Raya's Birth Story

Reid Samuel Long - 7lb7oz 18.5" born at 3:54pm on 1/22/10

The birth was amazing and went really well. I started feeling pressure waves around midnight. They were very consistent at about 5 minutes apart. I put on a hypnobabies track and tried to get as much rest as I could. It seemed like I was awake all night long. In the morning a part of me felt like I had been up all night, but at the same time I was surprisingly well rested.

Mr Toddler got me up for the day at 7:30 and as soon as I was out of bed I knew today will be the baby's birth day. I had pretty intense pressure waves some as close as 2 minutes apart. I called my midwives and they said they will be right over. I was pretty confused over the phone and had trouble talking. I also woke Scott up but he had a hard time believing me that the baby was coming which was really annoying me as I felt like he was questioning me.I was having a hard time letting go because of Elliot. As I was hunched over working through a pressure wave and attempting to make a grilled cheese sandwich at the same time (the old fashioned type fried in a pan with butter) I realized how comical the situation must look.

The midwife suggested we send him off for a few hours to give me a chance to get back into the groove. I was hoping to involve Elliot in the experience, but it really felt like the right thing to do. So Scott got ready to take Elliot for a play date at a friend's house and run a few errands including stopping by work to fill out his time sheet.

After that point I was totally rockin' it, I was able to calm down and focus inward. I was listening to my easy first stage track and it helped me stay completely calm and relaxed. In fact around 10am I started feeling like the whole thing was a false alarm as it seemed like my pressure waves were not getting more intense. This also happened to coincide with the other midwife and apprentice showing up as well as my doula. I felt a little invaded in my own space.
One of the midwives suggested that I get checked since that might help us gauge what was going on. Up to that point I did not want to be checked as I didn't think it would give us any real information, but again it felt like the right thing to do.
Well it turned out I was at 6-7cm. I was in total shock, I really did not believe I was in "active labor". At that point I asked everyone to get the tub ready and I just laid in bed under my down blanket and relaxed.

Not sure how long the tub took to fill, probably around 30 minutes. I was actually so comfortable under my down comforter that I didn't want to walk across the house to get into the tub. I was worried that somehow I was relaxing too much and that I wouldn't progress because of that.

But I'm glad I got into the tub. The water felt so amazing and once again I was able to relax completely. Between pressure waves I was joking around with everyone, and then I got overcome with a great sense of hunger, so I ate a bunch of snacks. I was actually a bit disappointed that someone did a Grand Central lunch run but didn't ask me if I wanted anything! So I ended up eating half of Scott's sandwich. It was very tasty.
So here I was, probably at 9cm laughing around with everyone and eating food. Right at the very end we were talking about our Great Dane, not sure what crazy story we were telling the midwives but all of the sudden I had to yell at poor Scott to shut up. I had a very strong surge and needed to focus. I think that's when they knew things were getting close.

I kept questioning myself and whether the birth was really happening because of how comfortable and pain-free I was feeling.

At some point the peaks of the surges started getting more intense and I did find myself leaving reality for labor land. I found my voice and made some noise. It felt really good. At some point the surges were getting so intense it felt good to do some practice pushing. I wasn't really pushing but definitely applying some downward force with my abs. From there things got really intense and I had to work very hard at relaxing through each surge. But the nice thing is that the surges were fairly far apart, or so it seemed to me, and so I was getting good breaks in between. I made sure to remember to smile after each surge.

Then the surges changed and I started pushing. I didn't like pushing this time. And this is the only part where I wasn't totally in control. But then I flipped onto my hands and knees and managed to find some good positions. I felt like I was being split in half. I only pushed 4 times and that's when my water broke. I actually felt the pop of the membranes, it was pretty cool.

Once I got the "omg gotta poop" feeling things got much better and I felt huge relief while pushing. I wouldn't call it orgasmic, but my god it felt so good to feel that pressure. I kept feeling with my hand for his head, and so I got to feel him crown, and I also applied my own pressure to help with stretching, it must have worked because I didn't tear!!!

It was so crazy to feel his head sticking out of my body. I could feel his face and hairy head. I actually remember thinking to myself how hairy his head felt. Then with another push his body torpedoed out and I saw him open his eyes under the water and then I pulled him to my chest and he started screaming. His cord was wrapped around his body so we had to untangle him.

This was such an incredible birth experience. I can honestly say it was pain free, including the dreaded transition. Pushing was very intense but it was over in 20 minutes (Scott says it was only 5). Overall the birth was "slower" than with Elliot, but I suspect that's because my waters remained intact. I couldn't be happier with how the birth worked out.

You can also read Raya's first birth story further down on the page (2007)....