Jensen
9/18/2020
2:34 AM
8lbs 4oz, 20.5 inches
Labor began in true prodromal form about 9 days before my due date (9/17). Almost every evening I would have fairly regular contractions for a few hours after dinner time but they never picked up in intensity or frequency. Each night I would go to bed and they would fizzle out and I’d wake up still pregnant the next morning. Two days before my due date the contractions got down to 3 minutes apart but the intensity just wasn’t there for me to really believe it was the real thing. The day before my due date my body seemed to rest. I was exhausted from the previous week of prodromal labor and my parents were gracious enough to drive up and take Ellie and Bennett back home with them for a sleepover. Not much happened the rest of the rest of the night and I got a decent night of sleep.
Thursday morning, 9/17 – my due date
I slept in, took a shower and then curled my hair. I took my sweet time getting ready and was planning to meet PJ for lunch at an awesome taco place. After lunch, I headed over to my doula, Mandi’s house to do some body balancing and Spinning Babies exercises. Throughout the entire week of prodromal labor, I just felt so much pressure in my sacrum like he wasn’t quite sitting in my pelvis right and felt like this was probably why labor wasn’t progressing. After a couple hours of various stretches and exercises, I felt relief from the pressure and we decided to take a walk around her neighborhood. I had a couple good contractions while walking and definitely felt “different”. I needed to head home to pick up PJ and head to my 40-week midwife appointment. Nothing regular was happening yet at my appointment but the baby’s heart rate sounded good and my blood pressure was good, so it was just time to wait. My parents were still waiting to hear from me to know if they should keep the kids another night. By the time I was out of my midwife appointment it was 6:45 PM and we hadn’t eaten dinner yet. We decided to have the kids stay another night because at this point we would have met half way to get the kids just to take them home and put them to bed.
PJ and I went and got some dinner then we decided to go for a walk on the trail behind our house. While we were walking I was having pretty consistent contractions that were feeling stronger but weren’t making me stop in my tracks. We got back home around 9:30 PM and I was feeling pretty tired and convinced nothing was going to happen tonight so we decided to just get ready for bed. Contractions had pretty much stopped at this point. I got in bed around 11:15 PM feeling yucky and tired; really just wanting to get a good night of sleep. I had just started dozing off when I was awoken at 11:56 PM by a super strong punch right into my cervix. A few seconds later the baby punched again and I felt this huge pop. I’m pretty sure I let out a groan of pain with how hard he punched me! My water broke and gushed everywhere. What a weird sensation feeling my belly deflate so quickly! Thank God for waterproof mattress protectors! I shook PJ awake to tell him my water broke. He jumped out of bed so fast but was all out of sorts. I asked him to get me some towels and in his sleepy haze he couldn’t figure out where to go to grab them. I rolled over and grabbed my phone to text my mom and tell her, knowing she would still be awake and respond quickly. I called my midwives at midnight to tell them my water had broken and they said to keep them updated but wouldn’t head our way until contractions were coming regularly. I messaged my birth photographer, Emily, who I was guessing was still awake also. She texted back immediately and said she would head my way (she luckily only lives 5 minutes away). Next, I called my doula, Mandi, who said to keep her updated as I wasn’t having any contractions yet. I texted my cousin Dani who lives in Arizona to tell her as we had been texting back and forth a bunch the last week of my pregnancy. She told me to make sure PJ started filling the birth pool right away because things would likely go fast. (She was right!). As soon as I stood up from bed (12:04 AM) to get cleaned up and changed, my contractions started. The adrenaline was flowing through my body so hard and I couldn’t stop shaking! Very quickly they were less than 5 minutes apart.
My birth photographer Emily arrived at 12:30 AM and my contractions were picking up in strength and intensity. They were starting to double peak and seemed to never end! At 12:43 AM, I called the midwives again to let them know things were picking up but they said to just keep them posted still unless I felt like I needed them to come now. At 1:00 AM my doula, Mandi, arrived. I was SO thankful she could take over on the counter pressure. Things were getting intense. No offense to PJ, but Mandi really knows what she’s doing when it comes to counter pressure. It must be her motherly doula-y intuition. She knew exactly where I needed it.
A couple minutes later PJ was asking where the midwives were because he thought I had already told them to come. He quickly got on the phone to tell them to come NOW. (He was a bit more worried about them getting here than I was.)
In the meantime, PJ realized he could make coffee because, you know, we were at home after all.
There is a special picture that Emily captured of PJ making coffee that I absolutely love.
At 1:20 AM, the first midwife arrived, Jennifer and checked my vitals and baby’s heart rate. All looked good so I continued on plowing through the contractions, taking them as they came. I felt really powerful and in control. The second midwife of ‘The Jenn’s’ arrived at 1:35 AM. I spent most of this time laboring on my hands and knees leaning over my exercise ball or over the couch. I had asked Mandi to braid my hair so that it wouldn’t be in my face which was comical trying to get that done between contractions coming every couple of minutes. Around 2 AM, the midwives suggested I try going to the bathroom to keep my bladder empty for whenever pushing began. I practically had to run across the house to make it to the bathroom before the next contraction began. I dove for our bed just before getting to the bathroom because I could feel a contraction ramping up again. I quickly went pee because sitting on that toilet was absolutely brutal. After that, I went back to the side of our bed to lean over and take a few more contractions.
listening to fetal heart tones
I started feeling like I really wanted to get into the birth pool but I was questioning if it was too soon.
I didn’t want to get in and be in there forever, then want to get out and be all wet and cold but I was really looking for some relief. I should have known then that I was in transition because transition makes you lose your mind sometimes and I sure was second guessing myself in that moment. At 2:08 AM, I got into the birth pool. It was so magical. I understand now why they call it the midwife’s epidural. It truly brought me so much relief in a moment where the intensity and all the hormones/emotions were building up. I had about a 5-minute reprieve from contractions which was such a welcomed break. I asked for the water level to be raised a bit so it could fully cover my low back as I leaned over the side of the pool, still on my knees.
At 2:23 AM, I could feel the baby drop down into the birth canal and my body began to push. I remember saying “He’s coming” and the midwives got in their places to assist once needed. The next few minutes were very intense as my body began to stretch around his head. The ring of fire is REAL and INTENSE. I know I keep saying the word intense, but that’s really the best way to describe labor. I turned to my midwife Jenn, between contractions and said “You’re going to help me not tear, right?”. Apparently, I still had jokes even as I was pushing a baby out. She was right there waiting to give me perineal support as soon as I needed it. I reached down to feel the top of his head which felt really slimy from the amniotic sac. I held my hand over his head to ease him out slowly. Contractions were pretty much constant at this point. I panted through them to slow myself down which is one thing I did not do during my previous birth and I wish I would have. As much as I wanted to just push with all of my might to get it over with, it was more important to me to take it slow and kind of “breathe him out” instead so I could avoid tearing (which I did!!). At 2:34 AM his head came out and 13 seconds later he was born! I reached down and pulled him up from the water, setting eyes on my baby boy for the very first time. I leaned back onto the side of the birth pool and took him all in. He was so calm and peaceful, just looking around. One of the first things I noticed about him were his ears. They looked just like mine! Everyone in the room was commenting about how much he looked like me.
As much as I was enjoying holding my brand new perfect baby, I was still quite uncomfortable because my placenta was not coming out. After a half hour in the birth pool, my midwives suggested getting out and sitting on the birthing stool to be in a more upright position. They wrapped Jensen and I up in towels and blankets as we waited for the placenta. A couple minutes went by and I could feel it break away from my uterus and then I pushed it out. I felt like a brand new woman once the placenta was born! PJ cut the cord and I was able to hand Jensen off for skin to skin time with dad as I got dried off and cleaned up.
My midwives got me all settled into bed with Jensen and we had our first nursing session. He really wasn’t all that interested in nursing right away which was different from my other two babies, but it didn’t seem to affect our nursing journey at all thankfully! Mandi made PJ and I food which we ate while my midwives cleaned up and did all of Jensen’s newborn exam and measurements. Shortly after that, our birth team said their goodbye’s and we were left to sleep, nurse and snuggle our new baby. Not much sleep happened as Jensen decided to nurse for the next 2-3 hours but even still, the comfort and rest that comes from being at home is unmatched. PJ and I were both so thankful to be at home. The next morning, PJ proclaimed that we would never have a baby in the hospital again. He was sold. I was too.
Great Lakes Doulas - Mandi Rodenbeck
Finding Fire Photography - Emily Croff