Thanks HEL for letting me know I never posted this... Love you !
The midwife heard my moans and groans and grunts and decided to check me
to find out that I was a whopping 9.5 cm dilated with just a "little
lip" of my cervix left to go. With the next contraction... POP! and a HUGE bubble came up out of the water. The midwife asked, "Did your water just break?" Me: "YUP! It's go time." She told me that sometimes its more comfortable for women to move around and be on their knees. At this point in time I told her I couldn't move. The contractions were too close together for me to turn around from sitting on my bottom to getting on my knees. At this point my body was starting to push. The moans from my contractions turned into grunts and pushes.
Somehow I ended up on my hands and knees. I guess my body just knew the right thing to do. Every single contraction was a push. I could feel my baby making her way towards the light. There is no feeling like it. I could still feel her little legs kicking as I was pushing her out...so awesome. I got so much verbal encouragement from Chef and my midwife. "You got it... you're doing it" No instructions, they just let me do what I was designed to do. Except for one thing. I'm a tall chica. My midwife reminded me that the baby was either going to be born in the water or out of the water but not both. I had to make a conscious effort to keep my bottom in the water. The contractions were pushing me right up out of the water. My midwife put a mirror at the bottom of the birthing pool so I could see what was going on. I didn't look only because I was too focused. It's the weirdest thing to feel the baby's head come out and go right back inside. It wasn't discouraging in the slightest. I thought it was pretty cool. I wasn't in a rush to hurry up and get the baby out I was just living in the moment.
Let's take a pause for a minute and talk about the "ring of fire". Midwives know what they are doing so she gave me fair warning right before I was to feel like someone set my crotch on fire. My midwife said, "Her head isn't going to go back up anymore so you will feel some burning." I thought to myself, ok she prepped me so I'm prepared. Hell to the no. I remember seeking Jesus in that moment and shrieking, "But it burns so bad!" Yes it burned because I was stretching to the widest part of my baby's head, but it's better to be done slowly so I don't rip apart.
As my daughter was crowning the midwife asked my husband to reach down and touch her head. He did but now wishes he hadn't. LOL! He said it was the weirdest experience of his life.
My midwife was giving me the play by play..."You're down to her nose...now her lips...her chin." I was pushing with all my strength with every contraction. Not consciously but because my body was doing it. The next thing I heard was, "Reach down and pick up your baby." I looked down between my legs and there was my baby, floating in the water with her eyes wide open. I picked her up and turned around so I could sit down. I was holding OUR baby sitting between Chef's legs. She was so small. The midwife guessed she weighed about 7 and a half pounds and she wasn't far off. Jada weighed in at 7 lbs 5 ounces. I have never felt and experienced so much love in my life.
Now begins the chronicles of my postpartum shenanigans: placenta eating, breastfeeding, cloth diapering shenanigans.
