Welcome to the World (part 2)

Time gets blurry for me after 8:00 when my midwife and her student show up. I was in some good labor at this point and I didn't have my cell phone to write things down. I do know that I was really concerned to not go poop in the tub (sorry for TMI, but this is my birth story). While it would really not have mattered to Rich if I did, he sort of freaked out a the thought of the fish net to scoop out poop if it did happen. Since I was concerned about this I noticed any time I felt like I had pressure. So, a couple times when I had pressure I would check myself to see if I could get up and use the bathroom. 

Student midwife Rose

My midwife Jen checking his heartbeat

The next time I checked myself I was 7cm. I think it was my sister Devyn on Facetime at that point who asked what I was doing. I laughed as I told her I was checking myself. Then I think someone in the room started laughing about how funny/strange/weird it is to have a patient who knows too much about themselves and labor. Some people who do homebirths, and even hospital births with my patients, decline to have vaginal exams, but that really wasn't me, I wanted to know what was going on. So after I checked myself I got up and went to the bathroom. By the time I got back to the bathroom I was feeling sort of nauseated, but never threw up. I also noticed after I got back that I stopped listening to my sisters on Facetime, and really stopped interacting with almost everyone unless it was to have them help me or to ask them to do something for me. 

During this time the girls were sent downstairs to watch TV. I had spent a lot of time preparing them for this birth. We talked a lot about it, we watched videos and I also reassured them a lot that that they didn't have to watch him be born if they were scared or afraid. Both girls said they wanted to be there and Rich told me later that during the last hour or so Cara had come upstairs at least 3 times to see if it was time for Baby Mac to be born yet. If you know my girls and TV you know it is a big deal for them to leave the TV for any reason, so when I started pushing I did have them come up to be there. 

I ended up checking myself one more time and I was 8cm and my water hadn't broken. Around 9:15 or so I started pushing on my own and I started to feel his head come down so I had my parents come back in the room. I also made sure Rich turned on the video camera- since my birth with Ryann we forgot to turn on the camera until she was born, and my birth with Cara got recorded over by her first bath- it was pretty important to me to have that recorded. I haven't watched the video yet, but it was on a tripod, so we will see how well it turned out. Once I get it uploaded to the computer I get to send it to my sister Ashley who wasn't able to be connected to us during the birth. :) And I guess any of my other siblings or in laws who want to see it (Pete???)

Once I started pushing I felt my water break. My midwife and I announced it at the same time. As I kept pushing I realized that he was a lot bigger than Cara. I was expecting maybe an 8lb baby because he felt bigger, but I had gained less weight than with Cara so I just felt that he wasn't a lot bigger, but some. My ultrasound the day before estimated 8lbs 7oz. When he wasn't coming out faster than Cara, as most 3rd babies do, I was starting to wonder just how much bigger he was. I tried pushing in a couple different positions. I pushed a couple times on my hands and knees, then in a more traditional way, and finally I was using my doula and Rich to help lift me and my mom was helping hold up my head to give me more force. 

Turns out his head was a lot bigger than Cara's. He was also coming down with his hand by his face which can also make pushing a lot harder. Once his head was about half way out I was able to look down and see that he had hair. It looked pretty light to me, but then again most of my patients are Hispanic and their babies have lots of black hair. (Turns out his hair is brown for now)

I finally was able to push out his head but his shoulders didn't slip out very easily. My midwife let me rest for a little while but then reminded me that I still needed to push out his shoulders. I wasn't having a contraction, so I didn't really want to push, but then when I did start pushing I didn't really feel like I was doing anything to get him out. 

Homebirth midwives are a lot more hands off than we typically are in the hospital. So part of us were just waiting for my body to do the rest of the work, but then I started to realize that I needed some help to get him out. If babies in the hospital have their heads out but the rest of the baby isn't out then we have a few maneuvers that we use to get the baby out. I knew this, was thinking about this, and requested my midwife to just "pull him out" a few more seconds and I just yelled for my dad. I will have to listen to the video of it, but I really think I just said, "Dad! Help!" 

My Dad isn't one to interfere or intervene without being asked, but as soon as I said that he was telling me what to do, he jumped in the birth tub and had Mac out within a matter of seconds. I know Mac would have come out fine without my dad there, but it was really nice that he was there and was able to intervene, because I was sooo done.

My midwife joked later that it was our secret plan to get my dad to do his very first waterbirth.  :)

Daniel Richard McCrary Hamilton  or "Mac" was born on July 10, 2013 at 9:30pm.

He weighed in at a whopping 9lbs 6oz (almost 2 pounds bigger than my last baby)

with a head measuring 14inches and a chest of 14.5 inches. 

21.5 inches long

3 days past his due date. 

He was born at home, a waterbirth, with a midwife in attendance. His daddy was there, grandparents were there, his 2 big sisters, a student midwife, 2 aunties electronically, a doula, and a wonderful friend. It was hard and chaotic and peaceful and amazing and wonderful all at the same time.