Estel Hiram Smith birth story
I woke up January 10th at around 2AM to contractions, like I have nearly every morning for the last three weeks, this time they were strong enough I couldn’t sleep through them though. I began timing and they were inconsistent, 6-12 minutes, so I tried sleeping. By 5 they hadn’t changed in strength but they were consistently 7 minutes apart. I rolled to my right side to alleviate left hip pain and they immediately spread back out to 12-15 minutes. After an hour of rest I got up to bounce on my birthing ball, walk, have some breakfast and see if I could get things going again. I had Wesley stay home from work because I was sure it was the beginning of real labor, just a slow beginning. I called my mom, not insisting she come yet but hoping it would work into the schedule of her day. I called my midwife to give her a heads up that eventually I thought today would be the day.
I continued walking and bouncing, my contractions never changing, consistently inconsistent.
My mom arrived.
I continued to slowly labor.
The contractions increased in strength while growing farther apart and they weakened while growing closer. There was no consistency and little hope of it ending soon. I asked my midwife to come check on me around 8 PM. It was disheartening news, I was dilated to 4, 50% effaced, prodromal labor. She prescribed Tylenol for a good nights rest and hope and prayers to wake up to stronger labor, if I didn’t, castor oil would be a good contender.
5AM I woke to the same inconsistent strong but not strong enough contractions. By 6 I made the decision to try castor oil. Left on its own the labor would eventually produce a baby but I wasn’t sure I could handle not feeling the end was within sight.
[Fun fact: castor oil does not cause labor by giving you violent diarrhea and therefore causing contractions. It does cause diarrhea, that’s for sure, but it also causes uterine contractions, not as a side effect to the intestinal cramping. It also causes the production of prostaglandins which helps soften the cervix. ]
I downed 2oz, then chased it with some juice. It wasn’t as terrible as my mom made it sound. After about an hour things started moving. Lots of trips to the bathroom, lots of contractions, still not very strong. Things tapered off about the three hour mark. My midwife called and said to take the second 2oz dose by 10. Same process.
At 12:15 I called my midwife and let her know the contractions were consistently painfully strong and coming about every 6 minutes. She came to check on things. I was hoping for lots of progress so I could be encouraged and keep going. Little to no progress, so long to go. She asked if I’d mind if she sat in a corner and stayed or if I’d feel like a watched pot. I didn’t mind, I was my own watched pot, if she was willing to stay maybe she thought I was actually going to produce a baby.
I showered at 1:00, my contractions increased in strength and frequency. After the shower I tried laying down. Too painful. I tried bouncing on the ball, that worked for several contractions before that was too painful. I tried kneeling. I tried sitting. Wesley helped get me into what I hoped would be comfortable positions. Eventually none of them were. I was crying to Wesley, knowing I had so far to go and knowing everything I tried seemed to only make them less bearable.
My midwife came from the kitchen to where I was laboring in the living room, she said “This sounds like it’s really hard on you, have you ever had a lip problem?”
“Yes, every time MaryAnn (my midwife before we moved) had to hold the lip while I pushed”
Diane, my current midwife, suggested I move to bed where she would help hold the cervical lip through a few contractions. We did that, it hurt, she instructed I push gently for two contractions, my water started leaking, she decided to stop and have me labor through half an hour on my side to finish stretching it. All the while I was unsure how much progress I’d made, if any. For five contractions I tried to bear the pain and not panic. Diane offered words of encouragement and Wesley held me as I grasped his hand and the bed frame. On the sixth contraction I pushed even though I was trying not to, I tried sitting up, moving, anything, crying out “I can’t do this, I can’t keep doing this!” My water began gushing. I felt like the baby was crowning although I didn’t say anything because I was sure I still had a long way to go.
“Get her to the pool” Diane directed as she headed down the hall. It’s a 30 step hallway from our bedroom to the kitchen/entry where the birthing pool was. Wesley had spent all morning emptying our water heater and boiling pot after pot of water to fill it.
I waddled down the hall hoping the contractions would hold off, Wesley following, I was still sure the baby had crowned, but still sure it wasn’t possible.
“Can you step in?” Diane asked as I stood at the edge not moving, another contraction beginning to build.
“No, it crowned, the baby’s coming its coming!” I reached down and felt the head. I didn’t even push, I just cradled the head as the rest of my baby slipped out, I scooped it with both hands, cradling it in my arms, noticing immediately it was a boy.
“He’s here, it’s my baby, Estel, it’s a boy.” He was breathing clearly, squawking a little cry.
“3:33, I have it at 3:33” my midwife announced, recording the time of birth.
I tried lifting the baby towards my chest but his cord stopped him at my hips. I gently pulled up, his breathing changed. I then felt stupid, his cord, I’ve watched countless birth videos, how had I forgotten to check for his cord? It was wrapped a full time around his neck and a second loop around his right shoulder. We unwrapped him and I held him slightly higher, he still had a very short cord tethering him. I decided to step into the pool, it was warm and inviting and I’d hated to have wasted all Wesley’s efforts. It felt perfect. I relaxed in the water, snuggling my baby boy, waiting on the placenta to detach and come, waiting on the cord to quit pulsing so my baby could receive all the blood belonging him.
Things wrapped up, I moved from the birthing pool back to bed. My bleeding seemed normal, Estel latched right away but my uterus wasn’t hardening so as a preventative measure my midwife administered Pitocin since my history includes a hemorrhage.
We settled in. After he’d nursed for about half an hour we began discovering the details.
Estel Hiram Smith, born at 3:33 PM, weighing 8lbs 14oz, 21 1/2” long, 14 1/4” head.
35ish hours of slow prodromal labor, 2 and a half hours of hard labor, one accidental push.
