It was January 7th. I had been off of work for winter break since December 19th. I was supposed to go back to work on Monday, January 6th but school was cancelled on the 6th and 7th due to extreme cold temperatures. I was two days past my “guess date” which was making me eager, especially after having two weeks off of work and being stuck inside for two days straight, but Matt and I ended up having a productive, yet relaxing day. That morning I listened to my “Joyful Pregnancy Affirmations” while making breakfast and then did the “Hypnotic Childbirth #1” home-play. I then did my pelvic floor exercises (click here to learn about the Restorative Exercise ™ this mom did with local Hypnobabies instructor and Restorative Exercise ™ Specialist Lindsay McCoy) followed by a DVD pregnancy yoga session to relieve some lower-back discomfort I was having. While doing the yoga DVD, I started to feel a dull, constant ache/cramping. It felt like constant pressure on my pelvis. Matt asked me if it was anything that I could time, but I couldn’t since it was constant with no beginning or end. It lasted for about an hour or two and then went away. To fill our day, we decided to organize some childhood photos into photo books, play cards and make some soup.
We ate around 6:00pm and then continued playing cards. Around 6:30PM, I started feeling pressure waves that I could determine beginning and end points, so we started timing them. They were really sporadic and didn’t last very long. They ranged from 3 to 12 minutes apart but only lasted for 10 to 40 seconds. I had Matt put an asterisk by some of them because I wasn’t sure if they even counted. We timed them for an hour while we continued to play cards. I was thinking these were “practice waves.” During this time, my grandma called to tell me that I was going to start feeling contractions in the middle of the night and the baby would be born the next day (on my grandma’s birthday). I told her I’m not sure what the “real” contractions would feel like and she said “oh, you’ll know.” That confirmed that what I had been feeling were just “practice waves,” so when I received a text from a co-worker at 7:15PM wondering if I would be at work the following day, I told her I thought I would. At 7:45PM, I took a shower and the “waves” seemed to go away. Matt and I watched some TV, while I was on the floor doing exercises to help my lower back and to help the baby be in optimal position for birth. I had been worried about the baby being positioned on the right side which I read on the Spinning Babies website can make it more likely for a posterior position during my birthing time (this didn’t end up being the case for me).
Around 8:45PM, the “waves” returned and were a little more intense than before, but not much. I decided this was a good time to start practicing my “fingerdrops.” I lay on my side on the floor while we finished watching TV until we went to bed around 9:00PM. I wanted to make sure I got some good sleep, since I was guessing my birthing time would really get going in the middle of the night. So, I listened to the “Deepening” track, which always relaxed me and often put me to sleep, while Matt rubbed my back. At 9:20PM, I had my first intense wave that made me think back to my grandma saying “oh, you’ll know.” We decided we should start timing the waves again; during the next 45 minutes they were 3 to 6 minutes apart lasting for 45 seconds to 1.5 minutes.
At 9:51PM, I felt like I had to go to the bathroom. Once on the toilet, I realized it felt good and decided to stay there for a while, while continuing to do “fingerdrops” (I also still had” Deepening” on my iPod). Matt asked me if he should call in to work and get a substitute teacher for the next day and I kept telling him I wasn’t sure if this was “it.” I got a little cold, so I asked Matt to set up the space heater in the bathroom. I also told Matt to look at the Spinning Babies website I had bookmarked to read the description of a posterior birth (in which birthing can start but then stall and take a longer time).
At 10:15PM after timing the waves for 45 minutes (the midwives recommend timing them for an hour), Matt called the midwife. This took a little while because he had to call the help line and then the midwife had to call us back. Matt talked to her for a little while and then she asked to talk to me. She asked me how intense the waves were and I told her I was managing; I even talked to her though one. She told me I sounded pretty good but that I could come in to the hospital if I wanted but that they would have to send me home if I wasn’t far enough along, otherwise I could take a warm bath and see if the intensity decreases – if it didn’t, then I should come in. I told her I would try the bath. I asked Matt to quickly wash the bathtub, since we never take baths. While he did this, I finally changed the track on my iPod to “Birthing Day Affirmations” (in retrospect, I should have changed it to “Pushing Baby Out”). While he was washing the bathtub, I felt a different sensation (I think it was my first push). I told Matt that I think we should go to the hospital. So Matt quickly, started the car and packed up the suitcases while calling the hospital back to let them know we decided to come in.
While Matt was doing this, I continued to feel “pushy” and was involuntarily making an “ahh” sound. Matt heard this sound from the foyer and recognized it as the “pushing sound” from the videos we watched in Hypnobabies class. He ran up to me in the bathroom to check on me and I told him that I couldn’t not push. He asked me if he should call 9-1-1 and I told him he should. When he reached the dispatcher, he helped Matt prepare to deliver our baby. He asked Matt where I was and when Matt told him I was on the toilet, he told him to get me off of the toilet. Matt looked and could see the very top of Ava’s head. He told me that I when I was done peeing that I had to get off the toilet. I told him that I wasn’t peeing and that it must be my water breaking. Once that was done, Matt helped me off of the toilet, but I couldn’t walk so I kneeled over the bathtub and continued to push during waves (I really couldn’t help but push). Matt put towels in the dryer, gathered blankets and prepared to catch the baby.
He saw the baby’s head crowning but thought it was some sort of plug or something since he was expecting a bald head but what he saw was a lot of black hair mixed with vernix. As the baby’s head was emerging, there was a knock at the door. The police had arrived but our door was locked. So Matt ran down the stairs to unlock the door and rushed up the stairs with the officer. Matt asked her if she had delivered a baby before. She told him she hadn’t but that she knew how (we later found out that it was her first week on her own and that she delivers animals on her hobby farm). She put her gloves on as she was walking up the stairs, walked into the bathroom and caught the baby at 11:24PM. I was then able to hold the baby skin-to-skin and the paramedics arrived. They checked us both over and gave Ava a 9 on the Apgar scale. Once the umbilical cord stopped pulsing, Matt cut the cord. We then had to get into the ambulance and make our way to the hospital. Matt had to carry the baby wrapped in a warming blanket to the ambulance. The paramedics told him he needed to walk fast, but not to fall. They were especially concerned since it was a record-cold night. We all made it safely to the ambulance and safely to the hospital, where everyone we met was shocked by our story and how quickly Ava came into this world.
Around 8:45PM, the “waves” returned and were a little more intense than before, but not much. I decided this was a good time to start practicing my “fingerdrops.” I lay on my side on the floor while we finished watching TV until we went to bed around 9:00PM. I wanted to make sure I got some good sleep, since I was guessing my birthing time would really get going in the middle of the night. So, I listened to the “Deepening” track, which always relaxed me and often put me to sleep, while Matt rubbed my back. At 9:20PM, I had my first intense wave that made me think back to my grandma saying “oh, you’ll know.” We decided we should start timing the waves again; during the next 45 minutes they were 3 to 6 minutes apart lasting for 45 seconds to 1.5 minutes.
At 9:51PM, I felt like I had to go to the bathroom. Once on the toilet, I realized it felt good and decided to stay there for a while, while continuing to do “fingerdrops” (I also still had” Deepening” on my iPod). Matt asked me if he should call in to work and get a substitute teacher for the next day and I kept telling him I wasn’t sure if this was “it.” I got a little cold, so I asked Matt to set up the space heater in the bathroom. I also told Matt to look at the Spinning Babies website I had bookmarked to read the description of a posterior birth (in which birthing can start but then stall and take a longer time).
At 10:15PM after timing the waves for 45 minutes (the midwives recommend timing them for an hour), Matt called the midwife. This took a little while because he had to call the help line and then the midwife had to call us back. Matt talked to her for a little while and then she asked to talk to me. She asked me how intense the waves were and I told her I was managing; I even talked to her though one. She told me I sounded pretty good but that I could come in to the hospital if I wanted but that they would have to send me home if I wasn’t far enough along, otherwise I could take a warm bath and see if the intensity decreases – if it didn’t, then I should come in. I told her I would try the bath. I asked Matt to quickly wash the bathtub, since we never take baths. While he did this, I finally changed the track on my iPod to “Birthing Day Affirmations” (in retrospect, I should have changed it to “Pushing Baby Out”). While he was washing the bathtub, I felt a different sensation (I think it was my first push). I told Matt that I think we should go to the hospital. So Matt quickly, started the car and packed up the suitcases while calling the hospital back to let them know we decided to come in.
While Matt was doing this, I continued to feel “pushy” and was involuntarily making an “ahh” sound. Matt heard this sound from the foyer and recognized it as the “pushing sound” from the videos we watched in Hypnobabies class. He ran up to me in the bathroom to check on me and I told him that I couldn’t not push. He asked me if he should call 9-1-1 and I told him he should. When he reached the dispatcher, he helped Matt prepare to deliver our baby. He asked Matt where I was and when Matt told him I was on the toilet, he told him to get me off of the toilet. Matt looked and could see the very top of Ava’s head. He told me that I when I was done peeing that I had to get off the toilet. I told him that I wasn’t peeing and that it must be my water breaking. Once that was done, Matt helped me off of the toilet, but I couldn’t walk so I kneeled over the bathtub and continued to push during waves (I really couldn’t help but push). Matt put towels in the dryer, gathered blankets and prepared to catch the baby.
He saw the baby’s head crowning but thought it was some sort of plug or something since he was expecting a bald head but what he saw was a lot of black hair mixed with vernix. As the baby’s head was emerging, there was a knock at the door. The police had arrived but our door was locked. So Matt ran down the stairs to unlock the door and rushed up the stairs with the officer. Matt asked her if she had delivered a baby before. She told him she hadn’t but that she knew how (we later found out that it was her first week on her own and that she delivers animals on her hobby farm). She put her gloves on as she was walking up the stairs, walked into the bathroom and caught the baby at 11:24PM. I was then able to hold the baby skin-to-skin and the paramedics arrived. They checked us both over and gave Ava a 9 on the Apgar scale. Once the umbilical cord stopped pulsing, Matt cut the cord. We then had to get into the ambulance and make our way to the hospital. Matt had to carry the baby wrapped in a warming blanket to the ambulance. The paramedics told him he needed to walk fast, but not to fall. They were especially concerned since it was a record-cold night. We all made it safely to the ambulance and safely to the hospital, where everyone we met was shocked by our story and how quickly Ava came into this world.
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