Finley Grace's Birth Story

At one of my first midwife appointments I talked with my midwife, Cheryl (who I adore!) about being "primaried" by her, which means I'd have all of my appointments with her and she'd be the one to induce and deliver my baby. This is what she did with both Judah and Silas and it worked well.

Well, as it got closer and closer to my tentative induction day my body wasn't doing what it had done in the past. I was only dilated about 2 cm, where as I'd been 4 before. I wasn't sure that my body was ready to have a baby. Cheryl said that I could come in that morning and she'd check me. If I was ready we'd go ahead with the induction and, if not, then I'd have another appointment in a week.

I wanted to be induced for two reasons: one, I was excited to meet my baby and, two, I was pretty sure that I would have the baby on my own before the next week and I might not get lucky this time and make it to the hospital. :)

So, our appointment was at 8:45 am Monday morning. We dropped the boys off at my in laws at 8:15 and headed up the hill. When Cheryl checked me I was 3-4 cm dilated and 90% effaced. She said that there was a lot of progress since my last appointment the week before and thought my body was ready. She called the hospital and they said I should call back at noon to make sure they had room for me.

After the appointment Eric and I headed back down the hill. We read for awhile at Barnes and Noble, picked up from snacks from the grocery store next door, and walked around the parking lot (in hopes for more progress) and browsed World Market. While we were at Barnes and Noble we called my in laws to tell them what we were doing. Judah asked to talk to Eric and said, "Is it a boy or a girl?" Eric said, "We haven't had the baby yet." And, Judah answered, "If it's a boy name him Joshua and if it's a girl name her Sophia."

We then tried to go to lunch at Sierra Nevada (we ate lunch there the day Silas was born), but it's closed on Mondays. So, we headed to our other favorite restaurant, Sin of Cortez. The midwife didn't tell us the full hospital number, but only the number using letters and I couldn't figure it out on the cell phone. Eric ended up having to ask a worker if he could look up the numbers, so we could call the hospital.

We were finally able to get through and they told us to come on up. When we got there (at about 1:30) I had to be monitored for an hour. The baby looked great and my heart rate/blood pressure/etc looked good, too. They told us to go walking for a half hour and they would put the cytotec (which ripens your cervix) in around 3. We, literally, hiked up a hill to a nursing home behind the hospital and all around the property and came back at 3. There was a delay with the cytotec (the one they sent was expired), so they put it in at 3:30.

You can't have cytotec in your system and have a waterbirth, so they had to wait until 7:30 to break my water. For the next 4 hours Eric and I ate snacks and watched tv. It was a little like being in a hotel. We don't have cable (or any channels) at home, so Eric had fun watching some random action movies (I think). I was too preoccupied to do anything except thing about our baby. I was also getting more nervous about the delivery!

Cheryl ended up breaking my water at about 7:10. It didn't take long for my contractions to get more regular and stronger (every 3 minutes, lasting for about a minute), but they weren't painful. Cheryl had me sit on a labor ball, but I wasn't sure what the point was because I wasn't in pain. For some reason, I felt pressured to have a super fast delivery. I thought that pacing around the room would help, so I did that while Eric and Cheryl talked about training dogs and midwifery. Cheryl commented on how fast I was walking and I said maybe it would make things go faster.

A little after 8:30 the contractions did start to get painful, so I got in the tub. As they were filling it up the door started leaking, so Eric, Cheryl, and the nurse were all focused on fixing that.

Earlier, when the nurse was first setting up the birthing tub she was having some trouble with the motor. Randomly, Eric owns the exact same motor and has it in our garage. He had bought it from one of his pool customers when the guy didn't need it for his pool. So, Eric was able to help set up the birthing tub!

After a few minutes I told Cheryl that I thought I needed to push. She said if I felt like it, then to go ahead. About this time I started to have a mini-freak out and I told her that I wanted her to check me to make sure I was ready. She did and I was.

I was sitting on the floor of the tub, which made pushing awkward. During my first push I arched my back. After that I sat up in the seat, put my feet in the foot rest things, and was able to lean forward "chin down" (as Cheryl said) and push again. After three pushes our baby was born (first half of her head, second the rest of her head, and third her shoulders and body).

As I held her either Cheryl or the nurse (I can't remember who) said, "What is it?" Eric lifted up the umbilical cord and said, "It's a girl." I just laughed and laughed with so much joy. The perfect addition to our family!

Finley Grace was born on December 28, 2009 at 8:51 pm. 7 lbs, 13 oz, 20 inches.

Eric held her while Cheryl and the nurse (Mary Ann) helped get me out of the tub and cleaned up. Then Eric handed her to me and I was able to hold and nurse her right away. Such a perfect little baby girl!





If you're interested:
Judah's Birth Story
Samuel's Birth Story
Silas' Birth Story