Here is the link to Evelyn's birth story as posted to my midwife's blog:
Here is the story in full:
The Birth of Evelyn Amelia
Pitroff
On June 29th my
husband Jonathan and I found out I was pregnant with our second
child. We knew Mel and Jenn had just started their new practice, and
thought we should email right away and get in under their care. They
had been there for the labor/birth of our first son Elias (born at
home) just 19 months earlier. They were an awesome team and we knew
we wanted to have them for this pregnancy, and wanted to have another
home birth, and this time try for a water birth!
Because of the
circumstances of Elias' birth I had to be on my back to push, and
that was something knew I wanted to avoid this time around. I really
wanted to be squatting or kneeling, and in the water if possible. I
also wanted to do what I could to avoid tearing (I had a 2nd
degree tear with Elias).
I was 6 days past my due
date and was eager to meet our new little one! I had been 10 days
late with our first, so this didn't surprise me. I was still decently
comfortable, but we were ready! We decided not to find out the sex of
either of our children, so this was another reason we were excited to
do this!
The fun all began
Wednesday, March 6th, around 8am as I was nursing my son.
I started having very mild contractions but didn't really consider it
anything because with my first, I had obvious contractions that were
5 minutes apart right from the start. Jonathan's mom and I had
already planned to take a walk that morning but now especially to
help move things along. We went for a walk around 10am. My
contractions hadn't changed-they were still inconsistent and mild.
Around noon I had taken
Elias to a friend's house because I had an appointment at 1pm with
Jenn for my 41 week non stress test. The test was inconclusive, so we
decided to make another appointment for the next day (Thursday) for
another test. During my time there, my contractions, which had been
somewhere around 20 minutes apart, had gotten a little closer
together, but still no problem to deal with. Jenn had even said “If
you haven't had the baby by Monday...” so I figured I would
probably have days of this.
I had another appointment
at 3:45pm with a naturopathic doctor for an iron injection since my
iron levels were low and hadn't come up with diet and supplements. By
this time the contractions were between 9 and 13 minutes apart. When
I got home, we were eating dinner and I decided to call my
chiropractor to see if I could get in for a quick appointment, hoping
it would encourage the labor and set things up just right for
delivering. I was able to get in at 6pm.
We decided to go as a
family, and we had a little wait as there was a backup of clients due
to traffic in town. This is the email I sent to Jenn just before we
went in:
Hey!
I was just wondering at what point I call the labor tubs? I'm
forgetting now! Looks like my contractions are progressing a little!
Averaging 7-9 minutes and 30-45 seconds long. A little tougher to
deal, but doing well! Getting an adjustment from the Chiro in a few
minutes! :)
Jenn emailed back telling
me to page the labor tubs when contractions were 7-9 minutes apart,
which was now!
I got adjusted, and
everything was looking good. My chiropractor later told me that one
of her patients before me was going to have her look at her shoes or
something, but told the doctor that she had a patient in the waiting
area who was in labor, and that she could wait until next time! Haha!
I never thought I'd be that person!
After we finished at the
chiropractor (around 6:45pm), we decided to pop by our church and
pick up some music equipment of Jonathan's which would only take a
second. While I was there I had to go to the bathroom. After that I
told Jonathan that I was ready to get home. Pooping is so much better
in the comfort of your own home! HA!
We paged the labor tubs on
our way home, and they got to our house just after we did, around
8:15pm. They started setting up the tub in our bedroom upstairs and
began filling it with hot water. It takes about three hot water tanks
to fill the tub. The contractions were definitely more uncomfortable
by now but still manageable on my own, so Jonathan was busy getting
things ready for Elias to be picked up.
We called Jonathan's mom
to come pick Elias up and take him to Jonathan's sister's house. I
wanted to get some last 'only child' cuddles and kisses in before we
had to divide our attention! However, Elias was super revved up,
being up so late, and wouldn't do it. I have never been so offended
and hurt by a toddler! I didn't expect to be so emotional about it.
After they left, I decided
to change into some sweats and a sweatshirt and get comfortable. I
didn't remember feeling particularly cold or hot when I was in labor
with Elias, but this time, I was so cold that I was shivering!
After the ladies from the
labor tubs had gone, we wanted to get everything prepped. Since I was
working through my contractions, Jonathan got to do all the busy
work!
We had plans for a crock
pot meal for the birth team. We needed to get some washcloths in a
crock pot so I could have some extra support during the pushing
phase. I thought it would be nice to have candles lit (since I never
got around to it with Elias) but we never got around to it-again! We
did get some music playing though, which we also didn't get around to
last time!
The most comfortable thing
for me during contractions was sitting on a birth ball next to the
bed, holding a corner of my pillow in each hand, leaning forward. At
this point, I was needing Jonathan to give a bit of pressure on my
sacrum and hips during each contraction. I had a little bit of a leak
of fluids so at 9:52pm, we decided to page Jenn. The fluids were
clear mixed with bloody show. Yay! When my water broke with Elias,
there was meconium in the amniotic fluid, so this was really exciting
for me! My contractions were 3 minutes apart lasting about 45
seconds. Jonathan and I were both pretty nonchalant about everything,
and Jenn advised us to wait another 20 or 30 minutes and page her if
the contractions stayed the same or got closer.
At 10:34pm we paged Jenn
again. The contractions were closer, 2.5 minutes apart lasting 1-1.5
minutes. Elias took 24 sweet long hours to come into this world, so
we were assuming we still had many hours left until this baby made
his or her appearance. We were a little surprised at the urgency in
Jenn's voice. She and Alyssa were on their way! We also decided to
have our doula, Sarah, start heading over (we had given her a heads
up earlier in the day).
We were really bummed to
not have Mel by our side this time, but we really enjoyed working
with their student midwife Alyssa! We were even afraid she wouldn't
be able to be there since she was in school, and couldn't attend
births during the weeks she was in class. But we were so glad she
made it!
Jenn and Alyssa got to our
house at 11:05pm and started setting up their gear, taking my vitals
and checking Baby's heart rate.
Sarah arrived shortly
after the midwives and was very reassuring. She was able to help with
pressure on my back when Jonathan was busy with other tasks. She also
helped me to relax during contractions by reminding me of my
breathing and giving encouraging words.
At 11:39pm, I had to go
pee, so I stood up from the birth ball to head to the toilet and felt
the gush of fluids just as I stood! I was glad that I decided to put
a mondo pad on after the little leak of fluids earlier! No mess! Yay!
When I sat on the toilet, I was peeing and gushing fluids, and almost
immediately felt the urge to push! Sarah even asked if I was just
peeing because there was so much!
I was actually feeling
really hesitant to push. In natural birthing books and stories, I've
always read to go with what your body is telling you. However when I
was in labor with Elias, I had the urge to push for MANY hours, yet I
wasn't dilated all the way, so it would have caused damage. So I had
to go against what my body was telling me to do-which is awful and
exhausting.
Alyssa asked if I wanted
her to check my cervix to find out how dilated I was, that way I
would know whether or not I could or should start pushing. I didn't
really want
to be checked, but I did want the reassurance (either way). So we
decided to head to the bed to have them check me out (11:50pm). When
I got onto the bed, it was very clear that it was time to be pushing!
I was feeling Baby move down! By this time, the tub had its second
tank full of hot water, and Jonathan had already started filling it
with the last tank. During a pushing contraction, the midwives were
able to see Baby's head! I was bummed to be on the bed, but the tub
wasn’t quite ready.
I had
a few contractions on the bed, and then Jenn asked “Sara, do you
want to get in the tub and have your baby?” To which I responded,
“YES!” The tub was full! So between contractions, they helped me
get off the bed and into the tub. I think I had a contraction with
one leg in and one leg out even! Then I remember someone told me I
needed to get my bottom in the water before Baby's head comes out!
I
knelt on the bottom of the tub, and leaned over the edge holding onto
Jonathan’s arms. Alyssa asked me if I wanted to reach down and
touch my baby's head, something I wanted to do with Elias but forgot!
So I reached down, and felt the baby's head! It was one of the oddest
things! The skin was wrinkled and felt very slippery. But it was so
neat and very encouraging to feel!
Another
thing that I really wanted for this birth was to really be aware
during the pushing stages-feeling the baby move down, having control
while pushing and allowing my body to do the pushing for me. I wanted
my tissue to be able to stretch as it needed to instead of forcing
the pushes and tearing.
I
really felt like I did this well. I was able to push at the beginning
of a contraction and then breath through the rest of it as my body
and the contraction did the rest. I felt like it made the pushes so
much more comfortable and manageable! It was also really amazing to
feel the difference compared to pushing with Elias. With him, I was
so tired by this time that I wasn't aware of what I was feeling. This
was so different!
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| She didn't like breathing air! |
A few
contractions later, Baby's head was born! Alyssa checked for the cord
and it was wrapped loosely around Baby's neck. After one more, the
body came sliding right out. Alyssa reached from behind me to unwrap
the cord. Then she told me I could reach down and grab my baby! I
immediately put my hands between the legs to see what the goods
were-IT WAS A GIRL!! I was shocked! We were so convinced that it was
another boy. I felt like the entire pregnancy was exactly the same!
And surprise-we didn't have a name picked out for her!
She
was born at 12:06am and her Apgar scores were 7 at one minute and 9
at five minutes. I delivered the placenta 35 minutes later and
Jonathan cut the cord 10 minutes after that. We wanted to wait until
the cord stopped pulsing before cutting it. I had a first degree tear
which needed 3 stitches.
It was
time to find out how big she was! Jonathan helped Alyssa weigh her
and they both were shocked and had to look again at the scale! During
the exam, Jenn was out of the room, and when she returned we asked
her to guess how much Baby weighed. She guessed spot on! She was a
whopping 9 pounds 2 ounces!
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| 9lbs 2oz! Big girl! |
Around
2am I was able to take a shower, get cleaned up, dressed and fed. I
was nursing Baby while everyone helped to clean up. Then we got
cozied up in bed with our sweet new un-named babe and everyone was
gone by 3am!
Evelyn
Amelia Pitroff born March 7, 2013 at 12:06am, 9 pounds 2 ounces, 21
inches long.
It
went so much quicker than I expected and was almost painless
(really!) I was able to to accomplish the four things I really
wanted-birth in the water while squatting or kneeling, awareness
during pushing and minimal tearing! I couldn't have done it without
such an awesome team! Thank you Jenn, Alyssa, Sarah, the assisting
midwife Tracy, and of course the man who got us in this situation in
the first place-Jonathan!
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| This was the first time Elias saw Evelyn |
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| Happy Family |
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| The truth comes out |
