Birth Stories: The Birthing of Beth

Beth's story is unique, as any birth story should be, but at the time you couldn't have convinced me. Well, at least it took some convincing from Laurie before I'd believe it.

"I just don't understand," I whined, "with Aubrey my contractions started and just got stronger. By the time we drove to the birthing center I was ready to deliver."

"Well, not all births are the same," said Laurie. "This baby deserves to have its own birth story."

And so she did.

My first child was slow from first contraction to last, but at the hospital they induced and broke my water and an hour later I gave birth. My second child was a scheduled induction, because this doctor said if I was that fast after induction then I might just have a fast labor this time and not make it to the hospital. So we scheduled, induced and in 5 hours we had a baby.

I divorced and remarried and my third birth was sad because my husband and I were separated, but I had my midwife strip my membranes, went home, contractions started late in the evening and my girlfriend drove me to the birthing center (my husband was nowhere to be found) and I gave birth and came back home glad to have my baby with me for comfort.

So when my husband, Ben, and I patched things up, I was happy and I got pregnant and we started having problems again, and I had a lot of trouble with my emotions through the entire pregnancy, but we stayed together and worked it out.

Now when I started having contractions, I was all set for them to just get stronger and the baby to come. Ben went on to work and I was upset because he would be many hours away that day and wouldn't make it in if I had the baby. My contractions were false and went away,

My husband came back home and stayed with me, but it was the next day before my contractions really started again. Late that night they just kept coming and I couldn't sleep, so I called Laurie and she came on down to my house. My contractions would come and go like an ebb and flow and uncertain amount of minutes apart. When Laurie got there she sent me off to march, but there was no real change. So I marched again, but I just got tired and it seemed like nothing was happening, but Laurie assured me it was. I had this pressure in my bladder I'd never experienced before. Laurie gave me some herbs to ease the discomfort. I went to lie down in my bed. I curled up over a pillow and laid my head on a stack of pillows and some how managed to rest until morning. Laurie and her assistant Meredith got some rest while waiting.

The next morning, everything was still slow, but still pretty constant. Laurie and Meredith went to eat breakfast. I got breakfast. When they came back, I felt a bit more rested and decided to try some herbs to motivate my contractions. This helped a little and Laurie gave me a massage the next time she checked me. She said my waters were bulging, but I'd never had much luck with them breaking. She said if I wanted to, I could try and break them. I tried, but it was, as she described, "like fishing for pudding in a bowl of jell-o." I was also scared.

I did a lot of walking around the circle of the inside of my home. My bladder pressure was still there and I had to urinate every time I had a contractions. Laurie broke my water and my husband came in the house finally. Ben was trying to straighten up outside. I needed his attention on me, so I could focus on birthing the baby. We walked around the house and my contractions got stronger. I began to holler with them. It always seemed to help me work with the contractions, also I swayed my body with the contractions after just a few it was time to check me. Laurie said I was ready, 9 plus a lip.

I decided to birth on the floor, kneeling beside my bed. One push and the baby was out. I just didn't want to stop pushing until she was out. It had taken so long, it seemed, to get to this point. I was afraid of taking any longer, so I just kept pushing with that one contractions, because after that they stopped as far as I could tell.

I had a beautiful baby girl. I took her immediately in my arms while they cleared her off and suctioned her mouth, but I had a gush of blood that scared everyone but me, so they laid me down and I began to nurse my baby and they gave me some herbs to help the placenta come out and it finally came out. The bleeding stopped fine. I showered and got in bed with my new baby girl, Beth Ann. She weighed 6-1/2 pounds and was 19 inches long. I'm so thankful to Laurie for coming to my house. It was a long way to come, just over an hour. She was so good to me even when I whined and just reassured me everything was normal.

Then after it was all over, she tells me 4th babies are sometimes this way. I wish I'd know that earlier! It was all wonderful, except that bladder pain. It went away after my waters broke and the baby dropped, I guess.

Beth is now 6 months old and is still proving everyday to be different then all my others. Thanks Laurie for the opportunity to tell my story.

Donna Montelongo

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