Kathrynne's Birth Story
I'm going through my files today and keep finding things I've written and never posted here. For those of you who enjoy birth stories and have not read Kathrynne's, here it is (this is the condensed version, if you want to read the long version, email me.):
It all started on Wednesday morning with a routine appointment at the birthing center. (We opted to use a local free-standing birthing center for our prenatal care and birth. This birthing center is a three-story Victorian home. It is overseen by a female doctor, but the main care providers are Certified Nurse midwives and nurses.) I was 41 weeks and 5 days overdue at the time, so after the ordinary check up, they hooked me up to the monitor for a non-stress test. All went well there and baby appeared to doing well. Because I was almost two weeks overdue, they decided to send me to another doctor’s office for a sonogram and a biophysical profile of the baby (which is basically a series of tests which the baby must pass to prove that there is no imminent danger in waiting a few days to deliver) to determine if everything was okay.
Our midwife said for us to go home and if natural labor did not start by
I had trouble sleeping Wednesday night and didn’t end up falling asleep until around
Throughout the afternoon and early evening, the contractions continued to get stronger and I opted to lie in the bath tub for a while to relax. This worked wonders, but when I got out, I was ready to get back in because the contractions were much stronger when I wasn’t in the water. J
Around
The midwife, Norla, checked me and I was at 4 plus cm and my cervix was paper thin. She said I was definitely in active labor and was there to stay! I could tell she was expecting I was going to be there for quite some time, though.
Almost immediately, I got in the Jacuzzi. It was amazing how good the warm water felt! In between contractions, I was able to almost completely relax and Jesse and I were even talking about other things totally unrelated to the birth. Norla went into the other room to fill out some paperwork and when she came back in about 15 minutes or so later, the contractions had greatly intensified. I had only had a few contractions in that time period, but the pressure and intensity had greatly increased. I felt as if the baby was going to explode out of me.
When Norla came back in and watched me go through one contraction, she immediately realized by the way I was acting that I must have progressed quite a bit (she told us this later). She said she wanted to check me again and when she did, she looked at me and said, “You’re almost done!” I could hardly believe my ears. I asked how far I was dilated and I about flipped when she said “9 almost 10 centimeters.” Wow! Was I ever glad we had decided to go to the birthing center when we did. And no wonder I was feeling so much pressure! I was so happy to almost be finished.
Pushing the baby out was the “surprise” for me. I had been fairly well prepared for the labor, but I guess I had not prepared myself for pushing. I soon realized I was going to have to be doing most of the work here. My body had gotten the baby down and ready to come out, but I was going to have to get the baby out. I was a little scared when I realized how much effort I was going to have to extend. I felt tense and nervous about it all. So, for about 15 minutes, I didn’t really push very much and just mentally worked through it all. I had to pray a lot and God just gave me peace. I realized that the baby had to come out and there was only one way—by me pushing! J I had come this far, there was no turning back!
The nurse arrived about this time and she was a huge help and support. Everyone was such an encouragement and they kept coaching me and encouraging me that I could do this. Norla said she saw the head and within a few more contractions, my water broke (we opted to let it break naturally). After a few more contractions, the baby was crowning. The nurse held up a mirror and showed me the baby’s head. That was a great encouragement to me because I knew I was so close to meeting our precious baby. I gave it my all in the next few pushes and she was out! What an incredible feeling to see them hold up our baby for the first time! Almost instinctively, I looked to see what the gender was. I had to look at least three times to be sure she was actually a GIRL! I couldn’t believe my eyes! I looked up at Jesse and said, “It’s a girl!” He gave a shocked expression and had to look for himself to believe it.
What a thrilling moment! Kathrynne Elizabeth, our precious baby girl, had arrived at
I am so grateful to the Lord for a beautiful birth. It was truly an amazing and positive experience. Jesse was a wonderful coach and I was blessed to have such gracious and caring attendants. God was so gracious and we praise Him for His loving favor in giving us the precious gift of Kathrynne Elizabeth Paine. We are truly thrilled and humbled to be her parents and we pray that we can raise her in the ways of the Lord. That she would, as her name means, be a pure vessel, consecrated to God and fit for the Master’s use.
posted by Crystal Paine at 5:05 PM
6 Comments:
aw, i love it! birth stories are the most beautiful thing ever! reagan's birth story is on our site :)
it sounds like you experienced some of the same things i did - not getting any sleep the night before and being exhausted later in labor. next time, i will not be taking walks, going shopping, and cleaning the house in early labor! but, thank God for midwives who will let you sleep during labor (as impossible as that sounds, i know it is possible because i did it for two hours during reagan's birth!).
"41 weeks and 5 days overdue"
Wow, that's got to be a record of some kind, Crystal! ;-)
(sorry, couldn't resist...!)
Carrie, I loved your birth story. Beautiful. I'm a huge natural birth supporter (I understand that it's not always possible, but I think it's a lot more possible than people make it out to be). I'm definitely going to try and take it easier the next time around and sleep when I can-- especially when I am so near delivery!
Natalie: Hilarious-- okay, so maybe it only FELT like that. ;);) Thanks for catching my mistake. :) I still need to work on not making so many typos -- something I am loathe to do.
What a beautiful story! I will have to post my birth stories.
Awww...we share a birthday!
Oh, how fun, Andrea!
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