Zoli's Magnificent Adventures: Birth

Wow. It is hard to describe the experience. But here goes...

Saturday December 5th, I woke up feeling a bit different, odd. Slightly crampy and very tired throughout the day. I rested a lot and took it easy. After Tony & I watched the movie 'Walk the Line', we went to bed and I started experiencing more intense cramps, which continued on through the night and occurred closer & closer. I talked to one of our midwives earlier in the evening and then again in the middle of the night. She confirmed that what I was experiencing were contractions, which I wasn't totally sure of before. I had imagined that I would feel the contractions across my whole belly, but these sensations were decidedly lower in my uterus and low back, like intense menstrual cramps. Once we realized that I was actually in labor, Tony went down to the basement to begin filling up the birthing tub, knowing that it would take a while. We both were thinking that I was just at the beginning of labor and that we still had a lot of time. I went down to the basement too, to continue laboring in the bed there, until the tub was full; as soon as it was, I was in it.

Being in the hot tub really helped me relax and get through each contraction. I had my eyes closed nearly the entire time. With each contraction I vocalized in some way to help me move through the moments and stay present. Early in the morning, around 5 or 6, we called the midwives to ask that they come over to begin supporting us. Beth & Ayla arrived and quietly observed how the labor was going. I started to feel a pushing feeling with the contractions, so I got out of the tub so that Beth could check dilation - I was fully dilated and therefore able to go with the pushing sensations. I got back in the tub and proceeded to push with each contraction for a total of 3 hours - which felt like an eternity. I kept thinking "why would any woman go through this experience more than once in their lifetime?!", and also gained insight into why women choose to take pain medication for labor. I wouldn't choose to, even after knowing what labor is like, but I can certainly understand the desire to - it is incredibly hard and intense work, and yes, is painful. All the mothers I've talked to say that you forget how painful and hard birth is, and I can actually relate to that, to a small extent, just 4 weeks after going through it myself. In the greater context of life, 14 hours (for me) of labor doesn't seem so bad. But while I was IN it, I was thinking "Never again!!"

During the pushing phase of labor, I experienced my only true moment of discouragement. It just seemed to be taking so long and I worried that I would tire out before being able to push our baby out of my body. But the midwives were super positive and encouraged me, saying that it was good that I was taking my time, everything was fine and our baby was making it's way more and more with each push.

This is where I feel compelled to say what an amazing support Tony was through this whole thing. He was with me the whole time and allowed me to grab hold of his arms, his body with a lot of force as I moved through each contraction. As they became more intense, so did my grip. At the end of it all, after Zoli's head had emerged (and I experienced the "Ring of Fire" sensation - wow) I roared and pushed the rest of his body out with one or two big pushes.

What a relief. Beth & Marilyn caught Zoli on his way out (and into the water) and brought him up to meet Tony & me. We were totally blown away. He was big, beautiful, and perfect. Finally we got to meet the little person who was a mystery to us for 41 weeks. Zoli. We had no idea that he would be a big baby - 9 lbs., 3 oz. - the same exact birth weight as Tony!

Many thanks to Tony, our midwives Marilyn, Beth, and Ayla, and our friend Anne, for your incredible support. We are so thankful to have had such a healthy, smooth pregnancy & birth experience.

Birth tub = awesome

After the birth we didn't have to go anywhere! Our support team tucked me into bed with Zoli and fed us, started laundry, cleaned up and looked after us.