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Week by Week

Anna Marie

Thought this might be a good place to tell the world how nice our natural childbirth was. Here goes,

Monday morning around 1:00a.m. Laurie wakes me up to tell me this is it. I question her contractions (time, severity, etc...) we both conclude that even though it is exciting we should continue to sleep. At 5:00 neither of us could sleep so I was sent to the store to get her an apple fritter. I returned home with her request and also some fresh roses (both hard to find that time of day). We laughed and talked until we could call the birth center and make an appointment. When they told us to come in around 4:00 we figured we would have it by then. Needless to say we waited, timing contractions, packing bags, keeping ourselves busy. Finally the time rolled around. We had hopes that the midwife would tell us that she was really dialated and we could expect the child real soon. Laurie's heart was broken to find out she was only one cm.

After the disheartening visit we went home and I put Laurie to bed, rubbing her lower back and reassuring her that time will pass quickly. After she went to sleep I figured I'd better review my coaching technique so I went to play some golf. Having figured out a strategy I returned home to get to work.

Before Laurie got up from her nap I ran a tub for her, lit some candles, pulled the shades, unplugged the phone, etc... We made it to the tub and while I bathed her I took the roses from the morning and pulled the pettals off one by one while speaking of memories of our relationship until the last pettal was for the memory of our childbirth. The relaxation and bonding was great for the three of us.

When the bath was over it was time to get down to business. Contractions increased in severity and duration. I started to get worried when Laruie vommited. I could tell she was in pain when the contractions peaked. All I could do was rub her lower back (we found that if she knelt on all fours they were not as painfull and I could help more) tell her to continue to breath regularily and help her remember the relaxation techniques. After she vommitted a second time I called the midwife. She reassured me this was normal and got the low down on Laurie's contractions. The midwife spoke to Laurie long enough for her to have a contraction then the phone was handed back to me. Our midwife told me her estimate was that we should plan to call her back around 10 or 11p.m. to set a time to meet at the center. I took her word for it and buckled down again to do some more work.

The time now is around 8:30p.m. and here is where things really excellerate. Contractions keep coming so often that I don't bother to time them. Sometimes they would double peek. Laurie was being a trooper through these and all the time I made it a point to tell her what she needed to here. Things got too fast and to furious and feeling like a wimp I called the midwife back to tell her we were coming in. She agreed to meet us there at 9:45 I told her we would be there at 9:30.

Time was flying. By the time we got Laurie in a robe it was time to go. Just then a contraction came and Laurie said she had to push. I knew that if she did we would be having the baby at home. I told her to resist the urge and that we were leaving as soon as it was over. It ended. We got up to leave and Laurie said she had to go to the bathroom, I know better than to disagree with a woman in third stage labor so I grabbed as towel and told her she could go while we were riding. We like to compromise.

We arive at the birth center at 9:30. Lori, our midwife, helps Laurie out of the car. She helps her to the room and helps her to the bathroom. While the two were working the nurse and I went for our bags. Then the air was shattered by a resounding SCREAM. The nurse promptly turns around saying to forget the bags we're having a baby. The nurse and Lori help Laurie to the bed. She's ten cm and the water just broke. The head is engaged and Laurie can push on the next contraction. After two contractions on her back Laurie decides that her side would be better. One more contraction and the midwife tells Laurie to reach down and feel the babies head. This put my wife into high gear. With all of us coaching and encouraging her she pushes one more time and the head is birthed. Only one more push, now relax and push with the next contraction. Then our little baby girl was on the outside with us. I can barely remeber anything else other that her little blue eyes looking at us from Laurie's chest as I was crying tears of joy and thanking God for his miracle. We named her Anna Marie.

The point of this long post is to encourage all mothers and coaches that you can have a child without modern medical intrusions. No pitocin no epidural, no doctor telling you that you need an episiotomy or internal fetal monitor. If you have ever thought about doing it naturally YOU CAN. You will be forever thankfull that you did!!!

Dan O