Leo's birth
Leo’s birth was literally everything I prayed it would be: completely unmedicated, drama-free, preceded by a decent night’s sleep, most of labor spent at home, as close to pain-free as possible- even without the typical signs of transition, and supported by a whole team of “crunchy” people.
“Real” labor started during my 40 week appointment. (I’m notorious for going 2 weeks with contractions before giving birth). I agreed to a membrane sweep, which I’d been reluctant about, but felt was worth it to avoid the medical induction that had been advised because of what happened to Ellie. I had been doing everything to bring on labor because of all the anxiety around me to get Leo out already. After each attempt started contractions, but never active labor, I was certain he just wasn’t ready, and I was starting to feel comfortable waiting it out, but no one else was, and that was planting seeds of worry in my head. Some things that were effective in bringing on contractions (but not bringing out a baby!) were:
-Acupuncture- $15 for the best nap of my life, and contractions for the rest of the day, and the acupuncturist was a friend of a friend from middle school.
-the Santa Fe burger from Bobby’s Burger Palace, with pickled jalapeños, extra chipotle ketchup, and a side of fries with spicy fry sauce. I was going to write to Bobby Flay and credit him with creating a labor induction burger if it worked.
-“Jump start your labor cookies”, basically very spicy ginger snaps. Delicious, with an aftertaste of fire from the cayenne pepper.
-Using the breast pump, which Moose would immediately take, drink up the resulting .0000001 oz of milk, and use the top of the pump to impersonate Darth Vader. Apparently, it’s more effective for that and using as a toy story “ion blaster” than for pumping milk.
I was blessed to avoid castor oil, which after carefully researching, praying, and discussing with my midwives, was to be the last resort the morning after my appointment. Thank God, the membrane stripping was enough to put me into labor…within minutes! I expected it to hurt and didn’t want to know my dilation, which my midwife, Jamesina, agreed not to tell me, even if I begged, but I asked her to make note of it so I could find out after the birth.
Phil had a test at school that night, and we were sure Leo would arrive right in the middle of it. We pushed Phil out the door despite my progressing contractions. Right after he left they got close to 6 minutes apart, but spread out to 8, then 10, then 12 minutes before he called to tell me his test was over, but he couldn’t focus because the substitute teacher took everyone’s phones and (jokingly?) told him “don’t give me that!” when he told her his wife was possibly in labor. All the phones were placed on a table up front, and Phil’s was the only one that didn’t ring during the test!
Contractions progressed to 8 minutes apart consistently by the time Phil arrived home from school, and we decided it would be best to get some sleep before it was too late.
I woke up 5 times, but fell right back asleep…until around 4 am. Moose was draped over me, and I assumed the intense contraction I was having was because I couldn’t relax being squished. Then I had another contraction before I could fall back asleep. So I went to the bathroom, and another contraction! They could not have been more than 3 or 4 minutes apart. My mom asked what was going on, at which point I had to stop answering her to hang over the side of the crib with another contraction. We decided it was time to go. A quick timing while we scrambled to get ready confirmed they were indeed 3 to 4 minutes apart. Moose woke up to the news his brother was on his way!
We finally got out of the house after 5, and caught every red light on the way, arriving at the hospital around 5:30. Peggy was waiting for us, and she & Phil helped me through a contraction, which was now feeling more like the back labor I had with Moose, than the intense abdominal pain with Ellie. I was still hardly having trouble breathing & relaxing through it. I was sure we had hours to go.
As we settled in the room, I’d periodically stop to lean on Phil’s shoulder during a contraction while Peggy applied counter pressure on my back. All of a sudden I was freezing, so they brought me a second gown and a heated blanket. It was bliss, until the next contraction when I was melting. I was signing paperwork in between and during contractions (I’m sure it looked nothing like my signature), answering health questions, guzzling down ice water and yelling for someone to catch the cup before the next contraction peaked, but politely apologizing for yelling. Then Gazelle, a former homebirth midwife, who is like a younger, prettier Ina May Gaskin, arrived and immediately the room became calmer. She commented how “perfectly” I was handling contractions and how well I was relaxing. She rubbed my shoulders and pulled my hair off my neck. Moose sat quietly playing video games so my mom could help me too. I was in my own little circle of peace. There was talk of checking my cervix before the next contraction, which started before the current one ended, and all of a sudden I was pushing! I don’t know what happened to transition. There was never that “I can’t do this anymore” moment, and only 2 double-peak contractions. Gazelle asked if she could check me, and announced “oh my goodness, this kid’s RIGHT HERE”. They broke down the bed so I could push sitting up. It was all ready when my friend Lori walked in. I had called her at the last minute to be my doula. I greeted her with an excited “hi Lori! I’m pushing!” She said she knew it could go quickly, but I did not sound at all like I was so close to having a baby when I called.
Lori and Phil supported me on either side while I pushed, adjusting the the bed and pushing hair off my face. Moose was my little cheerleader, and his sweet voice kept me calm and focused. Leo had a scary heart rate dip so Gazelle had Lori and Phil hold my legs back so I could push more effectively, and calmly told me “I know you don’t like cheerleading when you push, but let’s just get him out”. I was hyperventilating between contractions, and I suspect that caused the decelerations, but I pushed with all my strength until he was out, which resulted in a second degree tear (or maybe that was from his 15” head!), but he came out perfectly healthy with APGARS of 8 & 9 just like his big brother! All in about 2 hours and 45 minutes, which I later saw on my chart was documented as “COMPLICATIONS: precipitous labor < 3 hrs”…I don’t think of a short, manageable labor as a complication, but whatever.
Leo came out quietly fussing- just enough noise to say “don’t worry Mommy, I’m fine”. Gazelle handed him right to me- it was my first birth where I was able to immediately hold my baby. His cord didn’t allow me to get him all the way to my breast, but he was content to snuggle on my belly. There were comments about how thick and healthy the cord was.
The timeline is really fuzzy, but after some cuddling with me and his proud big brother, Leo nursed. He was just as stubborn as Moose with his lazy latch, but Lori helped me get him on, and once he started, he didn’t want to stop. My placenta was ooh-ed and ah-ed over, but I forgot to see about taking it home. I was shaking uncontrollably while being stitched up, so everyone stayed close so I didn’t drop Leo. There were bets on how big he was. Everyone kept saying he looked like a 10 pounder. I didn’t believe it, after all, he could not have been all that big; it was my easiest labor. Sure enough, he was 10 lbs, 7 oz! I still cannot believe it- he looks like such a peanut! I asked if anyone knew what my dilation was at the appointment the day before- 4 or 5 cms! I was halfway to complete before labor even started!
Leo’s pediatrician was on vacation, and Gazelle didn’t feel the on call hospital peds would be willing to discharge us for a postpartum stay at The Birth Center. We could leave AMA, but it could affect our insurance coverage. She got them to agree to a 12 hour discharge from the hospital, and have everything handled the way it would be at The Birth Center.
There was no opposition to our choices, but the nurses could not wrap their heads around Leo not getting a bath. We told them we were declining it because we wanted the vernix (which he had plenty of, proving to me that he was not “overdue”) to absorb to hopefully avoid awful eczema like Moose had, and that when a mother kisses her baby, and he’s still covered in flora he encountered in the birth canal, it customizes her breast milk to have the antibodies he needs. (And my biggest reason, I much prefer that new baby smell to Johnson’s baby wash, but that didn’t sound compelling enough, so I kept that to myself). They said “well, if he doesn’t get a bath, he can’t go in the nursery”. Good! Because we also weren’t allowing him out of our sight since the same hospital system had violated our signed refusals following his brother’s birth.
In the end, Leo was accompanied to the nursery for a pulse ox test by Phil, my mom, and photographer/big brother Moose to document the trip. We were discharged before it had even been 12 hours, and only left after 7 pm because it took us that long to get our stuff together.
Leo’s birth was exactly the healing experience I needed after the nightmares I’d been through with the last 2. He is my perfect little rainbow after the storm and exactly what I prayed for. I know his big sister was watching over us from Heaven, and I see her every time I look at him.
“Real” labor started during my 40 week appointment. (I’m notorious for going 2 weeks with contractions before giving birth). I agreed to a membrane sweep, which I’d been reluctant about, but felt was worth it to avoid the medical induction that had been advised because of what happened to Ellie. I had been doing everything to bring on labor because of all the anxiety around me to get Leo out already. After each attempt started contractions, but never active labor, I was certain he just wasn’t ready, and I was starting to feel comfortable waiting it out, but no one else was, and that was planting seeds of worry in my head. Some things that were effective in bringing on contractions (but not bringing out a baby!) were:
-Acupuncture- $15 for the best nap of my life, and contractions for the rest of the day, and the acupuncturist was a friend of a friend from middle school.
-the Santa Fe burger from Bobby’s Burger Palace, with pickled jalapeños, extra chipotle ketchup, and a side of fries with spicy fry sauce. I was going to write to Bobby Flay and credit him with creating a labor induction burger if it worked.
-“Jump start your labor cookies”, basically very spicy ginger snaps. Delicious, with an aftertaste of fire from the cayenne pepper.
-Using the breast pump, which Moose would immediately take, drink up the resulting .0000001 oz of milk, and use the top of the pump to impersonate Darth Vader. Apparently, it’s more effective for that and using as a toy story “ion blaster” than for pumping milk.
I was blessed to avoid castor oil, which after carefully researching, praying, and discussing with my midwives, was to be the last resort the morning after my appointment. Thank God, the membrane stripping was enough to put me into labor…within minutes! I expected it to hurt and didn’t want to know my dilation, which my midwife, Jamesina, agreed not to tell me, even if I begged, but I asked her to make note of it so I could find out after the birth.
Phil had a test at school that night, and we were sure Leo would arrive right in the middle of it. We pushed Phil out the door despite my progressing contractions. Right after he left they got close to 6 minutes apart, but spread out to 8, then 10, then 12 minutes before he called to tell me his test was over, but he couldn’t focus because the substitute teacher took everyone’s phones and (jokingly?) told him “don’t give me that!” when he told her his wife was possibly in labor. All the phones were placed on a table up front, and Phil’s was the only one that didn’t ring during the test!
Contractions progressed to 8 minutes apart consistently by the time Phil arrived home from school, and we decided it would be best to get some sleep before it was too late.
I woke up 5 times, but fell right back asleep…until around 4 am. Moose was draped over me, and I assumed the intense contraction I was having was because I couldn’t relax being squished. Then I had another contraction before I could fall back asleep. So I went to the bathroom, and another contraction! They could not have been more than 3 or 4 minutes apart. My mom asked what was going on, at which point I had to stop answering her to hang over the side of the crib with another contraction. We decided it was time to go. A quick timing while we scrambled to get ready confirmed they were indeed 3 to 4 minutes apart. Moose woke up to the news his brother was on his way!
We finally got out of the house after 5, and caught every red light on the way, arriving at the hospital around 5:30. Peggy was waiting for us, and she & Phil helped me through a contraction, which was now feeling more like the back labor I had with Moose, than the intense abdominal pain with Ellie. I was still hardly having trouble breathing & relaxing through it. I was sure we had hours to go.
As we settled in the room, I’d periodically stop to lean on Phil’s shoulder during a contraction while Peggy applied counter pressure on my back. All of a sudden I was freezing, so they brought me a second gown and a heated blanket. It was bliss, until the next contraction when I was melting. I was signing paperwork in between and during contractions (I’m sure it looked nothing like my signature), answering health questions, guzzling down ice water and yelling for someone to catch the cup before the next contraction peaked, but politely apologizing for yelling. Then Gazelle, a former homebirth midwife, who is like a younger, prettier Ina May Gaskin, arrived and immediately the room became calmer. She commented how “perfectly” I was handling contractions and how well I was relaxing. She rubbed my shoulders and pulled my hair off my neck. Moose sat quietly playing video games so my mom could help me too. I was in my own little circle of peace. There was talk of checking my cervix before the next contraction, which started before the current one ended, and all of a sudden I was pushing! I don’t know what happened to transition. There was never that “I can’t do this anymore” moment, and only 2 double-peak contractions. Gazelle asked if she could check me, and announced “oh my goodness, this kid’s RIGHT HERE”. They broke down the bed so I could push sitting up. It was all ready when my friend Lori walked in. I had called her at the last minute to be my doula. I greeted her with an excited “hi Lori! I’m pushing!” She said she knew it could go quickly, but I did not sound at all like I was so close to having a baby when I called.
Lori and Phil supported me on either side while I pushed, adjusting the the bed and pushing hair off my face. Moose was my little cheerleader, and his sweet voice kept me calm and focused. Leo had a scary heart rate dip so Gazelle had Lori and Phil hold my legs back so I could push more effectively, and calmly told me “I know you don’t like cheerleading when you push, but let’s just get him out”. I was hyperventilating between contractions, and I suspect that caused the decelerations, but I pushed with all my strength until he was out, which resulted in a second degree tear (or maybe that was from his 15” head!), but he came out perfectly healthy with APGARS of 8 & 9 just like his big brother! All in about 2 hours and 45 minutes, which I later saw on my chart was documented as “COMPLICATIONS: precipitous labor < 3 hrs”…I don’t think of a short, manageable labor as a complication, but whatever.
Leo came out quietly fussing- just enough noise to say “don’t worry Mommy, I’m fine”. Gazelle handed him right to me- it was my first birth where I was able to immediately hold my baby. His cord didn’t allow me to get him all the way to my breast, but he was content to snuggle on my belly. There were comments about how thick and healthy the cord was.
The timeline is really fuzzy, but after some cuddling with me and his proud big brother, Leo nursed. He was just as stubborn as Moose with his lazy latch, but Lori helped me get him on, and once he started, he didn’t want to stop. My placenta was ooh-ed and ah-ed over, but I forgot to see about taking it home. I was shaking uncontrollably while being stitched up, so everyone stayed close so I didn’t drop Leo. There were bets on how big he was. Everyone kept saying he looked like a 10 pounder. I didn’t believe it, after all, he could not have been all that big; it was my easiest labor. Sure enough, he was 10 lbs, 7 oz! I still cannot believe it- he looks like such a peanut! I asked if anyone knew what my dilation was at the appointment the day before- 4 or 5 cms! I was halfway to complete before labor even started!
Leo’s pediatrician was on vacation, and Gazelle didn’t feel the on call hospital peds would be willing to discharge us for a postpartum stay at The Birth Center. We could leave AMA, but it could affect our insurance coverage. She got them to agree to a 12 hour discharge from the hospital, and have everything handled the way it would be at The Birth Center.
There was no opposition to our choices, but the nurses could not wrap their heads around Leo not getting a bath. We told them we were declining it because we wanted the vernix (which he had plenty of, proving to me that he was not “overdue”) to absorb to hopefully avoid awful eczema like Moose had, and that when a mother kisses her baby, and he’s still covered in flora he encountered in the birth canal, it customizes her breast milk to have the antibodies he needs. (And my biggest reason, I much prefer that new baby smell to Johnson’s baby wash, but that didn’t sound compelling enough, so I kept that to myself). They said “well, if he doesn’t get a bath, he can’t go in the nursery”. Good! Because we also weren’t allowing him out of our sight since the same hospital system had violated our signed refusals following his brother’s birth.
In the end, Leo was accompanied to the nursery for a pulse ox test by Phil, my mom, and photographer/big brother Moose to document the trip. We were discharged before it had even been 12 hours, and only left after 7 pm because it took us that long to get our stuff together.
Leo’s birth was exactly the healing experience I needed after the nightmares I’d been through with the last 2. He is my perfect little rainbow after the storm and exactly what I prayed for. I know his big sister was watching over us from Heaven, and I see her every time I look at him.