To begin with, we'd like to apologize to The People (and to Caspian if he ever reads this post) for the lack of coverage of this birth, especially compared to Koa's arrival. As I hope you will soon see, things went so fast that morning that there wasn't any time to do any reporting! If Caspian's entry into the world took as long as Koa's did, we're confident there would have been just as much fanfare! So on to the details...
I had been having contractions for a good many days leading up to the delivery, but they really started to get more consistent Saturday night (2Nov08) in the middle of the night. In fact, we had started timing my contractions and were considering calling our midwife and the Cousers! But after an hour or two they stopped coming and we considered it a false alarm. Unfortunately we didn't get much sleep that night and we didn't get to welcome our baby into the world, either. The next day, I was having contractions most of the day, but nothing strong or consistent. Since I had never gone into labor by myself (without drugs to induce) I really didn't know what to expect, so it mostly just kept me on my toes for a few days.
Sunday night (actually Monday morning) around midnight (3Nov08) we went to bed and almost as soon as we layed down the contractions started again. I told Zak that we should start timing and that maybe we should at least let the Cousers know that they might want to keep their phones close and maybe even just come stay at our house so we wouldn't have to wake them in the middle of the night. Zak was a little hesitant about saying it was the real deal and wondered how I knew these were different. Trying to explain that was just more than I could handle at the time, so I just reassured him that this was in fact DIFFERENT! So, we got out the little card I had printed out the last time I was pregnant (and we never got to use) and we started tracking the contractions and referred to my notes telling us when we should go to the hospital. Apparently when contractions are one minute long and four minutes apart lasting for one hour we should make our way to the birth center (the 4-1-1 rule). I think when we started recording them they were about 45 seconds long and 3-5 minutes apart and were very STRONG!
Zak hustled to get all of our last minute items together and I called the midwife (Jen Gibbons) and she said to just let her know when we were ready to come and she would meet us there. I think her words were, "you will know when it's time." Then I called the Cousers to let them know they should come stay with Koa or pick him up. By the time they got to our house the contractions were 2-3 minutes apart lasting for at least a minute. One of the things our Bradley book said that seemed a little contradictory is that labor isn't that far along until you get to a point where you are so serious you can't even laugh or smile between contractions (referred to as the "serious signpost"). Well, I still didn't feel like that at this point, (except when I got angry with the pen I was using to keep track of contractions!) so I kept thinking we must not be that far along in the labor.
We decided to go to the birth room around 1:00am because it would be a very comfortable place to labor even if we had to be there for many hours! When the Cousers got to our house we called the midwife and then made our announcment post and waited a few more minutes before we headed to the birthing center. Since it is only a couple of miles from our house it took just a few minutes and our midwife (Dr. Jen) and her student (Jamie) met us there. On the way there and even before we left the house I was starting to shake. I couldn't really tell if it was because I was cold, I was in pain, or just because I had this strange cocktail of hormones coursing through my veins. I have a tendency to be cold all the time anyway and I have a very low tolerance for being cold. So, when we arrived around 1:30am I immediately asked them to run the water in the tub and let me get in there. I was also having incredible back labor and remembered from laboring with Koa that the water seemed to help that. While they were running the water Dr. Jen checked my cervix and I was already 6-7 cm dilated! Jamie checked the baby's heartbeat before, during and after a contraction with the doplar and determined that everything was great.
As Zak scurried around the room turning the lights down, lighting candles, and getting the iPod going to make the mood more relaxed, I got in the tub and that really did help with the back labor for a few contractions. The funny thing is, I still didn't feel like I was at the "serious signpost". In between contractions (which was only about a minute by this time) I was telling stories about the farm and asking questions about Jen's experiences. Pretty soon the contractions were right on top of each other though, and there was no time for stories. I had finally hit the "serious signpost". Even then, though, I asked for an epidural knowing full well it would get a laugh because there was no way that was going to happen. When Jen checked me about that time she let me know I was fully dilated and would soon be ready to push. Jamie had been checking my blood pressure and the baby's heart beat periodically also just to make sure everything was going as it should be.
Zak asked me if I wanted to get out of the tub or if I wanted to give birth in it. He and I hadn't really discussed whether we wanted to have a water birth, but at that point I was not willing to move! It took a few minutes for things to progress to where my body was ready to push and in that time I could actually feel so many different sensations that were just very bazaar! I could actually feel the baby moving down the birthing canal. And the change in hormones, or whatever it was made me tingly all over--all the way up to my chin! Once my body was ready I felt the undeniable urge to push. That was very different than with Koa because I never really did feel the urge to push with him. I just felt more contractions. When I felt that I remember saying, "This is SO weird!!" At one point during the pushing I just got this awful feeling of uncertainty and I asked Zak to pray for us. He prayed the sweetest prayer and I pushed a few more times in a couple of different positions and at 2:56am little Caspian basically wiggled out of me and swam through the water up into my arms with a little push from Dr. Jen. It was the most incredible thing I have ever seen. I don't even know how to describe something so amazing!
I looked down at Caspian's parts and I said the same thing I remember saying to Zak when Koa was born, "Well, you got your boy!" The midwives waited for Caspian's umbilical cord to stop pulsing and then they let Zak perform the surgery.
After just a couple of minutes and the delivery of the placenta they rinsed me off and helped me over to the bed where Zak and I got to rest for a few hours. I had a minor tear that Jen stitched up while we were laying there. Eventually another midwife (Wendy) showed up and assisted with the rest of the details. They checked Caspian out and weighed him and all the normal stuff. They said by the time they weighed him he had already lost like three ounces because he pooped twice before they could get him on the scale! Caspian's official weight was 8lbs, 9oz and length was 21.5 inches.
We stayed at the birthing room until about 6 PM that day and then went home to an eager big brother and our sweet friends, the Cousers. I was very glad I had frozen some meals ahead of time because we had food waiting for us when we got there. Jessi made a cucumber sauce and Wes made a salad and we had chicken samosas for dinner. Much better than hospital food (although Jamie went out picked us up some breakfast from a restaurant near by which was very good)! All told, I started laboring around 12:00am, we got to the birthing center around 1:30am, I had Caspian at 2:56am, and we left the birthing center around 6pm that same day.
We've had many conversations in the last few days about just how completely different this birth experience was from the norm (if there is such a thing when referring to birth!) and even from Koa's natural delivery in a hospital. I am so thankful for how things went. As hard as it was, I wouldn't change it if I could. I told Jen I was a little disappointed because I wanted to be able to tell people that unmedicated birth is not that bad, but the truth is now I just fully understand why most people would want to have an epidural. However, I wouldn't do it any differently if I had the choice. I am so thankful that I was able to fully experience it. There are so many amazing sensations or feelings that can only be felt during childbirth, but drugs cheat us out of experiencing them. Even though a lot of pain is felt, underneath it are many other feelings to be felt. Fortunately I was prepared for the pain (even though you can never fully prepare for what it will really be like), and so it didn't distract me as much from the wonderful process God created in delivering a child! I am tremendously thankful that Caspian and I are both healthy and for the opportunity to see (once again) just how miraculously the human body has been created!
