this time I was determined to have a
wonderful, natural birth. My husband and I decided right away that we
wanted a waterbirth. I knew that there were a couple of hospitals doing
waterbirths, but we had a lot of issues with the hospital policies so
we started looking for a homebirth midwife instead. We interviewed a
couple of midwives and decided on Jeanne to help guide us through the
birth of our next baby. I was expecting another short, intense labor,
so when my mucous plug fell out on Thursday night the 7^th of
February, I called Jeanne to tell her. She told me to relax and get
some sleep and wait to see what happened. On and off all day Thursday
and Friday I had contractions that would get into a steady rhythm only
to disappear by nightfall. On Saturday the 9^th, we were to
have an inspection on our house that we had sold 5 days before when my
contractions really kicked in. I called and canceled the inspection and
we decided to fill the waterbirth tub that Vanessa had brought earlier
that week. When the tub was filled, we packed up Hannick and went out.
I quickly realized that being in the car wasn’t any fun, so we went
home. I talked with Jesse, my doula, and she suggested going for a
walk. We walked around the block a couple of times, and then came home
to relax. We got home around 1 pm and I called my mom, who lives 2 ½
hours away, to tell her to come up. We kept in contact with Jeanne, but
I didn’t feel like I needed any support then.

span            My mucous plug kept
coming out with each contraction and by 8 pm, I wanted Jesse, my doula,
to come over. She got to my house around 8:30 pm and by then I was
feeling very frustrated. I was expecting a short, intense labor like my
first one and this was dragging on and on. The music that my husband
and I had picked out for labor was suddenly so sad and I started to
cry. It was a very vulnerable, overwhelming moment for me. My birth
group supported me and put on some silly music to brighten up the mood.
Jesse suggested that some nipple stimulation would be good to get the
contractions going. We put the birth ball in the tub and sprayed the
showerhead on my breasts and belly. That was a great moment with my
husband and my friend Julie. We talked about my contractions and why we
thought that it was taking so long when my first birth was so intense
and fast. I got out and went into my bedroom to kneel on a pillow over
the bed in a hands and knees position. My mom massaged my back and my
husband rubbed my face and hair. They talked quietly and it was nice to
drift away in between contractions, listening to their voices. I was
getting tired. Joel checked my cervix, but he couldn’t tell much. He
thought that I was probably 2-3 centimeters. Not much for having
labored all day

span            At 11:30 pm, Jesse
suggested that I get into the tub. Either it would stall out my labor
so that I could get some rest, or it would start my labor going. I got
in with my husband. The contractions were a hundred times more
manageable in the water. I sat with my arms floating, touching my
husband’s hands and being touched by my doula. She rubbed my hair, my
shoulders, and my back. She said my name and told me how wonderfully I
was doing. After about 20 minutes, I changed positions. I squatted over
the side of the tub to get my hands out of the water because they were
pruning. My husband rubbed my back and Jessie, Julie, and my sister
Amy, were on the outside of the tub giving me encouragement. After
about two contractions in that position, something changed. They
started to get very intense and painful and I wasn’t laughing or joking
anymore. I needed people to talk me through each contraction. I had a
candle burning on the dresser and I found myself focusing on it. I
started to pant a little as I felt the pressure build, and my water
broke with my next contraction. That was very scary for me for some
reason. I realized that there was no going back and it was a big
reality check. I took a moment to rebuild my confidence in myself and I
immediately felt better. I told Jesse and Joel that my water broke and
they called Jeanne right away. After my water broke I had to push but
Jeanne hadn’t arrived yet so Jesse had me pant. I “pa-pa-pa’d” and
“pa-pa-pa’d”, focusing on Jesse’s face, on her eyes, on her glasses.
She was so wonderful. It was very hard not to bear down, but it helped
to let my uterus gently bring her down.

 span            The urge to push was so
strong that I had to push a little anyway. It took some of the pressure
off, I thought that I could sneak in a little push here and there, but
I wasn’t fooling anyone and when I watched my birth video, I really
wasn’t fooling anyone! Jeanne got there a couple of minutes later and I
floated up and laid back and let her check the baby’s heartbeat. Her
heartbeat was in the upper 130’s and just fine. I lay back and I had my
husband hold one arm and my mother hold the other and I started
pushing. Slow, quiet pushes. Listening to my body, my belly, and my
daughter in my womb. I felt her come down the birth canal – so intense.
I knew that Hannick was sleeping in the next room. My daughter – about
to become a sister.

span            I pushed a little bit at
a time, letting myself stretch around my daughter’s head. At one point
Jeanne asked me if I wanted to touch her head, but I was concentrating
and I could see her head coming, so I said no. I saw her head come out
more and more and when I thought that the burning couldn’t get any
worse, her head emerged. She was looking right at me with open eyes.
Her shoulders slipped out and then she was kicking away. She pushed off
of my fundus as she left my body. Jeanne turned her around and she swam
into my husband’s hands. Together, Joel and I brought my daughter
Kettie Mae, into my arms. She was small – 6 pounds 10 ounces and short
– 19 inches long. And she was perfect. I loved her so much. I waited
until I birthed the placenta to cut the cord, and after getting into
bed, she nursed immediately.

span            It took me a couple of
minutes to realize that she wasn’t supposed to be looking at me when
she was born! She had been posterior the whole time, but I hadn’t had
any back labor, so we didn’t know. That was why I had labored for so
long with weak contractions that weren’t doing much. I had a small tear
that healed perfectly and Kettie went to 9 pounds 8 ounces in 2 weeks.
She loves to breastfeed! My postpartum period was wonderful and getting
three baths a day made all the difference in the world. I couldn’t have
asked for a more beautiful, peaceful birth and I am so thankful for my
wonderful birth group. My husband Joel and my two girls, Hannick and
Kettie, are my love and my life and I am so blessed as a mother and a
doula.