M and J’s story of Baby T

A long few days of impatience followed the estimated Monday due date. Labour had appeared 'imminent' for days but had not begun. Tuesday marked a visit to the midwife, who thought that the baby would come within in the next few days. She did sweep the membranes and said I was over 80% effaced, 4-5cms dilated. She sent us to the mall, not to shop, but to walk because it was too cold to be outside. While walking, contractions started every 10'ish minutes but were not hard and I was able to walk and talk through them. The contractions continued off and on like that for two more days, primarily overnight. We did our best to ignore them; however, the start and stop lead to a lot of emotional difficulty because we weren't getting sleep. The best advice we were given at that point was from our Bradley Method® instructor Julie, who said to stop, relax, and trust that the baby would come – maybe he or she needed some time to grow another eyelash! To help ease stress further, the midwife did a home visit that morning to sweep the membranes again to help move things along.

Early morning (1am) of Friday contractions started at regular intervals, 7-8 minutes apart, lasting almost a minute. At first they weren't difficult to work through but through the morning hours they became more difficult. After sleeping for an hour and having a bath, the contractions quickly jumped to 3 minutes apart lasting over 1 minute and I very quickly became 'serious'. After some time of quite tough contractions, with some full body shaking while working through contractions on all fours, we thought it was time to go to the hospital. My husband made the call to the midwife on call that day at 6am, who agreed that we should head to the hospital, and said she would meet us there. He woke my mom (who was visiting) and they quickly got ready to go and helped me out to the car. He drove a little erratically, while I tried to reassure him that I was not going to have the baby in the car and he could slow down.

We arrived at the hospital at 6:30, before the midwife, and were shown into a room. I moved onto the bed, on my hands and knees, to work through the contractions. Shortly, the midwife checked my progress and said I was 6cms. Though disappointed that I wasn't farther along, we began a series of positions to help the baby move down and help the dilation progress – everything from laying in the bath tub, to squatting, to sitting on the toilet, and even climbing the stairs two at a time. My husband was at my side all the way through this and was wonderful at whispering what I should do next and when things would happen. While I was unaware of time and had no interest in eating or drinking (after throwing up everything that I had at home and everything subsequently given to me), my husband took only moments away from me to gulp some water or coffee or grab a bite of something to eat. He coached me through each contraction, reminding me that I could do this, I WAS doing this, and he was there, he wasn't leaving. He was greatly supported by a nursing student of the midwives, whose expertise at applying counter-pressure garnered her the name 'magic hands'. She too whispered encouraging words, reminding me 'not to let this one get away'. My mom and sister were there for the whole labour and delivery as well and they were a very reassuring presence.

I did have a period when I was doubtful I could do this anymore (my husband reassured me that I was doing this) and asked if it was too late to get an epidural. My midwives and husband conferred. They told me that it was my birth and it could be whatever I wanted, but to get an epidural I had to have my progress checked and so they suggested that we do that after trying a number of other positions to speed things up. Working with my husband again, doing squats and 'dancing' while walking stairs, I got through the doubt and kept going.

Early afternoon after about 8 hours of active labour, the midwife decided to do an internal since I hadn't had one done since arrival. While doing the internal, I was very sick to my stomach again, losing all of the water and apple juice I drank. The midwife said that with her fingers on the baby's head, she could feel the baby do a complete rotation, which was what was making me sick. Thank goodness that only happened once. She then asked if I wanted an amniotomy, saying that while she doesn't normally do them, I had a large bulge of forewater and this might help the final dilation. I told them to ask my husband. The internal had revealed that I was about 9 and a half cms, with only a lip of cervix left. So I laid on my side for awhile to help that lip recede. Shortly thereafter, they did break my water and at 1:50 the midwives agreed that I could push if I felt like it, while they pushed back the remaining lip of cervix. After the first few contractions pushing I certainly did feel like it – pushing felt much better than just breathing through contractions.

Again, we moved from position to position to help get the baby down and out. Like before, I had no concept of time – although I knew I was tired. The entire second stage took about 2 hours. Using the mirror to see the baby coming helped motivate me, but feeling the baby's head with my hands really gave me an incentive to meet that little one. A few pushes later and the baby's head emerged. My husband finally left my side, as his final job was at hand now and with the next push he caught the baby and placed it on my stomach. While lifting the baby, he felt the baby's lung inflate with its first breath. I quickly reminded him that he had to check and announce the sex of the baby – 'it's a girl!'. With my husband in tears and me grinning ear to ear, our little girl T was hugged and kissed and loved.

I had no tearing thanks to warm compresses during the second stage. T nursed early and easily. We left the hospital two hours after the birth and enjoyed a wonderful first night together as a little family.

K and K’s story of Baby A
I know that we did not have a typical experience at all but we continued to use Bradley® Techniques and Methods to get us through each step and each "rarity".

I developed Pre-Eclampsia on the Tuesday November 24 (at 38 weeks) but didn't know it until the results came back on Friday. That's when I contacted the doctor (he still hadn't called and I had a feeling that the results were going to be positive for Pre-eclampsia) Dr. H said that I did indeed have pre eclampsia and that my body wasn't dealing with the pregnancy well anymore. He told me that the only cure was to get the baby out but since I was 38 weeks, I was at full term and the baby was a good size so I shouldn't worry.

I was really upset because I knew that being induced was going to make labour much more difficult and we were afraid that if we started the whole process with an intervention that we were setting ourselves on a path of multiple inventions. Karen, our Bradley® instructor, was wonderful. I called her right away and told her what was happening. She walked me through, step by step, what I could expect with the types of interventions they were likely to do. She also reassured me that she has known several women who were able to have a natural birth after being induced.

Meanwhile, Dr. H was supposed to call me back with what I was supposed to do next. Unfortunately he never called me so I was beginning to think that I misunderstood him and that I was supposed to go to the hospital right away. Since I couldn't get a hold of him, I called the hospital and told me I was on the list to be induced but that there were several women ahead of me so they would call me to come in when they had room. The nurse asked me what my blood pressure was. I told her that I hadn't checked my BP so I had no idea. She said that it was a good idea to check it if I could. So K and I went out to a pharmacy to use their self Blood Pressure machine...my BP was 180/100. Since I forgot to ask the nurse what was normal and what was high I had no idea if that was good or bad! :-) So we went to another pharmacy (just in case the first machine was wrong) and it was again 180/100. K and I decided to sleep on it and check again in the morning.

The next morning (Saturday) we got up, went back to the pharmacy and my blood pressure hadn't changed. Meanwhile, the hospital still hadn't called. By 4pm that afternoon I was getting worried and thought that I should call and let the nurses know what my BP was reading so that they could tell me to stop worrying! :-) Unfortunately they weren't able to dispel my fears since they thought that my BP was high enough to warrant going in to be seen by the Triage team. They assured me, however, that I shouldn't expect to stay that night...they were just going to check my BP and then send me home.

K and I arrived at the hospital at 5pm. I was seen by the Triage nurse and doctor. They took my BP and told me that people's blood pressure is often raised just by walking into a hospital so I was to wait for about an hour while they take my BP every ten minutes and then they would let me know. After the hour waiting period my blood pressure hadn't gone done and was actually rising. They also found that there was protein in my urine which was a sure sign that my kidneys were beginning to fail.

From that point on everything seemed to happen in fast forward. They quickly moved me into the birthing room and told me that I was, in fact, going to stay and that they would be starting the induction process but first, they needed to get my blood pressure to come down. They explained that I was at high risk of a seizure and stroke and because of this I needed to be on a constant IV of Magnesium Sulfate (Mag sulf). Mag Sulf is a smooth muscle relaxant and it makes you feel like absolute crap. It felt like I had the flu instantly. I had the chills and the sweats, aches and pains and what was worse, I was now tied to the bed...everything we knew we didn't want if we were going to be able to have the baby naturally.

Along with the Mag Sulf, I also had 2 more permanent IVs. One for saline and the other for drawing blood. They needed to draw blood every 6 hours to make sure my kidneys were functioning and I wasn't getting toxic amounts of the mag sulf. I also had no choice but to get a Urinary Catheter. They wanted to monitor my kidney function by the output as well. The nurses were also concerned that getting up to go to the washroom was going to raise my bp too much.

After about 3 hours of getting my blood pressure stabilized, they felt comfortable with starting the induction process. I was given a dose of Cervadil at about 9pm. Not much happened when they put the first dose in since I wasn't dilated at all and my cervix was not effaced at all. We tried to get some sleep that night although I found it very difficult since they insisted that my blood pressure cuff be set to go off every hour. We were also assigned a permanent nurse. We were never allowed to be in the room by oursleves since patients on mag sulf have to be monitored constantly.

Sunday morning was the first time that I realized that I wasn't allowed to eat! I was put on a clear liquid diet because of the mag sulf. Emotionally I was faring really well up until that point. We had been in contact with Karen several times the night before who assured us that we were doing everything that we could. She really helped to keep our spirits up. However, when I found out that I couldn't eat I was so upset. I just knew that if I couldn't eat, I wouldn't be able to keep my strength up and then it was really making it difficult to have a natural birth.

At about 9am Sunday morning they took out the old cervadil, found that I was 1 cm dilated but still not really effaced. We decided to agree to another dose of Cervadil. It was at that time that we convinced the nurses that my BP was stable enough for me to get up and move around. So I started doing my squats and since I was attached to two IV poles, the blood pressure machine, my heart rate monitor, the baby's heart rate monitor and the contraction monitor I wasn't able to do much walking around. Instead I settled for marching on the spot :-)

After the second dose of Cervadil was in for another 12 hours I was still only 1cm. They wanted to break my waters but, knowing that that doesn't usually get labour going unless you are about 4 cm, we asked for an alternative. The alternative was to have a Foley Catheter put in. Essentially it is a balloon that gets inserted in your cervix and then filled with water. They then pull the cord tight and tape it to your leg so that it provides constant tension and manually dilates the cervix. In theory it is supposed to fall out on its own as the cervix dilates. However, after 24 hours my cervix hadn't dilated enough so they gently pulled on it and removed it. At that point I was 2 cm dilated so they broke my waters and began oxytocin to start contractions. The oxytocin was started at 7:30 Monday night and by noon on Tuesday I was only 4 cm after having intense contractions the entire time.

Up until this point I was handling the contractions using the relaxation techniques. However, when they checked me at noon and I had only made it to 4cm the doctor said that it was now a choice between taking an epidural and letting my body rest and dilate more or have a c-section. Since we had worked so hard to get my body into labour we didn't want to just stop and go for the c-section (not to mention that we really didn't want to have a c-section!) . We opted for the epidural to see if giving my body a rest would allow labour to progress.

They checked me again at 2:30 and I had only made 1 cm progress. We asked for more time to see if I would progress any further so the doctor agreed to let me continue until 6pm.

At 6pm the doctor came back to check me and found that I was only 5 cm.

At this point the baby was starting to show signs of mild distress. She wasn't moving as much anymore and her heart rate was down and staying down. We opted for the C-Section since we knew that it was now the only way we were going to come out with "healthy mom, healthy baby".

The C-Section went well. It wasn't as scary as I thought it was going to be. The doctor was wonderful and talked me through it. Baby A's 1 minute apgar was only a 2, she was blue and she needed aggressive suctioning and ventilation which was very very scary but by 5 minutes her apgar was an 8 and she began to turn pink and cry. What a great moment!


N & N’s story of Baby S
The summer of 2009 was a hot yet rainy one. The rain soothed my swollen feet and calmed my mind in preparation for the birth of our first child. My scheduled due date was July 25th; I knew that my midwife had a pretty good approximation of our expected date of delivery based on my basal body temperature charts. That being said, I also knew that most first babies came later than planned! The 25th was scheduled to be a Saturday and so every day that passed I waited for a sign that Baby S was preparing to come!

Monday morning, July 20th came along and I woke and rose to my habitual routine. I would prepare breakfast for my husband N and then return to bed. That early morning I remember feeling a bit of menstrual cramping, it was so light I did not think much of it. As I returned to bed that morning I felt a gush of fluid leaving my body so I rose swiftly to run to the washroom in case my amniotic fluid was leaking. With a tinge of excitement I soon discovered that blood was rushing out. Not much later a huge blood clot the size of a baseball appeared at which I became distressed, called N to the washroom and then phoned my midwife. She came over and confirmed that labour was beginning but the source of bleeding was mysterious. We confirmed through ultrasound that all was well with Baby S but the blood continued to drip. The cramping also continued and I would walk slowly as it progressed. I was feeling excited that soon we would meet Baby S, but a bit anxious as well!

That night was a bit difficult as I was feeling progressively more discomfort, Tuesday came and went with the same feelings and Tuesday night I was feeling the need for some massage. My midwife confirmed that it was still too early to call what I was feeling active labour, although I felt that the discomfort was quite intense at times. Wednesday morning we had an appointment with the midwive and she asked me if I was concerned that Baby S was lying on my right side, I didn't think much of it and felt that she would know what to do when the time came along. That being said I took my precautions and scheduled an acupuncture appointment for optimal positioning and called my Bradley® instructor.

I tried walking in the park with my parents on Wednesday night and had to stop and hold my weight on my umbrella, I knew it would not be long! That evening as I struggled to get comfortable, I felt liquid gush and immediately thought it to be my amniotic fluid. It was so little I called my midwife who confirmed that it was most likely leaking, labour is well under way. And so the night continued. I went to bed at midnight with N and I could not sleep, the contractions were picking up! He did so well massaging me that I fell asleep only to be woken up with an intense rush that frightened me, N consoled me and told me that my body was doing what it must do. At that moment I broke down and felt that he was my sole support in this endeavor and he rose to the title because he comforted me and reassured me. I called the midwife again. She suggested I get into the bath to accelerate things and so I did. We put on some relaxation music as I focused on every rush that came along. Pressure. That is what I remember, intense pressure.

I was getting tired of the tub and exited, often leaning forward on N. I remember his t-shirt; it was the one he bought on our honeymoon, of the Cabot Trail in Nova Scotia. I fixated on the trail picture and the letters displayed on the shirt.

It was time, the midwife needed to come, I need to have her in the room with us. So we woke my parents, it was 5 am and the midwife came over, she checked my dilation and confirmed I was at 3-4 cm. Great she said! Keep doing what you are doing.

So we did. I put on a CD of the Holy Qur'an which relaxed me and brought me to another level of emotion. I cried. A few hours later, she checked me and said I was at 9 cm!! Wow! Amazing! "Do you want to stay home or go to the hospital?" she asked. We discussed and opted for home, home sweet home... It was almost 9 am and the midwife said she has to leave for training, it was her day off call and so two extra midwives will be coming over. OK, but since the baby is close, she said she would stay, we will be seeing your baby soon she said!

Soon? I thought, I don't know if I feel ready for this baby I thought to myself, it was so surreal that the moment was coming. Finally she checked me one more time as I was not yet feeling the urge to bear down, her look said it all. N, you are back at 3-4cm. WHAT??? I am sorry just keep working, it will come she said. The two new midwives came and my midwife had to leave. One of the new midwives told me to get things moving, we want a nice vaginal birth she said, otherwise it will be induction, epidural etc etc, we don't want that! Perhaps it was motivation but she got me walking up and down the stairs.

The rushes came, every 5 minutes and strong. After a few hours the midwife wanted to check my dilation, still at 3-4cm!! Oh no, it is now around 3pm and it is not coming to an end! BUT, she says, your bag of waters is intact, we can rupture your membranes and things will get moving. I was feeling exhausted and agreed. The moment the amniotic fluid exited, my contractions felt so intense they became a blur. I continued to breath, relax and get massaged, transition came as the contractions continued one on another. I began doubting my ability. The midwife mentioned, "N you know there is something called transition and within that you often feel" "Self-doubt" I exclaimed, I know!

Soon I felt the urge to bear down. The midwife told me to do what my body felt like doing. So I began to bear down. We moved to the bathtub and with every push I simply saw blank expressions on her face. N was encouraging me, quietly watching the scene unfold. Hmmm, I thought, why is there no progress mentioned! We moved back to the bed, the midwife decided to check my cervix and found it at 9 1/2 cm, a lip was left and Baby S's head was behind it, I would have to lie on my right side to let the lip recede and NOT push. Impossible, the urge was so strong, how could I not? Meanwhile another experienced midwife as well came in and continued to encourage my progress.

My midwife suggested moving the lip manually. The intensest pain I have ever felt was with her fingers trying to move the remaining piece of cervix. I screamed and B became frightful, he feared for the worst! I continued with this problem for a few hours, it was a blur. My original midwife completed her training day and came back at which point she evaluated again, I said if this cervix needs to be moved, she is doing it.

She agreed. She felt my cervix and told me that it was fully dilated, in fact what she notices is that Baby S is in posterior position! Oh my God, please rescue me from this difficult situation, give me strength!! No wonder the descent was so slow! OK new plan of action, we will try everything to get her to move, birthing stool, squatting, and finally my husband's chin-up bar in the closet, we strapped a sheet over it so that I could pull myself up and get gravity's help.

My mother was behind me, soothing me with her cold hands, wet cloths and water. N was patiently encouraging me and my teams of 4 midwives now were all rooting for me. With every push as intense and primal as it was, I needed reassurance that there was progress. It was soooo slow but I was determined. The heat of that day was leaving me completely drained, water, water, water is all I was getting, and then came juice which boosted my energy. Finally there was progress. We moved to the bed, I felt Baby S descend, I felt her head in my bottom, the time was getting closer. I was on the bed in a semi-reclined pushing position, more pushing, more and more, slowly my midwife said ok, she is coming, get some olive oil for the perenium. Was it true? I felt the stretching and rejoiced that this moment was here, I could not cry, I was dry of tears, finally one last push and out came our beautiful baby at 8:54pm Thursday night, July 23rd, she was 7lbs 10oz!

Baby S came straight to my breast, N beside me, we waited until her cord stopped pulsating and he cut it. She latched on immediately; I remember her little cough, her eyes wide open and staring out at me. My baby I cried, my baby! I looked over and saw tears in N's eyes as well as my mother's.
Now is the time for the placenta. After five hours of pushing and almost one week of bleeding the midwives were concerned, it was not coming as quickly as it should. They checked my bladder, I could not urinate so in came the catheter, but I was indeed empty! No more fluids in this body!! No risks will be taken so I received an injection and out came the placenta. There was lots of blood, the midwives worked so fast to ensure all was well, blood pressure, checking to see if anything remained of the placenta... All was clear, source of my bleeding? Undetermined.

Now came the stitching, I had a small tear requiring two stitches and two labial cuts that could be left to heal alone. I was numbed for the stitching, the needle was most uncomfortable but my baby was now in my arms after our hard work. I drank my juice and had a couple of dates. My dad ordered a pizza for everyone. A while later I needed to be escorted to the bathroom, and my midwife helped me into the shower. I left Baby S in the arms of her grandma while N announced the news to all. It felt so nice sitting in the shower, washing away my week's worth of work, I am now a mother, purified!

I slid into bed with a slice of pizza, my baby in arms and spent the rest of the night awake marveling at her beauty and purity. What a wonderful journey this was, when shall we have another?

M & B story of Baby S
We chose to have her at a birthing centre with midwives instead of a traditional hospital birth, and it was the best decision I made in my whole preparations, beside the other decision which was to attend the Bradley® classes in Ottawa. Which I can now say was totally worth it despite the travelling.

So I thought I was in labour Sunday due to many signs that this was what early labour looks like. Did lots of walking and exercises to help it along... fell asleep and the next day it all started again!! Now it must be labour! Still Monday night came and after a while the contractions eased and I went to sleep.

 By Tuesday it finally started to annoy me that I still had no baby! I called my midwife and she said "take a walk and a nap and I'll come check on you in the evening." When she checked I was only 3 centimeters, she said "get some more sleep and call me when contractions get to be 5 minutes apart for 3 hours."

At midnight my contractions woke me up and we started timing them sure enough they were 5 minutes. Called our midwife and we ended up going to the birth center around 3:30 am…of course the highway was detoured...I was having major back labour. She checked me when we got there and I was only 5cm.  B and I worked away at getting the show on the road with the goal of having the baby by lunch. We pelvic rocked, squatted, roamed the halls, rocked on the exercise ball. Lots of effort. Then the contractions got further apart. So we took a nap.

When she checked again at noon and I was only 7cm... Basically I had decided in my head that the baby didn't want to come out anymore and I would just go home and stay pregnant forever! This seemed like the most logical option to me. The midwife offered to break my waters to speed things up. I took a look at the hook and cried.  She said it's very rare for it to scratch the baby’s head but I still couldn't agree to it. I was not ready for the pain to be worse I wanted my water to break itself.

So all afternoon I laboured away, while B supported me and told me sweet things while rubbing my back and holding me up. Around supper time the midwife suggested going up and done the fire exit stairs as quickly as possible without stopping for contractions. So after 3 floors 3 times up and down and a nap, things really started going places fast. I had the worst contractions yet - they were pushing the baby out (transition). I honestly felt like I was going to die as I sat on the toilet holding onto the grip bar on the wall. I told B I felt like my body was pushing and I could barely hold it back... B could see that it was a new phase of labour, and reassured me that. And the midwife said don't push just let the contractions do the work. My body was pushing while I was trying not to.

Finally once we had the water broken the contractions got stronger and stronger. There was meconium in the amniotic fluid so that means no water birth for me! Darn! But they filled up the tub so I could stay in as long as I wanted before finishing pushing. They said stay till you feel the head coming. Felt the head 3-4 times myself before deciding to tell them I felt it. By the time I got out and onto the bed to push it was 3-5 contractions and pushing on my hands and knees. Just as the midwife said slow down, there she came – flying out!! I was prepared for another couple hours of that so I was in shocked when I looked down. I just looked B right in the face and informed him of the obvious, "omg it's a baby." It happened so fast that the midwives were both kind of shocked almost as much as the evaluator who was observing my birth as part of the ‘baby friendly certification’ the center was being evaluated for.  (She had brought in a chair to sit on but I guess she didn't actually need it).
 So there she was all 21 inches, 8 pounds of pure love looking at us. And then the 3 days of waiting and discomfort, no sleep all disappeared while the three of us laid there just looking at each other. It was just an awesome experience. I don't think I have ever felt more love for my husband than I did that day, combined with the love I felt for the baby there was a whole lotta love in the room! 

The birth center is such good treatment it makes up for the drug free route. Mine and the baby’s vitals were checked every hour, wherever we were at the time walking bathing etc. No disruptions or noises. They fed us whatever we wanted - it was actually food I would have made/eaten at home not the hospital stuff. They gave us 2 hours before they weighed or measured or checked the baby and when she did all of that she never took the baby out of our sight. There was a normal bed for the three us to sleep in together instead of a hospital bed. So the three of us were happy as could be. We went home for lunch the day after.

So after all that I would do it all over again the same but hopefully next time I'll be smart enough to sleep and chill out during early labour!

J & L’s story of Baby T
I started getting contractions late in the day Friday March 26th. They were all in my back. It started moving forward and we got to 5 minutes between contractions lasting a minute and really intense. We used a lot of counter-pressure because of the back labour and it helped a lot. My midwife arrived soon after and we set up the tub.

By the time my midwife arrived my contractions had gone back to 6 min, then dropped to 4 and then after a lot of work and exhaustion (it was morning by now) the contractions slowed down and would only come every 15 minutes or even 30 minutes. My midwife left and said she thought it would pick back up later but to get some rest.

Saturday I slept a small amount. But the contractions wouldn't stop long enough to get more than an hour of rest and because it was all in my back I couldn't lie down. L and I went for a walk that day and again in the evening it picked up when I lay down and would get really intense and then as soon as I would change me position or do something else it would slow down...but never go away.

We went through another sleepless night (well I made sure L slept not knowing when I would need him to be at his best). By Sunday my midwife called to check in and was concerned because I hadn't slept so we made an appointment to see her the next morning and if nothing was happening I would go in for a cervadil induction.

I managed to make it through yet another night of back pain and got to the midwife by 8:30 the next morning. She checked me and I was only 2 cm but the cervix was thin, so she did a stretch and sweep hoping to get things going. The car ride on the way back home was uncomfortable and by the time I got through the door I was working hard.

By early afternoon I was down to 4 minutes between and the midwife headed over. The pain in my back was now resounding in my lumbar curve on top of the contractions. I was 5 cm when she arrived and we decided to get in the tub to help the back pain. The pain just continued to increase and the labour didn't. We decided to try sterile water injections in the back to relieve the back pain and it was a huge relief...but it slowed my contractions. By 9 o'clock I was so tired and felt I had nothing left. The midwife decided to break my water (still 5 cm). When she did I had meconium in the waters. Because I wasn't moving very fast and Baby T was late she decided it would be best to go to the Montfort hospital just in case. I was so exhausted that I was actually looking forward to the move. I needed a change of scenery.

At 9:30 we took an ambulance (for comfort) to the Montfort. I had to sit on the gurney on my hands and knees because I couldn't sit down with the back pain. I arrived at the hospital by 10 and I had made it to 8 cm and my contractions were 30 seconds apart. By 10:30 I was feeling the urge to push. I had to hold against the pushing for about a half hour (the hardest thing I've ever done) and by 11:10 I was 10 cm.

I started to push on my hands and knees and T was out by 11:25pm. I pushed for 15 minutes! He came out with two loops of cord around his neck but we got them off and they took him to the warmer to suction his lungs in case he had inhaled the meconium. He was perfect!! When they told me he was a boy the look on L's face was worth the whole labour. L grabbed him as soon as he could and did skin to skin while I got cleaned up so I could sit down. I took him in my arms and he latched right away. He did so well that my placenta was right there and the midwife just pulled it right out. After that was just a whirl of love!

And although hard, it was the greatest thing I have ever accomplished! The midwife said she couldn't believe we made it through without any intervention or asking for an epidural. She said most women would have asked a long time ago. It had never even crossed my mind to do it any other way. I think because we had it in our head for months that we were going to do it naturally it helped us make it through!! Thank you for your classes and everything you taught us. We are extremely happy and T is growing beautifully!!

K and P’s story of Baby S
After a week of some concern about the size of the baby (measuring very large for dates, consented to an ultrasound that indicated a large baby and polyhydraminos-excess amniotic fluid) we continued with our plan for a homebirth. We took some natural steps to help labour get started. I experienced a very similar pattern to my first birth of many bouts of pre-labour’ish contractions and then periods of rest over a few days, but this time I had confidence that my body knew what it was doing.

After some last minute baby shopping on Friday and a large dinner, I suddenly had a couple of very strong contractions starting at 7pm. I asked P to hurry and bath our daughter because I wanted access to the bathroom if I needed it. By 8pm, I had still only had a 5 or 6 contractions but they quickly settled into a pattern of contractions every 4-5 minutes, lasting longer than 1 minute.

While my mom put our daughter to bed, P asked if I wanted to watch a movie for distraction. I said ‘No, let’s get this done’ and decided that to help labour get going we would do my favourite activity that keeps me on my feet – bake! I wanted to make a ‘groaning cake’, a cake traditionally made during labour because the sweet smells soothe the mother. I leaned on the counter and swayed with each contraction and we continued to put the cake together between contractions. At about 8:30pm it was apparent that this was going a lot faster than my previous birth and so we called the midwife who said she would come right over.

Once the cake was in the oven and our daughter was in her room, I paced the house and kneeled in front of the couch during contractions while P lightly rubbed my back. We listened to the music that we had used during our relaxation practice. When the midwife arrived at 9pm, we moved upstairs. She found I was 7-8cms and with the next contraction my water broke. Then the labour got very strong. I spent a few contractions in the bathroom before moving to the bed and into the side-lying position. P, with some help from my mom, continued to use light finger movements along my back and arms and worked to help me stay relaxed through my abdomen.

Transition hit shortly after, as I told P I didn’t want to do this anymore and contractions came one on top of another with no break. I recall thinking that this home birth now seemed like a terrible idea. In fact, birth at all seemed like a terrible idea. I just plain didn’t want to be in labour (hello transition!). Luckily, and as per usual, this stage didn’t last long. I had said a couple of times I thought I felt like pushing and then suddenly I was pushing. The second midwife had arrived by this time and one of them checked my dilation – fully dilated. I tried a couple of pushes on the bed before moving to kneeling at the end of the bed and holding onto P’s arm on the bed. About ten minutes later, Baby S arrived with one loud squawk, P announced it was a boy, and he was handed to me.

Baby S nuzzled a bit and quickly became a champion nurser. We then laid down to get some rest and enjoyed getting to know our little boy. We also greatly enjoyed eating that ‘groaning cake’!