Cherise's Story

Birth story of Lenaïc Martin Allegrini

It was Tuesday Dec 8 at 3PM that I posted the following on facebook: " Dear Baby: Please stay inside me until 1)we finish the sheetrock and primer, 2)your Papa finishes the massive amounts of work he has scheduled this week, 3) your mommy finishes the massive amounts of work scheduled this week, and 4) we buy a new washing machine and have it delivered and installed. Then you are free to come any time. Thank you." Apparently I either knew something might be up, or this kid doesn't listen to me...I’m not sure why I posted that. I had my usual post-lunch pains and I’d been feeling more tired and distracted than usual, but nothing signaling labor. I left early for my midwife appt at 5. When she arrived, I noticed some extra mucus and wondered if it was the mucus plug, but it was clear. I didn’t even think to mention it. She measured me, all looked normal for 38 weeks. I continued to lose mucus, but knew it could mean labor was hours, days or weeks away. By late evening I started to have my loose bowel syndrome…which is how labor started with Angelina. But again, it wasn’t as obvious. I did tell Frédéric not to be shocked if labor began, but I didn’t think it would. At 2am I couldn’t sleep so emailed my midwife just to let her know what was happening and I’d call in the morning. In the morning I wasn’t feeling well so stayed home, but still wasn’t sure. No obvious contractions yet. Angelina went to daycare, Frédéric told me to call if I needed him, the sheetrock guys came. I tried doing some work but couldn’t focus, as the contractions started to become more obvious. Sometime after 10 I called my midwife to describe them, and she agreed they didn’t sound consistent enough – long stretches between contractions, nothing close to 1 minute long yet, and irregular. I called Frédéric with an update and he said he’d plan to come home a bit early. I had planned a Girls’ Night for Wednesday, and debating keeping it on, thinking if this was pre-labor, some wine with friends might be good. But then decided I should probably cancel just in case….

By 11AM, there was no doubt....1 min long, 3 min apart. I was trying to be discreet so as not to alarm the workers. As it turned out, I was about to tell them they needed to leave for the day when they said they were finishing up for the day. Called my midwife and she said she’d be right over. Called Frédéric and said “I think you need to plan to come home soon!”

I tried taking a walk. Didn’t get very far and just walked around the house. By then, the contractions were powerful. Frédéric got home, and got the room ready (it was full of stuff from the hallway due to the sheetrocking work). By then I was in the bathtub, with the shower jets on my back. Salli (midwife) arrived…. I was 4cm dilated at that point, water not broken.

Frédéric went to get Angelina about 3pm. She was so sweet when she saw me, very concerned, very calm and almost shy. I told her she was to become a big sister today!

Eventually midwife #2 arrived with the birthing tub and I moved to that. Still painful, but much more comfortable than kneeling in my bathtub. Sometime around 7pm I had the urge to push. Frédéric got in the tub with me, and eventually so did Angelina, who was ever so helpful rubbing my back and pouring water on my back. Salli said if I felt the urge to push, go with it. So I did. Throughout, I was in pain but pretty calm and mostly quiet.

After some time of that and feeling like the baby was moving down, she said to feel for the head. I could feel something but it wasn’t obvious. More pushing….nothing. Eventually she checked me again – I was only 8 cm, and my water hadn’t broken! I was sure it had as I’d felt a gush and saw some membranous material and bloody show. Nope.

So, out of the tub to walk around and NOT push for awhile. Now this is when the real pain began. It was so hard to walk at this point, but Angelina took advantage of the free tub to swim ;)

She checked me again, I’d moved to 9cm, but still water bag totally in tact and not budging. While Heather checked, trying to see where the baby was to decide if it was ok to break the water, it broke. Relief. And then the REAL pain. I was definitely ready to push. It was about 9:20 then. Some intense rough pushing, finally movement there. Angelina watched for awhile, even putting on gloves to “help.” But then got a little worried by “mommy is upset” (my “Ouch oh dear god this hurts!” comments)…not quite shouting, but intense enough. She wasn’t scared, just concerned. She left the room for a bit. I kept trying to get back into the tub but too many contractions/urge to push I couldn’t move. When I finally had a break I almost ran for it – once I got into the tub, HEAVEN. 2-3 more pushes and I heard “she’s crowning!” which was all I needed to hear, another push and there was the head, one more push and the baby popped up.

He came up sputtering….I turned around to sit, they moved him they checked the length of the cord (they left the cord attached until the placenta was delivered). Covered him immediately with a towel, so we hadn’t yet checked if he was a he or a she. Angelina had already returned to the room, touched her new sibling and was so peaceful – she was just in awe! He immediately moved to my breast and tried to latch on and Angelina said “Mommy, the baby likes your boob!”

Maybe 10-15 minutes later the cord had stopped pulsing, and I had another urge to push, and pop, out came the placenta. A welcome relief after last time when the OB had to dig it out. The placenta grossed out Angelina a bit – she said “Oh yucky!” Eventually they clamped the cord and we took a look at who we had J

All in all, a wonderful experience. Not painless, but mostly tolerable. Frédéric said he thinks it was more painful for me this time around. I’m not sure – the pushing experience was totally different (with Angelina, emergency in hospital, lots of screaming by nurses…) I had a similar frustration that this baby was not coming out, so had lost my “zone” of focus, but I wouldn’t change it for the world. I loved birthing at home. Overall, very peaceful, and a wonderful way to add to our family.