Landon's birth story begins on May 26th when I began having contractions. His due date was June 2nd and in my mind I still had a week to go, so it caught me off guard. I completely panicked, which made the contractions feel worse so I thought this was go time! I contacted my midwives, my doula, my parents, everyone.
We lived in Uvalde, so it was almost a 1.5 hour drive to San Antonio to the San Antonio Birth Center. I kept having contractions through out the day, but things weren't progressing. I thought maybe it was because I wasn't fully allowing myself to let go and labor with the thought in the back of my mind of having that long drive to San Antonio. So we decided to go to a hotel in San Antonio, where I could relax and labor freely and be in close proximity to the birth center. My parents drove down from Fort Worth thinking this was it and my in-laws were on high alert, waiting to hear if they should drive to San Antonio too.
But come to find out, it wasn't 'go time' after all. I was having Braxton Hicks Contractions. But because I was stressed out and feeling not ready, it made the contractions feel worse.
We went home the next day and I felt terrible! We had wasted money on a hotel, my parents had drove all the way to San Antonio, my in-laws were on high alert, and I felt like a watched pot waiting to boil.
During the next week, my contractions kept coming and going and I finally got used to them. I also spent the week trying to get everything done that needed to be done. You know, important stuff…like turning socks into baby leggings. Very important!
On his due date, we decided to go to the Shops at La Cantera in San Antonio and enjoyed spending the day together shopping and walking around. We drove home and decided to watch a movie and relax. Before we knew it, it was almost midnight. We got ready for bed and while using the bathroom, my water broke. I expected my water to break in a big whoosh and then stop like in the movies. But the amniotic fluid just kept coming out with each movement and contraction and I was not prepared for that at all. I went thru my postpartum diaper/pad stash pretty quickly.
Since it was midnight and my water broke, I let my midwife know and tried to go to sleep. But my contractions were progressing right along. Laying down made them feel worse, so I tried taking a relaxing shower, labored on my birth ball, and just tried to take it easy. At around 4am, we decided to go to the hotel and labor since I didn't want to be in active labor during a long drive. The hotel room we had the week before was big, it had a living room and a separate room for the bedroom. It also had a big bathroom and bathtub. Unfortunately, the hotel room we got this time was just a standard room and had a standard bathtub. I tried to make due with what I had, but it was definitely uncomfortable. I was trying to be quiet since Jason was right there trying to sleep and there wasn't much room to move around. Plus, since the bath tub was a standard size, I couldn't fully submerge myself and get good relief from the water. Around 7am, I felt like it was time to call our Doula since it was becoming increasingly more difficult for me to cope with the back labor I was having all by myself. When she arrived at 8:30, we decided to go to the birth center so that I could be more comfortable.
At the birth center with a new environment and having had a cervical check, I lost my rhythm and had difficulty finding a spot in the room to labor in that felt comfortable. I completely panicked because I felt like I didn’t know what to do and started doing labor math in my head. “It took me 8 1/2 hours to get to 6 cm, so then it will take me…”. Not being able to relax made the contractions and back labor feel 100 times worse. Recognizing this, my doula and midwives guided me to sit backwards on the toilet and that position was great! I could relax my bottom and get counter pressure on my lower back to counteract the back labor. But I also felt like I needed to move my body. I'm sure I looked ridiculous, I was swaying side-to-side the best I could to provide movement and pumping my legs like I was on a bike. I was in that position for a long time and they eventually helped me get into the bathtub to change things up and to provide some relief.
The warm bath was amazing! Immediately my body completely relaxed, my contractions stopped, and I fell asleep right there in the tub. Eventually my contractions gradually started again and woke me up. I labored in the tub for a really long time. I tried to get out of the tub to maybe try to labor somewhere else, but every time I stood up the contractions felt differently and more intense than they were in the water. So I ended up staying in the tub for the rest of my labor. I did a lot of vocalizing and envisioning I was opening like a flower. As I was transitioning with contractions one on top of one another, I envisioned the contractions were waves. Wave after wave washing over my body.
Then, there was a pause in my contractions. My body was giving me a break for what was to come.
When my contractions started again, they were different than the contractions I had been having. The pressure in my bottom was intense and it caught me off guard making me tense my body up. My midwife checked me and said I was fully dilated if I wanted to try to push. I tried and I'm sure she had to suppress a laugh, because it was the wimpiest push ever. I had no idea how much force and effort it would take to push. Being in the bath tub made it difficult for me to get in a comfortable pushing position and have enough leverage to push. But getting out of the bath tub was just too intense. One of my midwives, got behind me and supported me under my arms and I put my legs against the side of the tub and gave it all I had. When I felt him crowning, I began blowing to ease him out. Landon came sliding out, I reached into the water and pulled him up to me. He was born at 1:45pm on June 3rd.
It was hard work, but I did it! It was the most amazing and transformative experience of my life!
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