By Dana Jarmon
Weston feels like a miracle baby. In November of 2017 we lost a baby to a rare cervical ectopic pregnancy which resulted in a uterine artery embolization. Due to this embolization, I was told that it was quite possible I would lose my fertility and not be able to have any more children. Only time would tell, so we were surprised and over the moon when we got pregnant our first time trying in May of 2018. It was a beautiful pregnancy, free of complication, and we felt so grateful for the amazing care we received from all of the sweet midwives. I dealt with some anxiety after having a challenging birth with our first son, Beckham, and they helped me work through the ins and outs of a subsequent pregnancy after birth trauma and loss.
On Saturday, January 26th at 5:15 AM, I got up to use the restroom and had a contraction on the toilet. It was noticeably different than the Braxton Hicks contractions I had been having, and I was surprised when another one came just six minutes later! After a few more contractions, I decided to take a shower to see if they would continue before waking up my husband, Joseph.
Sure enough, they continued to come every six minutes! By 10 AM, they were coming every 3 minutes, and my doula (and best friend) Morgan had come to join us. Although the contractions were close together, they weren’t intense enough to make me feel like it was time to head to the birth center yet. We ate together, I rested, bounced on our birth ball, stood and swayed while I held onto Joseph, and we laughed and chatted and wondered aloud what this baby’s birth would be like.
Then by 12:30 PM the contractions fizzled out. I found myself getting frustrated. Why were we going backwards?! If we are having a baby, let’s just have a baby! We went on a walk around our neighborhood, tried some Suki’s Labor and Delivery Blend, and had some time alone to make out with my man. None of these things helped labor to pick back up, so I called the birth center and talked with Emily to see what I should do. She told me to relax and enjoy our day and to stop trying to stimulate labor. She said that whatever happened throughout the day, uninhibited labor is the most straight forward and that we could trust my body and see what happens without having to stress about it.
This was just what I needed to get out of my head and get my mindset back where it needed to be: positive, relaxed, enjoying the process, and trusting my body. Morgan left, and we agreed that Joseph and I would try to take a nap and would let her know if things picked back up.
We had the most beautiful day together. We napped, watched The Office, got sushi takeout for dinner, took a shower together, and by 7 PM contractions came back every 6-7 minutes and this time they were INTENSE. This was different than before, for sure. They began to be difficult to cope with, and I felt panicky if I wasn’t standing or lying on my side. Joseph reminded me with every contraction to relax and allow my body to open so our baby could move down and out. By 10 PM, Morgan arrived back at our house, took one look at me and asked if I was ready to head to the birth center. I had been worried about going to the center too early since things had only recently intensified. We all agreed it was time to go since there was a distinct shift in the intensity of the contractions (and my ability to cope through them), and we had a 40 minute drive.
During the drive, contractions were coming every three minutes, and it was so challenging to cope with them in the car. I started to feel hot and nauseated. Once we got to the center I had three contractions from the car to the front door. I started to think “yikes, if I have several more hours of this I don’t think I can do it!”
Carey, Rose, and Missy greeted us and got us into the blue room. Contractions started coming on top of each other. I started to feel pressure in my butt which I remembered from my first son’s birth. Rose checked my dilation and said I was a “stretchy 7 cm,” but immediately after she checked me I got the uncontrollable urge to push. I got upset at this point because you can’t push out a baby at 7 cm (during my first son’s birth he was asynclitic, so I got stuck at 8 cm with the urge to push for HOURS. We ended up transferring to the hospital where we had a highly medicalized birth with many interventions and it was very traumatic. I thought that maybe the same thing was happening again). But Rose and Carey reassured me that it was okay for me to push and to trust my body. Apparently I went from 7 cm to complete in one contraction!
I pushed three times with what felt like one long contraction. On the second push, my water broke and exploded all over my birth team.
Five minutes after starting to push (and only twenty minutes after arriving at the birth center) Weston Paul Jarmon was born into his daddy’s hands and placed onto my chest. It was one of the most beautiful moments of my life! I could not believe he was here already! 8 pounds, 3 ounces of perfection.
After he was born, we were given time to bond as a family for well over an hour before his newborn exam was done, which was so different from our hospital birth experience. No beeping monitors or bright lights. It was just us three getting to know each other undisturbed. I will never forget those first moments as a family.
It was such a powerful, beautiful, healing experience for us. We were met with encouragement and love at every turn and are so grateful for the support we received from Rose, Carey, and Missy during Weston’s wild arrival!
