P A R T. O N E:
Mika’s Birth Story
March 31 - April 1, 2023
Tuesday March 22nd, 2023 I had strong contractions on and off in the morning. I swore it was labor starting. So my mom packed up and made her 3 hr trip to our house. Contractions lasted all day sporadically.
.
Around 9pm they stopped. And didn’t start back up again consistently for the entire week. But I did have some pretty strong contractions at random each day. They weren’t just Braxton Hicks but it’s what we label as prodromal labor. Those surges are doing a lot to prepare the cervix & the body for labor. But it just isn’t quite time for baby to be born.
.
Fast forward to March 31st at 2pm I had a few stronger surges. But because I had already had so many for 9 days, I didn’t think much of them until they kept coming again & again. Then I knew this was the real deal. 40 weeks + 4 days.
.
Our photographer Alyssa, midwife Eileen & a close friend, Rachel, made their way to our home. Each coming from different distances.
.
We had set up everything in our bedroom so I was resting & meditating with @christianhypnobirthing in our bed between walking & standing.
.
As soon as everyone arrived, I definitely felt more relaxed & labor started to pick up. Kaleb helped with counter pressure & so did Eileen. Ember was the sweetest & kept coming in to check on me & snuggle.
.
Around 11pm I had a surge that was so intense & I decided to get in the pool, the warm water alleviates so much of that intensity. And it helps me stay relaxed.
.
Baby was very engaged & low, which was causing a lot of pressure & the feelings of wanting to push. But I just didn’t feel like my body was ready to push. It’s hard to explain it. So I had Eileen check dilation because I didn’t want to push & cause my cervix to swell or be pinched. I was at a 7 & my waters were bulging….
P A R T. T W O:
Mika’s Birth Story
.
After I was checked & new that my intuition of -not feeling like I should give in to the pushy feeling just yet- was correct, we decided to breath through a few surges & not push & let my cervix do what it needed to do.
.
Those few surges were intense. We decided to try standing up through a few & let my legs get some blood flow since I’d been on my knees for two hours in the pool at that point.
.
I stood through 3 really intense ones. And then I had to have the heat of the water to help with the feelings of wanting to push.
.
Baby was tolerating everything really well. And was kicking during surges & after. At one point baby had hiccups through a few of those last hour contractions. That was a crazy cool feeling. Baby was doing everything to make an escape.
.
I always love retelling the birth story and saying “baby” because in that part of the journey, we didn’t yet know who baby was (boy or girl or name). It’s fun to remember a time prior to knowing & meeting our baby.
.
I had Eileen check again & my cervix was really close to 9cm. So I breathed through some more surges. I’m not sure how many. 3-5 I believe. And then I really felt like pushing.
.
I had some moments of doubt about whether or not I should push. Eileen said I’ll have you push through 5 & if there’s no change we will take a break for a few more. And that goal, was doable. So I pushed through the next one & felt baby move down a bit. These contractions were giving me a nice couple minute break between. And at this point that feels like a long time…
.
PA R T. T H R E E:
Mika’s Birth Story
.
After I was back in the water from standing up, I started to feel like I could push. And I was having some moments of doubt.
.
So between a contraction we talked with Eileen and she said, 5 contractions of pushes and if baby hadn’t come then we’d take a break. So that’s what we did.
.
The first of those pushes broke my waters with a POP feeling. And the fluid was clear. We waited for the next surge & with that one the baby’s head started to emerge. You will see a photo of Kaleb feeling for the head.
.
With the other babies the head came out fast but this time it was half out, so we decided to move me onto my back, on Kalebs lap. And that movement helped so much. With the next surge the baby was out. We were so excited to be done we forgot to look & see what baby was for a bit.
.
You’ll see a photo of Kaleb with a huge grin right after we saw that baby is a girl.
.
I’m so thankful for everyone who prayed for us & walked alongside us through this journey. I had an amazing support team & couldn’t have done it without each of them. Our amazing photographer not only captured incredible moments, but she took on some Doula responsibilities.
It was everything I could have ever asked for and more. Lots more photos on Instagram
