Tena Lucy's Birth Story
My husband James and I had decided to have a movie night since our eleven-year old daughter was visiting grandma and our 15-month old was sound asleep. This was perfect night to catch a couple of videos on the couch. It was 1:00 in the morning and way past my "bedtime" when we finally settled in for the night. I felt a strong cramp and got up to head toward the bathroom. I mentioned cautiously to my husband, "I don't know if it means anything, but I think this is a real contraction. Practice contractions (Braxton Hicks) usually go away when you move, but this one is not." James, exhausted and already half-asleep, and mindful of the "false alarm" we'd had two weeks prior when I thought my water broke in the bathtub shrugged me off and rolled over.
Not so sure myself if this was the real deal, I went to the bathroom to see if perhaps it was my stomach playing tricks on me. If my digestive system was in shock from the veggies I had just recently started loading on it. Before I knew it, the cramps came back. I had been finding refuge in a warm bath since my first trimester, so I drew some water and jumped in. While the water did serve to soothe me some, I was surprised to find the cramps frequent and much stronger than any I had felt to this point. Realizing that this may very well be the time! I thought I would do some cleaning. As Murphy's law would have it despite my being a whip-cracker about keeping the house immaculate in the weeks proceeding in preparation for the homebirth, but this day I happened to have laundry strewn across my daughter's bed, no sheets on my own bed, a heap of sewing notions, fabric and patterns occupying my dining room table and a trail of salt lining the parameter of my kitchen where my husband had overcompensated for the sighting of a slug earlier in the evening. My body soon said "NOPE!" to my last-ditch effort to tidy up. The contractions came closer and closer together and coupled with the fact that I hadn't been to sleep since the night before I simply lay across my daughters bed, attempting to let my husband sleep a little longer because I was still not convinced that it was definitely time.
Finally, at the behest of increasingly painful contractions I got up and asked him, "Where is your watch. I need you to time the contractions. And I need you to look up how far the contractions are supposed to be online."
His response-"Why?" "Um, because I'm in labor." "Like last time?" he replied and plopped his head back down at the foot of the bed where he likes to sleep.
Not deterred I headed downstairs and, using the stopwatch on my computer, timed my contractions to find they were 3-4 minutes apart. I went back upstairs, got back in the tub and after feeling another heck-of-a-contraction called Chris. At this point it was 3:00 in the morning. I hadn't wanted to call her earlier despite her insistence that we call whenever we needed, because it was, after all, the middle of the night and what if this was another false alarm. But cheerful and available at three in the morning Chris answered the phone, and after I told her about my contractions, reintegrated, "You should have called me earlier. I didn't go to sleep until 1:00, anyway"
I then got out of the tub and made a final announcement to my husband, "Chris is on her way." Puzzled and groggy he replied, "Why?" "Because I'm in labor!" Finally realizing that this means business, he got up, got dressed and asked what he could to help.
When Chris arrived I had managed to move from a warm bath upstairs to a warm bath downstairs. The doorbell rang just as James was about to go get the laptop so I could watch a movie in the bathroom one of the advantages of a homebirth is to not lay around and focus on the pain, right? I was very happy to see her she greeted me, and tasked James with setting up the birthing pool, a good chore for him.
Chris and I headed over to the couch to check how dilated I was. 4 cm already! Some good news she gave me was that it takes the longest to go from 0-4, and that 5-10 shouldn't take as long. Her student, Danniele came. She was just as attentive and considerate.
Chris suggested I lean over to encourage the uterus to go into place. I agreed even though this made the contractions stronger. I wanted to get this process rolling. In a hurry to get in the pool, I jumped in with it only ¼ full. James and Danniele proceeded to add boiled water and faucet water to the pool until it was full.
I appreciate that Chris remembered my request to have James in the pool with me. He had been very vocal about being apprehensive about it. I don't know if he felt sorry for me or what, but Chris suggested he jump in and he did.
Despite my resolve, I screamed. A lot. I remember how un-frazzled Chris was by my top-of-the-lung yells. She was calm and reassured me that I was doing great. Yes, it hurt, but it was doable. 15 months earlier, at our second daughter's hospital birth I was demanding an epidural at one centimeter dilated. In fact, when approached with the prospect of a homebirth, the unavailability of anesthesia--What they say is true, at least for me, that as soon as the pain is over, it's over. This beautiful baby girl lay there in my arms.
After having two previous hospital births where they whisk the baby away and encourage you to "rest" while your baby is in the nursery I can't ever imagine not having my newborn by my side, laying skin to skin next to me. Why wouldn't I want to cherish every precious moment with my new baby? I loved having Lucy close by.
We look forward to welcoming more members into our family with Chris Duffy by our side, God willing.