A Birth Story from The Bradley Method^®

It all started Monday March 5, 2012 at 1:00 am. The first of what would be many contractions. I woke Josh up and we started timing them but they were around 10 minutes apart so I did what I could to rest. But honestly I never really slept after this point. I was dealing with the contraction well, still doing stuff and running errands. Monday night they started getting closer together, around 7 minutes, and stronger. I ended up in the bathtub several times late Monday night and into Tuesday morning.

Tuesday morning we went to the birth center, and we were between 3 and 4 cm. We decided to go ahead and stay at the birth center. Around 11 or so Josh’s mom brought us some lunch. I thought I would be able to keep some fries down but that didn’t happen. For the first time since Josh and I have been together he went in the bathroom and stood with me while I threw up. Trust me this is a huge deal!

After being there a little while Sharon suggested curb walking because she felt Fisher was asynclitic. Within 10 minutes of starting the curb walking the contractions got closer together. To be honest with you I never kept track of the timing, Josh did that and let Sharon know. I just stayed in my little world and tried to remain calm and reserve energy for what was coming. At 7pm my bag of waters was bulging and we all decided it was best to go ahead and rupture them. That is the last official time I remember until 12:28 am. After rupturing the bag I tried to stay in the bed to rest but that was the most uncomfortable position for me. I ended up back in the tub, I was hoping for a water birth but Fisher had other plans. I labored in the tub for a long time.

With every contraction I tried to get three pushes but that didn’t always happen. One time I got 2 ½ pushes and had to rest so when the next one started Josh said "you got away with 2 ½ last time, I want the full 3 this time." Honestly I don’t remember him saying it but everyone else does, hahaha. Everyone could see Fisher's head while I was in the tub but he just wasn’t going to come out that way. Sharon asked me if I would be willing to sit on the birth stool, a u-shaped short wooden stool. I was more than willing to do whatever I had to do to get my baby out.

Again, for the most part I tuned everyone out. I kept my eyes shut and just focused on pushing. Josh was behind me supporting me emotionally and physically. Finally with one of the pushes I remember grunting and when I did Sharon and Hope both said, "yes, keep doing that." So that’s what I did, I pushed and grunted or groaned and before I knew it they said he head was almost out. On the next push his head was out and then I remembered I didn’t want him to come out too fast so I tried to control it.

I remember cheering and then Josh pulled our baby onto my chest and wrapped his arms around the two of us. It was amazing!! Then I got worried because Fisher wasn’t crying but he was perfectly fine. I was so excited that Josh was the one who put him on me. You see Josh had always said he didn’t think he wanted to do any of that, not even cut the cord but he went behind my back and met with Sharon and told her he wanted to be as involved as possible.

That was one of the greatest gifts he has ever given me. So at 12:28am, after 47 hours and 28 minutes of labor, Fisher made his appearance. He was perfect and amazing and everything we had ever prayed for. And so the journey began. I am so thankful that I was able to have the birth I had prayed for.