Mama’s Birth Story: Ace

Well, what to say? Ace has surprised me throughout this pregnancy. I honestly thought they were a boy, especially with how active they were.

I ‘planned’ that they would come a little later in the week, closer to they due date, but this little baby fooled me. I knew I had been getting closer to giving birth. Saturday, February 28, 2009 started out normal for me: I went to the gym, where I had a bit of a run and a good spinning class. I listen to my body and I don’t push it too hard, but I do get a good workout going, which I did Saturday as well. Kim and I went to the temple in Cardston in the afternoon for a session, and my mum watched the children for us. Everything was fine; I didn’t feel uncomfortable or anything. No signs!

That evening, we had an elders quorum activity, and that too went well. Neither of Kim’s counsellors were available. so he planned and prepared everything. It was a pizza party at the church, and again there was no sign of anything.

As we were leaving around 20:45, I felt my first sensation. I wasn’t too sure what it was, initially thinking baby was being funny moving around as she was wont to do. It was low down, which kind of confused me. A second thought told me this might be labour. I realised I hadn’t cleaned the washroom yet! It was on my to do list for Monday.

After getting the children into bed, we did some preparations; although, it seemed like there would be plenty of time. I was tired, expecting to go to bed, but first I washed dishes, cleaned the toilet and switched laundry. I had a few sporadic sensations, which varied in intensity; some were light, some were stronger.

I decided to have a bath, and that felt good. The sensations didn’t give me any sign things were progressing; although, I could tell I was dilating. To what degree I didn’t know. I did go to bed and though I didn’t sleep, I was able to relax some. Kim got the crockpot going with washcloths to support the perineum and put the plastic sheet on the bed.

Off and on I woke up, using the washroom. The timing of my sensations varied: sometimes 10 minutes apart, other times 20–30 minutes apart. I did need to relax through them, but they weren’t too painful. Well, I realised in spite of not doing hypnobirthing preparations, I knew how to relax and what I needed to do. I focussed on staying as relaxed as I could and told myself it didn’t hurt. It certainly didn’t hurt as it normally had in my other births. The last time I got up, I realised I needed to stay up. I wasn’t sure I was close to anything. It had already been about 6 hours of fairly moderate and sporadic labour. I did a quick self check and did feel the head. Maybe 4-5 cm dilated? I didn’t venture to guess, nor did it concern me because I know how dilation works. You seem to be hardly dilated and then dilate considerably in a short period of time. I have not checked dilation before in labour, yet it always progresses!

Close to 03:00 Sunday morning, I had Kim come into the washroom. I was labouring rather intensely while standing over the toilet, which felt the most comfortable to me. I knew I was in transition. I started vocalising through stronger sensations, and I could feel the head moving down. Checking myself again, I felt the bag of waters, which first kind of confused me (remember, I had never checked myself before, but then my other births, after transition hit, were all hands and knees so I couldn’t check myself at this point). I thought I was wrong and she could be a frank breech! I wasn’t unduly concerned though knowing we could handle it if so.

It felt good to either sit on the toilet seat and lean forward with each sensation or stand and lean on Kim. He brought me water, let me lean on him and encouraged me of course. My water was leaking and it was good I was over the toilet because of that! Less clean up. 🙂

The head was moving down, and as it got closer and the pressure built, I tried to hold myself back from pushing, but I felt a need to do it though her head moved back and forth somewhat. A few more sensations and I wasn’t standing over the toilet anymore. We had put chux pads on the floor, and as the birth was becoming imminent, I moved to stand a little away from the toilet, but still beside it. I was even feeling during transition that this was a much easier birth than my others had been. Even in transition, I felt more in control. I was focussing on being as relaxed as I could. It worked to a degree!

I was supporting their head and after a few more sensations, their head came out, quickly followed by their body. I had hold of them, and Kim’s hands were there, too, to help and support. This is the first of my children I’ve been able to catch myself! That was pretty wonderful; although, at the time I was just thinking of logistics. We realised they weren’t the boy as we had been expecting throughout my pregnancy!

She still had some vernix on her, and we didn’t even have the syringe in the washroom. Hadn’t thought of having it there! We didn’t need it; she breathed easily right away. We untucked the cord which was around her arm and shoulder (and a short cord again).

Before I even had a chance to sit down, there was Sinéad at the door. They had been sleeping on the couch because they had vomitted twice shortly after we came home. They heard Ace make a sound and came to investigate. I found out later that that had heard me from transition until the birth. We got them to check the time and it was 03:38 on Sunday, March 1, 2009. Shortly after this, Ash and Regan woke up and came to meet their sibling. I sat waiting for the placenta to come out, and it did about 40 minutes later. A little while after this, Kim clamped and cut the cord. Ace had tried to nurse some, but wasn’t quite getting it yet. They did want to be wrapped up though!

After my being able to shower off and cleaning up the washroom, we headed off to bed at about 05:30. No sleep for me though. 🙂

My afterpains were much less painful this time, which I attribute to Polly Block’s formula, calcium, and Floradix. I felt so good after the birth, much more energetic and my recovery was much better. This was really a great birth and a wonderful learning experience for me. We are so blessed to have our little Ace.