The birth of Paige
Meeting my sweet daughter would prove to be no easy task...I certainly waited for a long time to have a daughter, so it seemed fitting. She was due in late May of 2015 but decided to get here a bit closer to her brother's birthday of May 16th. So that is where we shall begin...
We had just wrapped up my son's Car themed birthday party. He turned 3 that Saturday, it was May 16th. It was nice to celebrate his birthday on his actual birthday this year! We started the day seeing our midwife in the morning and then setting up for the festivities. All things Paige related were looking good, my previous birth (the little guy we were celebrating) was an overwhelming 43 weeks! So we were in for the long haul this go around as well. She certainly had other plans. So as we said our goodbye's to our family and friends that Saturday we reluctantly agreed to let our now 3 year old leave his celebration decorations up until we moved. You see we were also moving in less than a week, so we enjoyed his new gifts for the evening and comfortably got situated into bed. (At least they did, it isn't easy getting anywhere near comfortable at 9 months pregnant). We all watched some cartoons and drifted off to sleep, then it happened. My water broke.
I was 39 weeks pregnant, and my water broke at nearly 1:35am on Sunday May 17th. I was alarmed, confused and seriously unsure as to what had happened. Clearly my husband was as well since he also asked if I was sure or if I had wet the bed. Since I am not a chronic bedwetter, I decided it must have been my bag of waters, but labor hadn't begun. This had never happened to me before. I was very very confused, and quite honestly, scared. So we let our midwife know and we did what I knew to do, drink lots of water, keep everything out of the vagina to avoid infection and wait and watch. and wait and Watch we did.
We waited, and waited and waited some more. Nothing, not a tingle, not a tightening, nothing was happening. I expected to begin labor in a few hours or at least within 24 hours. However, it had not. Our midwife came the following day and we tried a few things that had worked for my previous baby. Moxabustion. It's an ancient chinese ritual type thing, where you burn this stuff that looks like an old tree branch over certain parts of your body (I am talking pressure points here folks) and it did absolutely nothing! So since nothing took place all day Sunday or Sunday night, we decided to have a sonogram on Monday morning. The sonogram was all positive, not even low fluid, and at that point we had broken water for almost 24 hours, so things were looking great! I had also scheduled an appointment for the Chiropractor the same day! So that Monday May 18th I ventured into the chiropractor's office at 3:45pm. I got the best treatment ever. You wouldn't believe the relief a chiro can provide to a very pregnant mama. She made me feel AWESOME! And after my adjustment I stood in the hallway waiting (desperately) to use the restroom, when I noticed I was now leaking a LOT OF FLUID! I mean whoa buddy was I glad to be wearing jeans!!!
We left the chiro and decided to head home when we got pulled over for a seatbelt violation. I jokingly told my husband I could feign being in labor and hopefully get out of it, but it was just a $10 fine for not wearing a seatbelt. ( our heads weren't in their normal states, so clearly we were not thinking) The officer was pleasant and we made our way back home. I don't remember much, just feeling anxious and wanting to hold my little girl, so I think we ordered out and stayed in for our last meal. Then I also recall demanding, really really DEMANDING some taco bell at around 9:30pm, and of course my dear man got it for me. Then we took our now 3 year old out for a ride to get him to sleep, this of course was near 10:30 or 11pm, and that was when I felt the first one. I was in labor.
They started out slow, easy, sort of like cramps. I didn't even want to admit to my husband that I was having them for fear they weren't even real. Sure enough though, after about 6 or 7 of them almost 4 minutes apart, and when I could predict they would happen, I told him. He was so excited, so elated that we were on the cusp of meeting our little lady! I myself was still in disbelief. The pregnancy seemed to go by so fast, the meetings with our midwife seemed to have just begun, surely she wasn't coming just yet!
So we got home, and I got my little one to lay down with is older brother. (the older brother is 12) and then the real work started. My husband began setting up the birth pool in the dining room just as we had done 3 years before (almost to the day) and suddenly, very very suddenly, it was real. I was really going to have my long awaited little girl. I was a ball of emotions. As the contractions came faster and stronger, I labored on my birth ball in the living room, alternating with standing and kneeling because I had so long felt that little baby Paige was malpositioned, I wanted to give her the best chance to get her head where it needed to be. I am not sure of the time, but I think our midwife and her assistant arrived around 12:30am on May 19th. (don't quote me though) I remember only being in labor and having very strong waves of contractions when my little one woke up. He came to the bathroom where I was laboring on the toilet and then refused to allow my husband in to comfort either myself or him. He stood there, like a guard dog protecting his most precious love, while I tried to maintain face through a couple contractions. (My sweet little boy) He held my hand and I rubbed his back as he always wants me to do, then between intense contractions I put him back to bed again with his brother, assuring him that I was fine.
This is where I sort of space out, I was no longer on planet earth really. I recall standing in the hallway, naked, leaning on my husband, shaking, nauseous and ready to get this girl in my arms. We stood in the hallway together, sort of like slow dancing. Me leaning into him, while he held the mess that was his wife going through the most enduring work of her life. He was a champ. Clearly he had listened to my long diatribes of what to say to clients as a doula when I talked about my work, because he was filled with nothing but positive affirmations and calm. He was my rock, my steadfast, strong pillar of hope. As we stood through a few contractions I decided it was time. I wanted to get into the birth pool. I knew when I decided to get in that I wasn't going to be getting out without a baby in my arms.
I got into the pool, I hardly remember that part. I only remember leaning over the edge, trying desperately to be calm and ride the waves of surges that were now coming every single moment. I could get through a few and then I was so tired, and wanted out. I wanted to go anywhere but there, but again my man came through, ensuring me it was temporary and that I would indeed be holding my daughter very soon, before the sun came up. I remember the midwife telling me to lean back after I told her I was ready to push, I knew she was close. I felt her head mere inches from the outside. I felt the room swell with each contraction, I was on another plane of existence. It was so surreal, the sensations are still real, but I cannot recreate them in my mind. I pushed around 2 or 3 times to feel her head escape me, then I needed to wait, so that the midwife could be sure that her cord wasn't strung around her neck. A few more strong pushes and my daughter was in my arms......the feeling at that moment was indescribable. She was so perfect, so delicate and yet so strong. She was my little Paige. The girl I had wanted was now living and breathing and perfect. We had done it, she and I working together. We both had a beautiful birthday that day, that perfect and beautiful day in May.
We had just wrapped up my son's Car themed birthday party. He turned 3 that Saturday, it was May 16th. It was nice to celebrate his birthday on his actual birthday this year! We started the day seeing our midwife in the morning and then setting up for the festivities. All things Paige related were looking good, my previous birth (the little guy we were celebrating) was an overwhelming 43 weeks! So we were in for the long haul this go around as well. She certainly had other plans. So as we said our goodbye's to our family and friends that Saturday we reluctantly agreed to let our now 3 year old leave his celebration decorations up until we moved. You see we were also moving in less than a week, so we enjoyed his new gifts for the evening and comfortably got situated into bed. (At least they did, it isn't easy getting anywhere near comfortable at 9 months pregnant). We all watched some cartoons and drifted off to sleep, then it happened. My water broke.
I was 39 weeks pregnant, and my water broke at nearly 1:35am on Sunday May 17th. I was alarmed, confused and seriously unsure as to what had happened. Clearly my husband was as well since he also asked if I was sure or if I had wet the bed. Since I am not a chronic bedwetter, I decided it must have been my bag of waters, but labor hadn't begun. This had never happened to me before. I was very very confused, and quite honestly, scared. So we let our midwife know and we did what I knew to do, drink lots of water, keep everything out of the vagina to avoid infection and wait and watch. and wait and Watch we did.
We waited, and waited and waited some more. Nothing, not a tingle, not a tightening, nothing was happening. I expected to begin labor in a few hours or at least within 24 hours. However, it had not. Our midwife came the following day and we tried a few things that had worked for my previous baby. Moxabustion. It's an ancient chinese ritual type thing, where you burn this stuff that looks like an old tree branch over certain parts of your body (I am talking pressure points here folks) and it did absolutely nothing! So since nothing took place all day Sunday or Sunday night, we decided to have a sonogram on Monday morning. The sonogram was all positive, not even low fluid, and at that point we had broken water for almost 24 hours, so things were looking great! I had also scheduled an appointment for the Chiropractor the same day! So that Monday May 18th I ventured into the chiropractor's office at 3:45pm. I got the best treatment ever. You wouldn't believe the relief a chiro can provide to a very pregnant mama. She made me feel AWESOME! And after my adjustment I stood in the hallway waiting (desperately) to use the restroom, when I noticed I was now leaking a LOT OF FLUID! I mean whoa buddy was I glad to be wearing jeans!!!
We left the chiro and decided to head home when we got pulled over for a seatbelt violation. I jokingly told my husband I could feign being in labor and hopefully get out of it, but it was just a $10 fine for not wearing a seatbelt. ( our heads weren't in their normal states, so clearly we were not thinking) The officer was pleasant and we made our way back home. I don't remember much, just feeling anxious and wanting to hold my little girl, so I think we ordered out and stayed in for our last meal. Then I also recall demanding, really really DEMANDING some taco bell at around 9:30pm, and of course my dear man got it for me. Then we took our now 3 year old out for a ride to get him to sleep, this of course was near 10:30 or 11pm, and that was when I felt the first one. I was in labor.They started out slow, easy, sort of like cramps. I didn't even want to admit to my husband that I was having them for fear they weren't even real. Sure enough though, after about 6 or 7 of them almost 4 minutes apart, and when I could predict they would happen, I told him. He was so excited, so elated that we were on the cusp of meeting our little lady! I myself was still in disbelief. The pregnancy seemed to go by so fast, the meetings with our midwife seemed to have just begun, surely she wasn't coming just yet!
So we got home, and I got my little one to lay down with is older brother. (the older brother is 12) and then the real work started. My husband began setting up the birth pool in the dining room just as we had done 3 years before (almost to the day) and suddenly, very very suddenly, it was real. I was really going to have my long awaited little girl. I was a ball of emotions. As the contractions came faster and stronger, I labored on my birth ball in the living room, alternating with standing and kneeling because I had so long felt that little baby Paige was malpositioned, I wanted to give her the best chance to get her head where it needed to be. I am not sure of the time, but I think our midwife and her assistant arrived around 12:30am on May 19th. (don't quote me though) I remember only being in labor and having very strong waves of contractions when my little one woke up. He came to the bathroom where I was laboring on the toilet and then refused to allow my husband in to comfort either myself or him. He stood there, like a guard dog protecting his most precious love, while I tried to maintain face through a couple contractions. (My sweet little boy) He held my hand and I rubbed his back as he always wants me to do, then between intense contractions I put him back to bed again with his brother, assuring him that I was fine.
This is where I sort of space out, I was no longer on planet earth really. I recall standing in the hallway, naked, leaning on my husband, shaking, nauseous and ready to get this girl in my arms. We stood in the hallway together, sort of like slow dancing. Me leaning into him, while he held the mess that was his wife going through the most enduring work of her life. He was a champ. Clearly he had listened to my long diatribes of what to say to clients as a doula when I talked about my work, because he was filled with nothing but positive affirmations and calm. He was my rock, my steadfast, strong pillar of hope. As we stood through a few contractions I decided it was time. I wanted to get into the birth pool. I knew when I decided to get in that I wasn't going to be getting out without a baby in my arms.
I got into the pool, I hardly remember that part. I only remember leaning over the edge, trying desperately to be calm and ride the waves of surges that were now coming every single moment. I could get through a few and then I was so tired, and wanted out. I wanted to go anywhere but there, but again my man came through, ensuring me it was temporary and that I would indeed be holding my daughter very soon, before the sun came up. I remember the midwife telling me to lean back after I told her I was ready to push, I knew she was close. I felt her head mere inches from the outside. I felt the room swell with each contraction, I was on another plane of existence. It was so surreal, the sensations are still real, but I cannot recreate them in my mind. I pushed around 2 or 3 times to feel her head escape me, then I needed to wait, so that the midwife could be sure that her cord wasn't strung around her neck. A few more strong pushes and my daughter was in my arms......the feeling at that moment was indescribable. She was so perfect, so delicate and yet so strong. She was my little Paige. The girl I had wanted was now living and breathing and perfect. We had done it, she and I working together. We both had a beautiful birthday that day, that perfect and beautiful day in May.
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