by Erin Abernathy

We decided in the fall of 2016 that we were ready to add another child to our family. After two months of trying, we decided to take a short break after Christmas. I traveled with my son to Florida to spend time with family for two weeks. On the way home I was feeling sick, since we all had spread a stomach virus around and I was the last one to have it. I was five days late when I decided to take a test just out of curiosity. I thought I was still recovering from the stomach virus and that it had messed up my cycle. To my surprise, the test showed a positive. I was in shock. I took two more tests to be sure, and they all came back positive. The one time we decided let’s just take a break and not try right now, and I wind up pregnant. I told my husband later that day to which he responded “How? You’ve been gone for two weeks? Is it mine?” Of course he was joking but just as in shock as I was.

While I was down in Florida, I had actually been researching birth center births and looking for the closest ones to us. I found two birth centers about an hour and a half away from our home and saved their sites. I had discussed having a birth center birth with my mom, husband and best friend. The main concern was distance, since our hospital is only five minutes from our home, but I knew that it would be worth the drive. When I had my son, I had a vision of a natural and calming birth. I researched everything to figure out what was best for me and my baby in the process. I learned breathing techniques and how to get through contractions. I unfortunately did not get the experience I had imagined and was left feeling like I missed out. We went and visited two birth centers. I felt at home at the Women’s Birth and Wellness Center and knew it was the place that my next child would be brought into the world.

During my prenatal visits, the midwives made me feel in control of my pregnancy. Everyone was so friendly and helpful and so in tune to what I wanted. On Monday, October 9th, I was 41 weeks and four days pregnant and was starting to get discouraged that I was going to have to be induced. I went in for a checkup and I was almost 3 centimeters dilated and 80% effaced. Our midwife Lydia did a very thorough membrane sweep and got me to 3 centimeters dilated. They went ahead and scheduled me for a hospital induction to be performed at 9 am on Saturday, October 14th, and told me to come back the next day, Tuesday, for a midwife induction. Monday night was full of sporadic contractions, cramping and spotting. I took a Tylenol pm around midnight to help me go to sleep since the contractions were probably going to keep me up. I knew I wasn’t in labor yet but I was still trying to hold out hope. I had been induced with my son and was miserable and was hoping that it would not come to that this time.

Around 4:20 am on Tuesday, October 10th I was awoken by a contraction. This one felt different from what I had experienced before. Six minutes later I had another one and decided to start timing to be on the safe side. They were coming every 6-7 minutes and lasting around 50 seconds. I laid in bed and counted them in between dozing in and out of sleep. At 9:30 am, I finally got out of bed. I drank some cold water and started bouncing and doing hip circles on my yoga ball. The contractions were still staying at 6-7 minutes apart for 50 seconds. I was getting so anxious thinking this has to be it; I have to be in early labor. At around 10:20 am the contractions felt a little stronger, lasting 50 seconds and were 5-6 minutes apart. I decided it was time to call the birth center to see what they thought I should do. Carey called me back and I told her what was happening. At first she just told me to stay home and rest but I was anxious wanting to know if this was real or not. I told her I was supposed to come in for a midwife induction that day so she told me to go ahead and come on in. I jumped into the shower and got ready to go. I woke up my husband and told him what was happening and that we were going in. At first I don’t believe he grasped that I was possibly in labor. He then finally understood and he went and quickly got ready as I finished getting our son ready to go. We hopped in the van and headed to the birth center. I sat in the third row so I could spread out better and we stopped at the easiest place to grab food near our house to get my energy up.

 My contractions on the way there stayed consistent and strong. Once we arrived around 2:30 pm we entered in downstairs and met one of the nurses who told us the blue room was all ready for us. We went and got settled into our room and our midwife Rebeca came in and hugged us and asked about what had been going on. She checked me and I was 90% effaced and 4 centimeters dilated. I had made some progress that morning but not too much. She stripped my membranes while she did her check and went to get some herbs to help me progress. I was so excited they weren’t sending me home. I took two different herbs and then they had me go and walk the staircase. My son and husband came with me for support. It was a hot day so walking up and down the stairs was not fun, but I persisted. Rebeca came to check on me and give me more of one of the herbs. My mom, niece and nephew and mother-in-law showed up while I was walking the staircase. After being outside on the stairs for about half an hour, Rebeca had me come inside for a while. I unfortunately have scoliosis so I have very bad back labor. Rebeca wanted to do everything she could to help alleviate some of the back pain I was having during contractions. At around 3:20 pm Rebeca put me in a position on my knees and arms with my back and butt up in the air to help encourage my cervix to lower and the baby to move into position and take pressure off my spine. I laid in that position for about thirty minutes and then she had me lay on my side with a pillow under one leg and under my head. These positions did help with some of my discomfort. She also showed my husband where to press down on my spine during a contraction to help with my back labor.

At about 4:20 PM, Rebeca had me go back outside to walk the stairs and the side of the side walk to continue to encourage labor, my cervix to drop and the baby to move down. It was a lot harder for me this time around. There was a change as I walked up and down that staircase because I started feeling extremely nauseated. I told my mom, who was outside with me, that I had to go inside because I was feeling too nauseated to be outside any longer and didn’t have the energy to go up the stairs anymore. This was around 4:40 pm. I told Rebeca how I was feeling and why I came in already so she told me that was a really good sign and we would hold off on any more herbs. She asked if it would be OK to check me again and I told her it would be. She said my cervix was still pretty high, but I was at 5 centimeters and 90% effaced. Rebeca assured me things were going well. She asked if I wanted to labor in the shower and I told her I would. She went and got the shower ready for me and came back and placed acupuncture seeds on my ankles.

The shower was like magic. I sat on the birthing ball and when a contraction came I pointed the hot water right on my lower back. It made the contractions so much more bearable for me. I could have stayed in there forever but it started to get too steamy in the room for me to breathe well enough through my contractions so I came out. This was around 6:30 pm. I sat on the edge of the bed and labored until around 7 pm when Rebeca then had me lean on a birthing ball on the bed and roll my hips on it. She then asked me around 7:40 pm if I wanted to get in the tub and I said I did. At this point my contractions were lasting well over a minute and were closer together, about 3-4 minutes a part.

 

 

The tub was so relaxing and very warm. I enjoyed the water very much. My two-year-old son saw me in the tub and insisted on joining me so I let him get in with me for a little while. He stayed in there for about 20 minutes then my husband got him out and Rebeca came to check on me. She put some more warm water in the tub and then I felt a big pop in my stomach that took me by surprise. I wasn’t sure what it was so I didn’t say anything but then Rebeca asked if I had felt anything. I told her about the pop I felt and she said that she was wondering because it looked like something had happened. She said that was my water breaking. It was getting even more real now and I was getting anxious. My water had broken all on its own and I knew that meant this baby was getting ready to come very soon.

It was around 9:05 pm. I felt an extremely strong contraction that made me lift my bottom up and moan. It happened so suddenly but I looked at my husband and said, “Someone needs to get my mom now.” Rebeca rushed in and checked me and said, “Yeah, go get her mom!” I never planned to have a water birth. I had been undecided my entire pregnancy so the baby made the decision for me. I started pushing at 9:10 pm. I first tried pushing sitting down in the tub but I kept sliding and I didn’t feel like I was able to push down easily so we switched to my side. I still felt like I wasn’t getting anywhere with that position so Rebeca asked me to get on my hands and knees. I felt more in control in this position. I pushed through the pain and cried a little when I reached the ring of fire because I was getting frustrated that it was taking me so long. Rebeca, Carey and my nurse made me feel so supported and kept encouraging me that I was doing great. I had forgotten how much it hurt to push a baby out and how hard you have to push. I felt for her head to be sure I wasn’t imaging that I was so close. I let out a scream of relief after each contraction ended and I had to stop pushing.

At 9:41 pm, I finally pushed my little baby out with one strong push. My husband caught her and handed her to me through my legs as I crouched. I sat down in the tub and was immediately overwhelmed with love and joy. I started crying as I held my little baby close. For a good 2 minutes I held my baby against me and then realized that I didn’t know who I had given birth to, was it a little boy or girl? I picked up my baby and started crying it’s a girl! My little Penelope. Everyone had been right in their guess.

 

Rebeca waited for the cord to stop pulsating and let my husband cut the cord. They showed me the placenta once I had birthed it and asked if I wanted to keep it. I decided we would keep it to plant a tree for Penelope. Some may think this is weird and that’s OK. You can read more about it here http://www.parents.com/pregnancy/my-body/pregnancy-health/planting-your-placenta/. I wanted to have a link to what supplied my child with life for 9 months. They handed Penelope to my husband for skin to skin time while I got out of the tub. I didn’t want to hold her while I got my stitches. I had a labial tear that had to be repaired. Rebeca stitched me up very well. I then got positioned in the bed to hold my baby girl. They handed her to me, and my husband said she was already searching for my breast when he held her. I tried her out and she started breast feeding very quickly. She was 20 ½ inches long and weighed 8 pounds, 2 ounces.

I am still so extremely happy with this birth experience and couldn’t have asked for anything else. It was absolutely perfect. Even though it was much longer than my sons 9 hour Pitocin-induced birth at our hospital five minutes away, it was hands down 100% better. All the hours driving over to the birth center were well worth it. They treated me like family and were also so very happy to meet my little girl. I will forever have a special place in my heart for them.

-Erin L. Abernathy, mother of two from Asheboro, NC