Baby CC Birthstory!

With this being baby #4, and what we believe is our last child, Brett and I decided that we would try a different approach to the birth. We originally started this pregnancy with the OBGYN group that we had the other 3 kids with, but after some issues with their billing office, I decided that a change might be in order. Who wants to stress over billing? Pregnancy is challenging enough without the added pressure of a billing office that can't seem to figure out what you owe and why. So we took our business elsewhere. Deciding where was not easy. I wanted good quality of care, but did not want to move from one baby delivery factory to another. So we did some looking, and I decided I might want to try using midwives. Most of the midwife groups in UT County are associated with OBGYN offices, and so finding the right group was a challenge. I opted to go with Better Birth. They are in Orem and SLC, have CNM's and others and a birthing center.

My reservations going with them was having the baby at a birthing center rather than a hospital. It took a lot of research and prayer to determine this was an option I could be okay with. I knew for sure I did not want a home birth, and was hesitant about committing to a facility I couldn't get an epidural in if I ended up deciding I wanted one. But I was pretty sure I wanted to try for a natural birth. Besides the cost effectiveness of this decision, the recovery is touted to be far better, and the experience very different.

My prenatal visits did not seem all that different from what I experienced at the OBGYN. The wait time was significantly less. I only had to wait to get in once and it was only for a few minutes. This I can appreciate, as waiting for over thirty minutes for a quick check never sat well with me. Although the midwives are available to answer any questions, and schedule a minimum of half an hour for you, I did not have many questions, as this is baby #4 for me. So most my visits were about ten minutes long. Another difference is the midwives never "checked" me at a visit. Even at 40 weeks, they just measured and listened to the heartbeat, got the baby position, and my vitals.

The Day Of:- WARNING- I am going to go into detail, so if you do not want to know..don't read!

This is right before I got in the car to head over and have her, about 12:45 pm

I started having contractions about 4:30 am. I woke up to use the bathroom, and had a moderately painful contraction. I got back in bed, but had a difficult time going back to sleep. After about 5 I realized I was having pretty regular contractions, so I decided to start timing them to see if this might be it. I decided to walk around the house, and take a bath because they say if you change activities, positions, etc. and they continue it is probably real. I was 2 days past due at this point, and while I know that is an arbitrary date, it made me more wary of the real thing versus braxton hicks.

By about 7:30 I was having contractions 4-6 mins apart for about 45 seconds to a minute. In the past my labors progress fairly quickly, so I decided to call the midwives and try and go in after the kids got to school. They asked me all the questions, and said to come in about 9. I cleaned my bathroom and the kitchen, and tried to make arrangements for the kids while Brett took them to school. We set it up for Derrick to go to preschool a few minutes early, and asked Gma Simmons (my mom) to pick him up. Originally Brett's parents were going to get the kids when we went in, but they work at the Temple on Tuesdays so they were not available.

We went in, and I was still having contractions every five minutes or so. They hurt, but not so bad that I couldn't walk or talk through them. The midwife checked me and said I was at a 3, but with the baby sitting so high, and my cervix still tilted back, that I should just go home, get some sleep, eat some protein, and try and get ready for when I am really in labor. I told her that I felt like I really was, and reminded her that I had tested positive for Group B Strep, and that I would need to be on the IV for 4 hours. She was fairly sure that it would not be a problem, and told me that they had other options if I hadn't been on for four hours, like a wash. I had done my research and the wash is not proven effective, so I let her know I preferred to be safe rather than sorry, and go with the IV. I felt like she blew me off, and sent me home despite my feelings. I was not thrilled when we left.

We called my mom and told her not to pick up Derrick, and tried to make a plan for the day. Brett and I went to the grocery store, and I had tons of contractions while we were there. We decided to get some snack foods, and stock up on cereal etc. for after. We also had to pick up a couple things for Thanksgiving. We rented a movie, and headed home. I was still positive I was in real labor, and was just trying not to be too anxious about it.

We started the movie, but I was having so many contractions, and they were getting closer together and more painful, so I had a hard time concentrating. I called my mom and asked her if we could just bring Derrick out. She asked if I wanted to wait and just bring all three kids when they got out of school. I told her I would rather just have Brett bring Derrick then because I did not want to stress over him if my water broke or something like that. So at 11:30 Brett picked up Derrick and headed to AF to take him to my parent's. I had also asked him to vacuum out the car. Right after he left, my contractions started getting harder, and closer together. I got a little worried. I called my neighbor to see if she would come over til Brett got home, but she was out. I called the midwives and told them I felt like I should come back in. They asked if things had changed much, and said they were there, so to come in whenever I was ready. I told them I was waiting for my husband to get back, but to plan on me in half an hour.  Then I called Wendi and asked if I could have her on the phone just in case something happened, I did not want to be alone.

Brett got home, and I got in the van, and we started to head over. At this point the contractions were about 2-3 minutes apart and lasting 1 minute 40 seconds. And they hurt. Bad. I had to mentally talk myself through them, reminding myself that the pain just meant that the baby was that much closer to coming. I had one huge contraction just as we were leaving, and had to have Brett stop driving because I was unable to finish buckling my seat belt. I had one on the way, and one as soon as we got there, and the place is only five minutes away or so.

Right when we got there my dad called to see how I was, and I was in so much pain I could not talk. he was worried that I was alone, so he called Brett to make sure he was with me. I tried to get out of the car and walk into the birthing center, but had a contraction a few steps away from the car. I had to lean on Brett to keep from falling over, and was doing my breathing that I had been practicing. One of the student midwives came out to see if I was okay, and told us to come over to the birthing side of the facility.

They lead me into an exam room, and the main midwife came in to check me. I had a contraction right then, so she pushed on my legs and tried to help me through it, and then hurried and checked me. I was at a 6. I had another contraction right after and it hurt even worse. I asked if I could maybe get in the tub, since it is supposed to be very soothing, and a natural epidural. She said she would run it and get my IV ready, if I wanted to change and use the bathroom. I had Brett help me into the bathroom, and started to change but my contractions were basically on top of each other at that point, so I mostly just tried to get through them.

I sat down on toilet, and had this horribly painful contraction. I felt like I would never be able to make it to a ten at that rate. So I told Brett I couldn't do it, and wanted to go to the hospital. He reassured me, and then I felt what felt like fire go through me, and I just wanted to push, push, push. I felt my body tear some, and the baby drop from up in my ribs to all the way down. I could feel her head between my legs. I told Brett, "She is coming." At that point we were by ourselves in the bathroom, and I was worried I was going to have her into the toilet, but I was in so much pain I couldn't really verbalize this. Brett later told me that he didn't really believe me because they had just checked me and I was at a six, but he was being supportive, so he just held me, and tried to make me calm. I tried to get up and knocked something off a shelf on accident, and the midwife came in to make sure I was okay. I told her "She is coming" and she reassured me and asked if I could walk across the hall to the birthing room and tub. I said, "No" but she said I could, and so I basically leaned all my weight on Brett and walked the ten steps across the hall. I was miserable. When we got into the bathroom where the tub was being filled, she told me to lift my leg to get in, when I did she could see that the baby was indeed coming, and not just crowning, but her head was a good inch out. She yelled for the other midwife, and had me sit, then said, "Go ahead and push, she is here." She took my hand and had me feel the baby's head, and said, "Push honey, quit holding back, just push." So I did, and out she came.

She was blue. So they pulled me out of the tub, and had me lay on the bathroom floor. She wasn't breathing, and wasn't making any sound. I was soooo scared. They told me to hold her, talk to her, and just stay calm. They gave her mouth to mouth, and grabbed an oxygen tank and mask. I couldn't help thinking that I had made a mistake and killed my baby because I went with a birthing center not a hospital. But I was wrong to think that, they were very qualified to take care of her, but it was scary. I was wet, cold, and couldn't really see the baby. I was laying on a cold hard floor, and couldn't verbalize what I was thinking. It only took a few minutes to get her breathing, and she pinked up right away, and started crying. Best sound ever!


I passed the placenta, and they let Brett cut the cord. And they covered me with a towel and got one for my head. Then they had us move into the room with the bed. It was weird to stand up on my own and move around right after giving birth. They let me just hold her and cuddle her. It was different. We called to tell people know she was here and when they asked about her weight and size we did not know because they hadn't measured yet. After they got me all stitched up and situated they weighed and measured her. She was 8 lbs 8 ounces, 21 inches long, she was born at 1:19pm (about 15 minutes after we arrived at the birthing center), and is totally perfect!

After that they left us alone to eat, sleep, and enjoy our baby. It was really nice. I had no pain medication at all at this point, and asked for an ice pack and some ibuprofen. Then just enjoyed resting and staring at the baby with Brett.

We went home around 6:30 that evening, and the kids came over around 7 to see their new sister for a few minutes before they were off to the grandparent's so we could get some rest and recovery time.

All in all the experience was great. I felt great after, and found the recovery has been so much better this time around. I will say that going from a 6 to delivered in ten minutes is not something I would wish on others as it hurt really really badly, but I am not sure I could have made it much longer, so I am grateful it was such a quick process. I am also extremely grateful we made it to the birthing center at all. It was a close call. I wish the midwives would have listened to me, and kept me when I had come in four hours earlier. I need to be more insistent when I know. It is my body, and I knew I was in true labor, but I doubted myself, and let them send me home. The result was the antibiotics I was supposed to have taken were still in the hallway when the baby was born, and I barely got there in time. But I can't complain too much because I hate IVs and we did make it, and she is perfect.

A few days before I delivered, my cute toes for baby, and my favorite pregnancy snack!