Long awaited (“past due”) Waterbirth of Luna Fae
Finally sharing my birth story! When we hit our due date the day before (9/29) we had kinda surrendered to what we believed was a fact that baby girl would be an October baby. That night I lost a few good chunks of my mucus plug but nothing else had been happening that day, even with 4 weeks of on and off prodromal labor, so I took my anxiety meds to help me sleep and went to bed about 8 pm. I got the best night of sleep I had the last couple weeks and woke up about 4:30 am on 9/30 thinking “Holy crap! I’m technically past due 😬”.
I felt like I had to poop, which was pretty normal, and had awful diarrhea in between what I realized were 2-3 contractions. These were different than what I had been dealing with for weeks, they started in my sacrum/tailbone and wrapped around my hips, were more intense, and were exactly 5 mins apart.
My doula, Zoe, had a marathon to run that day so I knew she wouldn’t make it until later so I figured I’d hop in the tub and see if they slowed down any. They didn’t. They only got more intense. I couldn’t get out of the tub by myself so I called for my hubby a few times until he finally woke up. By the time he came and helped me out, I was doubling over in pain and crying (kinda freaking out/ kinda frustrated hoping this really was it because if it wasn’t, I might die 😂).
I guess he had said “It’s go time!” after he helped me out and we decided to call my mom, who raced into town, and the midwife(Jolene). It was 5:30 am at this point. The midwife told us to set up the pool and give her another call. I also called my photographer, Kaylee, (who would also end up being my doula since Zoe couldn’t make it) and she also got ready and headed in.
Lee was a little anxious so I told him to go take a breath and I’d set the pool up and call him when I needed him. I almost got it all but needed his help re-inflating the floor of the pool. I let Zoe know what was going on while I was setting the pool up, since her and Kaylee are great friends of mine, and we joked about how we called/jinxed it because no one ever thought I would make it TO my due date, nonetheless over.
My mom got there by 6, Kaylee got there at 6:30, and my midwife arrived at 7. I had lavender essential oil in my diffuser, candles lit, Christmas lights on, dining room light dimmed, and Echosmith playing on my bluetooth speakers, which eventually was a repeat of Bright by Echosmith until I turned the music off. Ira was watching Pokemon in the living room until Kaylee turned it off later when things progressed. I was laboring all over the house, mostly in the kitchen and living room.
When Kaylee arrived, my contractions spaced out for a few minutes and then picked right back up again. She was amazing at doubling as my photographer and doula and started counter pressure during contractions as soon as they picked back up. I tried to eat before Jolene arrived but I had absolutely no focus so I ate a CBD honey stick while going from resting on the couch to rolling over and leaning over the back of the couch during contractions.
By this point they were 2-3 mins apart, I had ZERO focus on anything else and was beginning to become very uncomfortable anywhere. I started pacing between the kitchen and the living room trying to find comfort and started stopping at my birth alter next to the pool, leaning on the pool, during contractions. About 7:30ish (I had stopped paying attention to anything but me, baby, and labor) I asked to get in the pool and we finished filling it and I got in.
It helped, but my back contractions were still getting intense. Our older daughter, Ira, really wanted in the pool, too, so I let her in but when she couldn’t stop causing waves in the pool, causing my contractions to feel worse, she had to get out and go up to her room. My mom and Lee took turns hanging out with her during my labor (and my mom was with her upstairs when I gave birth).
At first I had gotten in the oval pool sideways so I could push my feet against one side and my back against the other during contractions and at some point I started turning over onto my knees leaning against the front of the pool during contractions and leaning against the front of the pool. I labored in there for maybe an hour or a little less and asked to be checked around 8:30ish because I knew my contractions were getting even more intense and after a slow progression with my first, I just wanted to know how much longer I had. I was 7 cms!
Just a couple days before at my prenatal, I was 2.5-3 cms, so this was all going much quicker than my first. After getting checked I ended up in a squatting position leaning against the front of the pool (and man did my calves feel that for a few days!).
I held onto Lee’s leg while he simultaneously fanned me and put the eme bag under me when I asked because I was puking from over heating in between a few contractions. Jolene would come over with my peppermint oil when I got nauseated which was wonderful until it didn’t work anymore. Little did I know, baby girl was finally making her way past my hips and contractions would change and I would start pushing just a few contractions later!
I tried to allow my body to push her out without my force but after baby crowning and going back up a few times, I realized I needed to push a little more. When watching the video later we realized she had a nuchal arm across her face making it difficult as well as an “amniotic sac of steel” according to my midwife.
Once I roared and screamed for a few pushes, my water broke and I had maybe a couple more pushes before her head came out and the next contraction/push that arm and elbow flew out, everything almost went in slow-mo and she came out, I turned over and grabbed her saying “HI BABY!” She had a thick coat of vernix on her back AND SO. MUCH. DARK HAIR! She was born at 9:08 am.
I birthed our placenta in the pool and then we got out and laid on the couch for a while before being really examined past temps and bp. When we weighed and measured her she was 7 lbs 14 oz (almost exactly 2 lbs bigger than my 5 lbs 15 oz first) and 20.25″ (first was 18.5″). I couldn’t believe how big she was! I had zero tears, just 2 skid marks because she came SO FAST. From waking up with contractions to the baby being born was 4.5 hours!
Miss Luna Fae was born at 9:08 am on September 30, 2017, 1 day after our due date, at 7 lbs 14 oz, 20.25″ long.
Megan Smith
