Birth Story of the Week- Falon + Georgina

Today my girl turns SEVEN! This is our birth story. 
Interested in sharing your birth story? Please send submissions to info@nestedbirth.com

***************************************************************************

I have to admit Georgie's birth was a dream. It's almost comical even.

She may not have come early but she certainly came fast and willing when it was time. Patience hasn't always been my strong suit but after a horrendous week it was well deserved. Our dog died 2 days before her due date and my week got worse with a raging chest infection and nasty cold that put me out of commission for 3 days. I couldn't fathom going into labour and trying to push out a baby while feeling so sick and weak. Although knowing what I do now about the importance of rest and slowing down before baby arrives, it was the only way to get me to do it!

 I woke up on Wednesday morning, feeling somewhat human again and officially 5 days overdue. Although I didn't really feel overdue, I had actually felt more uncomfortable a few weeks prior and clearly the universe wasn't quite ready for her arrival anyway!  At about 7:45am I felt a sharp pain that only lasted a few seconds but stopped me in my tracks. Shortly after I felt a slow trickle as what was later confirmed as amniotic fluid. Guy and Oliver set out to work/sitters for the day and I got ready to go to the office briefly before my midwife appointment in the afternoon. Mild and totally irregular contractions ensued throughout the day but nothing alerting or confirming it was go time!

At noon(ish) I arrived at work and felt a gush of fluid as I was getting out of the car. I still wasn't having regular contractions so I kept about my business and finished up some ordering before my appointment. It wasn't until I got up to leave the office that I had a huge gush of fluid that soaked my pants! I  made my way to the bathroom to assess the situation and luckily my mom came in shortly after. I handed her my pants which she proceeded to blow dry (with the spare blow dryer I keep at work not specifically for these types of situations but it did it come in handy that day.... ).
After drying my pants and myself off I headed out to the midwives office.

I told my midwife that I was "pretty" sure I'm leaking fluid upon arrival, I explained the details and hopped up on her table for an exam. A swab quickly confirmed that I was indeed leaking amniotic fluid (which I wasn't really doubting at this point) and that I was about 5 cm dilated! Say whaaat? I couldn't believe it. I thought maybe I would have been dilated a cm or two but FIVE... that was crazy! There was still a sac of fluid around the baby's head and my midwife advised me to page them immediately if my water broke fully as the labour would progress quickly.  I got dressed (including a very sexy functional pair of mesh undies and large pad to absorb the fluid), finished up our appointment and headed home to sleep, eat and mostly WAIT for things to progress.
(ummm yeah right, who can go to sleep at 3 o'clock in the afternoon after
 your midwife tells you that you are 5 cm dilated?... me either!)

I got home feeling super energized and ready to go! So I waited and ate and waited. I cleaned a little, did some laundry and waited some more.  My contractions were beginning to come a little more frequently but nothing steady yet. Guy got home from work around 4 pm and we waited. We just sat there and looked at each other like yep... having a baby. It was a very weird feeling knowing that I was that far dilated but not having regular contractions so technically I was in labour but didn't feel like I was actually in labour.  

So to pass some more time I gathered my homebirth supplies and got the tub set up, 

ready to be filled.

I took these pictures at 4:06 pm, as I was waiting for labour to start?

You can see in the 2nd pic I was having a contraction 

(not because I am making a weird face but because my belly is rock hard-notice the difference from the last 2 pics) also in the last pic you see the outline of the lady diaper I am wearing. Yes, when I got home from my appointment I traded the mesh undies and gi-normous pad for the Depends (Tena brand actually). I was leaking enough fluid that I had to labour with a diaper on! Luckily I had bought these bad boys for the postpartum period. Something I highly recommend doing!

By 5:30pm the contractions were coming regularly, not too strong but consistent so we started timing them. By 6:30 they were coming every 3-4 minutes and lasting nearly a minute. We paged our midwife and started filling up the tub, she arrived at 7pm and another internal exam confirmed I was 8 cm. My secondary midwife was called to come out and arrived shortly after. I felt great, my contractions were getting stronger but totally manageable. I was present, in the moment and able to chat with Guy and my wonderful midwives the entire time. With Oliver's labour I felt best on all fours rocking back and forth throughout the contraction.... actually I was pretty much on all fours throughout my entire labour with him and totally silent, I hardly spoke at all. But this time I felt best standing upright and moving with the contraction like a wave, I kept moving and walking around and sipped on warm water with lemon and honey (since I was still recovering from my cold). I also enjoyed a couple of my birthing staples (frozen raspberry juice bars) to cool me down, seriously I love these juice bars.... I stretched my back and calf muscles with gentle movements/exercises which felt amazing and of course Guy was there to massage my lower back through the contraction when I needed him to. But mostly I just walked around from room to room, made my warm water and lemon drinks at my leisure, listened to the birthing playlist I made and happily took in the moments leading up to the arrival of our little babe. It was such a different experience than my first.

The tub took some time to fill up since the connector didn't fit our faucet, we had to heat up pots on the stove instead of just using the tap. By 9 pm the tub was ready for me to get in and I was ready for it! The water felt amazing and I laboured in there for less than an hour when I felt the urge to push, I decided to get out of the tub and into the bed.  It wasn't long maybe 3 or 4 pushes and our girl was born. Within a few minutes of her entering the world, she latched on like a pro! Georgina was so alert, eyes open 

and ready to be snuggled. 

After the placenta was delivered, I just laid back, nursed and snuggled my sweet new baby and chatted happily! I felt very different from how I did at Oliver's birth. With him I was totally exhausted and felt like I was on another planet while labouring and delivering him, a very happy planet of course but a foggy one. All the details are a bit hazy. This time I was much more alert, present and completely in the moment. 

While everything happened fast, the details are a lot more vivid. 

I continued to nurse her as we marveled at our newest creation.

I'm so excited to be sharing Birth Story of the Week as a regular feature! 
This project is about bringing our stories together and providing a wonderful resource for new and expecting families in our community. All births are wonderful and should be celebrated, no matter what type of birth (home, hospital, midwife/ OB, doula supported or not) if you would like to share your birth story please email it to info@nestedbirth.com a photo or two would also be great.

Stories will be featured on my social media platforms and blog. My hope is that we can educate families on the options available in our community, provide healing and empowerment through sharing and of course CONNECTION.