Surprise number #5 is Grace

by Annemarie Chagnon
(Fairhaven,MA)

my mother took the boys for the night and we went off to a meeting for the day. We went shopping for nice body lotion for labor. had a bite to eat and came home. I took my tubby, got a body rub and went to sleep. woke up around 1 am and dtd went back to sleep. about 5 minutes ago woke up had to pee and "peed" all the way down my legs! thought hmm thats odd. laid back down. 10 minutes later warm fluid feeling... hmm OK. I swear if I'm peeing myself every 10 minutes Imma hurt someone.
39w2d.

So my water broke at around 4:30am I really thought I was peeing myself. However after the second goosh of warm liquid I put a dark towel between my legs and saw little white flecks in it. yup. OK here we go.I started to panic inwardly because thanks to serious trauma from my first birth, the feeling of laboring with my water broken terrified me. I went onto facebook, here and puttered around. I called my midwife just to give her a heads up that my water had probably broken. she encouraged me to have something to eat. I was told I could have a cookie since baby would be here soon I could have what I wanted. YA! i had been waiting for that moment. except I was nauseous and didn't want the damn cookie. CRAP! contractions were like 10- 20 minutes apart not terribly painful and not regular in any way. so I was trying to just chill out. I sat on my ball listened to music and screamed on the inside"HOLY CRAP MY WATER BROKE HOLY CRAP" so i cried and panicked and tried to calm myself. I was very calm on the outside but inside my brain was screaming. I tried to calm down and took some mimulus flower extract which really settled my brain

I double checked everything filled 3 bottles of water with my mimulus and skullcap. grabbed my ipod and made sure i had everything I needed. suddenly my contractions jumped to every 3-5 minutes. I could still talk through them and could handle the pain but I didn't want to be too far from my midwife if things moved fast. so by the time I posted here and left for the hospital it was 6am.

I arrived at the hospital at 6:30am and waddled down the corridor in my nightgown .clutching a puke bowl. I kept trying to tell myself this was not Tyler's birth. this would not take 33 hrs. I would remain in control. I would be OK. I was so scared i was shaking and just completely freaking out on the inside. i was greeted by a smiling nurse at the door.

I was showed to my room and my MW was waiting with a big smile on her face.She asked how I was feeling and checked me. agreed that yes were on our way . She asked what I wanted to do first. I chose the ball and they did a quick non stress test. Baby looked perfect so off I went to bounce. I stayed on the ball for about an hour or so until my back started to really hurt with each contraction. 7:50

So I decided now would be nice to get into the labor tub. my mid wife brought me some ice and some cold cloths in case I got over heated and some OJ. She offered snacks but I still wasn't hungry at all so I passed. I got into the tub with DH's help and listened to my music. I tried to relax and looked up at my midwife. I started crying that I was terrified this was going to take all day and that I was not going to be able to handle this. She reassured me and cheered me on. I love my midwife she makes me feel so loved and safe. My wonder hubby kept telling me what a great job I was doing. I was breathing and trying to relax and think open with each contraction. my contractions still weren't terribly regular or very strong. I was just nervous on the inside that this would take forever and I kept reliving my first birth and all the horrid trauma of it.

I got out of the tub at about at about 9:00am or so and hung out in the rocking chair. My midwife brought me a banana and we sat and chatted for a little bit. She kept reassuring me I could do this. at this point my right kidney began burning and I was getting ready to loose it. The jet from the tub had been on my back for a while and it aggravated my kidney stones.

I got so deep into each contraction that I was almost unresponsive which concerned the midwife. I sat in the rocking chair had my banana while the midwife reassured me and my labor nurse Linda held my hand. DH was rubbing my legs. I face booked what was going on and tried to relax and tried hard to make the feeling a good one. some of the contractions at this point had an almost sexual overtone to them. DH and I enjoy a rather "robust" sex life so i tried to focus on us when we experiment and that helped to change the thought process for me away from helplessness and fear

At this point between the contractions and the kidney pain the midwife though perhaps we should see if we could get baby down further to move this show along. Baby's heart rate was jumping around a bit so I was game so she had me get back in the tub and had DH use the shower head to stimulate my nipples.9:45 she sat and fed me ice chips as DH did the shower thing for me. 3 contractions later I wanted out of he tub NOW.10:05ish I got up and had to pee.

I had one contraction on the toilet that literally made me tip forward. I clung to DH for dear life.I had four contractions in the span of 2 minutes and got over to the bed. My midwife had me me moaning low to help bring the baby down. It was something between a moan and bearing down. I was comfortable on the bed although I had said originally that I didn't want to be on the bed. I was very inside my head and aware of every single feeling. I wasn't feeling pain. I was feeling strong. I felt safe. I knew my MW and my husband and Linda were taking care of me.


I had two contractions on the bed leaning over the back of it. between them I sat back on my heels and watched baby's HR drop to low 100s. OK that's it lets get this going. Suddenly I felt this fierce need to protect my child. to make sure that he/she was OK


towards the end of the second contraction I felt my cervix complete and my baby's head drop as my body began to push all by itself.10:17am I became very happy and excited. i was going to meet my baby. I was going to get to push. I love pushing. I flipped over and decided that there was no way in hell I would get up to go to the birthing stool. I was on the bed I was comfy. I was doing this now. it was time to get her/him out. I sat upright on the bed kind of squatting but not quite and waited for the contraction. I felt it coming like a freight train and I took a big breath pictured my baby in my arms and PUSHED my midwifes gentle voice told me "your baby has lots of dark hair, how wonderful!" at this point DH remembered to ask for the mirror which a nurse ran for.

I contracted again and my midwife spoke gently "Annemarie, open your eyes!" I watched as my beautiful child's head crowned. I had no idea my vagina could move like that and stretch that far. how incredible my body is. How wonderful God made me. I thought as I sat there staring at my baby's dark hair. I reached down and rubbed her head while baby was still in me. I spoke softly and told baby "we can do this giblet, I am here and we can do it. I want to hold you. I love you and it will all be OK soon" I felt baby's body relax inside me. I also noted the cord was across the top of her head. Her heart rate still looked OK

.the next wave came and I had to keep my promise. I closed my eyes and pushed as best I could Again I was reminded to look down. There was my baby's head, my beautiful child's head emerging from my body. her nose looked like Nate's, she had my husband's chin and tons of hair.She was covered in vernix, I thought she was a he. I pushed again and my husband and the nurse Linda pried my hands from my legs as my midwife told me "Annemarie Get your baby. Go ahead" I reached down and my child was birthed into my hands.Her warm skin and beating heart I could feel her in my hands.10:25am I felt so connected to her so focused and safe and loved. I felt so empowered and strong. My baby screamed and hollered at my chest. I held baby close and whispered in her ear. My Midwife kept telling me how amazing I did and what a beautiful moment we had created. baby moved and wriggled on my chest and they placed a hat on her head and a blanket over us