Birth story - Teisia and baby Eleanor

Things started happening on Sunday night, when I noticed some light pink mucousy discharge when I went to the bathroom. Later when we went to bed, I started to feel period type cramps. At midnight, I started to feel light surges but with no recognizable pattern. The next day, the surges seemed to slow down and completely stopped for most of the day. That night I started to feel surges again and we started to time them. They were stronger and more consistent than the night before.

The next morning, the surges continued and started to get stronger, longer and closer together. They didn’t have a clear pattern though, so when we told my doula and called the midwife group, they said not to go to the hospital until they were more consistent with a clear pattern. I was doing well laboring at home in our basement, lying on the couch - using the up breathing I learned from hypnobirthing. I started using the TENS machine and it really helped take the edge off. We started getting ready to go to my sister in law’s house to labor there until we were ready to go to the hospital (because we lived about 45 minutes away and she lived right by it).

At around 1pm, I was mid-surge and felt a huge pop - it was my water breaking. After that, things intensified a lot. The surges went from lasting about a minute every 6-10 minutes, to lasting a minute, every 2-3 minutes. At this point I knew we had to go straight to the hospital. The surges were very strong and close together, I could barely make it to the car. Luckily, we had already packed the car up with everything we needed to go. The car ride to the hospital was pretty rough. The surges were intensifying and it felt like it was taking forever to get there.

Once we arrived, Brian (my husband) got me in a wheelchair and wheeled me into the hospital. We got to triage and a room with a tub was not available, they said it would be an hour before it would be. That hour was definitely one of the longest of my life. I kneeled on the ground over the hospital bed and started to breathe through my surges. I had a stumble in the triage room as the surges were so intense. I remember looking at Brian and telling him that I didn’t think I could do this (unmedicated). He looked in my eyes and said that he supported whatever I wanted to do but that he believed in me and knew that I could do it. After breathing through a couple of strong surges, I turned the corner - I told Brian that I knew I could do it. After that long hour in triage, my room was finally ready.

They were filling up the bathtub first bc they said the pool wouldn’t be ready yet. Before getting in the bath, I remember being scared to take the TENS machine off because it had helped me get to that point. Getting into the bath for the first time was heaven. It really helped tone down the surges and make me feel calm. We had the lights off, LED candles lit, liquid mind (spa music) playing and liquid yoga (calming spray) sprayed in the room. It was the perfect calming, relaxing atmosphere I was hoping for. I barely made any sounds during this time, just breathing through the surges, in the water. Throughout these strong surges, Brian was there with an ice cold towel to press against my forehead and neck, which felt amazing - and giving me constant encouragement. Then, I started to feel a little pressure down there and asked if I could be checked (this would be the first time) to see how far away I was from pushing. They checked me and I was at 8 ½ centimeters! I was so happy to hear how far I had made it.

At this point, I told them I wanted to move into the birthing pool and get ready to push the baby out. While I was still in the tub, they had been periodically checking the baby’s heart rate. They said that it had been high and if it continued that way, I’d have to get out of the water and couldn’t do a water birth. After labouring in the bath for 2 hours, they checked again, and confirmed the baby’s heart rate was too high and I needed to get out of the water. I was disappointed but also in transition, so just got out and tried to start pushing - kneeling on the ground, leaning over the bed.

I was told at about 37 weeks that the baby was posterior but had tried a lot of different things to get her to turn at home - so I thought that she had by the time I was in labour. No one told me that she was still posterior and therefore pushing was very hard. I had wanted to gently breathe my baby down instead of being guided to push but because she was posterior, nothing I was doing was effective. My calm birth experience had taken a turn and I remember pretty much screaming as loud as I could, making sounds that have never come out of me before. This part of the birth was really difficult. They told me to get up and in a slow dancing motion, put my arms around Brian, standing up and rock my hips around. They thought that by doing this, the baby might turn and I could push her out better. Throughout this stage, I remember telling myself that I could do this and that it was all for my baby. I kept imagining her being born and being able to hold her. Doing the slow dancing move ended up turning the baby. They told me to get back on the bed so that I could push her out.

Finally, after 3 hours, I remember them saying they could see her head. After a couple more pushes, her head was out, then I felt her body slither out as well. It was the craziest feeling - after having such a difficult time for so long and then suddenly feeling that release. They put her on my chest and I remember crying from relief that it was over and that she was here safe, and feeling pure happiness and joy. The high that everyone talks about is real. Brian cut the cord and I had skin to skin with her for an hour or so. It was magical, she was perfect.

Even though I didn’t have the dream water birth that I wanted, it was a positive experience overall. I want to thank the Positive Birth Company for educating me about what my birth could look like and giving me the tools I needed to accomplish what was the most amazing moment of my life. I am proud of myself for being able to do it unmedicated, even with the unexpected circumstances that came up and am so thankful to have Brian, who was an amazing birth partner - he coached me throughout, constantly telling me I could do it and just went above and beyond what I could’ve hoped for - I couldn’t have done it without his support and belief in me. What our (women’s) bodies can do is so amazing. Throughout my pregnancy and labor, I constantly reminded myself that my body was perfectly designed to birth my baby and it truly is/was. Eleanor’s birth was the most empowering experience of my life - I feel like I could do anything now.