After I found out about the strep b ,and the getting to the hospital 4 hours before I had the baby to receive the proper dosage of antibiotics I was bumming. I had wanted to get to the hospital and push the baby out in 20 minutes. At that point I started to delve into the breathing techniques for hypnobirthing knowing being in the hospital would be much harder than at home. I watched You Tube videos of other Moms who had hypnobirthed in the hospital. I stayed positive, did a million herbal remedies to get rid of the strep b, and took lots of naps.
Last baby was 8 days late, which was fine with me. This wasn’t my first rodeo, and I know better than to waste precious moments of sleeping before a sleep thief is born. When he did decide to make his debut Hubbs and I were cuddled up in bed watching TV. I told him it might be the real deal these contractions had finally started to pick up traction. He said he would finish up his show and go to bed, but two hours later when I woke up he was still watching it. I told him they were still coming so it was now or never for sleeping. I put on a meditation and fell back to sleep. I woke up an hour later, and there was no going back to sleep this time. I grabbed my phone and head phones and started to deal with these contractions.
I ended up in the shower. I had to shave my legs and wash my hair before labor, and nothing feels better then a hot shower when you are trying to distract yourself from pain. I put my music on as loud as my phone could manage. Whenever the contractions would come I would push against the wall of the shower and pedal my feet. This is how I got through every single one. Concentrating solely on John Legends voice and the pressure of the wall on my hands. I was out of the shower when Hubbs woke up. He asked how much time we had, and I said I didn’t know but it didn’t feel like we needed to go yet. With the Lady Baby I had gotten to the hospital at 8.5 cm and still labored for 8 hours. I decided this would be a great time to paint my nails….. yep. After the nail painting I went to sit on my birthing ball and watch Supernatural. As soon as I sat down on the ball I felt a major push down.
I told Hubbs he had to call the Dr. now and tell him we were coming. The car ride was the WORST part of this entire experience. I ended up putting my meditation by Michelle Leclaire on over and over. Restarting at the part where she tells me my contractions feel light and make me smile. I would open the window at full blast in the middle of the contraction letting myself focus on the burning cold air. That 20 minutes felt like forever. When we got into the emergency room The attendant had the temperament of a DMV worker. My husband gave her the dirtiest look I have ever seen him give a person, but I just laughed. I am sure she has seen some crazy shit and has just coated herself in asshole to deal with it.
When we were waiting for the nurse I knew it was time to push. This baby was ready to go. When we got into the room I told the nurse I had strep b and this baby was ready to go. The resident checked and I was fully dilated. No time for antibiotics, no time to wait for my Dr. I cant say I heard them say anything else. I turned myself on all fours put my headphones back on. Turned up the DMX and pushed.
I like to inform the nurses of any bowel movement I might be having so when I kept saying I was peeing they said no problem. What I thought was pee was actually my water breaking. I looked down and saw brown. I didn’t panic though. The nurse said honey we got to get this kid out now, and I took a deep breath and did just that. I felt his head crown I heard him screaming. I did it. Two Dmx, and half a Trapt song and here was my baby.
The poor kid ended up with a huge hematoma from birth. We don’t know if it was because I birthed him so efficiently or if it was from trying to get a monitor on him when he was so ready to come out. He was not a happy little dude for the first ten minutes of his life.The good news was he was screaming so loud we knew he hadn’t aspirated on any poop.
I read so many stories about birthing and how you don’t get a medal, and you become a Mother anyway so why does it matter. For me it did matter. I have never in my life been so proud of myself. I had a lot of nurses tell me how impressive I was, and I said I know. I was impressed myself. I did it. I birthed my baby. I felt every single moment of that birth. I didn’t need an actual medal, because the power I felt from that experience was imprinted on my soul. I kicked the shit out of labor.
It seems silly really. Something woman had done for millions of years could make you feel so proud of yourself. I do think we have gotten away from the roots of birth. Im not saying you should go birth your baby in the woods alone, or that at times medical intervention isn’t necessary, but I do think we rely too much on modern medicine.
I have officially had three different kinds of births. The last one is my favorite story.
