4.06.2005
Birth Story
On Wednesday, when I cam home from work around 4:45 my wife had just been awakened from her nap by some strong contractions. We timed them at about 4 minutes apart for about an hour, so we called the midwife. She asked if anything else had happened with her body other than contractions, to which I said no. So she told us to call her back if anything else happened. Lindsay kept laboring with her contractions varying between 3-7 minutes, with increasing painfulness. At around 7:30 we decided to go back to our own house for some peace and quiet (we had been staying at my parents so they could keep the kids). At about 9:30pm Lindsay moved to the next stage and I called the midwife to tell her, and she told us to come on over to the birthing center.
The birth center is a nice little place with two birthing rooms (which look like nice bed and breakfast bedrooms), a birthing tub room, and some assorted rooms I've never been in. We brought all our stuff (pillows, clothes, food - yes, they encourage you to eat!) and got settled in. Lindsay was starting to be in pain now and could not sit or lie down. After about 30 minutes of using the birthing ball, she decided to get in the tub to ease some pain.
My wife labored in the tub for about an hour and half, and it was the most intense thing I have ever seen. Keep in mind I'm not a new father, I've seen my wife deliver two times before, but both were drug induced hospital births. I'll just say that I was afraid that I was going to have hearing damage. There's nothing like seeing your wife in labor, it just kind of puts you out of commission. There's actually a great scene in Anna Karenina where Kitty is giving birth and the book explains what her husband is going through. I thought it was pretty accurate.
Although she hadn't planned on it, Lindsay ended up staying in the tub to deliver. She pushed for about six minutes and the baby's head came out. It took another two minutes for him to rotate his shoulders and he was under water the whole time. From my understanding, babies don't starting breathing until the air hits their face, which triggers their breathing reflex. When he was out, they passed the baby under water up to my wife's arms, it was pretty weird, very cool, but weird.
Lindsay held the baby while they checked him out and got him breathing good. I didn't cut the cord until it stopped pulsating, which was about eight minutes later. One neat thing was that the baby was totally clean when he came out of the water. After that they did all the weighing and what not and then Lindsay and the baby got in the bed and nursed.
I was really awed by how laid-back, but in control everything was. It was very quiet and comfortable, and there was a lot of emphasis on letting the body do it's on thing. It was kind of like my wife's body went on cruise control and she couldn't do anything about it (sorry, another analogy to machinery). Let me say that the healing process and my wife's over all well being are so, so much better this time. Both of the hospital births gave my wife pain for months after the actual delivery because of the unnatural way things are done. She looked totally restored to good health 45 minutes after the delivery, and doesn't have any of the "healing" to do that she had to before. I love that glow that mothers have after a delivery. My wife was absolutely radiating after the birth.
We slept at the birth center until about 6:00am and then went home. I won't go into the trouble that our pediatrician gave us as a result of going to a birth center, because I will get too worked up. The whole "system" makes me a little sick.
All-in-all, bearing in mind that I wasn't the one delivering, I thought everything went great. It seemed to be a much better way of doing things for my wife AND the baby. Summit was big boy, and honestly looked a little goofy when he first came out. Now he is a very handsome little boy. His head is perfectly symmetrical and looks more like a c-section baby's head (he had no coning). When we saw the pediatrician for the 24 hour check-up, the nurse asked if we were there for the one-month check-up.
Praise the Lord for His goodness in our lives!
On Wednesday, when I cam home from work around 4:45 my wife had just been awakened from her nap by some strong contractions. We timed them at about 4 minutes apart for about an hour, so we called the midwife. She asked if anything else had happened with her body other than contractions, to which I said no. So she told us to call her back if anything else happened. Lindsay kept laboring with her contractions varying between 3-7 minutes, with increasing painfulness. At around 7:30 we decided to go back to our own house for some peace and quiet (we had been staying at my parents so they could keep the kids). At about 9:30pm Lindsay moved to the next stage and I called the midwife to tell her, and she told us to come on over to the birthing center.
The birth center is a nice little place with two birthing rooms (which look like nice bed and breakfast bedrooms), a birthing tub room, and some assorted rooms I've never been in. We brought all our stuff (pillows, clothes, food - yes, they encourage you to eat!) and got settled in. Lindsay was starting to be in pain now and could not sit or lie down. After about 30 minutes of using the birthing ball, she decided to get in the tub to ease some pain.
My wife labored in the tub for about an hour and half, and it was the most intense thing I have ever seen. Keep in mind I'm not a new father, I've seen my wife deliver two times before, but both were drug induced hospital births. I'll just say that I was afraid that I was going to have hearing damage. There's nothing like seeing your wife in labor, it just kind of puts you out of commission. There's actually a great scene in Anna Karenina where Kitty is giving birth and the book explains what her husband is going through. I thought it was pretty accurate.
Although she hadn't planned on it, Lindsay ended up staying in the tub to deliver. She pushed for about six minutes and the baby's head came out. It took another two minutes for him to rotate his shoulders and he was under water the whole time. From my understanding, babies don't starting breathing until the air hits their face, which triggers their breathing reflex. When he was out, they passed the baby under water up to my wife's arms, it was pretty weird, very cool, but weird.
Lindsay held the baby while they checked him out and got him breathing good. I didn't cut the cord until it stopped pulsating, which was about eight minutes later. One neat thing was that the baby was totally clean when he came out of the water. After that they did all the weighing and what not and then Lindsay and the baby got in the bed and nursed.
I was really awed by how laid-back, but in control everything was. It was very quiet and comfortable, and there was a lot of emphasis on letting the body do it's on thing. It was kind of like my wife's body went on cruise control and she couldn't do anything about it (sorry, another analogy to machinery). Let me say that the healing process and my wife's over all well being are so, so much better this time. Both of the hospital births gave my wife pain for months after the actual delivery because of the unnatural way things are done. She looked totally restored to good health 45 minutes after the delivery, and doesn't have any of the "healing" to do that she had to before. I love that glow that mothers have after a delivery. My wife was absolutely radiating after the birth.
We slept at the birth center until about 6:00am and then went home. I won't go into the trouble that our pediatrician gave us as a result of going to a birth center, because I will get too worked up. The whole "system" makes me a little sick.
All-in-all, bearing in mind that I wasn't the one delivering, I thought everything went great. It seemed to be a much better way of doing things for my wife AND the baby. Summit was big boy, and honestly looked a little goofy when he first came out. Now he is a very handsome little boy. His head is perfectly symmetrical and looks more like a c-section baby's head (he had no coning). When we saw the pediatrician for the 24 hour check-up, the nurse asked if we were there for the one-month check-up.
Praise the Lord for His goodness in our lives!
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I reached your blog by a link from a couple of other blogs, but I'm very interested to read this post, as we had a similar experience. I gave birth to our first child 6 1/2 months ago, at a hospital, but with the help of a midwife, and in a birthing tub. My husband, strong as he is, said he was pretty much worn out, not by the physical experience, but by watching and hearing me go through it. I was quite vocal with my pushing, because, of course, it still hurt, and that upset him the most, although he didn't show it. He just talked about it afterwards. I also had a quick recovery time. The time since has been challenging, because of some health issues of my own, but they seem to be resolving, and we are so blessed to have a happy, healthy baby to join our family.
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