Carter's Birth Story

Mr. Carter Layne was way too cozy in his little home for the last 9+ months and didn't want to come out!
Even though Leah was one week late, for some reason I thought this baby would be early or at least born on his due date. Everyone says that second babies tend to come earlier!! On my due date (July 31) I was annoyed that I was still pregnant but not super uncomfortable or anything. By one week after my due date I started to get a little nervous. I was seeing a midwife this time around with the plan to give birth at a free standing birth center (that's right, NO option for pain meds :-). By law, if you go past 42 weeks, the midwives have to turn your care over to a doctor at a hospital which means induction. Since an unnatural induction in a hospital was the opposite of my completely natural birth plan, I started to panic. We started doing EVERY single labor inducing trick and old wives tale that you hear about. I also did acupuncture and took all different kinds of herbs (in tea form and drops which tasted terrible!).  At this point I was also going in to see my midwife Loren every two days where she swept my membranes 3 different times. I went into labor with Leah in the middle of the night, so this time every morning when I would wake up and realize nothing had started, I got so upset and frustrated!  It is a very strange thing to be wishing to experience any sort of pain which might mean the start of labor!
The morning of the day that I was exactly 42 weeks and the last day to try to get this baby out naturally, I had a phone discussion with my midwife in the morning. She told me that one last thing I could try at home, but that was not something she liked recommending, was to take castor oil. This method of inducing labor sometimes works, but most of the time makes women terribly sick in addition to labor.  Since I wanted to try everything possible, Dustin went to the store to buy some.  When he got home we both just stared at it and I was so scared to take it.  I am someone with a sensitive stomach to begin with so the thought of being sick during my labor really freaked me out. I called Loren and told her that I just couldn't do it. She said she didn't blame me at all and to come in to the office so that she could examine me and see if there was anything else she could do.
At the birth center (8/14 at 3pm), Loren examined me and said that I was dilated to 3cm and the head was in a good spot for her to try to break my water if we were ok with it to see if that would get things going. She said the worst case scenario would be that the baby wouldn't tolerate that well and we would be rushed to the hospital. Yikes, that was a scary thought but if labor didn't start on it's own that night, we would end up in the hospital the next day anyway.  So we decided to do it. It was a weird process. She sent us home and said that we had until the next morning to see if anything happened.  Well, on the drive home contractions started! 
My mom was at our house watching Leah during our appointment, so when we got back she decided it was a good idea to run home to get her overnight bag and come on back!  The contractions started getting stronger as the evening went on. I was feeling so many emotions, mostly sad that Leah didn't know what was going on, and that I knew she would never be my only child again and I didn't know how she would react.  She had been my only baby for 2 1/2 years so it made me very sad, but I was also so excited to meet my baby boy and not be pregnant anymore!
After Leah and my mom were in bed, Dustin and I stayed up while my labor got stronger and stronger.  We watched our favorite show Friends, I bounced on a yoga ball, we went outside to sit in the backyard, tried to sleep but wasn't able to, and talked about our baby and Leah. I was just trying to move around and change location and relax as much as possible. During this time we talked to Loren a few times so that she would know what was happening.  Around 1am I decided that it was time for us to go in to the birth center. The contractions were getting pretty bad and I felt like I must have made progress since the contractions started around 4pm.  Loren told us she would meet us there and we got our bags and headed out.
When we arrived, there were two midwife assistants there along with Loren. They had the big spa tub filling with warm water and that was exactly where I wanted to go.  Loren didn't check me right away, she wanted to watch me for awhile and let me progress a little more.  After about an hour or so I asked her to check me because since I was at 3cm earlier in the day I thought I must be much further along at this point.  She checked me and said that I was about a 4-5cm. WHAT?!!?  Oh my god I had a moment of frustration and panic!  If my labor was going that slow and getting really painful, how would I get through the hardest part toward the end??  Since it looked like it would be a lot longer, Loren said she was going to the birth room next door to take a nap since she had to be at a conference the next morning.  The two assistants would stay with me and go get her if anything happened.  At that point I decided to get out of the tub for a change of scenery.  I sat in the rocking chair for awhile. No position was super comfortable during the contractions but bending over forward is what I kept doing to get through them.  Then I tried laying on the bed to get some rest since I had been awake since the previous morning and was exhausted.  Pretty much right when I laid down I got really nauseous and started dry heaving. Ick.  Not too much longer after that I went back in the tub.  The contractions were continuing to get stronger and lasting longer. In the tub I got really nauseous again and this time actually threw up in a bowl that Dustin was holding out at the edge of the tub (yuck!).  After that the contractions got a hundred times more painful and intense and I had another moment of panic that I wouldn't be able to get through it if I had several more hours of these type of contractions.  Dustin said he knew I must be progressing a lot because at one point I said "Oh F#*K" and up until then I had been really quiet.  :-) The contractions started coming one after another and after a little bit I felt the urge to push against the pain. I told the assistants that I felt like I was starting to push.  They almost seemed like they didn't believe me and didn't go get Loren right away since it hadn't been that long since she had checked me.  After watching me through the next few contractions they went to get her. I was in my own world at this point. My eyes were closed and I was full on pushing almost constantly and heard myself making some funny sounds that I couldn't control! haha!  I could definitely feel the baby coming down now (I was on all fours in the tub) and I heard Dustin say "Loren's here." She felt down there and said something like, Oh my gosh the head is right there! She and the assistants were shocked that I had gone through the transition and pushing phase so fast and staying calm and quiet enough that they didn't think I was at that point.  The next thing I knew, I pushed and felt instant relief of my baby being out!  I turned around to sit down and opened my eyes for the first time to see my baby boy coming up out of the water and into my arms! It was the most incredible thing in the world!!!! In total I pushed for 7 minutes.     
Almost instantly Carter started trying to nurse. The midwives let me hold him as long as I wanted. They just brought me a hat for him and a warm washcloth to lay over him so he wouldn't get cold since we were still in the water.  It wasn't like at the hospital where they feel the need to whisk the baby away ASAP for the check up. They checked his breathing and heart rate all while I held him. Dustin was able to cut the cord.

 After we were done with all of the afterbirth business, I showered off and Dustin and I got into the bed where again I was able to nurse him and hold him for as long as I wanted. After about an hour of quality bonding time, Loren checked him out on the bed with me and Dustin right there.

He checked out perfectly, and they gave him an Apgar score of 10!! After about another hour of chatting with the midwives and having them go over all of the postpartum care info, we were feeling ready to go home!  So about 2 1/2 hours after he was born, we took our son home!

I couldn't have been happier with how Carter's birth went. I got to have my natural birth in a peaceful, dimly lit room in a warm spa tub with just my midwives and Dustin around me. It was a wonderful experience and I wish I would have chosen this route for Leah's birth as well. 
I am so passionate about natural childbirth and WISH more women would at least be open to the idea and know that their bodies are meant to give birth. In our country there is such a fear placed around giving birth and that it is a dangerous thing that requires the need for an obstetrician in a hospital. There are so many unnecessary interventions, inductions and cesarean sections done these days. I hope that one day I can inspire at least one woman to believe in themself to go through the amazing and empowering experience of giving birth naturally!

Carter Layne *******
August 15, 2012 at 5:26am
7lbs 5oz
21 inches long

Our PERFECT baby boy!!! :-)