Baby Margie's Birth

Baby Margie is finally here! And here is her birth story.

I had an appointment with my midwife the morning of the 3rd, and at the appointment she did an exam and pushed on my cervix in an attempt to help it thin. She warned me that it might cause things to move along because it could cause the release of prostaglandins, then told me to try using castor oil as well. I wasn't looking forward to it, because I tried it with Aiden and had trouble swallowing it, but she told me to mix it with orange juice and I was hoping it would be easier. She also told me to go for a walk that morning before trying.

I left and picked up some castor oil, then took Aiden to a mall and we went walking around the mall until it was time to pick up Mason from preschool. I was having contractions, but nothing very painful, I could barely feel them unless I was moving. I picked Mason up from school, we had lunch and then I started the castor oil. I was supposed to take a dose every hour for three hours. In between doses I used the breast pump my aunt lent me and took a bath. Aiden was napping and Mason was watching TV. The contractions were still going and increasing, but I still couldn't really feel them. I started tracking them, and they were close to five minutes apart, but I couldn't tell how long they were lasting because I couldn't feel them unless I was moving around, and even then, it wasn't super painful. I could tell when they started but I couldn't tell when they stopped. My midwife told me to keep monitoring them, and I called Mike (right as he got off work) and told him he should hurry home.

I felt that something was happening and warned my aunt that I may need her to take the boys that night if thing heated up, and Mike called and got someone to cover his scout group that night. I took another bath, and then lay on my bed, still trying to monitor my contractions. They were less than five minutes apart now, some two and a half minutes, but I still couldn't feel anything unless I was moving. So around 7:30, I talked to my midwife, and we decided I would try to go to bed and see what happened. At this point I was feeling guilty for getting Mike to skip scouts, I figured that by morning the contractions would be done. We got the kids to bed at 8:30 and I was in bed by 9:30. But I could feel the contractions a little bit by then and couldn't fall asleep, and by ten, I knew it wasn't happening. And a few minutes later, I knew that it was definitely no false alarm.

Waiting for the midwife

I got up, told Mike to start setting up the tub, and called my midwife at 10:18 pm. She told me later that she could tell by the sound of my voice that she'd better hurry. I also called my friend who would be acting as my doula and my aunt to see if she wanted to bring over my cousin who had wanted to be there. Then I concentrated on dealing with the contractions, which by this point were about two minutes apart and VERY painful. I walked around the front room, went and sat on the toilet for some of them, and asked Mike at one point why I had wanted to have another baby. I could tell from how the contractions felt that things were going quickly, and all I wanted was to get in the tub. Mike was working on getting the tub filled with air and hooking up the hose to the shower. My midwife, her assistant, and my doula all showed up at the same time, and jumped in helping Mike get the tub ready, but before too long, we could tell that it wasn't going fast enough. I could hear them talking softly about how I probably wasn't going to make it in.

About fifteen minutes before baby showed

 I kept dealing with the contractions as best I could, and suddenly felt that I was pushing. I felt the "ring of fire" starting, and as soon as that contraction was done, I went to the bathroom, figuring sitting on the toilet would help with the pain, and that it was the best place to be in case my water broke. Things moved pretty quickly after that.

Before I knew it, my body was actively, strongly pushing. I could feel her head coming, and my midwife had me feel her head. It felt weird to me, probably because my water hadn't broken yet, so I was feeling it through the membrane. Then bing bang boom, my water broke (I heard a little pop and a little fluid came out) another contraction started and my body pushed and continued pushing even after the contraction was over, and out popped the head. And then her body came out almost immediately, and the midwife and I caught her. The whole time I kept saying, "I don't believe it, I don't believe this!" It was just so fast, and I didn't get to go in the tub at all. I figured it would be fast, because Aiden was about three hours of labor that I was aware of, but I didn't expect it to be that fast. She was born at 11:14 pm.

I couldn't raise her up right away because the cord was draped across her neck and the midwife had to adjust it so I could pick her up properly, but then we fixed it and I was able to pull her up to my chest. They brought in a towel and cleaned her up as I held her, then put the towel over her to help keep her warm, and then helped me get out of my robe so I could hold her skin to skin. She squawked a little bit right after she was born, but didn't really cry at all. I stayed in the bathroom until the placenta came and Mike cut the cord. Then I handed her off to Mike and he held her while I made my way down the hall to my bedroom and he gave her back to me as soon as I lay on the bed. I got to hold her for the first two hours of her life. I started nursing her almost as soon as we lay down on the bed.

Margie on the bed with Mommy right after birth

It was so different than the hospital. When they did end up measuring her, they left her lying down with me because she was stretched out, and they didn't weigh her until right before they were ready to go. Not even that made her cry because they used a cloth sling to weigh her, and she'd been nursing for awhile. She was nursing when they stitched me up, in an attempt to distract me from what was going on. I had an almost third degree tear, not a huge surprise considering how quickly she came, but not much fun to fix.

By 1:30 am, Mike and I were alone in our room, everything cleaned up, on our own bed. It was kind of surreal. Mike later compared it to shopping at the store versus ordering something online. I half expected to wake up in the morning still pregnant, that it had all been a dream, except I knew that it couldn't have been since it had hurt so bad.

The boys had no idea what had happened, they slept through the whole thing. The next morning, Aiden woke up, and Mike ducked out of the room and closed the door and got the camera. He woke up Mason, then had them come in together. The boys were so excited! Mason said, "The baby came out of your tummy!"

We are recovering from the birth pretty well. Margie is a very mellow baby, she doesn't cry much and sleeps very well. She is beautiful! We can't get over the black hair she has. And I think that her eyes will be brown, they are already darker than the boys' were.

It was all an interesting experience. I wasn't sure I was in labor earlier, because I'd never experienced it before properly. I was induced with Mason and that was a long arduous process I didn't want to repeat, and with Aiden, I went to sleep and woke up and I was obviously in labor. Although at the same time, this went differently than it did with Aiden. When I woke up with Aiden, I was in the hospital because they were planning to induce me, and when I was checked by the nurse, I was only dilated to a three, so I don't know if much had been happening while I was sleeping anyway. With Margie, I have no idea how dilated I was when the midwife got there, because she didn't check at all (which I think is somewhat typical with home births, since dilation doesn't tell you much anyway) but I'm sure I went into transition pretty quickly, and the painful part of labor was much shorter with her than it was with Aiden. So I don't know if the contractions I had all day were really doing much of anything, or just a warm up of some kind. Either way, I'm glad I was able to be at home, it was nice not worrying about if I needed to go to the hospital, knowing that the midwife could get to me in less than half an hour if she was needed.

I didn't get the birth I was hoping for, which I think is usually the case, but it was a wonderful experience anyway. I'm glad we opted for a home birth. For one thing, I wouldn't have made it to the hospital in time, as quickly as things went. For another, it was so nice being in my own home. My midwife was wonderful (for anyone seeking a midwife in my area, her website is here) and I really think being at home actually made things easier for me, as intense and painful as it was. And I think it may have made a convert out of Mike; he wasn't really comfortable with the idea of a home birth despite everything we had discussed, but after what happened, I think he will be more so in the future.

Stats: 8 pounds 8 ounces, 20 and 3/4 inches long, and I was almost two weeks past my due date.

Here are a few more pictures for your enjoyment.

Mason holding baby sister

The Blake kids

Mommy taking a nap the next day

Aiden loves the baby!