Wired For Noise

Lotus has another great carnival up for people to share their birth/adoption stories. Since I loved joining in the breastfeeding one I knew I had to do this one two. Having been through birth twice now I debated sharing both or just one, and if just one which one. Finally I decided I would share Evan’s birth story, since it’s the happiest one of the two. If I leave out the dirty details of the neighbor’s party and their need for addiction treatment that is. Copied from Helium:

The birth of my first son was also my rebirth. I left my old life behind and entered a new one called motherhood.

Labor began just before midnight March 6th. I began having light contractions. They felt no different than the Braxton Hicks contractions I had be having off and on for a few days prior, but somehow I knew these were different. I was alone, as my boyfriend worked nights. I remember sitting at my table, timing the contractions in the moonlight while across the street a party was raging on into the night. It felt as if I was witnessing the end of that part of my life, the one where I had no one to worry about but myself. The watch in my hand counted down until I was born anew.

Sometime after midnight I was finally able to go on to bed. Labor still did not feel real to me and I doubted whether it was. I slept in fits, constantly moving and tossing around the bed. At some point in the night I awoken by the bright light in the bedroom coming on and my boyfriend shaking me, asking me if I was alright. In a fog I woke enough to realize that I was curled in a fetal position, the blankets balled up in my arms, and my face showing the contractions I was having. Before I could speak I drifted back to sleep.

I woke around 7AM when the contractions became too much to sleep through. I felt as if I had been run over by a truck. My sleep had not left me rested at all, and I grumbled as I walked past my sleeping boyfriend how unfair it was that he could sleep. My muscles ached, most likely from my fitful sleep during the night. Hoping to relax I ran a warm bath and crawled in. As I soaked my tired body I closed my eyes and managed to drift back off to sleep.

I awoke to the water being ice cold against my skin. It was a strong sharp sensation that made me jump out of the water. Yet as soon as I was no longer soaking the water the contractions came back. They were much stronger and stopped me in my tracks. The clock on the wall said it was 9 AM as I began the downhill slope of labor.

For the rest of the day I paced the house, moving or squatting or swaying as the contractions washed over me. I tried to lay on the couch and relax between each one, giving myself the strength to make it through another. I stayed relaxed and just let my body do what it needed to do.

Around 3PM I knew that my boyfriend would be waking soon to get ready for work. I decided to use the bathroom then to go wake him. As soon as I sat down I felt the most excruciating pain shoot through me. I do not know why, but I instinctively grabbed my stomach and lifted it up. As soon as I did the pain stopped and my water broke. Suddenly all of the building labor became very real to me. I rushed to wake my boyfriend and to call the midwife and let her know we were on our way.

Unfortunately midwives are rare in this area, so we had to drive an hour away to get to the nearest one. It took my boyfriend an hour to shower and dress, all the while I was growing more and more nervous and scared. When we finally left the house the contractions were coming one right after another and were excruciatingly painful. We drove as fast as we could, yet the car ride seemed to take forever. The roads were rough to drive over and I could not find comfort sitting in the seat of the car.

As soon as we arrived at the midwife’s clinic I nearly jumped out of the car. The pain dropped back down as I was able to relax and calm down. I was checked over then led to the wonderful whirlpool tub waiting in the back room. As soon as I stepped in comfort washed over me.

Within a few minutes I was ready to begin pushing. My midwife led me to the bed, not comfortable with me having a waterbirth because of my son’s still uncertain health concerns. The bed was huge and comfortable, with a green leaves pattern on the blankets. My boyfriend crawled into the bed next to me. He held my hand, gave me water to drink, and kept a cool washcloth on my head and neck.

At 6:15 PM my son was born. He was pink and alert and perfect. He had the deepest eyes I had ever seen, and he looked at everything taking in the world. He never let out a cry, just a slight gurgle sound. The midwife placed him on my stomach and we stared at each other for what seemed like an eternity.

“He’s perfect” were the first words I said.

We stayed at the clinic for a few hours, so that I could rest and feel comfortable getting up. Once I was on my feet and showered I was ready to go home and enjoy my new baby. The drive home was a completely different one. Where as driving there my boyfriend sped as fast as he could, going home he barely kept to the minimum speed. The slow drive home was peaceful and full of thoughts on my new life.

[tags]birth, childbirth, natural birth[/tags]

Related Reading:

Birth: The Surprising History of How We Are Born

Dead in the Family: A Sookie Stackhouse Novel (Sookie Stackhouse/True Blood)

Ina May's Guide to Childbirth