Wesley Sage: A birth story, part 2

After we left the midwives, Merchant's called to tell me my car was going to cost several hundred dollars more than expected to fix everything needed for inspection. It was a total rip-off and I was mad enough to tell them to forget it and went to pick up my car. Luckily, my mom knew of a neighbor who was able to do bodywork and was available that day. We drove to my mom's and dropped the car off with the neighbor. At this point, I was having contractions about every 10 minutes, although they were not very strong. I was excited, but nervous that they would stop in false labor.

While my car was getting fixed, I downloaded an app on my droid to start timing my contractions. I was curious to see how long they were with how much time in between. Modern technology can be so fun sometimes!

My contractions were much more consistent than I thought they were. Averaging about 30 seconds to one minute every 4-7 minutes over the next few hours. By the time we left around 5 to go back home, my contractions were starting to get to the point where I had to breathe through them... lasting about 45 seconds to one minute every 4-5 minutes.

My mom packed a bag and drove me home and I called Ken to make sure that he would be at home when we got there. It was a mad rush when we arrived at home trying to feed the kids, bathe them and get them in bed while preparing for a long night of labor. Ken set up the birthing pool in the bedroom, my mom took care of the kids, and I breathed and swayed through my contractions, which were really becoming intense. I called my midwives to let them know what was going on and promised to update them as things increased.

Around 8 o'clock, I decided to take a shower and do a hibicleanse for GBS+. After my shower, I went to use the bathroom and felt a huge burst of pressure as my water broke all over the floor. I looked down and felt a little weak in the knees as I saw what could only have been a lot of meconium on the floor.

My contractions stayed the same throughout all of this, and I immediately called for Ken to come see the meconium as I called my midwife Amy in a mild state of panic. We sent her a picture via email as she called Vicki to see if she was in the area and could get to my house any faster. About 20 minutes later, I started feeling a lot of pressure and an uncontrollable urge to push that I had to fight against. I called Amy back and the consensus was to immediately head to the hospital and she would change directions and meet us there.

The major concern at this point was that the baby had moved to a breech position and was in distress as shown by the meconium. Usually when there is meconium when your water breaks at the beginning of labor, it is a sign of a breech baby. Something we really didn't want with an expected big baby. So, we made the executive decision to go to the hospital, threw a few things in a bag and headed out the door.

Saying goodbye to my ideal home birth in a birthing pool. Not knowing what to expect, and fearing the worst: C-section. Dreading the unknown of what the next few hours would hold, not even knowing the best way to get to the hospital or where to park at that late hour. Simultaneously anxious about what was to become; and grieving over the loss of what was never to be.

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