Emily's Birth Story

Following the lead of Hannah McMillian, I thought I would resurrect my own blog to tell the story of Emily's birth.

Just like Lance, I was hoping she would come late.  This year my sister was graduating from Harvard three days after my due date and I really wanted to be there.  I know what it is like to struggle and persevere to get an advanced degree (though not from Hah-vahd!) and I really wanted to attend to show how proud of her I was.   So we'll start there.  I was due on May 27 but I told everyone that I thought Emily would arrive on June 1.  I am convinced that the secret to short labors is falling asleep to the Hypnobirthing book every night so I had been reading diligently for two weeks.  It was working too! I had a midwife appointment on May 29 and she said that I was already dilating  though I hadn't felt anything yet. (I will take having contractions in my sleep any day!) That afternoon we were supposed to leave for Cambridge.  I made a list of the names and addresses of all of the hospitals along the route that take my insurance just in case I did go into labor in the car.  Syracuse, NY is approximately five hours from Cambridge, MA so I had five hospitals on the list.  As we drove, we followed a rainstorm across New England.  I felt minor contractions the whole time and as we neared Cambridge I felt two major contractions.  We arrived and I told my sister Amy and my parents that they may just have to take Lance and we head on over to the Brigham and Women's hospital. (If you have to have a last minute change of venue for your delivery, at least make it at one of the best hospitals in the country!)  But as I sat down and started to chat with my family, the contractions stopped and never came back.  The graduation was wonderful, inspiring, and joyous and I am so glad we were able to attend!

We got back on Thursday, May 30 night and I thought that Emily would definitely be coming that Saturday.  My mom and sister arrived on Saturday but still no baby.  Finally the following Wednesday I had another midwife appointment where they monitored Emily's heartbeat and my "uterine activity" as well to see if anything was happening.  Nothing was at that moment but I was even more dilated and effaced so I knew my body was working.  Both midwives happened to be in the office at that time and they both came in to talk to me.  They talked about how they were supportive of me waiting until my body was ready but there were two concerns.  First, there was only one bed open right now in the birthing center where I planned to deliver, so there was a chance I would just have to deliver in the regular hospital part and have the continuous monitoring that is standard there.  More importantly, they were a concerned that Emily seemed to be slightly lethargic according to the test they had just run.  I too had been worried that I hadn't felt as much movement in the past 24 hours so we decided to have the midwife go ahead and strip my membranes to hopefully induce labor.  She said that once she did it, I could go home and make final preparations with my family and then just come on over to the Birthplace when I started to feel hard contractions.  Lance was already home with my mother so I thought this was a good plan.  No sooner had she begun the procedure, though, that my water broke.  It was pretty funny to hear the midwife's exclamations and interjections but we both knew that my water was about to break anyway and I was grateful that at least it happened in the privacy of an exam room rather than at the grocery store I was planning on stopping at on the way home!

As we cleaned up the room we chatted about my personal financial consultation business and the entrepreneurial market in Syracuse.  Then the midwives excused themselves so I could get dressed.  By the time they came back in (about five minutes later) I had had two very hard contractions and was throwing up in the trash can.  I told them that I probably needed to go to the Birthplace right now and that I couldn't drive myself.  There was a mass flurry as they tried to figure out what to do with me as well as the four ladies in the waiting room and then one of the midwives and her assistant left to drive me over there in her Prius. I am so grateful that I didn't end up giving birth in my midwife's car!  She parked in the physician's parking lot and we entered by the side door, which meant I had no access to a wheelchair and there were many physicians in the back hallways who wanted to know what was going on.  I was in the zone by that point, though, and just held on to Kathy and continued to walk forward knowing that eventually I would arrive at the Birthplace.  When we finally arrived I just laid down on the bed and then started wondering where Scottie was? I had called him from the doctor's office right after my first contraction and told him to go straight to the hospital.  That was 22 minutes ago! I started asking for him and the hospital staff offered to call him but just then I heard his cheery voice out in the waiting room saying what sounded like "Hidee ho! I'm here for Nancy Waterbury!" I wanted to yell "I am in the THROES OF PAIN, Come help me!" but he sounded so alarmingly cheery that I had to laugh at the irony.  He came in and held my hand and then I was cleared to push.  As I was pushing I thought "Wow, this really feels a lot harder than with Lance" and at one point I even said "Guys I don't think I can do this." I remember feeling borderline hysterical when contemplating that I might get her stuck because I just couldn't bring myself to finish the job but then the midwife started talking about her hair and I knew I was going to finish.

A few minutes later, Emily Meadow Waterbury emerged.  The feeling of release was AMAZING and then I heard everyone immediately comment on how big she was.  It never occurred to me that she might be bigger than 8 1/2 lbs until she was actually in the birth canal.  I probably should have suspected when three different strangers asked me this month if I was sure I wasn't carrying twins.  Well a 10 lb 1 oz baby could look like twins! She cried immediately, which was such a relief since Lance didn't, and she was ready to nurse within a few minutes.  Overall, it was clear that she knew what she was doing from minute one.  She will be my go getter girl! As for timing, my appointment was at 2:30, I actually showed up at 2:40 (Nancy standard time), my water broke around 3:20, I called Scottie at 4:00, arrived at the hospital at 4:22, and delivered Emily at 4:42.  Then, in another twist of irony I got pitocin at 5:00 because I was bleeding too much!

I was so happy with my midwives and the nurse.  Even though I didn't get to use any of the Birthplace's cool amenities like their tub, birthing ball or birthing stool, I loved the staff and felt like it was a wonderful delivery.  It is easy to go natural when you don't have a choice.  What I think is really amazing are the women who delivered all around me after hours of labor and who still made the choice to go natural.  Congratulations to Sami, Kami, Margy, Hannah, and Rachel.  You women are the real heroines! Thank you for your encouragement.

Love
Nancy