Birth Stories: Eli Lev Dugo

That was one heck of an experience. Thirteen hours of raw, natural labor with no pain meds. Man.

I thought I was having false contractions on Sunday night but turns out they were early stage contractions. I called my midwife at 3:30 AM on Monday. She said I'd better get all the rest I could. Looking back, I actually spent most of the first stage contracting and sleeping. No walking around or anything.

My yoga doula, Michelle, arrived at 8 am, and gave Victor some much needed rest. Actually, my first stage contractions were very cool. Some of them rose like high mountains and my "singing" (= moaning) peaked right along with them in intensity and volume. Other contractions were like rolling hills, and those notes were deeper. Victor snuck in and taped one of them. It was really bizarre (in a neat kind of way) to listen to it after the fact. Then my midwife, Laurie, arrived at 10 am followed by her assistant, Heidi. I didn't even see Heidi until after the birth because my eyes were closed the entire time.

The early contractions were bearable as long as I mentally talked myself through them: "Okay, this feels like a period cramp. Nothing I haven't felt before. Okay, now this feels like a constipation cramp and I've had those before." On and on it went like that for 9 hours. We never knew how dialted I was, how effaced I was, or anything. Our birth plan specifically asked for as few vaginal exams as possible and Laurie honored that. The room was quiet and dark, save my moaning and lots of encouraging words floating in the air. Sometimes I was so focused that I couldn't hear what Laurie was saying to me so I crooned, "Whaaaat???" like an old lady who was hard of hearing. Poor Laurie lost most of her voice the week before and it wasn't back to full strength so Victor acted as her translator and would say, "She s-a-i-d...." Later on, they told me they were fighting back laughter every time I said, "Whaaaat?" Nice to know a woman in labor can also provide some comic relief.

It so happens that Eli was transverse and the widest part of his head was trying to get through my pelvic bone; that's what was taking so long. We tried every position possible...several times! Hands & knees, shower, squatting, on the toilet, on the birthing chair, on my side, on my back...we kept rotating the positions. One of my favorite positions was actually on my back. Laurie handed me a "tug of war" rope where I held one end and Victor held the other. When I felt a contraction coming, I pulled tight on the rope and Victor held it fast. Michelle helped lift my head as I held my breath and pushed. When I exhaled, this primal grunt came from the very depths of my soul (hence, why my voice is raspy). Three and a half hours of grunting and pushing will do that to a mama!

At one point, I heard them whipsering about getting me to squat again. All I heard was "squat" and said, "No...NO MORE SQUATTING!" They all got a kick out of that. However, they did convince me to get back on the birthing chair where gravity did its job. The ring of fire didn't feel so bad, maybe because Johnny Cash's "Ring of Fire" came into my head when it started (it really did). Victor caught Eli and brought him into the world. As he was born, we realized what else prolonged the birth: Eli was holding his hand near his ear--trying to come out hand and all--and that's exactly what he did. It all makes sense now because at one point, I asked Laurie if her fingers were inside me trying to lead Eli out. She said they weren't. What I felt were his fingers wiggling near his ear--I guess you could say he tickled me. Once Eli was out, all the pain stopped, he cried then fell silent so we could all admire him. The next day, Laurie told me that many mamas with transversed babies end up transferring to a hospital to give birth. I'm so happy that wasn't the case for us.

He came in at 7 pounds, 10 ounces, 20 inches, with a full head of thick, black hair. Absolutely as handsome as his Daddy.

The funny thing is...a week earlier, my mom called me convinced Eli was going to be born THAT VERY DAY (March 21) because she heard the song "Eli's Coming" by Three Dog Night. Well, I didn't go into labor that night but nearly one week later, the evening my contractions started, Victor and I were watching a TV interview with the lead singer of Three Dog Night. Victor looked over at me and ask, "Could this be a sign?" Guess so!

We're so grateful to the birthing team. There were 4 people with me and I needed every one of them in their own way. We're also thankful for the care providers who saw me through my pregnancy: my acupuncturist, my chiropractor, my yoga instructor, and my massage therapist. If it weren't for our holistic approach, the birth probably would have been much different.

Angel Lugo

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