My Birth Story

    I am sitting here with my new little angel and she is sleeping, in the MayaWrap (which is a sling), as close to me as possible-this seems to be her choice when it's time to sleep, I guess after spending almost ten months in the womb being close to my beating heart this is what she prefers- who could blame her!  I purchased my Maya Wrap from a small family owned business located in New Braunfels, Tx, Full Circle Baby!

    So, I have titled this "My Birth Story" because that is exactly what I am going to blog about, but first let me tell you about how we found out, what we chose to do and how we chose The Family Birth Center as the place we wanted to give birth!
We found out that we were expecting when in South Dakota, we hadn't been in Nemo for long before we found out. We were working at a restaurant, The Branding Iron on The Nemo Guest Ranch, in Nemo, SD where our family cabin is located and the place we were calling home at the time!  Living in Nemo, was truly a blessing and we now know that it helped us to relax enough to conceive our first child!

    A few weeks before we found out that we were expecting, I had heard news from Texas that two of my best friends were also expecting their first child, so naturally wanting to be close to them through this monumental change in our lives seemed right.  So, moving back to Texas, a place that was once our home, was what we did.  We packed up and moved back to be close to these special friends and, of course, family.  Having a child and them not being able to know their grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins didn't seem right.  So, here we are in San Antonio, a place we truly never thought we'd call home again-it's funny how life takes you on a journey if you are willing to go along for the ride!
Birthing naturally, with a midwife, in a birth house came as second nature for me-to my husband, Jeff, not so much, but he new that when the time came (ten years after we said our vows) for us to have a child, this was how we would birth.  My mother, whom I admire, naturally birthed all of her children except one.  She would have used a midwife, but in Omaha, Ne in the 80's midwifes were not an option- so, in a hospital atmosphere she naturally birthed me and three other siblings.  It takes a brave woman to want to birth in a hospital if you ask me!

    We chose New Braunfels Family Birth Center located in the lovely town of New Braunfels, TX right in the heart of this old German city.  Our first visit with the Birth Center was with Joani and her apprentice Ashley, both who were present at my birth.  I immediately felt at home in this beautifully quaint house and felt as if I had known Joani and Ashley all my life.  The visit was wonderful and we left there knowing this was where we'd birth our first child into the world!

    We were expecting our little angel in April, the due date was April 11, 2011.  The eleventh came and went and no baby, not even a braxton hicks to think I was close to going into labor.  Then, my mother and nephew were over for a visit, this day was the fifteenth of April, and I had been having mild contractions that started that afternoon and progressed throughout the day and into the evening-this was the day I was going to birth our child, or so I thought!  The contractions went on throughout the night, Jeff took the next day off of work and we went along our daily business as usual, as told to do so by our midwife, Amber, and to keep her updated on my progression.  To my surprise my contractions started getting further and further apart, and it was apparent that we were not having a baby that day.
Night time pre-laboring went on for a whole week and then, on the twenty first of April after a recommended doctor appointment, my contractions were back in full force and I told myself that I would birth through the night and have this baby by the next day if not that night!  This I was certain-I was so worn out from pre-laboring every night for a whole week, that mentally I was ready, and I guess the baby was too, because that night, early morning, at 1:30 my water broke and contractions were like none I had felt before.  We phoned Amber and told her we were on our way!  We arrived at The Birth Center around 2ish-the ambiance was perfect-lights dimmed, the scent of lavender in the air and music softly chirping birds in the background!  Amber checked to see how much I was dilated-6cm.  I labored mainly standing up hanging on to Jeff while Amber massaged my lower back.  I tried the shower to see if this would ease some pain, I then tried the birthing ball on the bed leaning over it for two contractions, this is the standard duration you should give each new position, two contractions to see if it'll help-this did not help either, but the urge to push was upon me.  This is when I told Amber that I was ready.  They began running the bath water, because my intention was to have a water birth, but knew that I would birth the way I was suppose to no matter how it was-and this I was comfortable with.  The urge to push came again, so they had me lay on the bed and they checked the babies heart beat-it was only beating at 80 and did not double during a contraction.  So, at this time they told me that they would have to call the EMS, and they did. They gave me oxygen and told me to take deep breaths.  They then told me that EMS was on it's way and that I needed to have the baby now otherwise, I would be going to the hospital to give birth!  Jeff looked at me in the eyes and said, very calmly, but matter of factly, that I had to push the baby out and that he knew I could do it!  We then moved to the birthing stool and I learned very quickly how to push.  Amber and Joani said that the babies head was right there so, I put my hand down and felt the head of my baby and to my surprise there was hair on that head-this I was not expecting!  Feeling the head of the baby gave me the energy that I needed to push our baby out.  They moved me back to the bed, had me put my legs up on each of their shoulders and asked if Ashley would help push me forward during pushing. This whole time during pushing my contractions had stopped so, I had to learn to push without them. They had said that her shoulders were stuck and they needed me to keep pushing as hard as I could- so, as I remember it was a few more really good pushes and I birthed our baby just as EMS arrived!
Good work mama, I knew I did not want to birth at the hospital and am very proud of the job I did to birth our sweet angel under the urgent circumstances that had arose.  This I could not have done without my wonderful midwifes, who never for a moment panicked or made me feel overwhelmed by what had unfolded, and my dear husband, who was a wonderful partner, as always, throughout the birth.  I am so blessed to have birthed a very healthy baby!  I'm pretty sure, I said "what a miracle" as they pulled her up to my chest and laid her by my breast!  Exhaustion took over and we just stared at our baby before we even looked at the sex-the midwifes asked if we wanted to know what we had- we  then looked and saw we had been blessed with a baby girl, Sydney Lucille (the name came a few days later)!  Jeff knew it all along and so did Amber!

...and we took a bath

My birthing experience was amazing thanks to Amber, Joani, Ashley and my husband!  I could never imagined what it would be like giving birth naturally, but honestly I couldn't have imagined it more perfect than it was, even with the urgent situation that arose.  In the forefront of my experience does not linger the urgency of the delivery, but the beauty of these woman and my husband working towards one cause, and that was bringing our baby into the world as peacefully as possible-The ultimate question is how do you ever thank these woman enough?