I spent the night before Zoey's birth at work, walking the halls and hoping it would help me dilate and Zoey descend a little more. I was planning to call my midwife in the morning and go in to have my membranes stripped, and I wanted so badly for it to work. All I could think about was how much I wanted her here. So on October 17 when I was exactly 40 weeks pregnant, I met Jen, my midwife, at the office at 9 am. She checked me first, and I was 3 1/2 cm dilated and 90% effaced. I decided to go ahead with stripping my membranes. Jen wasn't even done when my water broke. I know from the medical perspective having your labor start with your water breaking isn't ideal, especially with being GBS+, but I was so relieved and so excited! I felt comfortable with it because it's what I knew from Lauren's birth, and now I knew I'd for sure be birthing Zoey today! Jen had me get on the monitors so we could watch Zoey's heart rate for a few minutes so we would know she was tolerating things well. She was, and Jen told me to head home and get the things I needed and she would call the hospital to let them know I'd be coming soon and she would meet me there. While on the monitors I called Robbie and told him what happened, then called my mom and dad and sister. I was elated! I knew exactly what was ahead of me and I couldn't have been more excited. I drove home and while Robbie and I waited for my mom to arrive to play with Lauren, I ate some breakfast and put the final few things into the hospital bag.
My contractions had started within minutes of my water breaking. In the parking lot on our way into the hospital I had one that was strong enough that I had to stop walking and hold onto Robbie, but they were still about 7-8 minutes apart. We got to our room, answered all of the health history questions from our nurse (who was so amazing and supportive of all of my choices throughout my entire labor. I adored her!), and started walking the halls. The benefit of birthing your second baby, is you know exactly what you want and exactly what your body is capable of. When I am in labor, I like to move. So Robbie and I walked and walked. My awesome nurse had made sure I got my dose of antibiotics while we were talking, so I didn't have an IV pole to cart around with me. Jen had arrived shortly after we did, and every so often we'd stop back at the room to talk with her or watch Zoey's heart rate and my contractions on the monitors for a few minutes. While walking, with each contraction I would stop and reach for Robbie. I'd close my eyes and lay my head on his chest and hold onto him with my left hand. My right hand was pretty useless because of my IV again, but oh well. He would rub my back or my arm and whisper to me, helping me relax and let my body take over. After about 3 hours of walking, contractions were still about 7 minutes apart, but stronger and longer.
Around 2:00 pm I decided I wanted to try the birth ball because of how effectively it helped open up my pelvis last time. I was sitting on the birth ball laughing and chatting with Robbie and Jen. My contractions started feeling like they were getting weaker and shorter. Jen suggested I stand back up because it had been so effective so far. I remember her mentioning she had read Erica's notes from Lauren's birth, and was anticipating that once contractions started picking up more, things were going to happen very quickly. I stood up, and within about a minute had a very long, very intense contraction. I'm not sure I could have stayed standing if it wasn't for Robbie. But the contraction never actually ended. It started to come down, but before it did started back up again. I had four back to back contractions, each stronger than the last, when Jen asked me to lay down on my left side and she would check me. I remember thinking "why are these contractions so close together? I'm not on pitocin!" I didn't know contractions could stack like that without pitocin. I laid down and kept holding Robbie's hands while Jen checked me. It was 2:40 pm, and I was at a 7. I told Robbie to text my mom and tell her to come to the hospital. Before he'd even sent the text I felt an overwhelming need to push. I was at a 10. I went from a 7 to a 10 in seconds. I never felt another break in contractions. This time, contractions were consuming. And again, pushing felt amazing. There's something incredible about working with your body to birth a baby. I've never felt so powerful as I do when birthing my babies. But it was all happening so fast. I couldn't believe 20 minutes ago my contractions had still been 7 minutes apart. This hit me out of nowhere and I wasn't quite prepared for it. I was laying on my left side, holding both of Robbie's hands, concentrating on every calming word he said, while also partially hearing what else was going on in the room. My forehead was resting against Robbie's. I remember feeling momentarily scared because I was so overwhelmed by the intensity of the contractions, and then kissing him and that fear going away. I remember hearing my nurse coming into the room and saying "she's complete? Since when? I was in here 2 minutes ago!" And then I remember hearing Jen say they were calling more people into the room because they were worried about Zoey's heart rate, and she needed me to turn onto my back and push hard. Then she said they had to get her out now and she needed me to push between contractions. Pushing felt so productive and so effective. I felt like I knew exactly what I was doing. I gave it absolutely everything I had, and moments later Zoey was born. It was 2:49 pm. Jen lifted her as far as she could onto my stomach, but her cord was short so that wasn't very far. I was able to reach her and touch her. Feeling her come into the world was so incredible, and so relieving both emotionally and physically.
Her color wasn't good though. She was a grayish color and wasn't crying. Within moments the nurses took her and said they needed to stimulate her some more and get her going. I heard a code blue called overhead, and would have probably panicked if it wasn't for the beautiful sound of her crying seconds later. They never had to actually resuscitate her, just rub her back really hard and she perked right up.
It wasn't long before they knew she was okay, and they placed my beautiful Zoey, 6 lbs 6 oz and 18.5 inches of absolute perfection, in my arms. Her Apgar scores were 6 and 9. We cuddled for awhile and I cried with relief that she was okay and with amazement that I had birthed a baby in 9 minutes. Then I handed her to Robbie while Jen stitched up my little 1st degree tear, which has really been no big deal at all.
Zoey's birth was incredible. I still can't believe how fast it happened. She's one week old today, and I still have a hard time wrapping my brain around it. Cherie, my nurse, wrote a few things down for me so I wouldn't forget. At 2:20 pm contractions were 7 minutes apart. At 2:40 pm I was 7 cm dilated. At 2:49 pm Zoey was born. We stayed in that room for an hour or two before all three of us went to the nursery for Zoey's first bath and assessment.
Her birth reminded me how strong my body is, and how powerful I am when I work with it. Her birth showed me just how much my husband is my hero. We bring our babies into the world together. He keeps me relaxed, and I can't explain just how important that is. I feel so blessed to have this wonderful girl in our family. We love her tremendously, and are so happy she is here.
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