Doodle’s birth was perhaps the easiest of my three, yet somehow also the hardest. All I wished for coming up to labor with him was that it would be uneventful and shorter than with Sugarplum. When thinking about and processing how my labors go, I pretty much have to ignore Honeybun’s labor since I had a ton of interventions so therefore did not have a normal labor for myself. But the similarities between Sugarplum and Doodle are enough to be able to confidently know how my body brings forth my babies. (a more detailed recount of Sugarplum’s birth can be read in “The Best Laid Birth Plans”)
My contractions with Doodle started Wednesday, 2 days before my due date. I’d been having pretty strong but not real regular contractions all day. By the time I set out to make dinner they were definitely regular, though I didn’t time them, I was just focused on not letting my parents know they were happening (I didn’t want to cause any false hopes as I’d been having periods of regular contractions for over a month and wasn’t sure it would last). By 9:30 contractions were stronger and every 10 minutes and I was pretty sure it was the real thing. I called my midwife to give her a heads up and she suggested trying to sleep and to let her know if anything changed.
Hubby and I laid down and I slept about 45 minutes. I was awoken by an extremely strong contraction but the next one didn’t come for 34 minutes. I was NOT going to let labor get away again so I got out of bed and rocked on my exercise ball, squatted and did everything I could to get things going again. Within an hour I was back to every 10 minutes. By 2:30 am the contractions were so strong I felt like I was going to crawl out of my skin so I called my midwife again and she decided it was time to check me out.
While waiting for my midwife to arrive, I had major anxiety that she would come and I’d barely be dilated (I was 1-2 cm at my 37 week check) as with both girls I was only 1-2 when I arrived at the hospital. Luckily, I was already to 6 cm!
I spent the next few hours alternating between being in the tub and standing leaning over my bed (which is about waist high). I was having a lot of pressure on my hip bones but very little back pain or other discomforts aside from the intensity of the contractions (which I have never experienced as “painful”, the sensation of contractions perhaps needs its own post!).
The one thing I learned from my birth experience with Doodle that I didn’t expect is that I’m a screamer. When I delivered Sugarplum I screamed but I thought it was just because she came so fast (3 contractions and she was out) and I felt paralyzed by the contractions. Well, turns out that’s just how I get my babies out. When the pushing contractions started with Doodle all I wanted to do was get the hell away from it. I wanted to literally climb up the wall and suck him back up inside me. I knew, though, that I didn’t want things to become prolonged and I just wanted him OUT! The only thing I could do to maintain the downward pressure and ensure things moved along was scream, LOUDLY. Unfortunately this was a bit traumatic for the girls so Grandma took them out of the room.
My midwife insists I only pushed for 10 minutes though it felt like an eternity before he started crowning, but I know it only took two pushes to get him out from that point. I felt his head emerging and started screaming at hubby he was coming and to get the girls. By the end of that push, baby’s head was out. One more and I had a baby in my arms (after my midwife had to remind me to take him out of the water, I was so relieved it was over all I wanted to do was collapse!). The girls missed the actual birth but were there to see him as I brought him in for the first snuggle just after 9:00 am.
Poor Doodle must have had a traumatic time at the end (his heart tones were good throughout) because he was completely blue and though trying to cry just couldn’t get it out. That too felt like an eternity as I frantically asked if he was okay. Luckily all it took was one puff of air and he pinked up and started breathing just fine.
The rest is history. We now have our sweet little boy. And yes, it was definitely quicker than Sugarplum’s 21 hour labor though with both my contractions never got closer than 7-8 minutes apart until the pushing stage. In contrast to Sugarplum’s labor, however, which started with my water breaking, I have no idea when my water broke with Doodle. As I got close to pushing my midwife and I started wondering if my waters were still intact. I’ve always thought having a baby born en caul (still in the sac) would be cool but by that point the thought of having to push out something bigger than just baby (who turns out was nearly 9 pounds on his own!) was a bit unbearable. Luckily I didn’t have to make that choice, when I was checked to make sure pushing was safe, the sac was broken.
