Christian UC: Unassisted Childbirth

The Unassisted Birth of Rose Orianna

I had several weeks of prelabor contractions that kept me on the edge of my toes and interrupted my bedtimes with excited "Is this it?" thinking. Wednesday evening my mom arrived from TX for a 10 day visit with hopes of watching a baby enter the world sometime during her stay. I did feel a little pressured, but we established a relaxed, trusting God for timing attitude and enjoyed her visit very much. Friday we took 2 1/2 year old Heather to the local mall to see some zoo animals they had there, then we went and walked at Wal-Mart. That night contractions were harder and more "down to business", waking me from sleep occasionally. I was excited, but determined to get some rest and pretend nothing was going on.

Saturday contractions continued to be harder but not regular, but I was very encouraged to see my plug slowly coming out with a little pink tinge throughout the day when I wiped. This continued through the next day also. I slept between contractions Saturday night but woke with them many times. It looked like my body was just going to take it's time and do this nice and slow!

On Sunday contractions got even stronger but still had lots of time between. I didn't really time them, but it seemed they lasted about 1 1/2 minutes and ranged from 8 - 20 minutes between. I decided to stay home from church but sent the rest of the family. Mom decided at the last minute to stay also. I headed for the tub right after breakfast and then took a nap, waking with contractions now and then. I spent most of the day either trying to nap or soaking in the tub. My back had begun to bother me and the tub REALLY helped with this. I played some soft music and lit candles all around the tub (we have one of those really deep ones) and read or dozed off and on. Every now and then I would emerge from our room and get something to eat or drink and visit with Heather, mom and sister Amanda (17 years and lives with us). I even stayed out and rocked in my glider and watched a movie and we worked a jigsaw puzzle to glue and hang in Heather's room. I was so thankful for mom and Amanda who did a great job of watching Heather, staying out of my way as needed and being encouraging when I needed company. By Sunday afternoon I was sure that I was in labor, but had no idea of how long it was going to take - I was constantly giving thanks to God for the hard contractions that I could tell were doing there job and yet were so easy to handle as I had so much time between. I slept off and on during the night.

Monday morning things seemed to have picked up a little. Tom woke to find me in the tub working through hard contractions. I was now dialated to around 6 cm. He called in to work to say that he wouldn't be in as we would have a baby by the end of the day. My spirits were still high, I was in awe of this easy labor and was not at all concerned - I knew my body was doing exactly what it needed to do. Around 11 am, I got a 2 hour break and walked out to my garden and watched Heather play in her little pool. I was a little discouraged, so I talked everyone into playing cards with me. By the end of a game of Euchre, things had picked back up and I headed to the tub.

Monday around 9pm ( I think ), I hit transition - contractions got really close together and lasted a long time. I spent the whole night in the tub. I have no idea how long the hard part lasted, but I was pretty tired by morning as it had been off and on again. I woke Tom up in the wee hours of the morning as I was very discouraged and in tears because I was so tired. He says "Transition - all right!" But I thought it was supposed to be over by now and was beginning to think it never would be. I had done fine with the transition contractions, but then things decided to take a break again and I didn't want a break (even though I was exhausted), I wanted it to be over. I wanted to hold my baby!

I decided to lay down and try to nap. I don't know how long I slept but then I was woken up by contractions that were very different. I am not sure how to describe them really, but then I decided that I felt a little bit like pushing. So I tried some gentle pushes and that really helped the contractions to not hurt. I did a few of these in bed but before long I was jumping (well best I could) out of my water bed and squatting by the bed when they hit. I was now excited and had renewed energy - aren't our bodies beautifully made?

My water had not broken yet and I remember thinking that it would be really cool if baby was born in the caul but wondering if it would make it harder to push baby out. This was totally new to me as my first labor began with the waters breaking spontaneously. I headed for the tub for awhile and had Tom check me. He could feel the bag of waters bulging. I decided to listen to my body and just continue pushing when I felt like it. Contractions were quite a ways apart but it felt really good to just bear down and push a little with them. This was around 9am on Tuesday. I found several positions that felt good in the tub for pushing and could feel more of the waters moving down as I pushed.

Around 11am I was getting tired and decided to move to the bedroom floor and see if gravity would help. I had Tom put a large pillow in front of the dresser and I would semi-sit/recline on that between contractions and then he would help me pull up into a squat over some chux pads when I wanted to push. I would also sometimes just pull my legs up to my chest and push while still leaning on the pillow. I was still really pushing the fluids and snacking and felt like I had to pee and poop with almost every contraction - the pads really came in handy :-) I became fairly vocal at this time and was glad Heather was down for a nap though I had tried to prepare her for this.

At noon I had Tom check me again, I felt I was working too hard and not making any progress and was beginning to feel really drained. My back was really hurting but the tub didn't feel right anymore (even though I had really considered birthing in the water). I had heated rice socks on it as I could and tried hands and knees but that didn't feel right while pushing. He felt the bag of waters really bulging and the head right behind it firmly against my cervix. I decided to have him break the bag of waters. This was not something we had even discussed doing and certainly not something I ever saw myself deciding to do as I wanted to trust my body and God to bring this baby into the world with NO interventions but I was truly exhausted and just made up my mind that I needed this. Tom sterilized a small safety pin and bent a small hook into the end of it and carefully poked a small hole in the bulging bag during a contraction - to be sure head was firmly against the cervix and there was no chance of the cord prolapsing. I felt such a relief in pressure when the waters came rushing out, clear as can be :-) I then made sure he checked to be sure there was no cord and the head was well engaged. I immediately felt the contractions grow so much stronger and was extremely vocal during contractions. I continued to have Tom pull me up into a squat to push and then discovered that if I stayed against the pillow and supported myself with my arms behind me I could lift my bottom off the ground and really felt the pushes doing some good work.

Shortly after, I started to feel the baby fill the birth canal and felt a little burning as the head moved further and further down. Within an hour Tom could see the head and he called my mom and Amanda in (turns out they were standing at the door - they could tell from the noise I was making that we were getting close). They sat on the bed out of the way and watched, encouraging me when the pushes seemed to really make progress. Amanda was taking pictures at my request. I was barely aware of them, it was taking so much work. With my first I had had an epidural and wasn't able to feel her being born at all and was really into the sensations I was feeling as the baby came closer and closer to being born. 45 minutes later at 1:45pm on Tuesday June 13, 2000 her body finally slipped from mine. Tom caught her and said "It's another girl!" ( We really thought it was a boy this time because my pregnancy had been so totally opposite from the first. ) He handed her to me right away and her body was a little bluish so I rubbed her back and turned her face down, she started to cry and I suctioned a little out of her nose and mouth with a bulb syringe. She started to pink up right away. I held her against me and put some towels against us to keep her warm. I tried to nurse her right away but she wasn't interested quite yet. I asked Amanda for a dropperful of Motherwort to aid in my uterus clamping down and preventing hemorrage since baby didn't want to nurse right away. The placenta came about 20 minutes later and was complete. I was really uncomfortable on the floor so I asked Tom to hold our li'l Rose Orianna while I got up and took a really quick shower.

After just rinsing off I got in our bed and then Rose decided to nurse and has been ever since (almost literally!). Tom made phone calls to announce the birth, we had not told too many people that I was in labor as I knew it was going to be a long one and didn't want people worrying and calling. When Rose finished nursing she fell asleep and I asked Tom to weigh himself and then do it again holding Rose so we could get an idea of what she weighed. He came back in grinning and said "12 lbs", I didn't believe him so I had Amanda do the same and she said "about 11 lbs.", so we decided to estimate at around 11.5 lbs and she measured 21" long with a 15" head. What a chunk!! I was in shock - I hadn't even torn, but no wonder it took so long to push her out!

We put the placenta in the freezer later to be planted under a yellow rose bush. Orianna is Irish for "golden" and Latin for "dawn".

We are all doing wonderfully. I feel like I am back to my normal self now, have even lost 20 of the 25 lbs I gained during the pregnancy! We went to church when she was 5 days old and you should have seen the jaws drop when we walked in. Everyone is joking about my giving birth to a 1-year old, she is big and strong but please! Rose had a bit of jaundice the first week, but little trips outside have helped with that. Her little eyes were blood shot because it took so many pushes to get her head out and Tom says that between a couple of pushes her eyes were right at the opening - it was a tight squeeze. They are getting better and of course she is beautiful!! She lost a little of her chubby cheeks in the first few days but since my milk came in she has put them back on and now weighs about 13 lbs. Big sister Heather is adjusting though it has been a bit of a trial, she is so used to being the center of attention - I am glad I have had lots of help!

Well, that pretty much sums it up. I am so pleased with our birth, it didn't go exactly as I had pictured it, but we did it the way we wanted to and with God's help we have a beautiful baby girl added to our family and Lord-willing we will have many more babies born into our welcoming home. Thanks for reading, I know it was long....

Amber Sullivan
Wife to Tom four wonderful years
Mom to Heather Marcelle 12/3/97 and Rose Orianna 6/13/00

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