Hank’s Birth Story
3.3.2021 5am
I was woken up by painful contractions, coming every 15 minutes or so… they lasted throughout the morning, getting ever so slightly progressively longer and stronger.
I had, though, been having prodromal labor for the past few weeks, sometimes with contractions very close together that didn’t go anywhere… I would go to sleep and they would subside, and I would wake up in the morning slightly disappointed.
This felt different, but I was having trouble trusting that it was really go time.’
And still, I had the door installers scheduled to come finish the sliding door hardware so I just allowed that to continue, answering questions between surges. It was silly, but it was what it was.
3.3.2021 12pm
I went to acupuncture and had painful contractions I breathed through on the table, but it still felt like early labor. I got home and went for a short walk with Emily Funabiki, a NICU nurse who is 38 weeks pregnant. Continued having contractions but I could walk and talk through them.
At around 8 I decided to lay down and rest, I was starting to having to moan through contractions or hold Shaffer’s hand… but it still felt like early labor to me and to Angela when I called. At around 10 or 11 things ramped up. I needed help and Shaffer was in and out of sleeping and getting in position to help me. By midnight I couldn’t lay on my side anymore… and I would have a bunch of contractions right on top of one another after I peed, and then it would take another 6 minutes or so to have another one.
3.4.2021 2:30am
We were trying not to call the midwife too early, but we may have pushed it a little to far. When we called, she listened to one contraction and had Shaffer tell me to get on my side if I felt pushy. I thought I was feeling like pushing but the contractions were so painful that I just couldn’t really tell. I was vocalizing so much and I really needed encouragement… I was just screaming and clinging to Shaffer’s hand for dear life- I did end up laying on my side because I was worried that I would start to push, but I really didn’t want to be on my side and every surge that came felt so intense.
I was so happy when I heard Angela come into the room- but I couldn’t even really see her. She said, “okay, we are going to do a lot of things, really fast”. And when I had surges she would say things like, “wow that is really powerful emily, you are doing amazing” and it really helped to hear the word “power”... she also said I was safe, and my body knew what to do, and I had things from my meditations running through my head that helped too. Like, your body knows how to birth your baby etc… but they were just little snippets, brief moments when my brain tried to scare me and I was able to bring myself back.
After another surge on my side, Angela checked me and said I was complete but had a little anterior lip, but it was movable and I would be able to push if I felt like it. She said I should do whatever my body felt like doing. So I asked if I had to stay on my side and she said no, you can be in whatever position you want. I got on all fours, held Shaffer, ended up on my forearms, and eventually we got the birthing ball on the bed, me on my knees draped over the ball, and Shaffer holding my hands. Or rather, me squeezing Shaffer’s hands to the point of bruising them. :)
This is how I pushed Hank out.
Every surge that came, Angela had me push a little more, and I couldn’t believe my body’s ability to feel his descent through my pelvis! When I felt the head retract back up, I said, “I felt it move back up!!” And she said that’s good, you want to feel it come down and stretch and then retract a little… at a certain point I also felt baby WIGGLE in my pelvis and freaked out a little but Angela said, “baby is getting in a good position, this is great, your doing great” She eventually said, you can reach down and feel the sac of water, and feel the head behind it.
My water hadn’t broken yet- so “you have a strong sac!” Was repeated multiple times :) when I reached down I said, “oh my god, that’s amazing…” and then I cried “that’s amazing!” It was… and with each surge I could hold my hand there and push into my hand, feeling the sac of water bulging below his head.
Pushing really helped the pain of the surges… I was pooping and Angela would clean me up between pushes which felt very intimate and funny at the same time. Eventually I was able to feel the ring of fire- I felt it approach and recoiled, not wanting to endure it, but I knew I could, and I did. Once the head was born I could tell it was still in the sac, and heard Angela say, “nuchal cord, okay Emily with the next push it needs to be the biggest push of your life,” and I said “okay, I can do that” and she said, “yes you can do this, and the other midwives said, “you’ve got this”. So I screamed and pushed and as he was sliding out, Angela got the cord off his neck, the bag of water broke, and he had a giant meconium poop all at once before they brought him to my chest.
3.4.2021 3:55am
Slimy and perfect. Henry Arthur Spaeth, Hank. Immediately screamed and looked right at us… a full term baby if I’ve ever seen one.
They let us just revel in him for a little before addressing my placenta. Eventually, they said I really needed to push it out… I told them I didn’t really want to, but I would. It came out and then Angela had to massage my belly to get some clots and gushes of blood out… very painful but nothing like those surges before pushing.
Henry latched and nursed for a while, I breathed through my little uterus contracting contractions and they cleaned everything up. Eventually I got in the shower to clean up and get the blood off myself and try to pee… somewhere after a few hours they did the newborn exam while Henry just wailed… I nursed him while he got his vit k shot, and then Shaffer and I rested while the midwives enjoyed some well deserved food- homemade chicken pot pies!
3.4.2021 7:30am
The midwives went over postpartum care and reasons to call and then left us to rest. Wow.
