Before Charlotte was born, I had decided I wanted to give birth naturally, without medication. I choose to have a midwife deliver her at a hospital and knew I was "allowed" to go up to two weeks past my due date without being induced. Therefore, my primary prayer request, other than the health of the baby and myself, was that I would go into labor naturally and not have to be induced. The Lord graciously answered that prayer, and although she was eleven days past her due date, she did come on her own without the need for induction, and I was able to have the natural childbirth experience I had hoped for. I was definitely very thankful for this answered prayer, but also realized through the experience that there were many other things I wanted to pray for when we found out we were expecting again. Based on my experience with Charlotte, here is a list of prayers (and reasons for them) I prayed for Cy's birth that were answered by the Lord. ALL of them were answered.
1. A peaceful labor. When I got to the hospital with Charlotte I was dilated to a six and my contractions were VERY intense and very long, without much break in between. It made the next five hours of unmedicated labor very challenging, to say the least.
2. A beautiful delivery. With Charlotte, I pushed for an hour and a half. Once she came out, I was so exhausted from pushing that I didn't get to fully experience the beauty of the moment. I was literally just trying to breathe and get back up on the bed, and they had to take her away right away to make sure she was breathing okay. Once I finally had her next to me, I was in a sort of daze.
3. I would get to have the baby put right on my belly after the birth and enjoy the moment. See above.
4. Normal BP following the delivery. After Charlotte was born, my blood pressure spiked like crazy and I couldn't even leave the delivery room to my recovery room for a couple hours until it went down to a reasonable number.
5. Get to the hospital on time and have child care all work out accordingly for Charlotte. Charlotte's labor was relatively quick, so we were concerned this next one would be even faster, and with the need to get Charlotte off to a sitter and get to the hospital in time (which was 30 minutes away), this was a concern.
6. The baby's hands would not be up by his/her head during delivery. Charlotte came out with one arm up by her head, which made pushing her out very difficult.
7. The baby would come out quickly. See #2 above.
8. I would experience a quick recovery. I could barely walk for two full days after Charlotte's delivery and stayed at the hospital the optimum time allowed.
9. I wouldn't be depressed after the birth. For about two weeks after Charlotte was born, I cried every night, feeling such intense sadness and sorrow I couldn't explain.
10. Nursing would go well and be an enjoyable experience. I loved nursing Charlotte, but she was always so tiny and ate so little that it was very difficult at the start and continued to be a love/hate relationship the entire 10 months I nursed. Cy doesn't have either of these problems.
11. We would get the help we need when we need it after the birth.
12. Cy wouldn't have colic, which we struggled through with Charlotte for the first three to four months of her life.
13. This baby would come in the daytime hours, like Charlotte did, and that I would get a good night's sleep the night before. A big prayer considering the many sleepless nights leading up to the birth.
Now with the story. I had been having contractions off and on for about two weeks leading up to Cy's birth. Pete and I were thinking that this baby might come early because at 38 weeks, I was already measuring larger than I was with Charlotte a week after her due date. I'd get a few contractions during the middle of the night and then they would peter off to nothing by morning time. Finally, on Sunday, May 22, exactly a week after my due date, and after a good night's sleep, I had my first contraction at 6am. The next one came 20 minutes later, and the next was ten, then seven. By 8am, when we realized they weren't dying off, we decided to call our go-to person that would be helping us with Charlotte during the birth. Sandy got to our house shortly after 8am, even in time to get Charlotte to church with her that morning. (We found out later that Sandy's husband offered up a prayer request to our church body that morning during the Lord's Supper, asking them to pray for us, as we were probably in the middle of labor at that very moment.) As we got everything loaded up for the hospital, I continued to pause ever seven minutes or so to lean over and have another contraction, still breathing gently though each and feeling like they were very manageable at this point.
On our way to the hospital we stopped at Jack in the Box to get me a breakfast sandwich. I knew I wouldn't be eating a full meal for a while, so I'd better get some calories in for the long haul ahead. We got to the hospital about 8:30am, got checked in, and the contractions were still coming around seven minutes apart and still very manageable. The nurses were going to wait to call my midwife until they checked my cervix, to determine if it was worth her trip up there yet or not. I don't think they thought I was very far along, as I was still in very good spirits and the contractions were so well spaced. (See Charlotte's birth story for the VAST contrast.) The nurse checked me and I was already dilated to a six. I couldn't believe it and almost asked her to check again. With Charlotte's birth, I got to the hospital at a six and I could barely speak or even breathe for that matter. What a difference!!
Even though the contractions were coming at a good distance apart, they were still challenging when they did come. I was very grateful for my doula, Michelle, when she arrived around 9am to help me remember the best positions to sit or stand in during the contractions to make me more comfortable and help keep the baby moving in the right direction. It's amazing how you could have gone through this whole process before, but somehow in the middle of it all you forget all you ever learned the first time. My midwife, Aliza (operates under Dr. Lawrence Pierce), arrived shortly after Michelle got there and she also was amazed at how well the whole process was going. She had me, Pete, and Michelle take laps around the hallway to help keep the contractions moving along. They were still spaced around seven minutes apart, but each one was getting stronger and stronger. I would stop during the contraction and use the hallway railing for support as I squatted down during each one. I could slowly feel more and more pressure as the baby's head moved further down the birth canal.
We decided to take a bit of a break and check to see if I had dilated further, and then change things up by laboring in the birthing tub for a while. I started shaking a bit and Alisa suggested that I was probably going through transition. I said, "No way; it's probably just the adrenaline since I'm getting so excited." I said this because when I went through transition with Charlotte's birth, I felt like I was going to puke and was seriously unsure about how I was going to make it to the end in one piece. This time I felt so relaxed, and although the contractions were strong when they came, they were very manageable and still spaced around seven minutes apart. I could almost take a little nap between each one. My midwife checked me and found me dilated to a 9! I couldn't believe it and neither could Pete. I had been going into transition and I really couldn't believe how peaceful this whole process was going. Aliza asked me if I wanted her to break my water and I told her no, as I was actually enjoying the process and didn't really care to speed it up to the very painful part quite yet. I also had prayed Charlotte would be born in her amniotic sac and since she wasn't, I still had the same prayer for this baby. I've always heard it was a very beautiful thing to witness.
I got into the tub and labored there for a while. By now it was around 1pm and I remember putting my head down on the side of the tub in between contractions and feeling like I could doze off. I was that relaxed. I still can hardly believe it as I recall it now. I told Aliza I was hot and she offered me some jello or a popsicle. I took her up on the popsicle and my husband couldn't believe what he was hearing. I normally HATE popsicles. You just say the word and I cringe. It's something about the crunching of that solid ice that gives me goose bumps just writing it now. But, that sounded really good to me at the time. So, I had my popsicle (cringe) and then decided to get out of the tub, cool off for a bit, and get back into the bed. I got out, went to the bathroom one more time, had a contraction while I was in there, and then went back to the bed and laid down on my side.
While on my side in the bed with one of my legs propped up in the stirrup, I experienced the hardest contraction I had felt all morning and it went on for what felt like five minutes or so. I remember praying, "Lord, just give me a little rest here, just a little break, so I know I can keep on going." I started getting very scared and told Pete so at one point. He asked what I was scared of, and I said, "The pain!!". I wasn't sure I could make it. Everything was so peaceful and manageable up to this point and now I felt like this massive wave of unbearable pain was washing over me. I felt myself retreating in my mind to a place far away from that hospital room. I think Aliza sensed my fear and withdrawal because it was at that moment she pulled my top leg over so that I was now on my back and told me in very certain terms that this was indeed happening and I would be pushing very soon. It's amazing the sensation of feeling like there's no way you can possibly do something and at the same time be doing that very thing. I asked her what position would be best - I was sitting at an incline on the bed at that point - and she said to do whatever feels best for me. I told her nothing feels good right now and to "Please, tell me what to do!", because I knew if she didn't tell me, I felt like I was going to lose it. I didn't know what "losing" it entailed, but I didn't want to find out either. She told me not to squat because I would probably risk a greater tear in that position, as the baby was already crowning. She wanted to be able to ease the baby out slowly and with squatting, gravity would push the baby too fast. So, I stayed in a upright-sitting position and she had me give small controlled pushes during a few contractions and hold told me to just breathe through a few without pushing. In just about ten minutes and less than five pushes, Aliza eased the baby out, still in the amniotic sac!! Pete told me later that he could see the baby's face turn as he made his was out, still under the encasement of the sack.
After the baby came out, the sac ruptured, and she put him straight onto my belly. I couldn't believe it was over. It was even more beautiful than I had prayed it would be. The nurses rubbed the baby down, the baby let out a huge "man cry", as Pete puts it, and Pete got to cut the cord. I asked if it was a boy or a girl and Pete looked, responding excitedly, "It's a boy!". That's when I responded, "Hello there, Cy Ebenezer Silver Smith", the name Pete had wanted to name a boy of his own since he was a young man in high school. I held Cy for some time, just checking one another out. After about ten minutes or so, I was quite curious how much this little guy weighed, so they took him off to do all his measurements. Cy weighed in at 8lbs 8 oz., two whole pounds larger than Charlotte was at birth. Two pounds more and about an hour and a half less of pushing! My midwife said the first literally paves the way for the second. Is that ever true. That along with a great big God who answers great big prayers!!
When they gave him back to me, he latched on right away and has been a master nurser ever since. I remember asking Michelle, my doula and friend, how you could possibly love the second child as much as you love the first. How could you possibly have even more love in your heart to share? She told me that when that second child is born, and you look in his/her face for the first time, you say, "that's how". When they put Cy on my chest and after he let out that great big cry of health, I looked over at Michelle and said, "that's how". That's how.
This was taken shortly after checking into the hospital, around 9am that Sunday morning.
Me, eating a popsicle on the side of the birthing tub between contractions, already dilated at this point to a 9! I could hardly believe how relaxed I was just an hour before delivering Cy. (To let you know how much I hate popsicles on a normal day, I'm getting the willies right now just looking at this picture.)
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| Resting that evening with my little guy. |
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| Proud Papa |
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| Cy, now at two months old. |
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