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Tristan Andrew's Birth

Announcing the arrival of...

Tristan Andrew
November 1, 1995
5:27 pm
8lbs, 1.5 oz.
22 in.
Apgars 9 and 9

On Oct. 31 I had a visit with my midwife. Originally, they had calculated my due date as Oct. 24, although, I thought I knew when this baby was conceived and thought the due date was Nov. 1. So, we left that visit convinced I really wasnšt that far overdue yet.

That night, at 2am I got up to go to the bathroom and as I was climbing back into bed I felt a pop, kind of like a button popping, and there was a trickle . I wasnšt sure if this was my water breaking or not, so I got up to check...then it gushed...now I was sure. I tried to go downstairs without waking my husband, Bruce, or my mother (who was staying with us to help), but they woke anyway. I was hungry, thirsty, and cold so we made tea and toast and turned up the heat. An hour and several soaked towels later, the gushing seemed to have subsided somewhat, and I took a shower. Since no contractions had started, we decided to try and get some sleep. Needless to say, no one was able to sleep much. I spent two hours timing mild contractions, which were coming anywhere from 4 to 9 minutes apart. By six I was bored with doing this by myself. My mom got up with me and we timed them together for about an hour. They were about 5 minutes apart pretty regularly, but only about 30 seconds to the peak. I could still talk through them and joke around. At 7:30 I called the midwife to let her know what was going on. She said call again when they had been five minutes apart, lasting a minute for about an hour. I stuck Aladdin in the VCR to distract me and make the time go faster. By 11am they were 3-4 minutes apart, last 30 to 45 seconds to peak, and much more uncomfortable. The midwife said, since we had a 45 minute drive to the birth center, we should come on in.

Turns out we picked exactly the right time to leave. The drive was uncomfortable. We got there around 12:30. By one o'clock all my vital signs had been checked, and I just wanted to lie down and moan through the contractions. At 2 pm, I had my first exam: 6cm dilation! This was encouraging! The midwife got me into the hot tub and now the contractions got really nasty. I did not expect to be a screamer. I'm a pretty reserved person; I thought I might just moan through these. Well, I was wrong. For the next several hours I was yelling, No!, Stop!, I hate this!, and other nonsensical things. Bruce and mom took turns sitting on the edge of the tub behind me supporting me with their knees, and the midwife used an external monitor to check baby's heartbeat regularly. I was able to relax really well between contractions, most of the time. The worst ones were when the pain of the last hadn't subsided before the next began. These were especially hard because I felt like I hadn't had a chance to collect myself and prepare for the next one. The other hard part was not knowing how long this would go on. I kept saying, I can't do this for hours and hours! The midwife could only say, I don't think you'll have to I wanted someone to say, only half an hour more... or just five more of these... or something like that.

The midwife recognized that I was ready to push before I did. She said I was making grunting noises at the end of the contractions, and suggested that I get out of the tub and try to go to the toilet. She said she thought I was probably fully dilated. With a towel wrapped around my shoulders I sat on the toilet for about twenty minutes pushing. Bruce sat on a stool in front of me. In between contractions, I rested with my arms around his neck and my head on his shoulder. This was pretty comforting. When each contraction came, I would grab the corners of the towel, bury my face in it and grunt and groan-- little different from my previous yelling, but no less vocal. I didn't really want to move, but the midwife wanted to check my progress, so they got me to the bed. After another contraction, she checked me and said, I can feel the head! More encouraging words! It was at about -3 station. The midwife called in the nurse on call. I stayed in the bed on my right side. Bruce held my leg up for me through a few contractions, then the head started to crown. My mom took over the leg holding role so Bruce could climb up on the bed to catch his baby. I was shaking and shuddering as each contraction started and making it through them noisily. I was surprised at how much painful pressure there was on the rectum, and the burning stretching sensation was pretty intense. After less than an hour of pushing the head emerged, then shoulders, then baby! Immediately crying, on my stomach, suctioning, warm towel, wide open eyes, cameras. It was almost a full ten minutes before we lifted the towel to see if it was a boy or a girl!

Recovery has been pretty standard. In spite of warn compresses, I had a 2nd degree tear about the size and location of an episiotomy, which got stitched up. I'm still a little sore. I had several days of insomnia: even though I was physically exhausted, I couldnšt sleep, even when he was sleeping. I'm getting better at this now, though. The first day alone in the house with him when Bruce went back to work was a little scary, but we survived. Nursing has been a challenge. He cannot figure out the latch-on. My nipples are sore and cracked and each nursing session (every 1 to 2 hours during the day) has been traumatic for both of us. Once he latches on, he eats plenty, but the 5-10 minutes of trying to get it mean tears for both of us. I dread each session and hope it gets better soon!

I highly recommend midwife-assisted birth center birth! This was my first baby and it was a positive supoortive environment from the very beginning. I felt in control of all decisions. The birth atmosphere was quiet, dimly lit and very relaxing. Labor is not an easy thing to go through and everything that was done for me was affirming.