Sienna's Birth

I so want to get this written and posted, but I have been sooooo tired.  It is with pure joy that I share this story about Sienna's birth.  I have said all along that this journey for her birth is not about me simply "getting what I want", but about making the best decisions in the situation when the time comes.  I wanted this birth to be a successful VBAC and I do count it as a success; however, it did not end the way it was planned.  The success was in the trying and in the wisdom to make the right call at the right time for God's glory.  This pregnancy, this baby, this birth were all gift's from God.  This journey has been a difficult, trying, lonely time in my life in many ways, but it has been a journey of growth.  I am thankful for it all!  And on with the birth story...

I admit I was very nervous in the weeks leading to my approaching due date.  All those things about birth start to go through your mind.  There are so many uncertainties.  You never know when it will happen, where you will be, how long you will have, how you will truly want it to happen, what will soothe you, what will annoy you, what will hurt, what will help, etc...  And then, there of the thoughts of this enormous thing passing out of your body and what that will be like.  Oh, don't we all pray that we will be that woman that does not feel the pain of labor?  LOL!  On the other hand there is a part of you that looks forward to drawing closer to God through it all and depending completely on Him.  As the birth approached I wondered when it would be.  The unpredictable goes against the grain of our nature.  We are generation that can schedule just about anything.  Ahhhh.... and the list of modern due dates adds more to the speculation.  According to doctors they go by the LMP date, which made the EDD (estimated due date) March 11th.  This due date did not reflect the reality of my six week cycle and my known date of ovulation and known dates of conception that could be pinpointed to two possible days.  I choose to mostly ignore this date from the beginning.  Using my "known information" I came up with and went by (as well as the midwives involved) March 16th as my EDD.  With more thought I also acknowledged that the EDD really could be the 14th or the 16th depending upon which date of conception was the actual.  I looked at my past birth history, but since they were all c-sections that gives little to judge by.  My one spontaneous labor was with Caden and I went into labor two days before his EDD.  For the most part I was hanging on to the 16th as the day.  As it all got closer I starting realizing we were going to have a busy day on the 14th and I just hoped we would make it through those tasks.  Three of the kids had dental appointments that morning about an hour away from home.  I had a Fetal Monitoring appointment after lunchtime, but not wanting to keep it due to dragging all the kids to it.  And one of our dogs had an appointment to begin heartworm treatment at 4:30 that afternoon, but fortunately Cody was taking the dog to that appointment.  Yep, the closer it got the funnier it got to think that the 14th would probably be the day I would start labor.  It became quite the joke at our house!  And in essence even if the 16th was my EDD it would follow the rule of going into labor two days early... as if all things are predictable, right?  LOL! 

So, the morning of Monday the 14th we got the kids up and got them ready for the days adventure to the dentist.  My husband was to go back to work on this day following his Spring Break.  Our little homeschooling schedule was to resume until the baby decided to come.  I had mixed feelings about it all.  What was the point of getting back into our homeschooling schedule and do school for say three days and then, I go into labor and we have to repeat the week later anyway?... Hmmm... what to do?  I was wondering if we should just take a break until after the baby was born.  On the other hand it could be a week or more before I went into labor and we would be more behind in schooling.  So, anyway we went to the dental appointment an hour away in the rain (that is another story, but it always rains on the day we make a dental trip).  I cancelled my fetal monitoring appointment because I was feeling plenty of movement and have my own fetal heart monitor (professional).  The plan was to go home and get busy schooling, but I had the incredible feeling that I should go home and rest.  I picked up lunch to go and feed the kids on the way home and when we got home I did something I NEVER do.  I locked the doors and put a movie on for the kids to watch and I lay down on the couch to try to sleep.  I dozed off and got some rest!  Woo hoo!  Until Sahara awoke me by poking her finger in my nose.  ;)  Oh the joys of the motherhood!  I continued to lay there and rest some until Cody got home.  When he arrived it was decided that he would take the two oldest girls with him to the vets office to get the dog's treatment shot.  They left and shortly after that I felt a slight crampiness in my pelvis.  It was like a gas pain, but really low in my pelvis and I thought very little of it.  I did go to the restroom because I ALWAYS need to pee.  The only thing is that once I peed and stopped I was about to get up and I peed again... or so I thought for a brief second.  One thing that is important to note is that peeing is a voluntary action.  You control it (mostly) and you stop it and start it.  It is not something that just happens on it's own usually.  I began to pee involuntarily... well, not pee... obviously, my water had broke.  I knew I had to act quick, so I ran to the other bathroom for a pad and quickly put it in place.  very quickly it was filled and I had to have another plan.  I layered in three pads with the thinking that as one soaked I would simply remove it and I would still have more underneath.  Within minutes I had gone through all of them and was trying to come up with another plan.  I had "chux" pads that I had purchased for the birth, but my thinking was that those were for saving the sheets on the bed from getting wet, so I did not want to use those up.  I had plenty of pads, but they were just not going to cut it for the big soaks.  And this is where it gets kind of funnny.  I ran to the baby changing table and grabbed some leftover size 5 diapers that my son outgrew and decided they would make a better "pad" because of how wide they are in the crotch area.  This is also the moment that I realized why some midwives have Depends underpants on the birth supply list.  They would have been perfect for this moment.  I highly recommend them! 

I am guessing the time to be about 4:45 PM when my water actually broke.  Cody and the two girls arrived back from the vet and Sierra came in first.  I said to her, "Go outside and get your Daddy and tell him my water broke."

She looked around puzzled toward the main bathroom and said, "The water's not broke on this end of the house."

I said, "That's not what I mean.  Just go tell your Daddy and he will know what I am talking about."  So funny!!! 

Cody came in shocked and ready to get moving.  I had to reassure him we had a few things to pack up and we had time.  Contractions had not begun.  Well, technically contractions are what was pushing the amniotic fluid out, but I could not feel those contractions and there was not pain involved.  I made a few phone calls to let people know that "something" was starting to happen.  I called a couple of ladies that would likely keep the kids, another friend that was anxious to know, and the midwife.  It turns out the midwife was in my area and would be having dinner with a client that evening, so she would be staying in the area pretty late.  She would be easy to reach and close by.  We finished getting things together and packed up.  Within about and hour and a half my contractions were started to come on... and strong.  They were about ten minutes apart.  By about 8:00 PM the contractions were coming about 3 minutes apart and we made the decision to get to our hotel and settle in.  As we headed out the door I began to throw up beside our sidewalk.  That was when I knew it was about to get intense and it did.  The ride to the hotel was bumpy and uncomfortable.  When we got to our first choice hotel it was all booked up except for a few room options we did not want.  That meant we had to change the plan.  We went with our original first choice after stopping in the parking lot of a few minutes to get through some rougher contractions.  Cody drove the short drive to the other location and at one point due to the bumpy roads I had him pull over to give me a break and I got out and walked around and got a breath of fresh air.  Cody was getting very nervous, so I got back in and we headed to the hotel.  He went in and got a room reserved and came back for me.  After he helped me upstairs, he went back for all the birthing supplies, luggage, etc..  It was about 9:00 PM at this time and he called the midwife and she decided to head on over. 

To be continued....

Sorry to leave you hanging, but I figure if I post this much then I will get extra motivated to tell you the rest of the story.  If I don't start somewhere it might be another week before I get this posted.