Born August 5, 2011
I woke up Thursday morning with a backache, nothing new, I
was almost 38 weeks pregnant and backaches come with the territory. In the late afternoon I began having very
sporadic contractions, not ones that I had to breathe through or concentrate
on, but not Braxton Hicks. They picked
up a bit in the evening, just enough that I asked Nick to not go into work that
night. But then by 9pm they were
sporadic and dwindling in strength. We
watched an episode of Alias on DVD and went to bed. I slept hard and good, not sure I even woke
up once to go to the bathroom. That was
until 3:28am – I was awoken by a CONTRACTION.
I was lying on my side in bed and was frozen in pain. I gained composure right as it was ending and
thought maybe I was dreaming. I lie there
awake and a few minutes later, another contraction. Not wanting to wake Nick unless it was
necessary I got into the shower. I’ve
never much been for baths in labor, I can’t move around enough. The shower allowed for change of position and
rocking. I made it in the shower until
just before 4am. I was in a lot of pain
and the contractions were getting stronger, so I woke Nick.
We both agreed that this was it.
We were going to have a baby and soon.
In the weeks leading up to Lyric’s birth,
Nick and I discussed options.
Since we
had gone “back on the road”, a homebirth in St. Louis with our midwife was not
an option.
So basically we had two
options; when I went into labor we would go to the local hospital where I would
labor with nurses I didn’t know and be delivered by a doctor I didn’t know,
while Nick and the children waited in the waiting room OR we could gather birth
supplies and have her wherever we were, just us.
I had been researching, more like avidly
studying unassisted birth since I was pregnant with Dillon (who ended up being
born in the car).
We prayed about our
decision and knew it was the right one. We decided to go
unassisted, all the while knowing that if either of us felt uncomfortable or
worried we would call 911.
We had
everything we needed, herbs, chux pads, cord clamps, Doppler, a shower curtain
liner to put under sheets, and many other random birth items.
I had books;
Heart and Hands,
Wise Woman Herbal for the Childbearing Year and
Spiritual Midwifery.
I was having back labor and the only position that was the
least bit comfortable was on my hands and knees. Sometimes I could rest my arms and lean on the
folded out sofa bed, but mostly I had to be on my hands and knees. Nick would squeeze my hips together or push
hard on my tail bone area. I kept asking
him to push harder, he didn’t believe me, but I NEEDED it. (Funny because the next day I had actual bruising
on my hips and tail bone…guess he WAS pushing hard.)
The children were all asleep, the older four in beds on the
other side of the half wall in the hotel suite and Jericho in a bed made on the
floor on the other side of the sofa bed.
I never once worried about waking them, I knew if they woke it would be
fine, it would be the right time.
The contractions were coming closer and they were lasting longer,
it was past 5am. Between a contraction I
told Nick we (actually meaning he) should probably get stuff ready for the
birth. I wasn’t sure where I would give
birth and since we were in a hotel, we decided to be overprotective. Waterproof pad (aka shower curtain liner)
under our sheets on the fold out sofa, chux pads on the floor on top of the
pillows I was kneeling on and extra chux pads in the bathroom. Also, he set out the scissor, cord clamp,
herbs, my 3 books, my notes, bowl for the placenta and extra towels. He was amazing, doing all this in the very
limited time between contractions and coming right back to me when he could
tell another was starting.
Not having a clock nearby I am not sure the timing of the
final stage of the labor. I began
feeling pushy, but also knew it wasn’t time just yet. I continued through a few more contractions,
still hurting immensely in my back. I
was 99% sure she was posterior (like Téadora was) and thought I felt her
rotating during contractions. I checked
myself and felt that I was complete except for a little lip (cervical lip)…I
had heard about lips, read about lips, but never knew exactly what it meant
until I FELT a cervical lip. I
pushed/stretched the lip (it was super easy, just like it wanted to be moved)
and was now 100% dilated. The bag of
waters was still intact. At this point I
was really bearing down with each contraction, but wasn’t trying to push. Being on my hands and knees didn’t feel right
anymore. I am not sure what it was, but
I NEEDED pressure on my back and the amount of pressure Nick could give wasn’t
enough. And as I think back, I think I
needed to look at him and focus with him, while pushing. So I got up onto the sofa bed and my body
took over.
Nick was everything to me during these last moments of
labor. I was squeezing his hand, pushing
on him with a foot (and all my might), needing his eye contact and wanting
constant updates about the baby. Her bag
of waters was protruding and then right as her head was crowning the back of
waters ruptured…it happened right as a contraction was ending, so I sat for
what seemed like forever with her head RIGHT there, ring of fire to the
fullest. She came a bit further, her
head all the way out, the cord was around her neck and Nick couldn’t slip it
off. I leaned forward and with on little
sweep, the cord was free. With one more
contraction she was out. She was born
into Daddy’s hands and then brought up to my chest with my hands. Oddly enough, she was neither born posterior
or anterior…she was born with her face facing the inside of my right
thigh. The only thing I can come up with
as to why that was, is that she was posterior and was rotating in labor like I
thought and didn’t make it all the way; either due to lack of time or her cord
being around her neck.
During the last minutes of the labor, Jericho popped up from
beside the bed, Dillon & Téadora peaked around the corner. And as she was coming up onto my chest Aidan
& Coda came around also. They all
kneeled and watched as their little sister had her first moments. We had NO idea what time she was born, we
looked at the clock it was 6:04am. Nick
and I were trying to guess how long it had been. And then Aidan said, “it was 5:58 when Dad said
she’s out and I heard her little cry.”
Well that settled it; Lyric Elizabeth was born on August 5, 2011 at
5:58am in a hotel outside of Oklahoma City, OK.
A bit later a dear friend and her children were our first
visitors. They had been visiting us on
their way back to Texas and just happened to be there for her birthday! And then later that day Nick bought a
scale. She weighed 6lbs and was 20in
long.
I have had such a hard time putting into words what those 2
½ hrs were to me. Lyric’s labor and
birth was the MOST amazing experience of my life. I listened to my body, fell deeper in love
with my husband and relied fully on my Father in heaven. The labor and birth felt SO natural, Nick and
I just flowed together, there was little talking and less questioning, and it
was as though we had done it 100 times, felt like we were “old pros”. Her birth was a truly healing
experience. Jericho was born just over 2
years ago, by emergency c-section, he & I almost didn’t make it, I was
hemorrhaging due to placenta previa. After
his birth I was scared, so scared it would happen again and even more so that
the outcome wouldn’t be positive.
Lyric’s pregnancy and birth healed me, took away my fears and was
beautiful.
One last thing, I am so very thankful for the amazing family
and friends and strangers that we have had in our life through this. I expected negativity and rudeness, I
expected to be treated as if we did something wrong. And I am so happy to say that we weren’t. We weren’t looked down on for going about
this birth the way we did, we were supported, loved and our decisions
respected. And for that I am forever
grateful.
More photos of Lyric Elizabeth here.
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