Birth story - Kendra and baby Elowen

As my due date came and went and I inched ever closer to the 42 week mark, I made peace with the idea of needing an induction and was not expecting it when my water broke at 2 am on December 7th after only two hours of sleep the night before.

Surges started out light and about ten minutes apart so I sent a text to my midwife and tried to go back to sleep. Laying in my dark room seemed to cause the surges to amp up and I couldn't sleep through them so I got in a hot shower hoping to at least relax and rest as I knew it could be a while and I needed to save my energy. The hot water felt so nice but slowed the surges down a little too much so I got out and moved to the couch where I dozed off between surges for the next few hours.

My husband was an amazing birth partner through these early hours before the midwives arrived. He kept them updated, timed my surges, fed me frozen blueberries and even covered all the windows and clocks so I could lose track of time (I highly recommend this). I switched between the shower and the couch, trying my best to rest and use my up breathing. Surges were getting stronger but no more regular, and feeling a little disheartened I called the midwife to come check me at around 10 am.

The midwives arrived and I was only at 2cm which felt very defeating at the moment, but I pushed those thoughts aside and got back to it. I knew I wouldn't be in labor forever and surges were still manageable so I focused on the fact that I'd be meeting my baby soon enough and she was moving down and out in exactly the way she needed to. They suggested I stay out of the shower for a while to get my surges to come closer together so we tried walking around the house and sitting on my birth ball.

Around 3pm I asked the midwives to come back, so they did and I declined a cervical check since I didn't want to feel discouraged. Your cervix isn't a crystal ball and things can change very quickly is what I kept telling myself. I felt reassured to have them there and I was excited to have the pool set up as surges were much stronger and I was now swaying and blowing "horse lips" through them while focusing on keeping my body loose and relaxed.

I spent the next several hours walking laps around my apartment, floating in the birth pool, and standing in the shower - just swaying and blowing my lips together through each surge. They were intense, but in a very neat way. Each one took me deeper into my body and closer to my baby as the world around me completely fell away. I was in labor-land and the hours flew by.

Around 8 am on the 8th I felt my body start pushing down with each surge while in the pool. I told the midwife I was pushing and she asked to examine me to make sure it was ok for me to do so. I got out of the pool and was at 10 cm and fully effaced! It was baby time!

I pushed in the pool for a while but my surges spaced out again, sometimes ten or fifteen minutes apart. So I got out and we tried coached pushing on the birth stool, and lying on my side in my bed. I was able to move her the most lying on my bed (which I hadn't expected), but I was quickly becoming tired and just wanted to rest at this point.

Elowen and I were doing fine through the four hours I pushed at home, and aside from feeling physically tired I never felt unsafe or panicked which I attribute to the Digital Pack. When my midwife offered to transfer me so I could get an epidural and take a nap before pushing again, we used BRAIN and decided that was the best decision for us.

We arrived at the hospital, I got the epidural and had a few hours of sleep. We woke up when they wheeled the bassinet and tools for the delivery in and started pushing again around 2pm.

At 5 pm Elowen was born with a little help from the ventouse since my surges never picked up enough even with the pitocin drip. I had very minimal tearing and she was immediately put on my chest while we waited to cut the cord.

My birth didn't go to plan but it was beautiful and I'd do it all over again. I also feel like I got to experience unmedicated and medicated birth and that is pretty cool to me!

If we have another we will use the digital pack and try for a home birth again. I mainly want to share my story to say that even a long "hard" labor is nothing to fear and can still be a beautiful and positive experience!