MaryJane's Birth Story - posted: Mar 16, 2009 at 5:22 PM

MaryJane Vernessa was born on Friday, March 13th at 11:55pm. She weighed 7lbs 15ozs and was 20 and a half inchs long. I was 41 weeks pregnant. That morning we went to the hospital to have some tests done to make sure she wasn't under any stress and measure the fluid levels. After everything checked out OK we headed for home convinced I really was going to be pregnant forever. We thought I was in labor the night before. I was up till 4am with contractions 10 minutes apart getting more intense as time passed. Then they just decided to stop. I was having contractions here and there in the morning but nothing that made me think I was going into labor. Dave and I decided to go for a walk around 2pm while the kids were at my parent's house and we also stopped by our house to spend some time together to see if we could get things moving along. :0) We headed back for my parent's house around 4pm, after hanging out there for a while we decided to go for another walk because I was having a few contractions here and there. We got back just when it was starting to get dark. We started counting contractions at 8:30. They were around 7 minutes apart lasting 1.5 minutes for about an hour. Then they went to being around 4 minutes apart some lasting longer then 2 minutes. I was laboring sitting in a recliner most of the time. It was the easiest way for me to relax and work through the contractions. The general rule I was trying to follow is the 411, Contractions 4 minutes apart lasting at least 1 minute for 1 hour. So we called Becky, our midwife, just before 11pm. We headed down to the birthing center, pulled up at 11:15pm. Becky met us at the door. At this point I was having one contraction on top of the other. We got into the room and Becky checked my cervix. I was an 8 almost a 9 and feeling the urge to push. The best position to get through the contractions at this point was to lean over the counter or the bed and Becky would squeeze my hips together, and boy did that make it feel better! At this point Dave called our family and friends to head down ASAP. I climbed into the tub while it was still filling up and I am so glad I did. The water felt so nice! 20 minutes till midnight Dave tried to make a bet with me if she was going to be born on Friday the 13th or not. I said there is no way I am going to have her in 20 minutes. :0) I still had a tiny bit of cervix left but the urge to push was too intense I couldn't stop it. Becky told me to trust my body so I pushed passed the rest of my cervix. MaryJane's heart rate was going so low it was almost none existent during contractions that we had to get her out as soon as possible. I was not able to let my perineum stretch slowly to avoid tearing. I pushed her out in 2 contractions. The cord was wrapped around her neck. But she did wonderful! Her color was great. It wasn't till now that the others arrived, no more then 1 minute after she was born. (darn it!) I was able to sit with her in the tub for about 15 minutes before delivering the placenta. Everything happened so fast. I guess my body kind of did me a favor and prepped my body early by having all those false alarms. It was very intense! The whole experience was amazing! :0) We went home that same night at 3:30am. Everyone is doing great!

for more on my pregnancy, view my pregnancy blog @ www.immelue.blogspot.com