My 3rd Birth Story

June 26, 2025

On October 2, 2020, I remember sitting on a chair at the dinner table in the afternoon. There was a “band” around my baby belly that felt tight, and I sat rubbing it gently while William and Oliver were helping me rub my belly. The rest of the day was uneventful, but I went to bed around 12:30 a.m.  I had trouble sleeping. At around 1:00 a.m., I awoke because my belly hurt, and I couldn’t sleep.  The “hurt” came frequently, so I started tracking the sensations.  The app tracker on my phone told me that I was having 4-1-1 contractions (contractions are 4 minutes apart, lasting for 1 minute, over the course of an hour).  I called my doula and midwife.  When the midwife picked up the call, and I told her what was happening, she said, “Why don’t you head on in to the hospital?” I asked her, “Don’t you want to know about my contractions?” And she responded, “No, I can tell by the way you’re breathing and talking. See you soon.” So when Jenny arrived, my contractions were 3-1-1, and we headed out. I remember sitting in her car chatting happily, until a “birthing wave” started, and I had to really focus and breathe through it.  Laboring in a car is very uncomfortable.  By the time we arrived at the hospital, I was having regular contractions still, but was still able to joke around with the nurses and staff. The midwife came in and checked my dilation: 8-9cm.  I was ready to go.  The nurse in my assigned room was bustling around getting things ready, but I just continued to chat and joke.  This went on for another few hours, and the midwife started wondering if she checked me correctly.  Why wasn’t I progressing faster? By this time, it was about 7 am, and the midwife wanted to speed things up.

So, they broke my water. Let me tell you that it was much “nicer” having them break my water at the hospital on purpose b/c the mess is controlled! Even after my water broke, there wasn’t much change in my labor. Jenny and the midwife decided to have me go through a few contractions with my legs in an elevated lunge.  I propped my front foot on a stool to open up my hips, and that really changed the game.  The 2nd contraction in that position allowed the baby to drop into my pelvis.  I had to go to the bathroom (pee). When I was done with that, another contraction hit while I was leaving the bathroom, and it literally dropped me to my knees. I was able to make it to the bed for support, but when I tried to “push” it was almost as if there wasn’t a solid wall. I stopped pushing immediately b/c it hurt me and had to have hurt the baby. I told Jenny, and between the contractions, that positioned me kneeling on the bed, holding on to the backrest. My right leg was hiked up, and as the next contraction began, the fear of what was coming next overwhelmed me. I didn’t want to lose or give up control. I didn’t want to experience pain.

But there was no choice. My time was up. Whether I was ready or not, the baby was coming out. I hugged Jenny so hard, and let go. The sensation to push began, and when I tried to push, there was no push-back this time. I felt the baby move downward. But there was a problem.  There was no “thwump” as the baby’s head is through and the work is done. The midwife didn’t have the baby’s head, and I did NOT want another baby stuck in the ring of fire. I could feel the contraction ending and heard the midwife say, “You need to push again.” I took as deep a breath as I could manage and pushed. Hard. I felt that baby pass through me, and the pressure and gush of liquid finally occurred. I was so relieved.

The midwife asked, “Do you want to see your baby?” I said, “No, not right now,” because I was still reeling from the pain and sensations of shoving a tiny human out of my body, but she said, “Just look down.” So I looked down. There was this tiny white baby between my legs.  He started crying almost immediately (APGAR 8 or 9), and I remember feeling relieved and happy and tired and sore.

Once they cleaned up the bed underneath me, I turned around, sat down, while they cleaned me up and cleaned up the baby.  Then, they placed the wrapped up newborn babe in my arms. I laid him on my bare chest, and he immediately began rooting for the breast. It didn’t take him long to find it, and he latched quickly and easily.  I could tell he had a little bit of a tongue tie, but it wasn’t bad enough to get it revised. Funny how I knew that so quickly.  He looked like a little old man baby, but he was absolutely beautiful. That is how my 3rd child came into this world.

The reason why he didn’t come out when I was already 8-9cm dilated was because he had a hand presentation.  That means that his right hand was up near his cheek and ear, so when it was time to go through the birth canal, his hand was up by his face.  He didn’t put it down, so I had to push him out with his hand increasing the “width” of his neck. That’s why he got stuck. When I had a couple contractions with my legs in lunge position, it opened up my hips and allowed him to slide down.

I really only had to push 2 times to get him out. It was by far my easiest birth, as they did not have to give me Pitocin. Everything was natural, with the exception of them manually breaking my water.

While Nate was nursing, I delivered the placenta, and thus began the task of them “massaging” my uterus, a necessary though painful task to make sure the uterus shrinks back to normal size. There was minor tearing…I might have needed stitches, but I can’t remember anymore. I believe I bled for a little longer than previous births, which tells me that there weren’t stitches, but I did tear. 

The hospital discharged me after 24 hours, and Nate was released after 48 hours. He passed all their tests, and David brought the boys to meet their little brother.