A home birth in New Zealand
0 CommentsMy due date was November 8, but the day came & went without a peep from little Irie (our name for the baby -- it means goodness and positive vibrations). When two more weeks went by, I was getting fed up with waiting.
On November 22, I was very tired & took a long nap in the afternoon, which was unusual. Then I made dinner. As soon as dinner was over, it started! My first contraction! I wanted to wait before getting my midwives & support people there, in case it was false labor but it wasnt. Meanwhile, my partner Jimi & I put the birthing pool together. Jimi was more excited than Id ever seen him. By the time everyone arrived, I was in full labor.
Irie & I got into the pool; the contractions had become much stronger & had gone from feeling like period pains to labor pains. They would crest like a wave & then would lessen & go away & I would try to relax. Having people press on my lower back was a huge relief. Between contractions it didnt hurt at all & Id stretch out until Id feel another contraction coming on & then Id get on my hands & knees & push my head against a wet cloth hanging on the edge of the pool
All night, I traded off between being in the pool & walking around. But soon after sunrise, the pool sprang a leak. The water was everywhere. I had to go into the other room while everyone cleaned up the mess. In our haste, we had put it together wrong & the seam split. What a drag! No more birthing pool.
All the next day, I had strong, steady contractions. I tried several different positions -- squatting -- leaning on a chair -- hanging between two people. I threw up a few times & didnt sleep at all.
By evening, I was exhausted. I got up onto the couch with my head down & my bottom up. This made my contractions nearly go away & all I had to do was breathe through them while my friend Meredith pushed on my hips.
When another dawn arrived, I couldnt believe that our Irie wasnt out with us yet. I asked Jenny (the midwife) to check & see how far I was dilated. She said I was fully dilated but the lip of my cervix was over the babys head. I was so exhausted that I asked about going to the hospital, because I didnt feel like I could take much more. But I kept trying!
Finally, Jenny broke my waters -- hoping that this would move things along & make my contractions stronger again. The water gushed out all warm. Jenny also tried pushing the cervix away, which was very painful. By 11:00 that morning, Id had enough & asked to go to the hospital. I was too exhausted & discouraged & the contractions had slowed down. I remember thinking it was the hardest work I had ever done in my whole life & that if I could ever get through birthing this baby, raising it would be the easy part.
So we took an awful 3-hour ride on an unpaved, curving, narrow mountain road. Jenny drove like a maniac. I was on all fours on the back seat, & when we went around a sharp curve my head would hit against the door. Jimi was sitting on the floor, trying to keep me from falling off the seat. There are no words to describe that ride.
I have to say that I was relieved to get to the hospital & as soon as I got there, I finally had pushing contractions. I wanted to do it on my own, but because I was in the hospital, I had to do it their way. On my back, legs in stirrups. They used a suction cup to help my baby out.
When it was all over, I just wanted to sleep. A little while later, a nurse brought a phone in. It was my Mom, calling from New York City. I said, "Mama, you're a gramma! You have a big, beautiful, baby granddaughter, less than one hour old!!"
(Adapted from A Special Delivery: Mother-Daughter Letters From Afar by Joyce Slayton Mitchell & Elizabeth Dix Mitchell. Copyright 2000 EquiLibrium Press, Inc. All rights reserved.)
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