Once we arrived at the birth center the first thing we needed to do was check my dilation, I was 1-2cm the day before at 4pm so now 12 hours later I was so happy to find out that I had done a lot of the work at home and was at 6cm after cheering myself on a little bit it was time to fill the birthing tub. I found out that the water needs to be around 97 degrees and that you need to stay hydrated while you labor. The benefits of the tub that I read about included increase in energy, helps lower blood pressure, and you are able to move into positions much easier. Once I was in the tub texts were sent and calls were made, we were ready to tell our families about the situation and we reached out to our birth photographer. Everything else is a little bit of a blur, I wish I could wax poetic and retell the story of this beautiful day in a way that could make you understand how truly amazing our birth center experience was but I do not even know where to start so I have decided to just make a list of things I felt and thought and share it with you that way, as always if you have any questions I would love to share info with you :)
*I drank tons of coconut water, I ate a few protein bars and nectarines to try and keep my energy up. Plus, I was starving.
*I grew closer to my mom and my husband because they were so supportive and I they both reminded me that I could do this and that they were proud of me. They helped me stay cool, they massaged my back, brushed my hair and held my hand.
*BJ was our midwife and we also had two birthing assistants with us, they all took turns monitoring me, the babies heart rate and helping me be comfortable.
*Labor made me gassy, I passed gas the entire time but I guess I was very polite about it haha everyone like to laugh about how I said, "excuse me" every time. I hope my mom was proud of me haha.
*I only got out of the tub to have my dilation checked and at the end when they wanted to check and see if my water broke and that was when I started to push.
*I lost control only a few times, I believe that one time I said "I can understand why people get epidurals" I never judged anyone for needing meds but in a few moments I could really grasp the reasoning behind it. I am still so happy that I trusted myself to be able to handle it and breath my baby down.
*Once pushing started the pain was different, something changed and my back pain become almost unbearable. I was repeatedly told that they could see the babies head and just a few more pushes and I would meet my baby girl.
*The atmosphere changed after a few more pushes and I was left with my mom and my husband to rest while BJ and the birth assistants looked at my charts, a change in plans had not even crossed my mind.
*BJ calmly let me know that this was not an emergency but that Claire was not moving down my canal, that even though she was at station 2 and they could see her head when I pushed that she had not moved over the last hour of pushing and that since they were watching her heart rate dip when I pushed that they thought they should transfer me to Long Beach Memorial. I was now a part of that 4% transfer rate.
*New birth plan included Ryan driving me over to the hospital and having a natural birth there but with more monitoring of me and my child.
*Take birth by calm is something that they said a lot in our hypnobirth classes and I did cling to it during those hours. I was able to remain calm and collected most of the day and even once my birth plan had to completely change I did not let myself get upset about it because I knew I would not be able to bring myself back into being positive.
*Seeing Ryan get upset about the changes was touching, he knew how much this meant to me/us and he kept telling me how proud he was of me and how he was sorry that we had to go to the hospital, he was always on my side and I could not be more thankful.
*As we walked to the car my mom massaged my back, Ryan helped me walk and my dad gave me a blessing. We all piled into our cars and drove the few miles to the hospital.
Once we arrived there it felt like a whole new day and my appreciation of the birth center grew a 100%.
I will blog soon about LB Memorial.