Our Birth Stories

EthnieMay Joy born June 22 at 2:27pm:

A little background – EthnieMay was an unexpected surprise right after my husband and I were married in August of 2007.  We found out about her expected arrival on November 4th and immediately sought after finding a Bradley teacher for childbirth classes.  I was a nurse at the time and had seen a ‘Bradley Birth’ and loved the control and how the couple was able to have a natural childbirth despite the hospital scene.

My pregnancy with EthnieMay was difficult to say the least.  I had extreme nausea/vomiting whcih landed me in the hospital multiple times for dehydration.  I also had early labor which made me stop working and I was on bed rest for 4 weeks before she was born.  Despite the stresses of pregnancy we were determined to have a natural birth and in the middle of the pregnancy decided to have a home birth.

EthnieMay’s birth story – she came at 36 weeks, 2 days and was a happy, healthy little girl from the start.  She weighed 6 pounds 1 ounce and was 19 inches long!

The real story started the Wednesday before the Sunday when she arrived.  I was coming back from visiting my parents and made the 4 hour drive with Kidney Stones.   I went to the ER once arriving in Seattle and they were able to relieve some of the pain with medication and I was able to feel pretty much recovered by Friday evening when I took my last pain medication.

Saturday morning I woke up with a different type of pain, labor pains!  So at 4am I chalked it up to ‘pre-term fake labor’ and nothing I really needed to worry about.  The contractions weren’t close together, I had slept great and felt like I had a ton of energy!  Sooo….we went shopping.  I decided that it was getting too close to having her and we needed to have some clothing for her just in case she did decide to come.  U-Village was the destination of choice and I proceeded to spend 5 hours toting Caleb around while he tried to convince me I needed to go home and rest.

Eventually around 5pm I started getting more tired and those pesky contractions were starting to slow me down!  I was having to stop to think about them and Caleb was pretty insistent that it was time to go home, rest and maybe even call our Midwife.  We started to time them once we got home and sure enough, they were consistently 10 minutes apart – opps!

So we called Loren and she scolded us and told me to get in a hot bath, take some benadryl and not have a baby for another week.  I said I would try.  The contractions stopped and I got to feeling pretty sad about that because I was really feeling pretty done with pregnancy and ready to meet this little being inside of me.  Caleb and I went to bed early and were still debating going to a family reunion in Yakima the following day.

I slept great again and woke up sharply at 5:30am thinking I had peed myself!  Now being the good nurse I am it didn’t occur to me that my water broke until I got on the bathroom and continued to um ‘leak’.  I woke Caleb up, we pH stripped it and sure enough little EthnieMay was on her way and we needed to get ready!  We called Loren to let her know and she got to calling the hospitals because you can’t have a baby at home before 37 weeks.

We called my mom, my doula Jenny Rose and Caleb’s sister Hannah who was going to do some videoing and picture taking for us.  We also got ready to go on a walk because it was a beautiful morning.  But we never got to the walk.  Hard labor hit at 5:50am with contractions 5 minutes apart lasting a minute with lots of back labor.  Let me just tell you, it hurt like hell.  I could feel EthnieMay moving down quickly and within 2 hours I was laboring pretty hard on the floor with someone always rubbing my back.  We were a little worried we might not make it to the hospital if Loren didn’t find somewhere quickly!

Loren came over to check my progress and found me to be 100%effaced and +1 station but only 1 cm dilated.  Basically the baby was sitting super low and was labor was moving everything quickly but my cervix still wasn’t open so it would be a while.

We continued to labor at home and after Loren was rejected by 5 hospitals for them being too full we finally were going to be heading to Swedish First Hill.  Let me tell you, it was a car ride to remember.  I refused to sit down and so went the whole way on my hands and knees making A LOT of noise while Jenny Rose rubbed my back with all her might!

We arrived at the hospital and I was really really ready for drugs.  It was 12:50 and after 7 hours of back labor I was having a really hard time getting enough air between contractions and I was mentally pooping out.  It was defiantly not a great place to be in.  The OB check me and I was only 4 cm dilated!  I couldn’t believe it, defiantly not good news in my mind.  The anesthesiologist said he needed to do blood work before he could give me an epidural because of my bleeding disorder (von Willebrand’s Disease).

I labored some more in bed and at 1:30 decided I needed to pee and maybe get in some warm water to ease the pain.  They started to fill the tub and while I was sitting on the pot having lots of contractions and feeling like I was going to die all the sudden realized ’something was wrong’.  I started telling people that and then I told the nurse that I felt like I was being ripped apart from the inside out!  Boy did she look alarmed and exclaimed that she needed to check my dilation before I got in the tub.

She checked me and there was the baby, all ready and coming out!  Opps!  They got me back to bed and I pushed for 30 minutes (the best feeling was pushing because it got the baby off my back!) and then out she came, kicking, screaming and making herself known to the world.  She was placed right on my chest and I cried out of pain and joy of finally having her there.

Caleb was by me, the whole time, working on my back, holding my leg up while pushing and being the most perfect kind of encourager anyone could hope for, I am eternally grateful for him and his presence at every step of the way.

EthnieMay and I were released from the hospital 24 hours later healthy, happy and very ready to go home.  She is a great eater and an even greater sleeper.  Caleb and I love to just lay in bed with her and watch her make all her funny faces and funny noises.

Zebaniah Scott Born June 22 4:26am (One Year, to the day, after EthnieMay was born):

Zeb had a bit less of an adventurous birth story as his sister.  He was due on the 27th of June and I began having labor pains at 36 weeks with him.  The only difference was that he didn’t arrive.  We went in and out of labor until June 20th. At about 3:30am on the 20th I went into hard labor.  Everything felt ‘right’ and we started getting ready to have a home birth.  Contractions were close, about 3 minutes apart and lasting a good 60 seconds long.  Our birth team arrived, 2 midwives, 3 nurse friends there to assist and of couse Caleb my wonderful coach and husband.  Contractions lasted until about Noon and then abruptly stopped.  I was dialated to 7cm at this point and so we decided to take a nap and take advantage of the break.  When contractions didn’t resume in 3 hours everyone went home and I was feeling pretty overwhelmed.

Contractions didn’t start again until the evening of the 21st.  I was having mild contractions on Sunday night and wasn’t at all convinced that Zeb was coming.  We went to sleep at about 10pm.

I woke up with hard back labor at 12:15pm.  I layed in bed watching the clock for an hour.  The contractions were extremely intense but this was the one day that I didn’t want to have him (It was EthnieMay’s 1st Birthday!).  I was wishing the contractions away when I decided I had to get up and get in a different position.  I needed Caleb to wake up and start helping with labor.

After Caleb was up I went and sat on the birthing ball in our living room.  Caleb was rubbing my back (hard) for about an hour.  He finally convinced me that it was time to call the midwives again because this was looking pretty serious.  Contractions were still 10 minutes apart lasting about 2 minutes.

While on the phone with the midwives contractions spaced to 4 minutes apart lasting 2 minutes.  I had felt the need to pee and had gone to the bathroom – where I remained until it was time to push.  So at this point it is about 2am.

With Caleb on the phone with Cindie my contractions got much more intense and I had the realization that this baby was going to be born very soon.  Cindie asked Caleb if he thought it was the real thing this time to which he answered “I have no idea, we have kind of been going in and out of the real thing for day’s now!”  Cindie asked to talk to me and she asked me the same question to which I replied “This baby is probably going to be born within the next hour.”  I then dropped the phone while having my next contraction.

Cindie and Jen arrived at about 3am.  I continued to labor on the toilet while they set up all their gear and got ready for Zeb to be born.  At around 4am I started to feel pushing and felt Zeb turn and move down.  I also remember feeling very shaky and unsure.  I told everyone I needed to get back into bed and try to relax.

Once I got back into bed my water broke and I pushed for about 9 minutes (about 3 pushes) and Zeb came out!  A healthy 8 lbs 4 oz. baby boy.  21 inches long and very pink!  Caleb’s first expression after the birth was “check out his balls!”  It was a joyous time for all.

EthnieMay had been in her bed and was then allowed to come in and meet her new baby brother!