Two years ago today (at this hour-10:00am) I went into labor with my little Payton. Of course my little stinker wasn't born until 2 days later. I thought I would share his birth story with you as we celebrate his 2 year birthday!
My birth story begins on September 16. All week long I had been telling the baby that he could not come on Sunday because we had a lot to do that day (to get ready for his arrival). Sure enough, Sunday morning I sat up in bed and my water broke. I called my midwife and, my friend and birth photographer to give them the heads up. We spent the morning running errands and waiting for my contractions to really kick in.
Around 8:00pm we headed to the birthing center. I was ready to have some extra support at that point and to be checked to see where we were at. I was at 3cm 0sta. and 85% eff. with contractions lasting 1 min and 3 min apart. I spent the next several hours in various positions, on the ball, in the bed, outside and finally in the birthing tub about 4:15am.
I spent the night in the tub. I remember watching the sun rise and thinking “I made it through the night.” I was checked again at 8:00am and was a 5-6 and 95% effaced. I had made some progress.
Contractions had spaced so I got up and went to walk with my husband.
They started back up so after a couple hours of walking I got back in the tub again. Less than an hour later they had spaced again so we decided to try some herbal remedies. By 2:00pm my contractions had completely stopped. We continued with the remedies and called a chiropractor to come because they would not establish.
At this point I had been in labor for over 24 hours. The break in contractions, although disheartening, was actually a nice break. I was able to rest, visit and eat. (I was craving Chicken Express;-)
The chiropractor arrived at 6:00 that evening and started giving me adjustments. They were bitter sweet. It was a welcome relief from the terrible back pain I had been in but those contractions started picking up again. My labor had re-established and we were on our way again. She stayed with me for at least 3 hours adjusting every 30 min or so.
Monday evening we were at the 36 hour mark and there was talk of transport. We declined transport as long as baby and I were doing well. Other than fatigue our vitals were great. Thankfully we had a midwife and support staff that would listen and not give up on us.
I had come this far and what was another few hours. Right? The rest of the evening/early morning was spent dealing with strong contractions in the tub and various other positions.
One of the sweetest moments I remember of this labor process was actually spent in the bathroom. I was having hard contractions and constant pressure. My midwife was sitting on the toilet (while my husband rested up) and I was on the birthing ball in front of her leaning on her during contractions. At one point she just started singing a song to me. “It is well with my soul” It was so soothing and encouraging as well as unexpected. I remember thinking “I only have to deal with this one contraction now. It will be over soon and I have people to help me through it.” Then the contraction would be over and I could check it off as completed, never to do that one again.
At 4:00am I was at a 9cm, 98% and +1. I was still 9cm 3 hours later. With some trial pushing, I only had a cervical lip. For the record, I hated the birth chair! For the next 5 hours I continued to push in every position there was. On my side, on my back, on hands and knees, on the ball and one leg up in a squat.
I had finally gotten to the point where I was giving it all I had with each contraction but the fatigue was working against me. “All I had” wasn’t going to get the job done. I was so exhausted at that point I knew I was not making any progress. The thought of transporting was more than I could bear after all that work.
My last resort was getting on the birth chair and allowing gravity to help me. My sweet husband, who initially planned to catch, sat behind me and held out a mirror so he could see. 22 minutes and an episiotomy with internal/external tearing later my little man (9 lbs 2 oz) was finally born. The whole process from water breaking
to birth was 50 hours and 40 minutes. I cried “we did it!” over and over.
What a sense of accomplishment and empowerment to make it through the whole process. Technically it wasn’t what we had planned…A water birth with my husband catching. But it was exactly what I wanted…A natural birth, on my time, surrounded by my support team.
(Payton James Murray Lehr ended up having to be transported because he was having trouble breathing after some time on oxygen. He completely recovered from “possible” pneumonia and was able to come home with us 3 weeks later.)
Around 8:00pm we headed to the birthing center. I was ready to have some extra support at that point and to be checked to see where we were at. I was at 3cm 0sta. and 85% eff. with contractions lasting 1 min and 3 min apart. I spent the next several hours in various positions, on the ball, in the bed, outside and finally in the birthing tub about 4:15am.
I spent the night in the tub. I remember watching the sun rise and thinking “I made it through the night.” I was checked again at 8:00am and was a 5-6 and 95% effaced. I had made some progress.
Contractions had spaced so I got up and went to walk with my husband.
They started back up so after a couple hours of walking I got back in the tub again. Less than an hour later they had spaced again so we decided to try some herbal remedies. By 2:00pm my contractions had completely stopped. We continued with the remedies and called a chiropractor to come because they would not establish.
At this point I had been in labor for over 24 hours. The break in contractions, although disheartening, was actually a nice break. I was able to rest, visit and eat. (I was craving Chicken Express;-)
The chiropractor arrived at 6:00 that evening and started giving me adjustments. They were bitter sweet. It was a welcome relief from the terrible back pain I had been in but those contractions started picking up again. My labor had re-established and we were on our way again. She stayed with me for at least 3 hours adjusting every 30 min or so.
Monday evening we were at the 36 hour mark and there was talk of transport. We declined transport as long as baby and I were doing well. Other than fatigue our vitals were great. Thankfully we had a midwife and support staff that would listen and not give up on us.
I had come this far and what was another few hours. Right? The rest of the evening/early morning was spent dealing with strong contractions in the tub and various other positions.
One of the sweetest moments I remember of this labor process was actually spent in the bathroom. I was having hard contractions and constant pressure. My midwife was sitting on the toilet (while my husband rested up) and I was on the birthing ball in front of her leaning on her during contractions. At one point she just started singing a song to me. “It is well with my soul” It was so soothing and encouraging as well as unexpected. I remember thinking “I only have to deal with this one contraction now. It will be over soon and I have people to help me through it.” Then the contraction would be over and I could check it off as completed, never to do that one again.
At 4:00am I was at a 9cm, 98% and +1. I was still 9cm 3 hours later. With some trial pushing, I only had a cervical lip. For the record, I hated the birth chair! For the next 5 hours I continued to push in every position there was. On my side, on my back, on hands and knees, on the ball and one leg up in a squat.
I had finally gotten to the point where I was giving it all I had with each contraction but the fatigue was working against me. “All I had” wasn’t going to get the job done. I was so exhausted at that point I knew I was not making any progress. The thought of transporting was more than I could bear after all that work.
My last resort was getting on the birth chair and allowing gravity to help me. My sweet husband, who initially planned to catch, sat behind me and held out a mirror so he could see. 22 minutes and an episiotomy with internal/external tearing later my little man (9 lbs 2 oz) was finally born. The whole process from water breaking
to birth was 50 hours and 40 minutes. I cried “we did it!” over and over.
What a sense of accomplishment and empowerment to make it through the whole process. Technically it wasn’t what we had planned…A water birth with my husband catching. But it was exactly what I wanted…A natural birth, on my time, surrounded by my support team.
(Payton James Murray Lehr ended up having to be transported because he was having trouble breathing after some time on oxygen. He completely recovered from “possible” pneumonia and was able to come home with us 3 weeks later.)
Instead of sharing pictures from the birth I decided to add some new ones.
Payton and our midwife Molly
Payton is sitting on a birth chair in the exact spot where he was born 2 years ago. It is such a cool thing to be able to go and visit where he was first brought into this world!
This was the actual birth chair I used when Payton was born. He was playing with it in the room where I labored at the birth center.
