Chris' Birth Story : 1st Birth with Midwives

I shared some of Anna's birth story with you all earlier this week.... the birth that drove me to find some midwives!!

I really enjoyed my pregnancy with Christopher as I was under the care of a great group of midwives!! I was sooo glad with how they were accepting about my birth plan....wanting to know how I wanted to labor (if possible)!

But none of us was truly expecting Chris when he decided to make his appearance.... LOL!! I was limited to home (since I was 38 weeks preggo) when the Thanksgiving holiday rolled around, so we had Brian's clan come celebrate with us at our house. I prepared the house for them and helped with the meal.... basically had a normal day:)

We had a restless evening since Anna (18 months) was dealing with a cold and was in bed with me... neither of us sleeping b/c she was insistent to have her itty bitty arms around my neck for comfort:) I'm thankul now that I was able to snuggle with just her for that evening.... before our Little Man took over!

Very early I started to feel contractions.... so I worked hard to really get Anna sleeping as I watched the clock to figure out how far apart the contractions were. She finally feel asleep as the contractions were STRONG and about 5 minutes apart...

I woke Brian sleeping on the floor in the baby room. I still laugh at his response, "We have to go tonight? Now?" We were all soo tired!!! He woke his parents and packed some stuff in a bag.

We headed to the hospital about 3 or 4 AM, calling our midwife on the way:)

In triage, they hooked me up and realized I WAS in labor and was only feeling half the contractions.... so they were really coming about 2 minutes apart!! And they called our midwife to make sure she was on her way.... she was:)

Once in my room they put in a heparin lock only and said that the midwife would decide if I needed an IV. They also hooked me up to monitors, to monitor the baby. When the midwife got there with her radio and soothing music she saw the readings off the monitor and unhooked me... suggesting that I move around as I pleased.... oh, and no IVs needed!

As we look back we don't remember anyone being in the room with us for awhile..... Brian helping me through contractions... nurses checking every once in a while.

***Let me send huge Kudos to my hubby!! He is super great when I'm in labor! It was during Chris' birth when we were in the room alone for a while that he started telling me stories to "distract" me during contractions. It really works for me... just gets the focus off the contractions and myself.

We later found out that our midwife was needed for an emergency case and when she came in, I realized that the contractions were "overwhelming" me. I just didn't feel in control enough to RELAX... knowing that I didn't want an epidural, she suggested Nubane that could be done through the Heparin Lock.

I took her advice... the Nubane made me dizzy and nauseous though so after that one dose I stayed in the bed. I do think it helped me feel more in control and relax a bit.

I don't remember when the midwife suggested "breaking my waters". It already had been leaking and I had been laboring for a few hours, so it we all needed a little boost:) LOL!!


Not very long after it was time to push.... and it seemed Chris came right out! We had a very quiet, dim room with just Brian, our nurse, the midwife and a nurse for Chris.

Here was his 1st picture...Brian took it at 8:45am!! (less than 6 hours after heading to the hospital which is 45 minutes away)

One of the funniest parts of Christopher's birth was our 1st visitor. We had a sweet college student nearby and he had called our house EARLY in the AM to see if we had had Chris since another friend had delivered her baby Thanksgiving night. When Brian's parents told him we were at the hospital he drove RIGHT over...

I think the nurse was still cleaning Chris when he got there (9ish...I think!) LOL!! I remember him telling me later how tired I looked.... LOL!!! I'd been up all night with Anna and up all morning delivering Chris:) I think it's funny/sweet how excited he was to jump into the car and visit soo quickly:)

Brian's parents and brother came to visit with Anna in the afternoon.... so our 1st "new" family picture was taken at 3:30pm .... just 6.5 hours after delivering Chris!!

I must have napped b/c I don't look THAT tired.... LOL!! Can you believe how little Anna was with her little paci:)

The mood of the delivery room was soooo much different with Chris. It was very calm, peaceful and controlled.... there wasn't any tension between the midwife and hospital staff, or us. I really felt like with midwives, I was given the ability to make some of our own choices about how to labor and that I had someone who was helping me to labor....

Ok.... this might sound super CRAZY.... but we almost "enjoyed" labor. We look back on Chris' birth and have many positive and funny memories!