It started in March with early labor(32 weeks) - contractions, dilation - the whole nine yards. Went to L&D twice in 3 days in fact! On the first trip they were able to stop dilation with a shot. At the second trip I was given a shot of steroids for the babe just in case, and was kept overnight for observation. I sadly had to miss James' birthday party (so glad we booked a jump place with another child!) but labor was stopped and I was put on bed rest until 36 weeks.
Q looked good after that. Labor stuff stopped provided I didn't do too much. At 36 weeks I was given the go ahead to move around. so I did .... but nothing would start like it had before ...
At 38.5 weeks we discovered baby was breech! How long he had been that way was hard to tell. My placenta was in the front (between baby and any kind of monitors) and so any kind of medical procedure, barring a c-section, was not an option. Did I mention that I almost had too much water - most likely little one was just floating around with so much space. So for the next week we did everything we could naturally to get him to flip and keep him flipped. Homeopathics, a visit to a couple different chiropractors, lots of inverse positioning on my part and bags of frozen peas. Apparently babies don't like coldness on their heads so the will try to get away from the cold ....
not sure what worked in the end, but the Saturday night before he was born I felt sure he had flipped over. That night I slept sitting up with my back brace on backwards to limit his room in there. Went to the birthing center Sunday morning and got confirmation he was head down! Yay -- now, how to begin labor. Baby was still very high even though my body was beyond ready for labor. I was given a set of homeopathic's to take to help start labor. Took goobles and gobbles of them, did lots of walking, jumping, ate pineapple - you name it. Finally Wednesday night I had a bought of contractions we could time! By 11pm, D and I decided to sleep on it and see where things went. I did sleep, thru the night, so they weren't so bad, but in the car the next morning things started picking up.
Oh, let me back up a second, for the last few weeks I had been driving down with D to my MIL's so I would be close to D and family should things pick up. After the quick birth with Nathan I was worried about GBS, and water breaking, and not having enough time to get to the birthing center, etc etc.
So, it's Thursday morning and contractions are fairly regular and feeling strong ... I'm still with Dan at this point so we call the birthing center and they say to come on in. They wanted to verify head down and watch how things progressed. Dan did not make it into work that day :)
Got to the birthing center around 9 (had been in the car since 630 in rush hour traffic) and labor -- lagged. Gave my sister time to come and join us though. I was 4cm dilated, 50% effaced, baby still sky high ... :(
So we pulled out the birthing ball, had ourselves some walks, talks, a really yummy lunch from the Organic shop up the road -- about 2 hours in the midwives said we were having too much fun, lol. Well, we were. I would have bouts of contractions, mostly standing up that would get strong but nothing I couldn't handle and joke thru. Had membranes stripped, was taking homeopathic stuff ... around 1230 Laurel (one of the nurses) gave me something bitter to swallow. I'll have to ask what it was.
I was checked at 330 and was 5cm dilated and fully effaced. Soooo, they brought in the big guns. Did I mention that up until the point I had the 2 newest midwives monitoring me? Laurel (who is a seasoned nurse and was at James birth) was the only one who could find Q's heartbeat ... lol, didn't bother me. That's why I love this birthing center sooo much! So the big guns, Nikki, came in to see if she could break my water and get things going. My body was ready and Q was just having too much fun floating around :)
So 345 I was prepped - I had 3 midwives, Laurel, and my sister and hubby all there. Seeing so many people around me distracted me from what she was doing. I won't lie, it was kinda painful but such a relief when she was able to break the sac! Literal gushing! My water had broken with Nate but it trickled for the next 18 hours - nothing like what I experienced with Q. Whew ...now the show was under way. I remember reminding myself to breathe, going into a bit of a trance ...
30 mins after my water broke I was 7-8cm dilated already, babe had dropped to 0. I had the chills and found that sitting or squatting was painful. So I walked, stood holding on to doorways during contractions. They were coming, and not gently. Tried the shower to warm up .... didn't work. Ended up in the tub (just like I had with my last 2) by 5.
Barely had gotten there and the urge to push was coming on. Midwives said to breathe and think low tones - oh yeah, I was moaning and vocalizing. My sister got a video of it, said I sounded like Dory in Finding Nemo as she was talking to the whale, lol. I still need to hear that sis! I was told not to push a few times ..... uh huh. You mommas out there know how tough that is. I realize they were trying to keep things even paced and keep me from tearing, etc....well, I tried but the urge was overwhelming. I remember vocalizing "Baby is coming, he is ready!"
By this point I was in full trance, barely responsive, but I remember Dan saying the midwives were prepping the room expecting me to get to the bed for birth. Apparently they weren't expecting my labor to progress quite so fast.... (Nate was under an hour with less then 4 pushes) ...they were planning to check me at 545 and weren't ready for my calls of "He's coming!" at 530.
I remember Laurel and Jessica coming to check - Jessica felt the head and I remember them saying I wasn't going to make it to the bed. Laurel pushed me back in the tub so I was more lying down and went to grab something leaving Jessica by herself .... guess what? Quinton came on that push. 1 push my friends. He had made his way down that canal without much help from me ... lol. Jessica caught him, handed him to me and look for reinforcements -- realized she was by herself! Poor Jessica, first solo catch! Suzannah and Laurel were by the bed prepping. They came, checked me and helped me stand up.
The above all happened in water. My unintentional water birth :)
I walked over to the bed, with help, and had just laid down when the urge to push came and out came the placenta. Cord was cut by Dan somewhere in there ... I don't really remember that part as well. I was just ecstatic about my beautiful baby boy and was thankful the labor pains had diminished!
Being at the birthing center we can have as many visitors as we want -- so while I was at the labor center with Dan and my sis, my MIL picked up James and Nate and had made her way down to the center with them. They got there at 530, just minutes before he was born. My parents had been around the area since lunch time(had lunch with us actually).
As soon as I was covered up James and Nate got to meet Quinton. James fell in love instantly! Nate was more interested in hugging me and saying hi to all the people there, lol. Baby Q met both sets of grandparents, and most of his Aunts and Uncles within the first few hours of birth, just like James and Nate did. Such a blessing having so much family nearby!
So Quint was born, a happy healthy baby who took to nursing like a champ! We were able to leave the Center by 1030 and slept in our own bed :) James and Nate slept over at Nana's but came over first thing the next morning.
Yes, I am truly blessed to have been talked into the Bradley Method (thank you Heather!) which in turn led me to consider midwives and a natural birth. I had 3 very different births at this birthing center and wouldn't change a thing!
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