The story begins a few days prior to her birth when I began feeling what I thought could be my body's final preparations for labor. It was Thursday and Jackson had his last day of Kindergarten on Friday. I began thinking about what we would do if I went into labor that night or the following morning. Jackson's kindergarten class was holding a very special ceremony for those moving on to first grade and I felt it was important for him to be there even if I was at home birthing his baby sister. I remember at some point having a little talk with the baby and telling her that there was still some business to finish up and Friday night would be a good night to arrive. That night I went to bed and experienced several runs of pretty decent, but not yet painful, contractions. The next morning I awoke still pregnant. So at 11am on Friday morning I was able to attend Jackson's kindergarten ceremony. Although I had had some contractions in the earlier morning they pretty much stopped during the ceremony, only to resume again shortly afterward.
The ceremony was a tear jerker for me, the day was gorgeous, Jackson and his friends were adorable... what a great way to kick off labor.
After the ceremony, David went back to work and my parents, Jackson and I went out to lunch. I ordered a very tasty blackened shrimp nacho salad and, with the return of the contractions, thought I'd better eat as much as I could since I wasn't sure I'd be eating dinner later that night. After lunch I went to pick up Sam from school. His teacher was very disappointed to see me since she had been hoping I'd have had the baby. I told her I didn't think she'd be seeing me on Monday. And on the way home I had my first contraction that actually got my attention. I called David on the way home and told him he should make sure to tie up any loose ends at work. Then I went home and just hung out with my parents and my boys.
Sam must have sensed that things were going to get intense because he checked out early.
David arrived home from work around 5pm. I had just been relaxing on the couch and goofing off on the computer while I continued to have mild contractions. At some point between 5 and 7 we decided to see how long the contractions were actually lasting. I wasn't too convinced that anything was going to happen soon since the contractions still didn't require my full attention and felt like they were only about 20 seconds long. I was a bit surprised when David timed a few and reported they were more like 50 seconds long. Not only were they longer than I thought but they were much closer together - only 3.5 minutes apart. Now I have no idea how long things had been going on like this since my sense of time was clearly skewed. But before long we felt the time was ripe to call Lorri, the midwife, and ask her to come on over.
By this time - 9pm or so - David had filled the birthing pool and I was in bed relaxing through the contractions. I still thought I was in pretty early labor since the contractions were not painful and I was always able to just keep on top of them by relaxing. I was also doing a lot of visualizing at this point just for the fun of it. Most of the visions were of various types of flowers opening up. I tried out some other imagery but the flowers were working out fine. David had put on a cd of ocean sounds with soft music and the lights were turned way down low.
I was still relaxing in bed when Lorri floated in. She sat with me for awhile before checking my cervix and reporting that I was 9cm and fully effaced. HOLY SHIT! I'm going to have a baby... TONIGHT! Oooh conTRACtion... relax.... I decided to get into the tub and fast.
We ran out of hot water before the tub was full enough to cover my belly. So while my dad boiled pots of water in the kitchen, David poured water over my belly during contractions. This felt really damn good. While this was going on Lorri and the birth assistants were hanging out in the hallway, checking in every once in awhile to monitor me or the baby. This meant that David and I were alone together... with candlelight and soft music it was the most romantic evening we've had in a long time. The contractions were still intense but never entirely unwelcome; and the breaks in between served as short interludes for conversation. During one such break I noticed the video camera perched on the tripod and, not realizing it was recording, commented to David that maybe we should turn it on and I'd start thrashing around while screaming in mock agony just to make the video interesting.
At some point the contractions started getting harder to relax through and that's when I realized that maybe these aren't meant to be relaxed through; maybe these are meant to be pushed through. Only the desire wasn't yet strong enough for me to want to waste the energy.... just yet. But Lorri noticed the difference in the contractions by the new sound I was making with each one and she kept her ear much closer to the door. A few more of these contractions and my water broke. This is one of the best feelings because so much pressure is suddenly relieved; but then the next contraction comes. And now it's no longer a soft, cushiony bag of water pushing against your cervix - it's the baby's hard head. And suddenly pushing felt very right.
I was having a little bit of back pain and Lorri thought the baby might be posterior, meaning her face was facing up which is not the most comfortable or ideal way for a baby to come out. So she suggested I turn on my side to help the baby rotate. I started feeling a very full and familiar sensation in my nether region and, before anyone watching could even comment on how close I was to meeting my baby, I knew I was going to get to hold her after just another push or two. By this time I had only been pushing for 15 or 20 minutes and the time was approaching 1am.
With a few more pushes she slid out and I reached down into the water, putting my hands around her little body and brought her to my chest. Warm, squishy body. Soft, moist, velvety skin.
This moment.
This moment I had imagined so many times in the last few weeks. The sight of her. The smell. And the feel of her in my arms for the first time. This was the moment.
But then there was this moment, too.
This is when she lifted her head off my chest, moved it back and opened her eyes to look right at me and David as if just checking to make sure she was with the right people.
Sam performed beautifully throughout the entire labor and slept soundly. Jackson woke up right when Clara made her entrance.
We sat like this for a long time:
Then David cut the cord.
We got to snuggle in bed after we got out of the pool.
Finally we weighed her to find she was a whopping 9lbs 2oz!
Jackson stayed up for several more hours just to gaze at his new little sister.
And that's it. Clara's birth was just as beautiful and peaceful as she is.
