Monica's Birth Story

July 13th Mom started having contractions about every 5 minutes around 10:00 at night. She was up for about an hour, then laid down for about an hour, they continued, not strong or painful, but consistent. Finally around 12:30 she called the midwife and told her, she said they were on their way. About an hour later the contractions had slowed to every 15 minutes, then every 1/2 hour, then every hour. It seemed like they were stopping. The midwife arrived around 5:00 am on the 14th, nothing was happening. Mom was pretty frustrated, Dad was pretty tired, he hadn't been feeling well! They spent the day walking all over town and the mall (when it got hot), but no more contractions. Finally around 5:00 pm the midwife decided it was safe to go home and she left.

July 27th at 3:50 am Mom woke up to go to the bathroom. After she did she laid back down and before she was back asleep she felt something wet, she got up and went back to the bathroom and on her way realized the water had broken! At least this time there would be no false alarm—Monica was on the way!

Mom called the midwife, but she wasn't home… then she called the midwife's cell phone. She was far away, but would try to make it as soon as she could. She recommended calling a friend who had some supplies and could help monitor the progress until then. The friend arrived around 7:20 am. Mom's contractions were 6–12 minutes apart. Mom laid down to rest and was able to take little naps between contractions, they weren't very painful.

At 8:45 am Mom when to the bathroom and lost part of the mucous plus, the contractions were more consistent, about 8 minutes apart, but still not very painful. Grandma Ritchey arrived around 9:00 am and everyone (except for Dad who was asleep on the couch) ate breakfast at 9:30 am. The contractions picked up a little bit while Mom was making breakfast and playing with Helaina, but were still not very painful.

Around 12:00 pm the contractions were coming a bit more often, but Mom was able to lay down for a nap and rested until about 1:20 pm. The contractions started picking up then and Mom had to breathe through them a bit. The friend and Dad helped by applying low back pressure. Helaina was taking a nap so Grandma went to Subway to get lunch for everyone.

Mom took a couple of bites of a sandwich and the contractions went from 3–5 minutes to every 2. Dad joked that the baby would be here by 2:00 and then Mom had an urge to push at 1:45. Mom started some light pushes around 2:00 and thought, "There's no way this could be this easy, did I skip transition?" The midwife wasn't here yet, but Mom knew the baby was on the way and there was no stopping her, so she kept pushing, trying several different positions, from side lying to hands and knees.

Mom was half naked in the middle of the living room, so Grandma put up some paper over the windows (so the mailman wouldn't see her!) and Mom kept pushing, but was thinking that she really didn't want to give birth in the middle of the living room. At around 3:30 pm Mom finally voiced her desire to move to the bedroom, and she got into bed with Dad behind her holding her legs.

Mom was thinking that when she pushed like this Helaina was born in 15 minutes, so she thought it would help things go faster—after an hour, she was discouraged. (Helaina woke up around 4:30 pm and Grandma took her outside to play in the RV.) The friend went to call the midwife to get some suggestions around 4:45 pm and while she was gone, Mom felt something. Dad said, "Let's have a surprise for her when she gets back." Then Mom felt the baby coming and Dad called the friend back in to help. By 4:54 pm Monica's head was visible and she was born at 5:04 pm. Dad caught her! Her cord was around her neck two times so they unwrapped it before Mom pushed her out the rest of the way. Despite a perineum massage Mom tore pretty badly so Dad held Monica while they tried to get the bleeding under control. At 5:07 pm the doorbell rang and Dad went to the door to "get rid of those clowns." It was the midwife—who asked "how are things going?" In response Dad held up his hands (covered in vernix). She said "oh" and rushed in to help out.

Someone went out at about the same time to tell Grandma and Helaina they could come in and meet Monica!

The Midwife took one look at Monica and said, "That's why you had to push so long and why you tore!" Monica was military presentation, meaning she came through the birth canal with the top part of her forehead rather than the crown. Monica's head was severely bruised and swollen.

Mom lost about 2 cups of blood right away, but the bleeding slowed and the baby was nursing well by 5:19. The cord was clamped around 5:30 and Mom delivered the placenta at 5:40. Monica finished nursing around 6:40 (she was and still is rather fond of it) and Mom took a bath after 7.

The midwife recommended that Mom and Monica go to the hospital because of the tearing and Monica's bruising. Around 9:30 pm Mom, Dad and Monica all went to the hospital; Mom for stitches, Monica for a vitamin K shot and Dad for support.

Monica weighed 7 lbs 11 oz and she was 20 inches long. (As of Friday the 17th of August Monica weighed 9 lbs 7 oz—in spite of Mom having the stomach flu for 10 days and not eating!)

back