Meghan
Birth story as told by Meaghan!!
Where to start? This baby took us a bit by surprise. I woke up 4/13 with what felt like mild cramping. Nothing crazy but it was unusual that it was happening in the morning. Up until this point it had only been happening at night. Around 11:30AM my water broke. I put on a diaper and followed my midwife’s directions of making sure I rested, nourished, and hydrated. My husband was supposed to go into work at 2:00PM. I insisted he should still go in. I tried to explain to him that even after your water breaks it could take a while for labor to actually start and that I could always call him when it was clear things were really picking up. He said I was nuts and called off work.
We had a low key day. I tried my best to rest and nap in case I would be laboring through the night. I went to the chiropractor. Shoutout to Dr. Brent for keeping me comfortable throughout pregnancy. I cannot recommend chiropractic care while pregnant enough, such a lifesaver! After the chiropractor we went for a walk and had dinner. All the while I had been having random contractions and occasionally they would get closer together but then they would space back out. At 9:00PM my husband went to do bedtime with our two year old. I remember thinking I should bake a cake or something. I needed something to keep me busy because I was going out of my mind wondering when labor was really gonna pick up. But by 9:30 when my husband finished with bedtime, contractions were coming closer together and I was on my hands and knees moaning to cope with them. I let my midwife know that things were progressing and she said to keep her updated but to do my best to rest as much as possible. We decided it was time to inflate the birth pool in our bedroom so that it would be ready to fill when the time came. While my husband did that I labored in our living room and eventually our bedroom. By the time we inflated the tub it was clear that things were progressing and we should get started on filling it.
From here things get fuzzy for me and I have trouble recalling events in order. At the time I remember thinking “this seems like it might be transition” but then I immediately thought “there’s no way I’m that far along”. Spoiler alert: I was indeed that far along. I remember contacting my midwife around 10PM to tell her contractions were really picking up and that I was starting to feel shaky and really emotional. She asked if she could call me. I was insistent that I didn’t need her to come out yet. I figured I was in for a long labor and didn’t want our team there waiting around for too long. Over the next hour we got started on filling the tub and I labored hard, changing positions a lot and doing my best to breathe through the sensations. By 11:00 our midwife decided it was time to come to us. We contacted Hanna so she could start making her way over too. Our midwife called and we had her on speaker as I labored. I later found out that she thought she was gonna have to talk us through having the baby over the phone.
It was around this point that I got into the birth pool. I remember feeling instantly lighter and more comfortable but at the same time I had trouble feeling grounded through contractions. I really started to struggle at this point. With each contraction I would lean over the edge of the pool to breathe with my husband while he held me. I started to feel like I couldn’t do it. It all felt too big. When Hanna arrived I think I said something about not being able to do this. She replied “I don’t think you’ll have to do it for much longer”. Oh the hope that gave me! My midwife arrived around 11:30. She began to set up and at some point the student midwife arrived too. This part is really fuzzy in my mind. I was mentally on another plane of existence. It was at this point that we called my mom to have her come over. Fortunately she lives less than 5 minutes away. It was clear we were gonna have a baby very soon. I remember my midwife asking if I wanted to reach down to see if I could feel my baby’s head at all. I tried to but I wasn’t sure what I was feeling and contractions were coming hard and fast at this point and I quickly gave up to focus on coping through them. I remember my midwife trying to check baby’s heart rate. It was difficult because contractions were almost on top of each other.
I started to feel the unbearable urge to push. I must have made some noise indicating that because my midwife asked if I felt like I needed to push. I told her I did. I pushed through 3 contractions and baby was out at 11:53PM, a mere 20 minutes after our midwife arrived. Just as baby came out, my midwife pushed them through my legs and I rolled over to bring them to my chest. We didn’t know the sex and once we untangled baby from their cord we saw that it was a girl. I sobbed and wailed “we got our girl!” over and over. I looked up and saw my mom standing in the doorway crying tears of joy. She had made it just in time. This moment will be etched into my brain forever. The energy in the room. The pure joy and wonder of holding my little girl as she took her first breaths. Her alert little eyes looking up at me as her body rested against mine. Our Maeve was here.
