Peter's Birth Story Peter’s birth was everything that I had hoped for; a natural and empowering birth experience. As we drove home from the hospital the day I delivered him, I felt a sense of pride and power that I had not known before; a deep connection to the core of life. Surely it was hard work, surely it was painful, and surely it was intense at times, but I proved to myself that I’ve got guts and that my body is made to be a mother in all definitions of the word. Before I went into labor, I felt as though my body was somehow “broken” and that’s why I was induced with Lily. But Saturday, June 19th and Sunday, June 20th that all changed.
That Saturday was a very peaceful day. I woke up to Lily calling, “Mommy, Mommy” from her room, Mike and I took a walk around the lake, I took a nap, we went to the 5 o’clock Father’s Day Mass at church and capped the night off by eating Dairy Queen while watching a Twins game. I had no clue that I would go into labor that evening, even though I was contracting all day and joking about it. But sure enough, at 11 o’clock, I knew that something altogether “right” about the way my body was behaving. The contractions were coming every 6-7 minutes and lasting 30 seconds and were far too noticeable to sleep through. I thought that this might be it. As the night continued, I spent early labor lying in bed snuggling with Mike while listening to love songs, I spent mid labor relaxing in a candlelight bath, I spent late labor in a hot shower with Mike massaging my back, and I spent hard labor watching the sun rise out my bedroom window while listening to my mom read books to Lily in the next room. It sounds romantic and by all means it was. My labor was slow going at first, even at 6 o’clock I was unsure whether it was going to stop or keep going. Afterall, my contractions were only 45 seconds long and coming every 5 minutes. But thanks to some advice from my doula, the contractions quickly changed to lasting 60 seconds and coming every 2 minutes. It was then that we knew it was time to go to the hospital and that this would be a Father's Day baby.
At 9 o’clock that morning my doulas got to our house and we left for the hospital. In hindsight, at this point I had mentally entered a “haze,” where my natural endorphins had kicked in. Mike was really encouraging to me at this point, he kept reminding me that by 8 o’clock that night we would be coming home with our new baby. That gave me lots of motivation. I had three intense contractions in the car, followed by four contractions going up to our hospital room, and at that time my favorite midwife checked me and I was dilated to a 9! I was ecstatic. I felt that all that hard work had paid off and that we would be pushing soon. So a few more contractions came and went, we moved to our room, and the pushing began. Now, when I say labor was intense, I really mean the pushing was intense. I pushed for 45 minutes with Lily who had a 16’ head, but with Peter I pushed for 1 ½ hours who had a 13’ head. At first it felt really good to push, but as the experience went on it got more and more painful. We tried every pushing position that we could think of and nothing seemed to work. At this time, I checked out. I wanted to be done. I kept telling Mike that I quit, that I didn’t like babies, and that I just wanted the baby out. After trying so hard, my doulas brought me to the bathroom, where his head finally started to crown, and after a few more pushes Peter was born at 11:51 a.m.
I was so relieved once he was born. I remember asking them if he was a boy. They said he was. Mike asked me to announce his name and I did. They put Peter on my chest and he immediately latched on. Looking at him for the first time was a moment to cherish. He had big eyes, very dark hair and a nose just like his Daddy. He looked quite different from Lily and had a much different cry. He was like a little old man, with hair on his ears and back. He had big hands and big feet. His fingernails were very long, like he had cooked too long.
We took pictures and enjoyed the new addition to our family. It was really wonderful to have the doulas there after the birth. They took care of Mike and I, while we took care of our new baby. I took a bath, Mike got something to eat, we rested and then we called family.
That night Lily and our parents came up to see us. Lily acted as if she always knew that Peter was coming. She kissed and hugged him, and said, “Hi Peter.” Then at 9 o’clock that night, as Mike had promised, we left the hospital with our new baby boy. I felt wonderful. I was on top of the world. That night, I got to sleep in my own bed with my husband and my new baby beside me and know that all the hard work was behind me, that I had the most loving and supporting husband ever, that it was done, and I could relax.
posted by Jenny at 5:25 AM |
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