Starting at 8:00am the morning of December 29th I started taking a tsp of castor oil and rubbing clary sage and jasmine on my ankles/belly. Right before my mom left for her massage I had what I thought could possibly be mild (super mild) contractions. I told her to go ahead and go, and that it wasn’t anything. Probably just some braxton hicks. After the fact, she said she knew then that I was in labor. It was a beautiful day so I took Zion out to play in his sandbox and turned my birth playlist on. I was 2 days past my due date so like any mama who has gone past her due date I was beyond ready to meet that sweet dumpling that had been growing inside me for 9 months.
At 9:30pm I went to bed and Niraj came shortly after that at 10:30pm. When he got in bed I said “I think I have been having some rhythmic contractions since I laid down, I am going to time them.” Sure enough I had three contractions that were eight minutes apart. Right after that my water broke (which did not happen until I was pushing with Zion, so that was new for me) and contractions quickly dropped to two minutes apart and got fairly intense. We called Sarah (the best doula and soon to be midwife on the planet) and she arrived at 11pm. She watched one contraction and said it was time to head to the birth center. So we loaded up and got to the birth center at 11:30pm.
Carmen (God’s gift to all the mamas wanting an unmedicated out of hospital birth in West Texas) took my blood pressure and said I was dehydrated. I pulled out the Ningxia and water and started chugging. At the same time this was happening, Sarah and Britney (birth photographer, friend, and now doula!) started filling the tub.
There are moments in labor that are hard. They require you to dig deep and find strength to see it through to the end. There are also moments of laughter, yes I said it, laughter, in between contractions up until I held the baby in my arms we would laugh, smile, and talk about normal life things. The discomfort of labor is real but so are all the other feelings and emotions. There are moments of pain, moments of doubt, moments of joy, moments of laughter and everything in between.
Pushing Phase
This is where pushing started but first let’s talk about the tub full of warm water and how amazing it is for labor. Studies have shown that water significantly reduces labor pain. It also gives a laboring woman the ability to move more freely. If you have never labored in water I suggest giving it a shot your next go around. It is incredible.
A lot of women really enjoy the pushing phase because they feel like they are able to actually do something instead of contractions just being done to them with no real control. I on the other hand do not particularly enjoy the pushing phase. It is just the most bizarre feeling to me. The pressure in the lower sacrum/buttock area is insane and I am not a fan. People always talked about the “ring of fire”, to me that has nothing on the freight train that passes over the sacrum. I pushed for a little over 20 minutes compared to three and a half hours with Zion. It was magical. We got to the birth center at 11:30pm, had Everest at 1:38am and we were home in our own beds by 4:30am.
These are the moments, right after birth, when it feels like God let me see a small glimpse of what heaven will feel like. When all the hardship, the pain, the birthing pains, the achy joints, seem so dim in comparison to that fresh life laying in my arms. There are so many parallels to birth and labor in scripture. It is one of the reasons (among many others) that I wanted to experience an unmedicated labor and birth for myself. I didn’t want to be disconnected from any part of it. I wanted the messy hair, the crazy eyebrows, no make up because it had been washed or sweated off. That after birth high is something no drug can rival. It is incredible.
In the top picture where Carmen was about to weigh Everest I remember saying “I think he is going to be cold” Carmen said “I have him a heating pad under the weighing thing.” I told my mom, that (along with a million other things) is the reason I choose Carmen and the Heartbeat team. Because they care for not only me but for my baby.
It never really went through my head to do it any other way than with a midwife at a birthing center or at home. I knew I wanted an unmedicated birth, therefore, I was going to choose the practitioner who was most skilled at helping me achieve that outcome. It has been the best experience of our life, both my husband and I. Niraj told Carmen at our last appointment that if she ever moved we would drive to wherever she went to have her deliver any future babies God blesses us with.
This is Everest receiving his first adjustment just minutes after being born. One of his reflexes was a little slow on the exam, Carmen handed him to me and said he probably just needs an adjustment. I adjusted him and he passed it with flying colors. Also, another reason I love Carmen and her team, they get the chiropractic way of life.