Mackey's Birth Story (Part 2)

I had heard about harrowing car rides to hospitals/birth centers during labor—how uncomfortable bumpy roads could be during contractions and how sitting up could really make the pain worse. After about 15 minutes (and 3 contractions), Ashley got us safely to the Birth Center with as few bumps as possible.


After crawling up the stairs (a contraction hit right when we got there), I was safely in the birthing suite, attended by Beverly, our birth assistant. She checked me and I was already 10 cm! What a surprise!! That explained why Beverly and Sarah were racing around getting everything ready. They thought I could have the baby any minute!


At that point, all I asked was "Can I get in the tub?" Because I knew that it would feel better, and I had been thinking about having a water birth. So they filled the tub while Sarah gave me one more good double-hip-squeeze (so good to ease back labor) and Ashley got ready to join me in the tub. That tub felt SOOOOO good.

During the next hour or so, I was able to benefit from the downtime between contractions in a way that I hadn’t up to that point. They came further apart, and when they ended, they ended. And I could drape my arms over Ashley’s legs, sit back, and relax. I was leaning on Ashley and looking out at the faces of three women who were focused on a successful birth. Talk about feeling loved. It was a beautiful place to be. After several pushes in the tub, Newbie started to move down toward the birth canal. It was fascinating—the women would measure the baby’s heart rate every couple of minutes, and after each round of pushing, the heartbeat would be located lower on my belly.

Since the contractions were still pretty far apart, Cherie suggested a change of scene and I moved to squatting using the bedpost of the beautiful four-post bed in the main room. After a few rounds, my legs were spent and felt like total Jell-O. Cherie told me to sway to get some energy flowing back in my legs. I remember that Rufus Wainwright's cover of Leonard Cohen's "Everybody Knows" was on and swaying to that. It was awesome to have music to "dance" to. I asked if I could have something to get my energy back…a granola bar, perhaps? “Nah, that’ll take forever to get into your bloodstream, and you need something NOW. Get this woman some caffeine…a Dr. Pepper?” I threw back that Dr. Pepper like a college student shoots tequila on spring break. I looked at the clock: 7:30 a.m. I decided I need to have this baby by 8 a.m. or else I would be absolutely exhausted.

Since my legs were goners, getting back into the tub wasn’t an option. So I moved onto the bed. In two pushes, the baby’s head was crowning, and Cherie told me to stop so she could check for any cord. Sure enough, it was wrapped around her neck—TWICE!! I think it's because Newbie turned from posterior to anterior during transition. But Cherie deftly unwrapped it, checked which way the shoulders were more likely to move out, and then eased them out and called “Come on over, Ashley, you’re up! Get ready to catch.” And within less than a minute Ashley was placing Newbie on my chest.


The experience after Newbie was put on my chest was absolutely AMAZING. The moments run together, but there was this MAJOR transition for me from focusing on the task of delivery to suddenly focusing on this brand new baby--MY baby. It was as if there was this huge strike of a GONG! The room even changed color for me—got lighter, in a way. And when Ashley and the others looked to see if it was a boy or a girl, and then they said "It's a girl! Newbie is a girl!" I just lost it. It was so emotional…I was crying then laughing then crying again, in a state of delightful shock, especially since almost everyone had expected Newbie to be a boy.