Birth. The Third.
By katewright on Aug 12, 2013 in Birth Stories, Musings, Uncategorized Comments: 1. Tags:After a somewhat traumatic first birth experience, Stella had what felt like the perfect labor with baby two. She called me around 1 in the morning. Her contractions had begun at 11 that evening. They were five minutes apart and painful. Because she lived a bit of a distance from me, it took me some time to get to her, and by the time I arrived at her house, they were ready to head to the birth center.
Stella was doing great. She had found her space on the birth ball. Marcus and her parents were with her, but they all seemed a bit unsure of what to do, standing back. I started massaging her back while Marcus got everything ready, and we quickly fell into place with our interaction.
As we were leaving their house, Stella had a contraction. The closest person to her was her dad so she put her arms around his neck and danced through the contraction with him. It was very sweet to witness such a moment between father and daughter. (I also was lucky enough to dance through a few contractions with her at the birth center – my favorite part of the night!)
The three-car caravan to the birth center was fun. Once inside, we met the midwife and the nurse, and the rest of the night was simple and lovely. By the time the midwife checked Stella, she was already 8 centimeters dilated – quite the relief to her! She spent most of the labor on her knees, rocking back and forth over the ball. I spent most of her labor massaging her lower back. At one point, Stella’s bag of waters broke right by my feet!
For the rest of her labor, Stella’s mom and sister stayed by her head, encouraging her beautifully, Marcus took photos, and I massaged. The birth team worked great! Then Stella needed to push. She stood up, turned around, and leaned over the bed. Her sister held her hands, and her mom talked her through. I moved to take photos of the birth. Stella caught her own baby as she was born, quickly brought her up to her belly, and held her there while we all held our breath waiting for her first cry. Baby girl was as healthy as could be and started breastfeeding shortly after the birth. It was such a lovely birth – so lovely that I spent many nights after thinking about it whenever I needed a happy distraction.
One of the most prominent aspects of this birth was all of the female support. I understand that not everyone wants or needs more people at their birth, but for this labor, I really appreciated the energy and confidence that the feminine quality brought to the birthing room.
I’m so happy to read this from your perspective. So much is happening while in labor, your mind can get so jumbled! I had forgotten about “dancing” with my dad outside the car. Brought tears to my eyes reading about it, thinking about the last time we danced together which would’ve been at my wedding! thank you for sharing this and reminding me of a small detail but one that means so much to me. And I could totally feel all the female energy around me, very primal birthing surrounded by women who’ve done the same. It’s amazing. Thank you again for sharing this, I love thinking about what a beautiful birth it was. Oh and sorry you were in the “splash zone” – that was crazy!!