Birth story.
The morning of April 4th my midwife came over and gave me herbs to take which would start my labor (the weekend previously we attempted castor oil; I was in prodromal labor for 24 hours and only progressed to 2 cm at which point my midwife gave me another set of herbs to stop the contractions so I could rest). The contractions started around 10am and I was encouraged to walk as much as possible. We were trying to keep my labor on the down low in case nothing happened again, so we went to Fred Meyers and walked and walked, then we walked from our house to Starbucks. The contractions were slowly getting stronger and more consistent by about 3pm they were roughly 5 minutes apart.We texted the midwife to update her. With the consistency of the contractions she really felt like things were progressing more normally and that we would probably have a baby that night. We decided to turn on the movie Interstellar to try and distract me from the pain; when I say distract me from the pain, the actual contracting of my uterus wasn't so bad... but my back was excruciating. After having gone through something similar the weekend before with no progress I was determined this time to do everything to get her out. Robert was helping rub my back and doing his best to keep me comfortable. By 10pm my back pain was becoming unbearable, I was sobbing and puking. My midwife came into the room to check me; after the most painful cervical check of my life she sat down on my bed. She held my hand while I sobbed and said "I'm sorry but you're still 2 cm." She kept reassuring me that I was being so strong but no matter how I continued with the delivery I had worked so hard, that no one would fault me for going to the hospital for relief. As a last ditch effort she suggested I get into the birth tub. Contractions at this point were all but 3 minutes apart, I was doing my best not to be discouraged. My midwife went home and I climbed into the tub, my back pain was immediately soothed. I was able to breath easily through the contractions. Robert turned on some calming music and we sat in the dim room while I floated in the tub until about 2am. I was exhausted, I climbed out about an hour later and did my best to sleep. I had contractions all night but I was able to get sleep through them. The next morning Robert got up and made pancakes I went upstairs to eat, got through half a pancake when the contractions came back full force. They were stronger than before, my back was so bad, I was shaking and screaming through them. I hurried downstairs to the tub, Robert refilled it, I climbed in and couldn't seem to get any relief. Nothing was comfortable, not even in between contractions. I was screaming for help, I finally looked at Robert and said "Call the midwife and ask her how we get into the hospital, I can't do this anymore". He literally stared at me with this look of 'umm nope, not gonna call' after repeating it over and over again and still getting the same look I yelled "Either you pick up the damn phone and call her or I'm calling the ambulance to come get me" (I may have used a few other choice words...). He reluctantly texted her, this was followed by a phone call and 3 hours later we were leaving for the hospital....(yes 3 hours later...) We got into the car and started driving, my midwife had said that Port Townsend hospital was ready for us. We headed that direction (that hospital is an hour away) with contractions every 3-5 minutes, I screamed through them; half way there we get a call from the midwife, she said that they spoke with the anesthesiologist and they told her they weren't willing to touch my back for an epidural (due to my back problems). My poor husband had to endure another hour of me screaming in the car while we turned around and headed for Saint Joe's in Tacoma, or so we thought...another call came after saying that Saint Joe's was full so we needed to head to Tacoma General. After a long arduous process of trying to get checked in. They finally came in to do the epidural, I did my best to put any thoughts of complications out of my mind. The epidural was simple but while he was putting it in I could tell it was only on the right side of my spine, he tried to adjust but in the end the relief only really came to my right side. About 10 minutes after they administered the epidural my water broke on its own, and about an hour later I was feeling immense pressure and much stronger contractions. I kept mentioning I felt a lot more pressure when the nurse finally checked she was very surprised to find I was already 9 cm. After telling me not to push for any reason until the doctor came in I did my best to just breath through the contractions. My back pain on the left side was getting more and more intense. For most people epidurals make it nearly impossible to move, for me I still had full mobility. I was able to push in the squatting position (almost on all fours), I kept yelling at the doctor not to touch me (he was a saint and allowed me to do it my way), Robert and our midwifes assistant were helping me focus through the contractions. To not tire myself out I would push through one contraction wait a contraction and then push on the next. After pushing for just under an hour the doctor was getting antsy and suggested using the vacuum, we declined and my midwife's assistant looked at me and said you got this curl around her and push through you got it; and when I looked up I remembered 'curl around her' I pushed and Kora was here. She came out right onto the bed. Robert and I were the first to pick her up; we put her on my chest and Robert was able to cut the chord. Holding her was like nothing I could have ever imagined, she looked up at me right away, it's like a love you have never felt before.
I had a supposed tiny 1 stitch tear (however my midwife's assistant later told me they would not have called it a tear and or stitched it), I was able to get up and walk soon after delivering her, had little to no swelling and was able to nurse almost immediately. I later found out that when we were admitted into the hospital my midwife had called the doctor explained the circumstances and he called triage to tell them to say I was 4cm so that they would admit me (when I had arrived I was still only about 2.5cm and 100% effaced). I also was told that I had been the talk of the hospital for awhile after, the doctor was proud to have a delivery like mine and I guess was boasting about it at a midwife conference a week later. I am so so eternally grateful for my patient loving husband, my super wonderful midwife and midwife assistant, the wonderful doctor, and my super kind nurse. My "active" labor was only about 3 hours long. I still thank my lucky stars there were no complications with the epidural and that she came out perfectly; I wouldn't change a thing about my delivery.
Kora Lynn Calixterio was born April 5, 2015 at 6:28pm was 5 lbs. 10 oz. and 19 inches long, she was and is perfect in every way. I still can't believe she's ours.
Here are some photos of laboring and of Kora
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| 2 am laboring at home |
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| 2 am laboring at home in the birth tub |
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| at the hopsital soon after she was born |
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| 1 day old |
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| 2.5 weeks old |
