I went ten days past my due date with Lea, but I tried not to panic this time when my due date came with no sign of progress anytime soon. I knew statistics were on my side, as second babies tend to cook a little less, and I tried to focus on enjoying my last few days as a mother of one (and my last few days of sufficient sleep for a while). Sure enough, just two days later I found myself unexpectedly awake at 4:45am with real, unmistakable labor contractions radiating from front to back. These went on for two hours, and although I tried my hardest to get back in bed to ride out early labor as restfully as possible, I found my heart racing, thinking that I would certainly have a baby before the end of the day.
I didn’t. My contractions petered out and the day was a normal one. Remembering that it’s not unusual for labor to start and stop several times, especially after the first pregnancy, I figured the best thing to do would be to return to my regular routine and expect nothing. I forced myself to take a nap that afternoon, and slept surprisingly soundly. This turned out to be a very good thing.
That night was the season premiere of LOST. If you’re reading this, you know me well enough to know the significance of this, so you’ll appreciate the fact that I started having contractions again at 7:30, just a half hour before the 3-hour extravaganza was to begin. But again, I reminded myself—this might not be it. Besides, there was LOST to watch, so I distracted myself as much as possible and tried to focus on the many intricacies of the Dharma Initiative and the Oceanic Six and the Widmore/Linus connection. But by the time Hurley got arrested, I’d been in quite a lot of pain for a while and knew that it was time to call DeEtte.
I gave her the stats: I was having contractions ranging from 3 to 6 minutes apart, and even though they were only lasting 15-35 seconds (much shorter than the full minute generally considered a good rule of thumb for active labor), they were intense enough that I had to stop everything I was doing, drop down to all fours and rock from side to side to get through them. DeEtte was confused by the short length of the contractions, but said she could tell by the sound of my voice that labor was moving quickly, so she said she’d pack up and be here in ninety minutes or so.
In the meantime, between contractions I reverted to the nervous people pleaser I can be, and worried that I’d look like a fool, that she’d get here and proclaim me to be Not in Labor At All, shake her head and drive home. Except, during contractions, it hurt. A lot. And I was SO glad that she would be there soon.
It was close to 1am when DeEtte arrived, and a quick check found that I was dilated 5 centimeters and “stretchy.” My relief at this news was only compounded when she asked me if I’d be ok for a few minutes while she enlisted Brian to help her bring her oxygen tank and other heavy equipment up from her car. Equipment? I thought. That’s so official—I’m actually going to have a baby and SOON. I was excited.
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3 comments:
I've always wondered if Lea was truly 10 days late. That is, if your dates were truly accurate, given that she was a surprise and the remembering of dates may not have been accurate? Of course, you don't need to answer that here :)
Wonderful story, wonderful writing. I kept my mouth shut when I heard about the home birth plans, but DeEtte sounds wonderful and it made me happy that she had oxygen with her :)
Paige, your story makes me wish I had the option of midwifery care. :)
Yeah, I was really surprised (and impressed) when I first talked to her, at just how equipped she'd be-- besides the oxygen, she came with the full setup for an IV, Pitocin, Methargine, resuscitation supplies (neonatal and otherwise), even a vacuum extractor. There's definitely a huge range among homebirth midwives in terms of what they have access to, but as a CNM she had exactly the same stuff they'd had at the birth center, and the same pretty specific protocol in terms of the frequency of monitoring my BP, my pulse and blood oxygen levels, baby's heart tones, etc. I had no idea I could find that approach from a homebirth midwife. But I think it's very rare for a CNM to be able to do them at all because they usually can't get malpractice insurance to work independently, so this was a pretty exceptional situation.
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