Caroline's Birth Story

I love this beautiful birth of a mother's second child.  I love how it illustrates the help a supportive, loving husband can have and how wonderful a good midwife who listens and values the mother can be.  You remember Jacks Birth Story which we featured last week! 


Enjoy!

I had an appointment with my midwife, Lindsay on Monday afternoon at 2.  I was 5 centimeters dialated and 50% effaced, not much change from what I had been for weeks.  After the appointment, around 3 pm, the contractions I'd been having for days and days began to get stronger and more uncomfortable. 

I went to pick up Jack  from a friend's house and headed home after visiting for a while.  I tried to play with Jack as much as possible once we got home but my contractions were about every 10-12 minutes and quite uncomfortable- not unbearable by any means but I certainly didn't want my toddler bouncing off my tummy during them.  Jason got home from work and we had dinner and put Jack to bed.  I let Hubby know what had been going on with me and that I really thought this was FINALLY the labor we had been waiting on.

Around 8:30 I decided to try to relax and get some rest.  I took a shower and got ready for bed, contractions were now anywhere from 6-10 minutes apart.  Hubby spoke with my mom, who happened to be in Fort Worth, and told her it'd be a good idea for her to come on over, that we thought this was "it".  I got in bed and watched TV instead of going to sleep.  I was too excited to sleep.  Finally around 11:30, Hubby and I went to sleep- he slept, I was up every 10 minutes with contractions.

Around 2am I couldn’t stay in bed any longer and told Hubby was time to get up and get ready to head to the hospital.  We’d decided, since we were 40 minutes from the hospital, that we’d head in as soon as we were “sure” and labor there.  Our hospital is very natural birth friendly so we weren’t concerned with having any unnecessary interventions pushed on us once we were “on the clock” at the hospital.  Poor Hubby, he was very concerned about my water breaking before we arrived since my labor progressed so quickly once my water broke with my son.  He kept telling me “after this contraction, we HAVE TO GO!”  Mom stayed at home with my son till our friend, Erin, could get there to be with him.  Then she left for the hospital.  Husband took full advantage of the “my wife is in labor” card and drove as fast as he could, only slowing at stoplights and stopping when he HAD to.

We arrived at the hospital at 3:16 am.  Upon arrival, my midwife checked me and I was 6 centimeters dialated and 80% effaced.  She walked the halls with me and allowed me to labor on my own for quite some time.  My contractions were now coming every 5 minutes and stayed that way for several hours.  At 10 am my contractions hadn’t changed much and my water hadn’t broken yet.  I had my midwife check me and I was still 6 centimeters, now 90% effaced.  I didn’t want my water artificially broken so I decided to labor for another hour or so and see if I made any more progress.  At 11:30 am, Lindsay checked me again and I was still 6 centimeters and was now 100% effaced.  Apparently my bag of waters was bulging and not allowing the baby’s head to press down to cause me to dialate effectively.  Hubby and I talked it over with the midwife and, since I was exhausted already, I decided to have my water broken.  Once we did that, Caroline’s head moved down and I dialated another centimeter immediately.  With my mom and Hubby by my side, I continued to labor until I felt the urge to push.

I grunted through pain and pressure and Lindsay reassured me I was doing exactly what I was supposed to do.  Mom and Husband stroked my hair and held my hands.  Hubby was wonderfully supportive and let me know what a great job I was doing.  I pushed when I needed to and screamed a lot!  I wasn’t screaming in pain though.  My voice gave me power.  With each push, my voice got louder and deeper.  With a big roar, Caroline’s head was born, and with another roar, the rest of her body came out.  Jason was supposed to catch her but she came so quickly he didn’t have time and was just able to help the midwife place her on my tummy.  We were so amazed to see this beautiful creature God had given to us.  We are so blessed and she is perfect!