Jaiden Christian's Story
The Birth of Jaiden Christian
by Janelle R.
I was just a few days away from the due date of my third child. It was December 23rd and despite the bustle of getting ready for Christmas I noticed that day that the baby had not been moving. I poked and prodded him, drank some juice and still he would not respond. I called my midwife who recommended I go down to the local hospital for a non-stress test. I had been planning an out of hospital birth at a freestanding birth center with a licensed midwife. Unfortunately, one of the more “midwifery friendly” hospitals in our area was not able to fit me in for a NST that day so I had to reluctantly go to one with a reputation of not treating midwifery clients very well.
Fortunately, things were well and my little man was just sleepy that day. As soon as he was put on the monitor he jumped to life, trying hard to kick it off of him. After about 45 minutes or so of observation we were sent home with well wishes. On our way home we stopped at Baskin Robbins for a treat of two scoops in a waffle cone! When we got home we gave the kids some money and sent them to get some ice cream for themselves. My husband, Rodney, had 3 kids from a previous marriage who were 16, 15 and 12 years old along with our 6 year old daughter and 2 ½ year old son. As soon as the kids were gone I was able to take a nice long nap.
I awoke around 5:30pm and got up to prepare dinner. We were expecting friends over so I worked quickly to get the place cleaned up. During this time I started to feel some painless Braxton-hicks contractions. As the night went on, they started to feel more and more uncomfortable. My low back ached badly. The contractions were spaced at a mere 4 minutes apart! I was anxious thinking maybe that the baby would be born within the next day.
That night I slept on and off. Contractions kept waking me. I finally got a solid 4 hours between 4am and 8am. My midwife called that morning to see how I had been doing since the NST. I told her that maybe the baby was deciding to come soon to prepare her. Since it was Christmas Eve, My stepson and I took a short walk to the store to get some things. It took me what seemed like forever to walk a short ways!! I had to call my husband to pick us up. Walking was just getting too hard. My ligaments ached and it felt like the baby’s head was wedged between my legs.
Gradually the contractions teetered off. Later that night my midwife called to see how things were moving and I sadly had to tell her that I was not in labor. We carried on with our normal Christmas Eve and Christmas festivities. I felt like a watched clock though. Every time I grimaced or moved everyone wondered if I was having a “real” contraction. I was so frustrated!! My other two babies had both been born at 38 weeks so I had never been so pregnant before!
Christmas day we spent lounging in bed and making love while the kids were preoccupied with their new toys. I was able to make a nice dinner that night and even my grandmother’s secret recipe for cheesecake. I tried a few labor pressure points I had read about and they produced a few strong, but short contractions. After a few attempts, I gave up. It was after midnight-the 26th of December, my official due date and I decided to get some sleep.
About 45 minutes later or so, I had a contraction that woke me slightly. I woke enough to breathe through it and then tried to drift back off to sleep. My husband remarked that it must have been a “good one” to have woken me. Minutes later another one came. Now they had my attention. After several of them I decided to sit up and pay attention. Sitting up was unbearable though unless I reclined back. There was so much pelvic pressure!! My contractions were coming anywhere from every 4 minutes to every 8 minutes, just depending on my position and lasting well over a minute and a half long. I was well convinced that this was truly “it” this time!!
Rodney decided he better try and get some sleep. I put on a DVD that I got for Christmas and tried to concentrate on it. I found that if I lay on my side that they were more widely spaced but more uncomfortable. If I stood up they came every 4 minutes or so but anytime I used the bathroom it felt like the contraction didn’t stop!!! At about 5am I decided to call my midwife and give her some notice. She wasn’t convinced as I was since they were so irregular and depending on the position I was in. She told me to try and sleep—ya right!!!
Shortly after, my daughter Kayla woke up and was trying to get in bed with me. Once she heard that they baby was going to be born that day she couldn’t sleep. Instead, we called my mom and then Kayla helped me take a bath. She changed into some clean clothes and helped me get dressed as well. 6am approached. I realized that if we did not get to the birth center soon then I was not going to make it there and I would just end up having the baby myself!! I called my midwife and woke up Rodney. He got the kids up and had them get together the snacks I had bought for the birth. We called friends that were to meet us there and started to head off.
Between the bedroom and the car I had 3 contractions! I had to grab onto the wall, my kids, the car—anything I could find during them. Once in the car, it felt like they would never end. Other than the intense pressure in my back and in my bottom they did not hurt but were getting pretty intense. I screamed at Rodney to slow down the car. It felt scary—like he was going 100 miles an hour when in fact he was only going 25 in a 35 mph zone. I had a never-ending contraction that peaked 3 times during our short, less than 10-minute car ride.
I was so ecstatic to finally arrive at the birth center. My midwife was already there and had it nice and toasty inside. She walked me into the birth suite and showed me that she already had the tub ready for me. The most wonderful thing was that she never suggested checking my cervical progress. Rodney got the kids settled in the family room area while I stood holding onto the foot rail of the bed. The lights were dimly lit and there were candles throughout the room. The student midwife asked if I would like to sit on the birth ball. I thought that it sounded like a great idea, but once I got on I literally jumped off of it. I never knew a laboring woman could move so fast!! The pressure in my bottom was way too intense. Standing while leaning forward and holding onto something was what felt best.
Minutes later I had to run into the bathroom and throw up. Despite having eaten over 12 hours before, it seemed like none of my dinner had digested. It was awful but I felt much better and could hear my husband in the background saying, “now she means business!!” Everyone laughed (huh! Except me!!) and asked if that was normal for me, which it was. I waddled back into the room and promptly stripped down and sank into the warm bliss of the tub.
Oh, how wonderful the warm water felt on my back!! I had labored in water with my second birth and remember how blissful it had felt. My only complaint was that my back was killing and so the surface of the tub did not feel good against it. I remember telling them how I wished I could just make my “butt float”. I imagined if I did not feel the tub surface then things would have been perfect. It was suggested that I try to get on my knees and lean forward, but again it was way too intense feeling. The only way I could stand to lay was flat on my back, sunk down in the water, despite knowing that was one of the worst positions to labor in.
I kept hearing my husband drifting in and out of the room to go and check on the kids. I was getting severely annoyed. My 16 year old stepdaughter came in the room and sat next to me. Finally Rodney stayed put there as well. I started to feel so alone then. Nobody was really talking to me or touching me. I did not hear any encouraging words except an occasional one from my midwife or her apprentice. Things started to happen fast at that point and it felt like my labor was rushing through me like fast ocean waves that I could not control. I could start to feel my body pushing down on it’s own and my pelvis being pushed apart. Although it was not painful, I was not prepared for it. I started crying in my head, wishing I could just have an epidural or a c-section and then in the same instant laughing at myself for the thought. I wondered why I had ever said that I enjoyed giving birth!!
Because of the intense feelings of my body already pushing, I started to do small grunt pushes to keep things slow. At times I could feel my bottom tensing up and fighting the contractions and I would blow out my lips loosely like a camel (a trick courtesy of Ina May Gaskin) and that worked wonderfully! During this time I felt a wonderful feeling-my water had broke all on it’s own. I had never had a spontaneous rupture and it was the neatest feeling! My midwife, noticing my small pushes, asked if she could check to make sure I was complete and that it was Ok for me to push. She said I had a small lip of cervix left. On the next contraction I pushed a little harder and brought the baby down, pushing the cervix out of the way on it’s own. I asked at that point if it felt like he was posterior because of how my back hurt. I was told No, that it did not seem like he was.
Sometime during this time, Rodney had gotten in the tub behind me. Kayla came in and my friends that were there to support me and document the birth. My chest was well under the water so Rodney was instructed that as soon as the baby was born he needed to pull me upwards so that when the baby was placed on my chest that his face would not be in the water. Rodney reminded me that I wanted to feel the top of the baby’s head. I reached down and felt the soft wrinkles of his skin. A few pushes later I could feel a little ear and the announcement that he was in fact, posterior! His ear felt so surreal. So smooth, almost like rubber-it did not feel like it could possibly belong to an actual person. Another push and out came his head! I don’t remember feeling the ring of fire at that point like I had at my previous birth. My midwife checked and the cord was around his neck. I was scrunched at the bottom of the tub so she had difficulty getting enough room to unwrap it. Finally she unlooped the cord and told me to reach down and catch my baby. While I waited for my next contraction to come I could feel the baby “jumping up and down”—oh how that hurt! I just wanted him to hold still! One big push later I let out a big scream and I caught my precious boy, pulling him onto my chest!! All the pain was instantaneously gone. It felt wonderful!
He did not even cry but instead looked around. He was covered up with a wet towel and rubbed gently. He made a few squawking noises in protest, but still did not cry and pinked up right away. I checked in between his legs to make sure he really was a He and sure enough, we had a sweet baby boy! He looked an awful lot like my daughter had at birth. He had less hair at the top, but was absolutely gorgeous!! My daughter was there at my side checking him out and soon the boys were led in to see their new brother. My now big boy, TJ, came to me immediately. I was worried about how he would react but he just smiled big and leaned over in the tub and gave me a great big kiss.
Jaiden Christian weighed 8 pounds and 3 ounces and was 20 inches long. He had the smallest head of all my babies at only 13 ½ inches around. I managed to get away without a tear and felt wonderful afterwards. Jaiden was born less than 2 hours after we had arrived at the birth center, so it was no wonder that things felt like they were moving so fast once we got there. We went home 2 and half hours later and the family settled down for a well-deserved nap for the day. He nursed like a pro and has been the most perfect baby whom I have fallen madly in love with!!
Jaiden’s birth has reaffirmed my belief in my body’s ability to birth without medical intervention or drugs. Looking back and remembering my brief moment of doubt I realized I truly was in the throes of transition and that all I needed at that moment were my midwife’s encouraging words that I knew how to birth my baby. Having a water birth was amazing and birthing my baby into my own hands was the most spectacular experience I have ever had…nothing in the world could recreate that magical feeling.
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