Jace Matthew's Birth Story

I just realized so many family and friends never got to hear/read Jace's birth story! I wrote it a day or 2 after he was born but never posted it publicly.

It's fun to re-read his story and relive the feelings. I'm grinning ear to ear remembering exactly how things played out. It's also fun to see how far Ally's language skills have come in just a short 6 months (things she said are recorded in the last paragraph). She now says complete thoughts with surprisingly good grammar instead of the broken sentences of the fall.

Just a warning: This is a very detailed story of our entire birth experience and includes words like cervix and placenta among other things, if these topics bother you or make you uncomfortable. ;-)

Sunday Sept 26, 2010

Ally fell asleep cuddling with me on the couch at about 10:30pm and I took her to bed and commented to Ryan on my way up that wasn’t sure I could get her there because I had been having so much pressure and sharp pains on my cervix that day.

I came back downstairs and sat down on the couch and felt a little leak that I assumed was cervical fluid so I went to the bathroom to clean up. I discovered it wasn’t cervical fluid so I smelled it to see if I’d peed my pants (haha!) and nope, no smell. Maybe my water broke?? I went back and sat down on the couch and felt it again so I headed back to the bathroom and had a little more leaking there. I was fairly convinced at this point that it was my water. I went to the basement and told Ryan I was pretty sure my water had broken and he said, “So what’s that mean?” I told him it didn’t really mean anything, I was just telling him what was going on and that it could be 24-48 hours before anything started. I called the midwife and she said she’s seen a lot of moms be wrong about rupture but just in case something was getting ready to happen we should get to bed immediately and get some rest and we’d talk again when/if contractions got started. Good thing we’d eaten dinner just a couple hours earlier so I was well fed and hydrated! I told Ryan we needed to head to bed and he didn’t argue. J We went to bed and I was texting Am (BFF/doula) to let her know what was happening. We decided she should go ahead and head this way since she had a 2 ½ hour drive from Sedalia and she had gotten a bit of sleep already and we wanted to make sure she was safe to drive. I didn’t want to call her in the middle of the night and have her driving half asleep! She said if it ended up being nothing or if it took a long time for things to get going that was ok and she could just be there to help with Ally and let me rest. Love that woman. She left at about 11pm.

Contractions started about about 11:40pm and were 3-5 minutes apart and lasting at least a minute (I didn’t time them very well since Ryan was asleep). I finally woke Ryan up at about 12:45am and told him things were definitely moving along and I was having to work through them already. I asked him to call Carolyn, our midwife, and let her know what was going on. I talked to her for a bit as we tried to decide when she should come. She said I’d had about 7 contractions in the short conversation and she was going to go ahead and head this way. I heard from Am about this time and she was in Lee’s Summit about 45 minutes away which is where Carolyn was coming from too so it was nice to know they’d get here at about the same time. At about 1:15am I told Ryan I thought was I was ready for the pool even though it seemed awfully early to need that much relief. He got to work filling the pool and had already lit all my candles (our room smelled of awesome blueberry muffins!). I got in the pool as he filled it and became vocal with contractions at this point. I had 6 hours of active labor left when I got to this point with Ally Rae. Ryan got my music started and that was SO nice to have. I sang along in between contractions and felt MUCH more relaxed than I did with Ally even though I was working just as hard. I found myself kind of rocking my hips to the music and knew the little Huffling was settling down in my pelvis so I did some talking to the little one too. I told the Huffling he/she was doing such a great job and to keep moving down and we were so excited to meet.

Carolyn got there shortly before 2am and Am closely behind. I was SO happy to see Am! Carolyn checked me soon after arriving because I was displaying signs of being fully dilated and I was disappointed to learn I was only 4cm but Carolyn assured me that things would probably move quickly based on how I was reacting to contractions and the “catch” in the middle of them. I told her I was having such intense pressure that felt like my body was pushing without me and it was taking my breath away. She suggested I blow hard through the contractions and see how that felt. She said I could also try sitting on the toilet. I said I would try anything so we started blowing through contractions. Carolyn, Am, and Ryan both blew out with me to keep me breathing deeply and it helped so much to look into their faces and see the support and calm help I had. After a few more contractions we moved to the bathroom and I did 3 contractions on the toilet. They were hard but seemed purposeful so I was confident through them.

Funny side-story here…When I headed to the bathroom, Ryan and Am stayed back and Carolyn kept motioning for them to come. We’d forgotten to tell her before that the bathroom is kind of my sanctuary and a very private place for me and I don’t like anyone to be around when I’m in there. I don’t even talk on the phone to Ryan while I’m in the bathroom! Haha! Ryan and Am continued to stay back and Carolyn continued to motion them over so they came cautiously. They kind of peeked around the corner of the bathroom door looking for my reaction and when I didn’t ask them to leave, they stayed but kept a small distance and let me have my privacy. It was fine since I wasn’t using the toilet, it was just something to sit on. This was the only time that Am said she saw discomfort on Ryan’s face. I didn’t get a feeling of discomfort or uncertainty from him at all. Such a wonderful man.

We went back to the pool and Carolyn checked me again and said I was a 7 and if it was ok that she was going to leave her fingers there for a couple contractions to see what was happening. I blew hard through these and remember kind of shaking my head. Thank goodness I had Ryan right there in front of me to hold his hand and hear his reassuring voice. He was so calm. From here on, I dilated 1cm with every contraction! Carolyn said at this point to keep blowing because my body was pushing very effectively and she didn’t want me to use my strength to push since it would be too aggressive. She said I could give a little grunting push if I felt so inclined during contractions but to mainly blow. I could feel the little head pushing my hips apart and really coming out quickly. He crowned and the burn was more intense with the blowing than it was with pushing with Ally but it was much more gentle on the tissue. She had me pant after he crowned so the rest was gentle and that was HARD!! One more contraction and he was out and on my back. I heard Ryan and Am giggling about the gender and Carolyn told them not to say anything to me, to let me see for myself. I turned over and picked up the Huffling to discover my SON! He was born at 3:10am on September 27, 2010, only 3 ½ hours after the onset of contractions! A man with a plan! Am took pics of his arrival and Ryan set up the camcorder. I don’t know if I’ll ever want to watch it but it’s nice to know we have it.

The after pains this time were much more intense and I definitely had the urge to push the placenta out, unlike with Ally where I felt nothing. I had a lot of burning afterward too which was actually really painful. The warm water no longer felt good. I nursed little Jace during this time and shared kisses with Ryan. After that, Ryan held Jace while I ate a little something (cantaloupe and apple cider) while still in the pool. Then we gave Jace to Am so Ryan could help me out of the pool and to the shower. It was so nice to get a shower right after and be in my own bathroom! I didn’t get to shower until the next day with Ally, in the hospital. I showered quickly, put on deodorant, brushed my hair and teeth and got settled in bed to nurse again. Ryan started making phone calls at this point since it all went too quickly to call our parents during the labor. We weighed him but decided to delay measuring until our postpartum visit since Carolyn’s chiropractor husband says that’s better. 8lbs 10oz and she estimated he was probably 20 ½”. (He was 21 3/8” at 5 days old.) Carolyn left around 6:30am. Am left at about noon (earlier than she planned but was needed at home).

My family came at about 6am and Ryan’s later that afternoon. We got about an hour of rest before Ally woke up at 8am. We brought her into our room and she met Jace who she calls Baby Zace (can’t make the ‘j’ sound yet). She talked about “baby out Mommy” and “baby Mommy nummies”. She did a lot of giggling and had lots of hugs and kisses for him. She picked up his hand and waved it and said “baby zace hi!” It was so cute and we got lots of pictures that tell the story. My Mom came and stayed with Ally so we could sleep and get a bit refreshed after being up all night. J The gal doing my placenta encapsulation (Lily) came at about 1pm to get it set up and was back the next morning to put it in pills. She was so sweet and I’m so glad I did it. I have much more patience for Ally Rae and feel more energetic and balanced.

I hope you enjoyed Jace's story! It was such a fast and simple birth, I'm surprised there was much to tell!