Devin Iris

Saturday Night- Trent & Brandie’s Wedding - Late into the reception about 11pm I noticed just a few cramps. It was the same sensation before you start a period. This was the first sign of labor that I noticed at all. I did not feel any Braxton hicks or feel my stomach drop at all. I told Trent and Brandie they would probably make it back from Jamaica before I went into labor.

Sunday – I noticed a bit of mucus when I went to the bathroom and a few more random cramps that evening. I told Brett that I was going to “shoot this baby out like a cannon ball” in the next day or two. He just laughed and told me it would probably be another week.

Monday – No more mucus and cramps were still very random and did not start until after dinner. I never felt a burst of energy but Brett and I made sure all of the DQ end of month bills were paid, we went to the bank and the grocery store to stock up on food.

Tuesday – My due date. This morning I felt the cramps. Which was a strange sensation since they normally did not start until late at night. Still, it just felt like normal period cramping so I spent the morning relaxing. Kathy Johnson stopped over to drop off a gift and I noticed while having a conversation with her that the cramps were starting to get more painful and were distracting me. About 1pm that afternoon I decided to time the cramps in case they were real contractions. I read labor cramps would come from the top of your uterus and not feel the same as a period cramp, so I was still skeptical. They were about 5 to 6 minutes apart lasting 15-30 seconds. So I continued to just relax at home. Even took a nap during Maury.

Sue came over later that day and while talking with her I noticed that the cramps were becoming more intense and I was definitely struggling to hold a normal conversation. So at 4pm I timed contractions again. This time they were 4 or 5 min apart but still 30 seconds or less. I needed some reassurance that this was not labor so I called the greenhouse. I got a hold of Mitzi and let her know what was going on. She reassured me that I will know for sure when I’m in labor but to stay hydrated and nourished just in case.

So being thoroughly disappointed I decided to blow up my yoga ball just in case and to do some rocking. This is when I noticed that the blowing action really was relaxing to me and took my mind off the cramps. This was really helpful later on.

I snacked and waited for Brett to get home. By snacking I mean I almost finished a whole can of cheese whiz and roll of crackers. While I was waiting I saw a lot more mucus a couple times when I went to the bathroom. I thought about calling the birth center again but it was after 5pm and having experience being on-call all night, I decided not to bother them with minor details.

I spent the rest of the evening battling cramps. I felt some relief grabbing my lower belly and pulling in while I was cramping and swaying. I noticed about 8pm when Brett was home watching NCIS that I could no longer sit through a cramp. So I walked around, swayed on my feet, and sat on the toilet. I also got into the shower until the hot water ran out. Brett asked me what I was doing and I told him trying to not die. His baby was trying to kill me from the inside. I was getting frustrated and tried to sleep between contractions. So I would sleep for 5 min then get up on my feet to get through a cramp. About 11pm Brett convinced me to call the midwife – that it would be better to disturb her at 11pm then later on that night. I agreed. Kendra was on call that night. I let her know what was going on but I didn’t want to come in too early and that I can probably keep toughing it out unless she thought I should come in. She said that she would check in with me again in 2 hours.

The next two hours I continued to labor by lying in bed to rest and then standing up every time a cramp hit. This was when the back labor started and I finally came to terms that these period cramps were real contractions and I was actually in labor. The back labor seemed to start in my lateral muscles as a dull ache that slowly spread across my backbone then turned sharper. At 1am Kendra called to check on me. I told her the intensity and timing of the cramps felt about the same but I had some back labor. She encouraged me to keep moving, relaxing and breathing. She told me we are definitely on our way and I was really excited about that. She told me to keep up the good work and she would check in again in 1 hour.

The next hour increased in intensity for both the contractions and back labor. At 1:30am I felt like I wanted to call Kendra and tell her we were coming in. But I knew pushing was still very far away and I have heard stories of women in labor for days so I talked myself out of it. At 1:45 I could no longer convince myself to wait. But when I looked at my received calls I saw that Kendra actually called me last at 12:48 so it was possible she would call in 3 min. So I stood over my phone and willed it to ring. 1:48 came, 1:50 came, 1:53 and I gave up and called myself. I told Kendra that yes this was way more intense, and contractions were about 3 min apart. Kendra told me that it was time to meet at the greenhouse. I was relieved to hit a small milestone in labor. I told Kendra it takes us about 45 min to get to the greenhouse birth center. As I was having this conversation with Kendra I heard Brett from the couch say “I need to take a shower before we go in”. So I told Kendra she had better give us about an hour before we make it there.

After that phone call I growled at Brett “I will remember this someday when you are having a heart attack”. Brett jumped in the shower and I gathered up all of my pre-packed bags and snacks and started the car since it was a chilly night. Then I mentally prepared myself for the horror of laboring in the car for 45 min. I did not want to stress Brett out as I knew it was a long drive and there was the possibility of deer darting across the street so I needed him to focus on driving. After Brett got out of the shower we were on our way about 2am.

Somehow labor slowed for me when we were in the car. I probably only had 4 contractions on the whole drive to Okemos. As we pulled off the highway I remember feeling disappointed as I expected to be sent home. Once we pulled off the highway I had one really strong contraction and felt a bit reassured. As we parked the car again another strong contraction in the parking lot. I left all of my packed bags in the car since I did expect to get sent home again.

Kendra had the bath running and the lights turned on low. She gave me a big hug. It just felt better and safer to be laboring at the birth center. She had me come lay on the bed and listened to baby and then took my blood pressure. Everything sounded good. Then I had to admit to her that I thought labor had slowed down a lot since the last time we spoke on the phone. I was lying in bed when I felt my water break. There was a distinct popping sensation and I felt the water gush around my legs. I was relieved that I must be progressing or at least labor was picking back up.

Kendra helped me to the bathroom and the water continued to gush as I sat on the toilet. We noticed then, that there was some meconium in my water and Kendra said it was not thick so we would just watch it. At this point I sent Brett out to get all the bags since it felt like we going to have a baby soon. When Brett came back in I called my mom about 3:30 and left her a message to let her know that I was in labor and at the Birth Center so come in when you get this message.

The rest of the events begin to blur as my hormones start to kick in but I do remember thinking to myself that those doctors who said your body’s hormones will naturally help with pain send you into a dream state were full of $#^*. But apparently it is true.

Kendra gave me the option to be checked to see what point we were at in labor and I was more than happy to find out where I was. I was pretty confident I was not going to be disappointed since my water did break. We found out that I was 5 cm dilated and had a very flexible cervix. She said it was good progress but still too early to get in the tub. She also felt that the baby’s head was stuck under my pelvis. She said it’s probably because I had such a short torso that there was not a lot of room for my baby. She suggested that I labor flat on my back for a little bit then gravity could help move her head under the pelvis. I also told her that my back labor was really intense and I wanted to try the tens machine that would send electrical shocks to my back. Kendra placed the machine on my back and showed me how to turn up the intensity. At first I couldn’t feel anything and moved the dial up. After an intense jolt I dialed the machine back and found a comfortable level. The tens machine was heaven. After laboring a bit on my back my mom called at 4am and Brett gave her an update and she said she was on her way.

I labored on the bed for a bit more and then decided I really liked the rocking chair to labor in so I switched after a while from the bed to the chair. At this point I was worried that it had been over an hour and my mom had not shown up at the birth center yet and there were a lot of deer out running around. I had Brett call to make sure everything was okay. She said that she was fine and just stopping for doughnuts. At 5am my mom arrived.

Kendra came in and said that she had some things that we could try to speed up labor or I could just relax and try to save my energy. I was ready to get the show on the road so I was willing to try her suggestions. First thing I tried was a standing exercise to lift one knee out directly to the side and roll it forward. Sort of like an exaggerated duck walk. We tried that for a while. Next thing I tried was sitting on the yoga ball to rotate my hips around in circles. This was also when Kendra brought out a scarf to wrap around my belly so that my mom could help pull the baby back over my pelvis during a contraction. This was also the same technique that I had witnessed before in one of the live birth videos that we watched during our birth classes. The only thing that I remembered from that video is that birth resulted in a beautiful 12 pound baby. So at this point I convinced myself that I was having a very large baby.

Also at this time Kendra wanted me to eat and drink. I didn’t feel hungry but I did have a few pieces of apple and some tea with honey. After the scarf and ball exercise I didn’t feel that I was making too much progress but Kendra asked me to keep at it for a while longer. Brett said that I asked a couple times if I was almost done on the ball yet. But eventually I moved back to the bed, which did feel better than the ball to me. Kendra was constantly monitoring my blood pressure and baby’s heart rate this whole time, which was still good.

After laboring on the bed I wanted to go to the bathroom. I had Kendra help me switch the diapers I was laboring in and we noticed the color of my water had become greener which was concerning. Also the next time she monitored the baby’s heart rate it was much faster than it had been and Kendra said this was a concern. I asked if it was time to go in to the hospital. She said that it was possibly a good idea to go to the hospital. At this point the hospital with an epidural and drugs did not sound terrible to me so I told her “That’s fine, I’ll go to the hospital if we need to”. Luckily at this point my very supportive Husband and Mother talked to her about the risks of staying and what the hospital would have us do if we decided to go. They made the decision for me to stay and monitor the baby for a bit longer.

I continued to labor and the next time that Kendra checked the heart rate baby was doing much better. Kendra checked me again and said I was almost completely dilated and I would be okay to get into the tub now. This was very uplifting for me – I was really looking forward to the tub and happy that baby was much more comfortable too. I was positive that this was almost over and I would be holding my baby soon.

At 7:30am I was into the tub. I started on all fours and after a few contractions flipped over and labored in a lounging position on my back. The back labor was intense in the tub. The tens machine that I removed was giving me a lot of relief before I had taken it off to get in the tub. I twisted my hips back and forth having one contraction with my right hip up then the next one with my left hip up hoping to ease the back labor. Kendra said the baby was low at the pubic bone but not underneath it yet. At 8:25 Kendra said if I did feel the urge to push it was perfectly fine to start.

Again, I was very excited and sure that birth was close and within the next hour I would be holding my baby girl. Unfortunately pushing was not what I was expecting. I read a lot of birth stories of women that said that pushing was such a relief and felt better than laboring through contractions. I did not agree with that. I thought pushing was really intense and frustrating. After unsuccessfully pushing in my reclined position Kendra had me turn on all fours. At this point the back pain was excruciating. I remember reading stories of moms saying it felt like a million knives going into your back. My way to rationalize their stories was obviously these women were not being stabbed and it was not like their back would spontaneously explode – but while I was laboring it did feel like an explosion was possible. I had my mother put counter pressure on my hips to make the pain more bearable. Brett said this was when I asked a couple times again if I was about done with this position. Kendra said the quickest way for me to give birth is going to actually be on the bed not on the bath. I was a little disappointed that I was not going to have the water birth that I was planning on but the thought of speeding up labor made it seem much better.

At 9:25am I moved to labor on the bed. Kendra said she was going to call Clarice in for the assist. Again I was thinking alright – seriously – I will have my baby in the next hour. We must be close if Kendra is ready to bring in Clarice. (Brett said I kept asking Kendra how much longer she thought I had to labor). So now if I could be even more determined to get this baby out, now I was. I had Kendra reattach my tens machine and I about cranked it up to full blast and barley noticed the relief. I asked if she put on as many electrodes as she gave me the first time. She had, it was just that labor had intensified so much more. This is where I doubted those doctors who had studied the natural pain relieving hormones that your body can produce to block pain. I did not feel as if my body had sent out any natural pain relief. I pushed and pushed and pushed. I heard Clarice arrive and pushed and pushed and pushed some more.

An hour later Clarice came in and noticed I was pushing all wrong. I was making groaning noises with every push I was straining. Clarice told me to relax my legs. I was pushing with my thighs (not really sure how that happened) and she put pressure on my bottom and told me to push there. A few more pushes later I was doing better but still no movement. Later Kendra asked to help move the head while I was having a contraction. I told her no. But a few unsuccessful pushes later with no result I was willing to try. Still I was thinking any minute my baby would emerge and labor would be done. Kendra was able to move my baby under my pubic bone. I did not feel her move but Kendra assured me that she had cleared my pubic bone. A few more contractions and yes – I felt pressure on my bottom. Baby girl was coming; any minute she would be born and labor would be over.

At 10:45 my mom wrote that I was crowning. I could feel the sensation of stretching. At first it was just a strange sensation. Then the stretching turned to burning. Each push I would feel the stretch and then the pain. I was picturing her head emerging. I kept thinking I just needed to get to her ears and then she would just slip out. Push stretch pain, push stretch pain. Each time her little head would slip back inside and I was disappointed to feel her slide back. Every time she slid back meant I had to push harder than the last time. Pushing pushing pushing – confident that she was almost to her ears and I heard my mom say “Oh I can see her hair”. I was so disappointed. I was pretty sure she was mostly out about 20 pushes ago! Kendra asked if I wanted to feel her head or a mirror to see her. I declined both options since mentally I thought I was so much further than I obviously was. Pushing and sliding back, pushing and feeling even worse pain each time. I was pushing in silence and crying out Ouch ouch ouch in between pushes. Pushing again harder than I had before, and she slid back. Pushing 3 times as hard as I ever could before and she slid back. Pushing, ignoring the pain harder harder harder – And she slid back. I remember wanting to just ignore the contractions and rest through a few but the urge to push was too great. Finally I pushed harder stronger for longer than I was able to, ignoring all pain and the natural reflex for self preservation and finally her head did not slip back. Yes, I was close. But ouch - the pain was constant. No relief from the sliding back. I had to push and I had to push now. Pushing harder then ever before, no result. Pushing again, and again, and again and a bit of relief. Getting ready to push again and the midwifes told me her head is out. That was the relief her head was completely out. All the determination in the world returned to me and 2 or 3 pushes later my beautiful baby girl was delivered.

I was so relieved when I felt her slide completely out. Labor was finally over. I was in a state of bliss. The next pulse from the tens machine jolted me to the bone. I turned off the machine. The pain was gone. No back pain, no labor cramps, just my beautiful baby girl. The midwife put her on my stomach. She was so warm and sticky. Her cord was short so I didn’t get to look into her eyes. I just held her little body in disbelief that she was my baby. Her cries were so cute – she sounded like a little lamb. It seemed like ages the time I waited to be able to look her in the eye. Finally I delivered the placenta and pulled her close. She was absolutely beautiful. I couldn’t believe how gorgeous she turned out. She was perfect. She was wide eyed from the second she was born (according to my sister Adrienne). Her beautiful blue eyes were mesmorizing and stared directly at me and we drank each other in. It was truly love at first sight. I am sincerely grateful to Kendra, Clarice, Audra, Shelie and the Greenhouse Birth Center for allowing me the opportunity to have such a beautiful birth.