Hunter’s Birth Story

I had my 40 week & 4 day prenatal appointment at 3pm on Sunday afternoon (Mother’s Day!). We had our midwife there and since her assistant would only be available now on weekends, we had a naturopath doctor attend our appointment as well. We figured that I’d most likely go into labor during the week when the assistant couldn’t attend, so our midwife asked her naturopath friend to assist in that situation. We ended up obviously not needing the naturopath visit, but on the flipside - we now have a naturopath doctor that we’d like to use for us and her office is directly below Ethan’s in this new building.

So after getting to know the naturopath & chatting with our midwife, they left around 4:30pm. My blood pressure was normal, baby was in perfect position (previously posterior), very low in the pelvis. So once they left, DH & I went outside to play with Austin and discuss what to do for my Mother’s Day dinner. We sat and talked for a while since it was nice outside, and then my Dad called to check in on us. All this while (from about 5pm) I was having mild contractions, irregular, so I didn’t say anything to Dad or DH cause I figured they’d just stop like they had the last few times this happened. DH & I decided on a steak dinner, so him & Austin went to the grocery store and left me home to shower. I showered, mopped the floor, polished tables, vacuumed and all around nested for the 30 minutes they were gone. At this point my contractions were getting kind of painful, but not unbearable.

Ethan & Austin came home & started up the BBQ. I came in the bedroom to get laundry to throw in the wash, went & did that and then came back to bed to lie down. They ended up getting more painful, so I kneeled over the side of the bed. Around 6:30, Ethan brought in dinner and we were all going to watch a movie. My contractions were approximately 4 minutes apart at this time and I could hardly eat any steak, and couldn’t stay still, so I just walked back and forth from the bathroom to bed. Then I ended up going into the bathroom and just sitting on the toilet since that felt the best. I stayed in there for about an hour - I just wanted very much to be alone to focus on relaxing. Finally Ethan coaxed me out of there (I kept locking the door and it was worrying him). I made myself comfy in bed in the dark with about 6 pillows, and just stayed there on my side. I still wanted to be alone, but with Ethan checking in on me lots - which he did. He came in and sat with me and timed contractions for me and rubbed my back for about half an hour.

He asked me a little after 8:30 if we should call the midwife & his mom, and I said yes. I thought I still had quite a ways to go. His mom had a good 4 hour drive, so he called her first. He then called our midwife and chatted with her about my progress for a few minutes. She just got out of the shower and so she was just getting dressed and would head out the door (she has a 36 mile drive to get here). He then came back in the room to check on me (at this point I was starting to feel the urge to push, but I was unsure of if I should or not so I tried to hold it for 2 contractions - ouch! I got pretty cranky and just asked to be alone. He brought me a cool cloth and went into the living room with Austin and said he’d come back to check often. I then was really feeling the urge to push and so I did, and it felt a lot better. I could really feel him moving down too.  At this point our midwife is not here since it’s only been like 15 minutes since the call. I asked Ethan for a towel since it seemed like I had a small trickle of clear fluid down my leg. My water still hadn’t broke so I didn’t want to mess up the bed. He brought me a towel and then went back to attend to Austin. I stayed in bed one more push, and then decided to get into the birth tub. I waddled from our room to the nursery (where the tub was) - it was pretty hard to walk like that! I just took my shorts off and hopped in the tub (shirt & bra still on). At this point I’m still very sweaty & starting to shake. I can’t get comfortable. I try pushing on my knees over the side of the pool. Not comfy. I then leaned back into a squat on the side of the pool and pushed. His head came out! I pushed again and the rest of him came right out. Still no midwife at this point, and Ethan & Austin are watching Lilo & Stitch in the living room! I yelled for Ethan, and he & Austin ran in and were just shocked. He grabbed Hunter from my arms (I caught him), got the bag of waters off him (he was born in it - how cool!), helped me get my top off and nuzzled him up skin to skin on my tummy.  Then grabbed the phone to call Pam (our midwife), and she was just parking her car. . Hunter’s cord had a knot in it too - but it wasn’t a problem at all. We let the cord stop pulsing on its own before clamping - then Ethan cut it. All this time - Austin is just watching & talking about baby. He was trying to put his stuffed monkey in the tub for baby and wanted to take a bath with mommy. LOL.

I got Hunter latched on and he nursed for a good hour. Then I passed him off to Daddy so I could get up.   Everything  looked great.  They weighed him 8lbs 8 oz, and 20 ¾ inches long. He looks just like Austin did!

The midwives cleaned up the mess and left us around 12:30 to all sleep in our king size family bed. It was wonderful!