Martha Ann's Birth Story

I had several weeks of prodromal labor this time around, where I’d have hours-long stretches of time-able contractions, but they wouldn’t grow in intensity or closer together. To avoid getting in my head each time over whether I was actually in labor, my motto was to ignore the contractions until I couldn’t. Generally speaking, real labor can’t be ignored. ;)

By about 8 or 9 am on the morning of Martha’s birth, I was in early labor. I was 41+2. My contractions weren’t to the point that I needed to stop and work through them, but occasionally I found myself needing to focus on my breath, and on keeping my muscles relaxed.

It was VBS week at school, and on the drive to drop the kids off, I distinctly remember two or three contractions where I had to work very hard to stay relaxed. I’ve always found contractions in the car to be distinctly uncomfortable, mainly because I can’t move, but this was my first clue that possibly these would become contractions that couldn’t be ignored.

A friend at school met me in the parking lot and offered to drop the kids off after school. I’m so thankful she did. All morning I worked slowly around the house, wondering if and when I should call Craig and let him know it would be wise to head home.

Around lunch time, I was video chatting with a friend out of state, and she watched me pause to breathe through a contraction. “You need to call Craig,” she said smiling, having already birthed three babies by that point. I decided I would when I got off the phone with her, but less than five minutes later, he pulled into our driveway. It was a Thursday, his last day of work for the week, and he’d taken a half day off to be home with me. His timing was impeccable. :)

Not long after he arrived, the big kids were dropped off from VBS, and at that point, I was ready to step away and labor alone. Craig took over food and kid care, and I went upstairs for a few hours. I spent time working slowly through the Miles Circuit, moving and stretching on a birth ball, and focused on keeping my body and muscles relaxed and in motion.

Craig checked on me periodically, and recognized that things were progressing. He arranged for the kids to head over to my parents, and I believe he called our midwife team between 4 and 5 pm. By about that time, I was beginning to find it difficult to relax through contractions—they had become more uncomfortable—and I filled our tub with hot water. Hot water was truly the very best pain relief and support for staying relaxed. As soon as I was in the tub and I felt how much relief the water brought, I knew I would be able to make it through to birth.

I committed to continuing to move, even though I was in the tub, and change positions at least every five contractions to help give the baby room to descend. I wondered if maybe part of the reason I’d had so much prodromal labor was because the baby was wrapped in the cord, and it had needed time to stretch.

I’d started off labor listening to female power songs (don’t knock it till you try it—there’s nothing like powering through a contraction with This Is What You Came For with Calvin Harris blasting in your ears), and then moved on to my birth playlist of worship music as I needed to become more focused. At this point, when I got in the tub, I transitioned to the Christian Hypnobirthing app, which included an amazing playlist of peaceful music and Scripture reading about God’s presence with me, his good plan, his strength in my weakness and how I did not need to be afraid. I’d listened to these tracks fairly consistently throughout pregnancy, and as I did, I would intentionally practice deep breathing, relaxing muscles and releasing tension in my body. This practice was invaluable for labor.

My midwives arrived an hour to an hour and a half later, and they were so peaceful and quiet, I almost didn’t know they’d arrived. They checked my blood pressure and the baby’s heart tones, and then let me labor peacefully on my own. I tend to labor more easily when I don’t feel watched, or like I’m on the clock. I’m not sure I expected to need as much solitude as I did, but I found I was far more focused and relaxed through contractions when there was no audience. They came and checked on me regularly, but in such a quiet and unobtrusive way that my focus was never broken.

I would describe labor as very intense and incredibly hard work, but not painful. The mental and physical preparation I was able to do before birth made all the difference… it truly matters what we think as we approach hard things. God did not make mistakes when he designed pregnancy and birth, and he was there through all of it.

At some point I remember verbalizing a fear that I was laboring hard but wasn’t dilating—this happened in my labor with Hannah. Looking back, I’m guessing this was when I was nearing transition. We’d done no cervical checks at my request, but maybe around 9 pm (I think?), I started wondering if it would be wise to know where my body was at. I was feeling a LOT of pressure and for the first time was struggling to relax through contractions.

We talked it through during a break between contractions and decided to do a cervical check. But in order to do one, I needed to fully turn around in the tub, and it took me several contractions to maneuver. Just as I finished moving, on the next contraction, my water broke with a pop, and then it was time. The midwives called for Craig—he’d checked in on me periodically as well, but knew I preferred to labor alone, so he was downstairs cleaning the kitchen. :)

He came upstairs as I began pushing—really my body felt like it was pushing on its own, and I just pushed along with it. Martha Ann was born 16 minutes later, on July 27 at 8:58 pm. 

She was 9 lbs 10 oz, 22.5 inches long. She was wrapped in her cord, as I suspected, but this is a variation of normal and did not cause a problem. She latched quickly, and then after a bit we moved to a lazy boy chair in our room.  

About an hour after birth, my placenta wouldn’t detach, and we ended up transferring me via ambulance for a manual removal (0/10 stars, would not recommend, but thankful to have avoided a surgical procedure) in order to stop hemorrhaging. I stayed overnight for observation and signed out the following morning.

In many ways, I feel like we got the best of both worlds. Midwifery care allowed Martha’s birth to be so gentle and peaceful and unhurried. Standard OB practice likely would have wanted to induce me a week or a week and a half before, but Martha was wrapped several times in her cord, and that could very possibly have caused a different emergency. The extra time and prodromal labor at the end of pregnancy allowed my body time for the cord to stretch so she could be born with no complications. And I am grateful for modern medical care, which we utilized as soon as it was needed, in order to stop an emergency.

We are so thankful she’s here, and I have zero regrets.