Thomas' Birth Story

As with Lola's birth, I want to document Thomas' birth.  So here is his birth story.

My goal for his birth was the same as with Lola's - to have a natural childbirth with no medications for induction, labor augmentation, or pain relief.  For Lola, I had to have Pitocin after my water broke and labor didn't start naturally, so I hoped to avoid that this time.

I was due on Tuesday, December 29, but I expected Thomas to arrive early since Lola did.  But 39 weeks came and went, and nothing happened.  I tried to wait patiently but I hated the unknown - Lola came unexpectedly early, so I didn't have to deal with that.

Labor started Saturday, December 26, at around 11pm when my water broke.  I was getting ready for bed and noticed a small gush when I went to the bathroom.  I wasn't sure at first if it was my water breaking, but after a half hour of leaking, I decided it definitely was.  Joseph was out with Ben and Horacio, so I texted him to let him know that he should come home.  I debated telling my parents since I didn't want to worry them unnecessarily, but I did so that they would be prepared to watch Lola in case we had to go to the hospital in the middle of the night.

I texted my doula, Renee, to let her know, and she said to just go to bed and try to get some rest.  So I took a shower and went to bed.  Of course I was so anxious that it took me until about 2am to fall asleep.  I was worried that contractions would start soon and I wouldn't be well-rested for giving birth, but I was also worried that labor wouldn't start naturally and I'd have to get Pitocin again.  I eventually fell asleep and was luckily able to sleep until 8am.

I had had some mild contractions during the night, but definitely nothing indicating active labor, so I called the midwife to see what I should do.  Lindley was on-call, and she said I could come in to get Pitocin to move things along or I could wait it out until the evening to see what happened.  I decided to wait.  She suggested walking and some exercises to get things going, so we all went for a walk in the park.  Renee told me to do a curb walk, with one foot on the road and one foot on the curb, so I did that for a while.  When we got home, I got on my hands and knees and did some pelvic tilts and rocking.

I still hadn't felt much by lunch, so I decided to take a nap around noon.  I felt what I thought might be my first "real" contraction around 1pm and started timing them on my app.  I kept resting in bed and had a few contractions about 20 minutes apart.  Then at 2pm things started to pick up.  I had my first contraction where I had to focus to get through it - I had to get out of bed.  Joseph had been doing things around the house, so I told him he needed to get ready to go to the hospital soon.

My contractions quickly became only 10 minutes apart, and I needed Joseph's support to get through them.  He took a shower and shaved between contractions, thinking that things were going slowly and it would be a while, like with Lola.  But my contractions kept getting longer and closer together.  By 3:30 they were 4 or 5 minutes apart and we were on our way to the hospital.

The hospital, Atlanta Medical Center, is only two miles down the road, but of course the drive was painful since I had one or two contractions on the way.  Joseph dropped me off at the ER entrance while he went to park, and the friendly receptionists checked me in and tried to distract me while I waited for Joseph.  I managed through a few contractions while waiting.  Then we went up to the seventh floor for labor & delivery.

We were assigned a super friendly nurse, Kat, who led us to room 12.  It was probably about 4pm at this point.  She asked a bunch of questions to get us admitted, and luckily Joseph was able to answer everything.  She hooked me up to the monitor, as they needed to monitor my contractions and the baby's heart rate for 30 minutes.  I stood the entire time and just held onto Joseph during my contractions, and he rubbed my lower back.  Like with Lola, all the pain I felt was in my lower back - I didn't really feel much in my abdomen.  But the pain on my pelvis was very strong, like Thomas was trying to pummel his way out.  Standing and swaying helped, as did having Joseph put pressure on my hips.

After Kat got all the information she needed, she wanted to check my dilation.  She said I was 7cm, and 8cm while contracting, so I was ready for the tub already.  They brought it in and started filling it up.

Renee was stuck in horrible traffic on the way to the hospital, so between that and the fact that my labor had progressed so quickly, she hadn't yet arrived.  Luckily Lindley, the midwife, came in and helped Joseph support me.

The tub was ready for me when the monitoring was done, so I got right in and it felt great.  I knelt on the padded bottom and leaned against the side.  Joseph sat outside the tub and reached in to rub my back when I needed it.  I felt a ton of pressure with every contraction, so I thought it might not be long before I was ready to push.  Renee finally arrived and joined Joseph in supporting me from outside the tub.

I think I was probably in the tub for 15 minutes or so before I started pushing.  My body just started doing it for me - I had expected it to take a little longer, but I was clearly ready.  The first pushing contraction was really long and hard, but then I got a break and a little rest.  Someone from the lab came in to take my blood, so I let her take it between contractions - definitely not ideal, but I didn't really notice since I was focused on labor.  On either the next contraction or the following one (I can't remember), I pushed out Thomas.  It all seemed so fast!  He was born at 5:22pm, and we had arrived in the labor room around 4pm.  I was in the tub for probably 30 minutes, and I pushed for probably 10.  I'm still in shock when I think about it.

It was a very intense labor.  Since it progressed so quickly, I didn't get much of a break between each contraction.  But it was so short that it was worth it - I got to meet baby Thomas even sooner.  I'm very pleased with how things went, both with the birth and of course the fact that Thomas is a healthy, perfect baby.

My recovery has been a little different this time.  I fortunately did not have to get stitches (which I had with Lola), so there is a lot less pain there.  But I am much more sore and achy than I remember with Lola, mainly on my tailbone and pelvis.  It's getting better, though, and I'm sure I'll be back to normal in a week or so.

My 39-week photo, which I failed to post previously

Going for a walk to get labor going

The whole family came

Thomas is born!

So happy