It was Thursday, January 21st and I was anxiously awaiting the arrival of my sweet boy, as was Tim. From the beginning I thought I would want to hold out until February, but as the weeks got closer, all I really wanted was for him to be in my arms.
Tim and I were standing in the kitchen—he was making his second cup of coffee for the day and I was emptying the dishwasher and making a snack. We were chatting and all of a sudden…I peed myself. Or so I thought! I felt a release of water, exactly like pee, and went to the restroom. It wasn’t a huge gush of water like they show in the movies though. I thought it was my water, but since it wasn’t this huge ordeal I did doubt myself a little. I told Tim and got excited, and he told me if it was indeed my water breaking I should go lay down and rest. And that I did!
The rest of the day rolled on and in the afternoon I had another trickle of water come out. This time it was a little bigger, so around 3:30/4 PM I decided to call my team of midwives and let them know the situation. Since I was having absolutely no cramping or contractions at this point, it was hard to confirm whether or not it was my water. If it was, and no contractions started within the first possible sign of my water breaking (10 AM), I needed to go in and confirm the next morning if it was. I told Tim the plan and at this point, he was just not going to work the next day because regardless, if contractions didn’t happen, we were still going to the hospital. My midwife suggested that if it was my water, I should try everything I could to get labor going naturally or else I would have to get induced the next morning to prevent infection.
Between the hours of 5 and 8:30, we got busy! Spicy food, red raspberry leaf tea, bouncing on my yoga ball, labor activation YouTube video, and that thing that married couples do. Come 8:30, I had my biggest trickle of water yet! There was absolutely no denying my water was breaking and at 9 PM on the dot, contractions started. They began being 10 minutes apart and from 9-12 Tim and I stayed awake tracking them. We were able to rest in between, but after them not getting closer together, I told Tim to stop tracking and get some sleep. I was up from 12-3 resting and breathing through them as best as I could. Come 3 AM, I needed relief so I decided to get in the bath. Once I got in, things started to really pick up! Tim was sort of awake at this point, but I told him it was time to pack up the final things and hit the road around 5. We still had an hour drive ahead of us to the hospital and I was starting to get pretty uncomfortable!
The car ride wasn’t as bad as I anticipated, and it was actually a nice distraction from the pressure I was feeling. When we left, my contractions were 8 minutes apart and as we were pulling up, they got to 4 minutes apart. We headed up to Labor & Delivery, got checked in, and within that time they went from 4 minutes to 2 minutes. The birthing center I delivered at is inside a hospital, so I had to get confirmed by L&D nurses that my water did indeed break and that I was in labor, get my cervix checked, in order to get checked into the birthing suites. They confirmed pretty quickly that my water broke and also that I was 9 cm. dilated! Tim and I were both in shock at this news and I immediately texted Jen (my doula) to hurry on over! I went to the birthing suites wing of the floor and got settled in there and that’s when I started to hunker down and focus on my breathing.
At this point, I had been up all night and was exhausted. Hearing though that I was 9 cm. and so close to the finish line—it was the exact second wind I needed to push through. I was convinced that he would be here no later than 8 or 9 AM. Well…8 rolled around…and then 9. Still no baby. Come 10 o’clock is when I hit my breaking point. From here to the point of pushing, I was screaming, saying I was done and to make it stop. I was over it and I wanted him out. I was proud of myself for making it this far, but it was obvious labor wasn’t progressing for some reason. So what exactly happened, you ask?
I was completely dilated and my cervix was open, but he was high up and not descending into the birth canal. Looking back, I’m not sure why we waited so long to try this, but what kicked things into gear was laying on my side and Jen physically pushing on my stomach to get him to go down. After about 20 minutes of laying on my side, I got the urge to push. All hands were on deck with Tim holding one leg, and Jen holding the other while forcing my stomach to center and move him down. After about 30 minutes of pushing, Lorenzo Glen made his way into the world! 6 lbs. and 15 oz. of pure perfection.
Not only was he born that day, but I was born again that day too. I was pushed beyond my breaking point and learned more about myself than I expected. My one goal was to be able to deliver vaginally and unmedicated, and I did exactly that. I’m still on an emotional high from my birth and I relive the whole thing more than once a day. It’s something I never want to forget—and I know I never will.
