Last Sunday S called at 9am to let me know that she had been having regular contractions since 8am and she thought this was the real thing. She was 9 days past her gestimated due date and was SO ready to see her baby. I can almost always tell when a woman is in true labor by the sound of her voice and by the tingling sensation I get on the back of my neck when I get the call. I know it sounds silly but, it is absolutely true. I feel like I have a real connection with my families and so I can just tell when something is happening. I think this is part of the joy of having a lay midwife attend your birth (but, that's a different post). Anyhoo, I give a resounding "woohoo!" and tell her that I will be in contact with her every hour unless I hear from her.
I called and checked on her every hour until about 1:30p when I called to let her know that I was going to lay down and take a nap to prepare for this evenings excitement. I was awoken by a phone call at about 3:30p from S saying she was thinking we should head out. So, I got my things and swung by to pick up Mona (my lovely, wonderful and amazing partner, again another post). We had a 45 minute drive ahead of us so we were sure to move swiftly. We arrived at the families house at about 4:30p. When I went in Dad was setting up the pool and pointed me toward the bathroom to check on Mom. S was sitting on the toilet and contracting really well. I could tell by the look on her face and the vibe of the room that she was in transition and coming very close to birth. She was glowing and looked beautiful! Just then Mona came around the corner and I went to go prepare my equipment. We had the pool ready about 5 minutes later and S got in...you could see the relief on her face when she got into the water. I checked heart tones and then let her be for a few minutes. When I came back in to the room with towels, at 5:10p, S had a nice contraction and her water broke. There was light mec staining but, nothing to be too worried about. I got my gloves and prepared for the birth. A few minutes later S said she felt the urge to push. I said to her, "that's great. Let your uterus do the work and your baby will come gently into this world". S was so present and in control, it was just amazing! Slowly we saw the baby emerge and I said," we can see your baby's head, reach down and touch her, it's really neat." S did and a big smile came over her. Soon we saw the baby crown and then her whole head came. I reached to check for cord and found 1 loop around her neck. I held her close to mom as she gave one small push to birth the baby's body. I unwrapped the cord from around the baby's neck gently underwater and handed her to her mom. We all welcomed baby Lillith into the world at 5:15pm. What a glorious and empowering birth!
Lillith weighed 9lbs. 2oz.
