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VBAC

Emma Sloan

Born April 22, 1997
7 pounds 14 oz., 20 inches

The birth of my oldest daughter, Rose, was a fine birth. She was born with a midwife in the hospital. While there were a few unexpected happenings during my labor and her birth, in general we got the birth we wanted for her, mostly because we were well educated (Bradley), very stubborn, and had at least some support from the midwife. I suspected, however, that Rose's birth could have been better had it not been in the hospital, since everything I did NOT like about her birth was directly related to being in the hospital. So even before our next baby was conceived, I started talking to home birth midwives and figuring out the practicalities of a home birth.

Our second baby was conceived shortly after Rose's 15 month birthday. I knew almost immediately that I was pregnant. We interviewed the two groups of Certified Nurse Midwives who attend home births in Chicago, and chose the group headed by Linda Graff, Women's Health Limited. There were three midwives in the group: Linda, Cathy and Heather. I hit it off with Heather immediately, and had a strong preference for her to attend my birth. Heather was pregnant, due at the end of July, but assured me that she'd still be attending births in April.

The pregnancy was a reasonably good one, though I was tired and impatient all the time, and didn't adore being pregnant the way I did my first pregnancy. Working more than full time at a high stress job probably didn't help that any. In about the fifth month, I asked a friend of mine from law school if she'd like to be involved in the birth, and she graciously agreed to be the person responsible for Rose during the birth. We spent a lot of time with Tara in those last few months of pregnancy, and she really grew to be a member of our family. There was some debate about whether Rose should be given the option to attend the birth, but after she freaked out at my getting my blood pressure taken, even after we had explained what was happening ahead of time in great detail, we decided that if it was a weekend day, Rose and Tara would go somewhere, and Tara would take Rose home until the baby was born.

My due date, which was determined by a very early ultrasound was April 18, the exact same date as it had been for Rose two years earlier. This was the only ultrasound during the pregnancy. I had a strong premonition at the beginning of the pregnancy that this baby would be early. So as March passed by and we were well into April with no signs of movement, I became both impatient and resigned. At 37 weeks, I started taking Evening Oil of Primrose orally and topically, and at 38 weeks added a tincture that contained both black and blue cohash. I was very large at that point! Rose had been posterior, and Emma had also been posterior for much of the pregnancy, but by this point she had turned herself about, which was more uncomfortable for me, but was a relief.

After much agonizing, I decided to leave work on my due date, which was a Friday. In spite of my premonitions from early in the pregnancy that this baby would come early, my due date came and went without any "twinges". I did get a call Friday night from Linda, who apologetically said that Heather had had a really hard birth the night before, so if I went into labor that night, I should call her instead. I remarked that I wished that I had something to call about, but it really didn't seem like anything was happening.

Monday night was Seder. Bob had gotten us invited to the house of an old friend. Rose had a great time. They seated us next to a relative who was a retired OBGYN. We got home pretty late.

I woke up a little before 6:30 a.m. on Tuesday, April 22 with something that felt like a real contraction. I wasn't sure, so I stayed in bed and tried to go back to sleep. Because I had worked so late into the pregnancy, spent Monday running around, and had come home late from Seder, I was pretty tired. I had gotten about 7 hours of sleep. About 10-15 minutes later I had another short, mild, but real contraction and felt like I had to use the bathroom. So I got up. By 7:00 I was convinced that these were real contractions, but short. The contractions continued to be very short (20 seconds or so) and pretty mild, but noticeable and irregularly spaced, ranging from 5 minutes to 30 minutes. I mixed up batter for matzo meal pancakes, and at a little after 7:00 Rose (and Bob) woke up. I made pancakes and we ate them. The contractions continued, and Bob and I were trying to decide whether he should go to work. At 8:00 I talked to Linda who said that it was really up to us, and she'd tell Heather that she'd probably be needed sometime that day. Tuesday is their office day, so Heather was on her way to the office at that time.

We decide that Bob should go teach, but be prepared to leave. He took Rose off to daycare and went to work at about 9:00, and I crawled into bed to try to sleep. Heather called at about 9:20 trying to assess the situation. We agreed that I should take a nap.

I woke up at about 11:30 to a ringing phone. It's Heather. She's sorry that she woke me up. It's clear that the contractions have slowed down. Heather said that she'll be in the office until 2:00, and then head home. I putter around the house, and made chicken soup, so there would be something good in the house to eat for labor. Bob came home at about 1:15, and we decide to go out for lunch. On our way out of the building we see our realtor (we had a house under contract and were trying to sell our condo) who is single and has no concept of what babies are like, much less labor. I tell her that I am having "twinges" and she shouldn't schedule more showings until she hears from us again. (She really doesn't get it, she called later in the day, when we told her politely but firmly not to call us, we'd call her.)

So Bob and I went out for a nice, leisurely lunch (at Bistro 110), followed by visit to a bookstore (Borders) and a stroll down Michigan Avenue. Contractions were still mild and 20-30 minutes apart. We get home at about 4:00, and I decide that I needed a nap. Bob called Tara to warn her that she would be needed. Her brand new boyfriend had spent all day cooking an elaborate dinner. Oh well. Bob called his barber and got an appointment for a haircut for 5:45. I was supposed to pick Rose up at daycare, which closed at 6:30. He left at 5:30 and my contractions were still very mild and irregularly spaced.

At around 6:00 I got out of bed to get Rose when my bag of waters broke. First I beeped Bob at the barber's (who did a scandalously bad job of cleaning him up!) and told him to pick up Rose, and then called Heather. Contractions picked up to about 8 minutes apart or so (I wasn't timing) and got more intense, but still short. Heather said to call back in another hour. I guess I sounded really in control.

Bob and Rose came home around 6:30, and Bob started timing my contractions, which are about 3-5 minutes apart, and around 30 seconds long (some longer some shorter), and very intense. I talked to Heather at around 7:00, and we decided that Bob and I should try to get Rose to bed and that would be easier if Heather was not there. So Heather put her kids to bed, and we started into the night time/ bed time routine with Rose.

In both of my labors, I found that it was much easier to deal with contractions standing and walking around. In this labor, it was essential. I was still functioning pretty well as we got Rose her dinner at 7:20, and started the bedtime routine (I couldn't sit at the table for all of Rose's dinner). Bob gave Rose a bath, I sang her the obligatory lullabies, and she went off to sleep. She hasn't slept so well since! While Rose was in the bath, at about 8:00, I called Heather and said that I thought we were going to need her. She said that she'd be there in about 45 minutes. It was at this point that the contractions got closer together and harder, and I hoped that Heather was going to hurry. I have a feeling that they were intensifying all through Rose's dinner, and that I tried to ignore the increasing intensity because I really wanted to get Rose to bed before fully concentrating on birthing this baby.

I got in the shower, but it didn't help much and I didn't have anything good to lean against, so I got out of the shower. I found that lying down or sitting down made the contractions harder to handle. It felt quite good to be lying down between contractions, but much worse during contractions. They were quite intense and only about 30-40 seconds apart, though they still felt pretty short. It was at this point that I remember thinking that I understood why some women would want drugs, but that as long as I knew that the contraction would end, I was just fine. In retrospect, this may have been the beginning of a very mild transition.

After Rose was in bed, Bob started running around and setting things up. He put the various layers of sheets on the bed, set up the crock pot, made the supplies available, and I'm sure he did other things which I was unaware of.

Heather got to our apartment at around 8:30, which was earlier than she said she'd be there. Boy was I happy to see her. She asked how I was doing, and started unpacking bags. My contractions were so close together that I barely had time to sit between each one, and they were quite intense. I was also having some bleeding with each contraction, which Heather said was good. I thought that I still had hours to go. Heather got the Doppler out and checked the heart tones, which were good. Bob was around, and both he and Heather kept telling me how well I was doing. I didn't feel like I was doing all that well. Sometime during this, at about 8:50, Joy, the nurse showed up. I'm not sure that I ever saw her until after the birth, though I remember Heather asking her for things as the baby was being born. Heather continued to unpack equipment, and I felt like I had to use the bathroom, so I went into the tiny bathroom off of our bedroom. The total floor space in this bathroom is about 2 feet by 3 feet, and it had a sink and vanity with a mirror on one wall, a toilet, and a shower on the third wall.

After an unsuccessful try to use the toilet, I had a very strong contraction, which in the middle changed from an opening contraction to a pushing contraction. The urge to push was so strong it scared me! I yelled out for Heather, and Bob and Heather came running. I yelled that I HAD to push, and Heather, in a very calm voice asked me where I wanted this baby to be born. The bathroom counter was just the right height, and I wanted to be standing, so I asked if it was O.K. to stay in the bathroom. Heather put down chux pads on the floor. I leaned on the bathroom counter in a standing squat with my head down. Had I been looking up, I would have been looking at myself in the mirror. Bob was in the shower behind me, and Heather was actually outside of the bathroom squatting on the floor. After the first push or two I wanted to take a break. Everything was happening too fast, and I was really afraid that I would tear in the front, since I could feel the head right there. as it turned out, I only had a little scrape. But Heather said to keep pushing. She was using the washcloths we had heated in the crock pot as compresses, but Heather said they were a little too hot when they first came out so Joy ran them under cold water in the kitchen to cool them. In another 2 pushes or so, Emma was born. It was 9:05.

I'm pretty sure that Bob caught her and then placed her on the chux on the floor. This time Bob got it right the first time: a girl! With a full head of hair, even more than her sister! We began calling her Emma immediately. I was afraid that she wasn't breathing, but she was, and Heather calmed me down and reminded me that the umbilical cord was still attached. As she was born, she passed meconium, so there was baby poop in unlikely places in our bathroom, but since it was as she was being born, not before, there was no worry about aspiration or anything else.

Now everything gets hazy. We all moved to the bed. By this time the cord had stopped pulsating, and Bob cut the cord while Emma was on my tummy and looking for her first meal. We put a heated towel over her, and she nursed like an old experienced pro. I delivered the placenta onto a chux. It was really big. Emma nursed and we cuddled for some time while Joy examined the placenta to make sure it was all there. During this time Bob's parents called, and got the good news. Bob told them that we were waiting to weigh her before calling. We called the doorman, and told him it was a girl. Heather examined her on the bed, gave her eye drops and the vitamin K shot, and weighed her on a fish scale attached to a sling.

Heather insisted that I eat a solid meal before she would let me out of bed, even to take a shower, so Bob ordered a delivery of Persian food for dinner. My chicken soup was not deemed a solid meal Sometime during all of this, Tara came bringing dessert. Boy was she sorry she missed the birth. I think she had no clue how fast it was going to be. After a while Heather let me out of bed and Joy helped me take a shower. I really couldn't figure out what all of the fuss was about. I felt GREAT! The first 2 layers of the bed were stripped, and Joy put all of the towels and sheets used in the birthing in the laundry.

By 11:15 Heather and Joy had left, and Emma and I were in bed just sort of staring at each other. Rose woke up, and Bob went and got her out of bed instead of putting her back to bed in her crib, which really startled her. So she did get to meet her baby sister the night she was born. And then she went back to sleep, and we followed suit.

It was a wonderful birth. In retrospect, I would have told Heather to come earlier. Perhaps I would have realized my negative thoughts were a sign of transition, but maybe not. There were a few noticeable differences from a hospital birth other than the obvious fact that it was at home, and you don't generally get hooked up to machines or IVs at home, and you don't have to move to another location before or after the birth. I never had an internal exam during my labor, or any other time during the pregnancy after the initial visit. I also never had my blood pressure taken, but that was because things were moving so fast. Emma did not get a bath. Joy wiped any blood off of her, and we rubbed the vernix into her skin. We didn't have to worry about her temperature dropping when she got wet, and all of the good oils stayed on her skin. Her first bath was when she was 3 days old. Two days later, Joy came back to check on us and to do the PKU heel stick. Emma saw her first pediatrician at 10 days of age.

Two months later we moved into our house, so I no longer live where Emma was born, which makes me a little sad. It was really special to have given birth to her at home.