Life with London: November 2009

I am so proud (although a week late) to introduce my son:

London Bailey Disney

He was born on Friday, October 30, 2009 at 7:20 a.m.

Weight: 9 lbs Length: 20.5 inches

London's Birth Story

My water broke at 1:10 on Friday morning. I had just gone to bed about an hour beforehand and woke up thinking I needed to go to the bathroom. When I realized on the way there that my water had broken and was trickling down my leg, my first thought was, "Woo hoo! Due date baby!!" I cleaned myself up and went downstairs to tell Pern that it was "go time".

We called the birthing center at 1:20 and heard back from one of the midwives a couple of minutes later. I had just started having contractions. Marsha, the midwife, told us to get some rest and call back a little later to let them know how things were going.

Pern left me in bed to "rest" and proceeded to gather our suitcase, supplies, food for the birthing center, and cameras. When he came back upstairs a little while later I informed him that the contractions, which had been 15 minutes apart for 45 minutes, were now five minutes apart and getting stronger!

Through the entire pregnancy, our main concern was knowing when to leave for the birthing center, which is 50 minutes away from our house. Rush hour in DC is not where you want to be whilst in the throes of labor. So when we spoke to our midwife, Regina this time, at around 3:00 the discussion was had about when we would leave. She suggested we might want to wait until after rush hour, we weren't so sure. The contractions were getting a little closer together and although I could still talk through them, it was taking more and more of my energy to focus on relaxing when each one came.

Pern and I took a Bradley Childbirth class over the summer to prepare for the labor and delivery. A large part of the classes focusses on understanding the different stages and emotional sign posts of labor. Considering that first babies generally take a long time to deliver (the average is 15-17 hours), we were starting to wonder what was going on... I seemed to be moving through the first stage of labor a little quicker than expected. So, when Pern spoke to Regina around 4:30, the decision was made to leave for the birthing center sooner rather than later.

Pern left me to put the last few items in the car and I went to the bathroom before coming downstairs. Then it changed. I had been laying quietly, calmly in bed the whole time (I couldn't even really believe it had already been more than 3 hours... it had gone by pretty fast), relaxing through each contraction. Earlier this summer I borrowed a CD collection from a friend, called "HypnoBabies". The CDs teach self-hypnosis for labor and delivery and although I hadn't followed the program to the letter, the gist of it (that labor can be quick, easy, and comfortable and that birth was a safe, natural, and normal process) had definitely sunk in. I was fully prepared to relax, let go, and let my body do the work. One of the key techniques I had been practicing for weeks, was to completely relax my face and hands. This triggers the rest of the muscles in your body to relax, rather than tense up against the pain of the uterine contractions. It had been working really well up until the time came to leave the house.

I started moaning. Yup. I was one of those loud, primal, pregnant women, moaning, "oh-ing," and groaning through each contraction. I didn't care that I sounded ridiculous; it was the only way to maintain a fully relaxed face (so important!) while releasing some of the pain.

It took us a few minutes to get out the door, but we were on the road by 5:00. I closed my eyes, told Pern to hurry up (but don't speed), and moaned my way through contractions that were now coming 2 minutes apart. We were almost at the birthing center when I told Pern that things had shifted and I could feel the baby "really low down!"

We pulled in to the birthing center at 6:00 and got into our room a few minutes (and a few contractions) later. Then the full confusion set in. Turns out, I was in transition, the phase of labor when you dilate the last 2-3 centimeters. It was intense, painful, uncomfortable, and seemed to change from minute to minute. I couldn't get comfortable, I was shaking, I wanted to lie down, but as soon as I did, I wanted to get up. I was a bit of a mess.

Regina was busy dealing with another couple that had been at the birthing center for a while and had now requested a transfer to the hospital. Our birthing assistant, Kelly, arrived and started talking to me, reminding me to relax my face (see how important that is?) and making suggestions for Pern on ways he could help me cope. At some point around this time I asked for juice to drink. Then I wanted to throw up. Then I needed to go to the bathroom. This was all happening so fast, I didn't have time to focus or really realize what was going on. Pern was awesome! At my all time low point (sitting on the toilet, starting to have the urge to push, which feels like intense diarrhea-like stomach cramps, by the way, having a contraction, and throwing up all at the same time!) he just sat there, holding my arms, holding me up, holding my throw-up bucket, and letting me "oh!" and moan, blowing vomit breath into his face. Now, that's love! :D

When I started pushing, Kelly told me to breathe through those feelings. She asked if I felt a pinching in the front of my pelvis. I said yes and she said that meant it wasn't time yet. We were out of the bathroom at this point and I was kneeling in front of the bed. One or two contractions later I told Pern I needed to go to the bathroom again (hello? urge to push coming on, don't tell me it's not time!). This time, when I started pushing, Kelly asked again about the pinching in the front. This time the answer was no. Kelly ran out of the room to get Regina at this point.

When Regina came over to me in the bathroom, I asked if it was time to push yet and she said "you're a better judge of that than I am. Reach down. Do you feel a bulge?" The answer was yes, to which she responded, "Well let's not have the baby on the toilet!" and we made our way back into the room. Pern said there was a flurry of activity, with everyone throwing absorbent pads all over the place and getting their supplies together in preparation for the delivery.

The birthing center has a student midwife, Colleen, who arrived shortly after I started pushing. Regina had asked if I would be OK with her being there and I'd said yes. She was actually the one who ended up catching London when he came out! Which wasn't a whole lot later...

So I started pushing. Again... couldn't get comfortable. Tried a couple of positions and finally ended up on the birthing stool, which allows you to squat without cutting off circulation to your legs. It didn't take long, but at points it felt like it had been forever! All in all, I pushed for 25 minutes. I got to see the baby's head as it was crowning when Colleen held up a mirror for me. I commented on the fact that he had dark hair and at one point I remember shouting, "This. Hurts!"

The head was out at 7:19 and the umbilical cord was wrapped around his neck. Colleen couldn't get it up and over, so they decided to deliver the body head over heels, to flip his head through the loop that the cord had created. At 7:20, whoosh! Out he came. Pern's initial comment of "Oh, he's so tiny!" when he had started crowning, turned into, "Oh, my God! He's huge!" when the rest of his body was delivered. They let me pick him up and place him on my chest and Pern and I started cleaning him off. It was one of the most surreal moments of my life. Here's this little person (who's really not that little!) who, up until a few moments ago, was living inside my body. For nine months we had waited and wondered, imagining this moment and then, boom! it's here, he's here, and life will never be the same.

The rest of the delivery was a blur. I moved onto the bed to deliver the placenta, laid there staring at my son, marveling over his tiny hands and long fingers and his perfect little feet. Falling in love with my husband all over again at the wonder and love I saw on his face. Stunned by how fast it had all happened and in awe of myself (yes, I'm going to pat myself on the back) and what I had accomplished.

We stayed at the birthing center until 11:00. We ate a good breakfast, I needed a few stitches (in some ways that hurt more than the labor itself!), I had a shower, London had breakfast and a mid-morning snack, he had his newborn exam (and a good, healthy poo) and then we got him dressed, packed up our stuff (half of which hadn't even made it in from the car!) and hit the road. We were home by 12:00, eleven hours after my water broke. Do you see what I mean about surreal?

My parents and my grandmother came over to meet London that afternoon. And my sister flew in from North Carolina to surprise me (she's pregnant and we weren't expecting to see her until December) and stay for a couple of days to help out.

It's been a week already and it's been the longest week ever and the fastest one all at the same time. London was slightly jaundiced at birth, so we had to make several trips to the hospital to get his bilirubin level checked. He's on the mend now and we don't have any appointments or places to be until next Thursday. We feel like it's been go go go non-stop since Friday and are finally settling into an "at home" routine.

I'm sure you wont' be surprised to hear me say that he is the cutest little baby in the world! No question about it. :) He loves to be held, to the point that if you put him down he screams until you pick him up again, but even that is already getting better. He has wrapped his grandparents and his great-grandmother around his finger, and has his daddy, who swore he would never change a dirty diaper, happily answering the call of doody. Hee hee! He's awesome. And I love him.