Gabe's Birth Story

Gabriel Glenn was born on February 5th, 2011. He weighed 9 lbs even, and measured 20 1/2 inches long, with a head circumference of 15". Here is his birth story.....

At about 3:00 a.m. on Saturday morning, and at 40 weeks, 4 days gestation, I awoke to my first contraction. It was strong and very obviously the real thing, after having "practice" contractions for several weeks now. I was in bed alone because every Friday night Rob and Jocelyn have a sleepover in the living room. I went back to sleep but kept waking up with each contraction, about every 15 minutes. At about 4:00 I decided to go tell Rob that things were starting, but that I was still in the early stages and that I planned on going back to bed. He was so funny. I nudged him awake and said, "I'm in labor..." His eyes popped wide open and he said in a panicked whisper, "OK...What do we do?!" I just laughed at him and told him, "Nothing. I'm going back to bed, and you should too." I should have known he wouldn't be able to do that though. I went back upstairs and soon heard him clanking around in the kitchen and vacuuming the living room. Cutie. :)
So this is when I called my sister, Missy, who had a three hour drive from Vernal, and then next I called my mom. Mom showed up probably around 5:00 a.m. and we just took it easy in my bedroom until Missy pulled into town at about 7:30 ish. I could tell that I still had a while to go, but the contractions were all very strong and coming on about every 6-8 minutes. This is when we called my midwife, Heather.
Heather and her two assistants got here around 8:00,I think, and we waited for a while before I decided to get checked. When she checked me I was 5 cm dilated.
I got into the tub, which felt great. My mom, who also played the role of doula, helped me stay relaxed and remind me of my Hypnobabies techniques. Now I'm going to come right out and say that this was not my relaxing Hypnobabies birth like Ava's birth was. I don't know if it was because Gabriel was bigger, or if it was because I wasn't able to get in as much practice before labor, but it was definitely harder. Each contraction was very strong and I had to keep saying my cues like, "peace" and "relax" as I had a contraction to remind myself to be limp and not to resist.
The water eventually got cold, so I ended up back out in my bed. My birth team was so awesome. Everyone was involved with counter-pressure, doing the knee press, light touch massage, or whatever I might have demanded at that particular moment. Things were pretty intense at this point.

After a few hours I was back into the tub, just trying anything to be more comfortable. The tub ended up NOT being what I wanted, and within just a few minutes I was climbing back out. My midwife suggested that I try the birth stool, which is basically a toilet seat looking thing that allows you to squat and not have to support your entire body with your legs. At this point my contractions were right on top of each other. As soon as a contraction ended, I stood up from the tub and before I could climb out, another one was right there. I was feeling very grunty and pushy at this point and was full on pushing by the time I sat on the birth stool. With each push I could feel Gabe's head coming down another inch, closer and closer. My mom sat behind me and supported me while I leaned forward into one of the midwives. At this point my water broke and Gabe's head was right behind. Rob was right by me and as Gabe's head came out I heard him excitedly say, "Holy crap! It's a baby, Miggy!" Yes, Rob. I am VERY aware. Hahahaha...

With another push Gabe's shoulders came out and I couldn't push another second. I told the midwives, "Just pull him out now!" Which they did :)

Right off the bat Gabe was SCREAMING! It was very reassuring to hear that, because if he could scream like that he had to be healthy. He was placed right in my arms and he screamed for about 20 minutes non-stop. My midwife actually took him at one point to make sure there wasn't something obvious that could have been hurting him. There wasn't, though, he was just letting us know what he thought of this cold, bright, loud world. :)

We made our way to the bed, nursed, & cut the cord. A while later we measured him and found out that he is quite the big boy! I was so proud. :)
After a few stitches, some Papa Murphy's pizza, and some clean up, the midwives took off and left us with our new little man. The girls came over (they were at Rob's parents) and met their new baby brother, who they loved immediately. We sang him "Happy Birthday" and just nestled in bed for the rest of the day.
Although this wasn't a text-book Hypnobabies birth, it was still wonderful. Intense, yes. Hard, yes. In total it was about a 9 hour labor, similar to Ava's birth, so I feel like that wasn't too bad since Jocelyn's birth was 15 hours of labor in a hospital, hooked up to all sorts of drugs and two hours of nurse-directed pushing. Even though it was hard, it was short lived and nothing went wrong. Most importantly my sweet baby boy is here and I'm obsessed with him in every way.
Every time I have a baby I am so surprised at how much I can love them. I never imagined that boys would be as much fun as girls but I was SO wrong. Welcome, baby Gabe! We are SO happy you're here.