The Birth Story of Andrew Stephen

42 weeks 6 days pregnant:

Attempted Blue and Black cohosh herbal induction --failed-- no contractions *at all.* Accupuncture treatment mid-afternoon

Next day, 43 weeks pregnant by dates:

Morning: attempt B&B cohosh again from 8am to noon --no contractions--

Afternoon: attempt to induce using breast pump --no contractions--

Much discussion with my senior midwife about options -US [ultrasound] to check on placenta, considering castor oil, sent message to the midwife e-mail list asking for ideas-

My sweet husband who usually defers to me on matters regarding pregnancy and rarely has any thoughts on the matter at all says that he feels like the castor oil is what's going to do the trick. He's so sure and calm, I go with him.

Late afternoon: Castor Oil Daqueri (I may never drink orange juice again) and then took a hot bath and went to sleep.

Midnight: Woke to go to the bathroom. Contractions start up immediately 5 minutes apart lasting a full minute each but not at all painful. Lost my plug a few hours later.

I called my support folks (Mother and cousin, and the person set up to care for our daughter) and let them know that we're finally doing it.

Cousin arrived at 5pm / Mother at 5:30

Contractions were 2 minutes apart lasting 50 seconds, but so easy I could talk through them.

I called my midwife (who is also my mentor) Melanie at 7am just to give her a heads-up. She came over at about 8:30 with all the birth bags, and stayed a little while...it felt like a party. My contractions spaced out further and further apart as the morning went on. Melanie went to lunch, and said she'd stop on the way back to buy some Goldenseal (on the recomendation of a midwife on-line.) When my contractions slowed to every 15 minutes, I called the accupuncturist, and he agreed to work me in.

9:30 My brother-in-law came to get my daughter, Elizabeth. I really wanted her at the birth, but she gets hysterical when *anyone* touches me, so I thought maybe next time, and off she went.

1:30pm Went to the accupuncturist, and started Goldenseal tincture. On the way home, we stopped at a fruit stand and bought peaches and tomatoes.

3:00 Got back home, and as long as I kept up the tincture, I had good contractions every 5 minutes lasting a minute or so. When I quit the tincture, the contractions peetered out again, so we just kept it up...Goldenseal makes your teeth yellow :}

I requested that Melanie check me, because my cervix was posterior at my last pre-natal, but would come around with some gentle guidance. What Melanie found was that I was a slit four, but stretchy to six.

**NOTE: I severely dammaged my cervix at my daughter's birth, but we did not realize how badly until it started to dilate. Parts of the cervix dilated and effaced fine, and other places there were tongues of fat thick cervix. Melanie said this was truely bizarre, and that this was new to her.**

The manual dilation didn't hurt, so we did it again a while later, and I was at 8 or 9 not including the little 'tongues' which Melanie tried to work, but would just not go away.

Labor still didn't hurt, and I had not felt transitiony at all at this time. Melanie checked my cervix again, and said that mostly what was left was an anterior lip and a pretty fat little tongue...did I think I could push and let her see if she couldn't work my cervix a little with some arnica. We did this with no success. My cervix was not going to budge.

I felt like the labor was not really happening, and when Melanie said that I had a bulging bag after the last push, I asked how about breaking the water? She agreed, hoping that the baby's head directly on my cervix might do what she couldn't. The fluid was clear, and I cried wet sobbing tears of joy at the beauty of it. (My daughter's amniotic fluid had been green, and I can not explain my relief that, this time, there was no meconium in the water.)

The contractions came a little closer together, and I started to feel pushy. I pushed (small pushing, not serious pushing) squatting, knealing, hands & knees, on the birth stool (deBy) on the birth ball. Melanie asked me to get serious about it, and push on the stool. I pushed for a long time with great pain (In truth, I felt awfully transitiony at this time) while Melanie tried to hold back that bizarre lip. She also applied arnica. I was so worn out. We were getting nowhere, so I asked to go in the pool for a bit, and maybe to eat some.

In the pool, I ate an entire turkey sandwich and cried and growled through the contractions which slowed again (I wasn't taking the Goldenseal) and spaced out. Melanie asked me to push on my Hands and Knees like I did with my first birth, and that sounded okay, so I got out of the pool, and went to trying to push on the floor. All I could do was cry. My mother prayed. I had nothing left. She let me sleep in between some contractions, and then said it was time to push again, but all I could do was growell through them the hurt was so intense. My mother asked if Melanie thought that this baby would come out here (at home) and if we were to transport what would they do at the hospital that we weren't doing here. Melanie said that they would probably hook me up with some pit (oh the terror that word sends through my veins) and try to get my contractions more regular, and stronger, but beyond that she didn't venture to guess.

My mother then looked at my Dear Husband, Stephen, and said "You need to make a decision. What should we do?" I was obviously not in any position to be asked -at this point I was sure that the only way the baby was coming out of my body was through a slit in my belly-. All through, the baby's heart tones were in the 150's, Stephen later said that this was the decider for him. Stephen said, "I think we need to stay here and push some more." He made me look at him and said to me as I cried (staying and pushing were not my first choice) "Let's push on the stool one more time. You can do this." I believed him. "I can?" he nodded and kissed me...odd for him, but perfect for the moment. "Okay." He doesn't know how to lie. He doesn't even run yellow lights...I would have believed no one else. The boy I married became a man in my eyes this moment of this day.

He sat behind me in an easy chair while I sat on the birth stool my mother at one knee, and my midwife's other apprentice, Cammie at the other. I pushed with might that was not my own, drawing strength directly from Stephen, my Mama, and Cammie into myself. I had severe pain under my belly, and we put heating pads there to try and help without success. They kept telling me to push harder than it hurt, which I never managed to do. Melanie said that the baby was moving down, but I didn't believe her (she told me at my 3 day visit that the moment that she decided 'to hell with this cervix, let's get the baby out' he started to move down.) I pushed and pushed in that eternal painful place we all have to go. I heard Melanie ask for a glove, and opened my eyes to see her put it on her left hand. I said "Oh, the second glove." It was the sweetest sight, because putting on a second glove *always* means that baby is nearly there. After the next contraction and round of pushing, Melanie said I could feel the head...and I did. Precious fuzzy little thing. Then, to complete the circle, birthed my son. All 9# 5oz. of him (that's 4224g for our friends across the pond). He had the cord around his neck 4 times, and Melanie says that she thinks he was a little asynclitic (but anterior!!!) and that might have been why it hurt so much worse than my first birth. It was 1:30 am. I reached down and picked up the baby, as Melanie covered him, I looked to see wether girl or boy, and turned to tell my Stephen "We have a son." He kissed me, again.

Andrew Stephen Ratliff, apgars 10/10, 14 1/2" head, 19 3/4" tall Lots of vernix on his back and head (so much for being overdue, there were no signs at all of post-maturity :) His hairline is his Daddy's, but otherwise, he looks like me (my daughter is the spitting image of her daddy, so I'm glad to get credit for this one). He gained 9oz (!) his first week in spite of a rocky start nursing owing to a very short frenulum. Funny thing, I thought all along that he was going to be a little baby (less than 8lb.) Guess he showed me.

I had some tearing which merited 8 stitches in all. One skin tear along the line of my first (which had 48 stitches) and 2 very small periuretheral tears. Let's hear it for midwifery care!! We are all doing very well.

It is a long time (18 years this September) since I sat and watched as my brother was birthed in our home in Richardson, Tx. That was the first birth I ever attended, and I have always blessed my mother for the experience which may well have made me who I will be. June 28th, 1997, my mother attended me at my birth; her first birth other than her own. Our circle is complete.

Allison in Texas
Wife to Stephen
Mama to Katherine 'Elizabeth' (8/16/95) and Andrew Stephen (6/28/97)
apprentice midwife
Servant of the Living God

Copyright 1997 by Allison
Used by permission