I am so excited to share my birth story with you. Baby number two was an absolute dream come true. I am so glad that we went to our hypo-birthing class for a second time and feel so grateful to Launi (our instructor) for everything that we have learned. We love her and think she is wonderful and truly enjoyed her classes! (She is hilarious!) We really took practicing seriously this time around and I especially focused on the breathing aspect of birth, something I was really lacking with our first child. You can never practice too much, but you can absolutely practice too little. That was certainly the case with our first even though we still had a good experience.
When Launi told us about one of her students that had 20 second surges I remember thinking that was NOT normal and that she must have been some sort of exception. Never in my mind did I think that could be me, but it WAS!!! I was in active labor for two hours, had one half hour of intense surges and my surges were never more then 20-30 seconds! I thought I was a believer of hypo-birthing before but now? I could do it one hundred times! Such a great experience!
On November 6th I woke up feeling super energized. Josh let me sleep in and I lounged around a bit until 9 am. Josh came in and said "hey, if you want the baby to come today you should get up and start moving around!" (Smart man he is). I got up and decided to put up my fall/thanksgiving decor. Our home is a type of split level so we have a lot of stairs. I must have gone up and down those stairs 30 times while I was moving around the house cleaning and changing out decorations.
I had been having braxton hicks contractions since 20 weeks and they were nothing new to me. However, around 11 am they were starting to feel a little bit stronger then normal. I didn't think too much of it but figured that if labor was starting I better keep moving! We had been begging the baby to come for the last 24 hours so I just assumed it wasn't going to happen today. For some reason I thought it would have started in the early morning. (I dont know why haha). I dusted and vacuumed the entire house. I felt really peppy, hyper almost in a way. I couldn't stop moving and I literally could not sit! I swept and mopped the kitchen, did some laundry and started to realize that my "braxton hicks" were feeling pretty consistent. I didn't want to get my hopes up but I got out my phone and started to time a few of them. They seemed to be coming about every ten minutes.
I took a shower and danced the entire time (there is an image for you) I just knew that I needed to keep moving so I stood in the shower and swayed. I was still feeling giddy. The surges were getting a bit stronger but still just felt like a tightening in my uterus nothing painful by any means. I texted my sister a few times (she is an RN) asking her "Could this be labor? I'm really confused! My braxton hicks are really consistent but they don't last very long..." I felt really silly but I just couldn't tell if I was in labor. ( A total dream come true!) Around 2:00 p.m I just decided it must be labor since my "surges" were still consistent but I still wasn't sure. I got ready for the day and told Josh to call his mom and let her know that the baby could possibly come today but we will keep her posted if anything feels certain. (She was on grandma duty for my two year old daughter).
I started to slow down during the next few surges. I would stop and sway and I found myself moving my arms around at my side as if lightly treading water. I found it really soothing to picture myself floating in water and then on I would go moving around the house. Josh started to follow me around with a skeptical look on his face. He kept saying "I don't think this is labor!" I didn't either to be honest. This was way too easy. He pulled out his phone and said "tell me the next time you feel a surge come on." We moved around the house and every time I felt something he would start the timer. Never was a surge longer then 30 seconds. Most of the time they were 20 seconds on the dot. I remember laughing and saying. "Well geez if this is really labor then this is a piece of cake! I can do anything for 20 seconds! This can't be labor though...this is too easy! Labor isn't this easy!" I finished getting ready for the day and ate some lunch. At about 2:30 I started getting this really anxious feeling. I didn't know why I was feeling anxious but I felt like we really needed to go to the birth center. My surges were now about three minutes apart and they were feeling a bit stronger. I wasn't in any pain but I just really felt like we needed to go soon. I called the midwife hotline and Josh called his mom and I gathered together my daughters clothes and over night bag. Josh was feeding her lunch and she threw her soup bowl on the floor. The bowl broke and right then I got really stressed out and said "we really need to go now!" My midwife told us to come on over and that she would meet us at the birth center.
I went in our bedroom and paced around anxiously. Josh's parents finally came and got Clara all situated to go to their house for the night. I was able to relax again and calm myself down.We grabbed our bag and a towel to sit on (just in case) and left for the birth center. My surges were starting to get uncomfortable. It felt like we hit every red light and bump on the way to the center. We only live 5 minutes away so we walked in at 3:00 pm. We were all smiles and my midwife Trinett greeted us at the door. She asked me how I was feeling and I said I was doing great but felt like we needed to come in. She watched me through a couple of surges and said "Wow! You are doing really well!" Just then my favorite midwife ever (SOOOOOO highly recommend her) Amy walked in. She wasn't on call but she promised me that she would be there for my birth and there she was! She asked me if I wanted her to check me but that I didn't have to. Only if I wanted to know how I was progressing. I said yes and she waited for a surge to pass and then told me I was dilated to about a 7. I was shocked! I fully anticipated her telling me I was at a 3 or a 4 because up until now I hadn't even really been uncomfortable. She suggested we fill up the tub soon.
This experience was so different from the hospital. They put on some soft, soothing music and turned the lights down low. Then they pretty much left Josh and I alone to relax and do our thing. (No "checks" or questions or probing. Just a quiet, relaxing environment to practice our hypo-birthing. My doula Sophie arrived and came into the room with Josh. She would offer me food and water and would ask me if I wanted anything. (They have a fully stocked kitchen for you). I felt a little bit silly, awkward even because in between surges I felt great! I would snack on cheese and crackers and we would laugh and talk and then I would go quiet for 20 seconds and move my arms around lightly in the water. Kneeling in the water felt the best at the time. That way I was free to float my hands in the water and could stay upright. Sophie would stroke my face and remind me to breath slow and softly. Then we would go back to talking. Amy came back in to see how I was doing and she said "I think as soon as your water breaks you will have a baby!"
It was 4:00 pm and Josh suggested walking around the center. I got out of the tub and paced back in forth down the hall from the bedroom to the bathroom for about 30 minutes. Sophie followed behind and would lightly press on my back during surges while I leaned on Josh. I really focused on breathing up and "filling the balloon". Josh is super intuitive and said "the next time you feel a surge stop and move your legs apart a little bit while you sway" Then he said "Your water is going to break...should I take my socks off or put my shoes on?" We all laughed and I was like "what are you talking about?" Then on the next surge I stopped and moved my legs apart, swayed for half of a second and GUSH! My water broke all over the floor at exactly 4:30. Surprised, all I could think of saying in that moment was "Sorry!" Amy laughed and said "Sorry? This is fantastic! Your surges are going to get stronger now and that baby is coming!"
She was right. The next surge was significantly stronger then the one previous. I got back in the tub on my knees and really focused my breathing. I would lightly move my arms around and swayed side to side. Josh softly used the hypo-birthing prompts to help me relax. Sophie was awesome and such a calming influence. She would squeeze my hips during surges. Both would breath with me and quietly remind me to relax my face and to go limp and loose. This felt like hours but when I started to feel strong pressure I looked over at the clock. Only 20 minutes had passed since my water broke. I told Amy that I was feeling some strong pressure and she knelt down next to the tub. I started to breath the baby down with each surge. My surges were starting to come back to back and I had a strong urge to push. I remembered the birth breathing I had been practicing and focused my breathing downward. I knew that I needed to be upright but staying on my knees just didn't feel right anymore. I moved around trying to find a position but I couldn't get comfortable so Amy suggested lying on my side. (The tub had a slanted back so I wasn't lying down but just tilted on my right side with my head resting on the tub).
Sophie helped to push against my left foot. I started to push with the next surge. Amy told me to reach down and feel the babies head. (That was really cool!) I couldn't believe how fast this was going! The pressure then got really, really intense. Amy said that the babies head was crowning. The next surge I pushed and his head was out. I was confused why he wasn't out already and the pressure was still super intense. She said that his shoulders were stuck and to give one last good push while she guided him out. I reached down to support my perineum and pushed as hard as I could. Amy said "grab your baby Kassi!" I reached down and scooped him up to my chest. At exactly 5:00 p.m Everett John Nelson was born! 8 pounds 9 ounces and 22 inches long! I could not believe that he was here or how big he was! He had a full head of dark brown hair and was as calm as could be! He stared up at me and we waited until his cord stopped pulsing. It was really cute to see him tracking Josh every time he would talk. He knows who his daddy is! He was so calm and content on my chest and I just talked to him and welcomed him into the world. (Guys! Hypo-birthing! Hospital birth or not why would you not do this?)
It took almost 45 minutes for his cord to fully stop pulsing and go limp. I thought that was a crazy long time but I enjoyed holding him while we waited. His cord was super thick and strong. It took a while for Josh to cut through it. I had Josh take the baby once the cord was cut so that he could warm up and we waited for the placenta to deliver. It was taking a while and I was uncomfortable in the tub so we carefully got up and moved to the bed to wait for the placenta. It took another 20 minutes before the placenta released. (A little over an hour after delivery of baby).After they got me cleaned up and the baby tests done they left us to relax and spend time together as a new family. (Sophie was so awesome. She gave me a foot rub while they were cleaning me up. I tore just a tiny, tiny bit and I am a total needle phone so she distracted me while they were placing the sutures. Amy said the tear was super straight forward. I know it may have been different if I had been upright but I just wasn't comfortable until I was on my side). Our check out time wasn't until 11:00 p.m so we relaxed and nursed and held our son for a few hours before we went home. The birthing room was like a big, cozy bedroom. It was so nice to have time to ourselves with no interruptions or distractions.
