Joy’s incredible birth day story starts with a beautiful fall weekend. We were finally out of the heat but it wasn’t so cold that you needed a jacket. Saturday, September 24th I kept having Braxton Hicks contractions all over the place but they were more intense than they had been. Still not painful but definitely noticeable. After dinner we decided to go on a family walk and see if that would help things along. We went on a cool walk under the trees. We went up and down some serious hills and walked for a long time. When we got home I definitely felt more pressure and lower back pain. When I went to bed that night the contractions were about 11 minutes apart. I wanted to get some good sleep if I was to go into labor in the middle of the night or the next day.
Read all about Joy’s Incredible birth day here on her fabulous blog, “When Does Daddy Come Home ?”
Alison’s incredible birth day was the day she had trained for…
My name is Ali. I’m 26 years old, and this was my first time having a baby. I kept active throughout my pregnancy, from jogging then walking, and in the end mostly swimming. I felt very good and confident as my due date approached. After being 4 days over my due date, I had heard spicy food can jumpstart labor, so I had spicy chicken hot wings for lunch… about 15 hours later (now 5 days overdue), I went into labor.
Labor began at3:45 AM. Honestly, at first I thought I was having bowel issues from those hot wings, but soon realized my stomach was “cramping” every couple minutes and then it was going away and these were contractions. I had experienced Braxton Hicks contractions when I would go swimming, but these were nothing like those. They were quite painful, thus they woke me up from a deep sleep at3:45. I had a momentary breakdown as I realized I was going to have a baby, my whole life was going to change, and I felt I wasn’t ready. I prayed and the Lord comforted me and assured me I was ready. I woke up my husband, Clay, and we called Cathy at New Birth, and she said to time the contractions then call her back. We did that, and found out they were about 4 minutes apart lasting about 45 seconds each. Cathy said to come on in, and we began frantically to get our last minute packing ready for theBirthCenter. We also let our friends/family know so they could pray for us, and my mother-in-law, Pam, whom I asked to be my non certified Doula could begin her 2 hour drive to KC. I sat on an exercise ball at our house during contractions and rocked as Clay massaged my back. I remembered from my mom’s group advice that I needed to relax EVERY part of my body during the contraction and breathe low sounding groans during the contractions.
We got to the BirthCenter and I was able to walk up and down the hall between contractions for a while. My lower back was hurting a lot. Eventually the contractions got stronger and I had to switch positions. I switched positions often throughout the labor. I used the birth ball, by sitting on it or laying over it on my stomach. After a few hours, I got in the tub and felt a big decrease in pressure, especially on my back. I drank a smoothie and had sips of water, thus forcing me to move positions as I would have to go to the bathroom. I knew moving positions would help speed up the labor, so I did whatever it took. Sitting on the toilet was a good position, and I even tried standing and leaning on my husband while squatting. Pam would massage my lower back and caress my head while my husband would rub my arms and encourage me. They were both wonderful! I pretty much closed my eyes most of the time, and kept reciting the verse: Romans 8:18 ‘the present suffering isn’t worth comparing to the glory that will be revealed in us’ That verse really helped me through it. Just thinking the next day I would be at home with my baby, and the labor would be over. Eventually, Cathy told me I was 10 cm dilated, and I knew I was going to push, so I lied down on the bed and the midwives and nurses got everything ready for the baby. It was about12:15 pmnow. I had been at the birth center since about5:30 am. Pushing took longer than I thought (about 40 minutes) My back was in extreme pain, and this was definitely the hardest part, but Cathy re-assured me my body was made to give birth and I will give birth. At the time, I felt the baby was never going to come out. About 10 hours after initial contractions, Titus Vaughn Lessley was born. He turned in the canal as he came out, I found out later he had been posterior the whole time, which was why my lower back hurt so much. I was exhausted and had never seen a baby who had just been born, and he looked a little odd (I later realized his face was just swollen from the birth), but I was so relieved he was out and the labor was over. I didn’t know what to do right away, but he was put directly on my chest for skin to skin warmth and covered up and words can not describe how it felt. Those 10 hours of labor pains were over, and now I have the rest of my life with a beautiful, healthy, baby boy.