The birth story of Kathryn Elise Wahlquist

Kathryn Elise Wahlquist's Birth Story

Kathryn was born at 9:34 PM, June 29th weighing 7 lbs 14 ozs and was 19 ¾ inches long.

Labor started lightly on Sunday morning with contractions about 15 – 20 minutes apart. I started feeling the contractions and I thought, “Oh, probably just another round of false labor like I had 2 weeks before.” I did not want to get my hopes up for nothing. :) So we went to church and right around 11:30 AM I noticed them getting a little stronger and they were coming about every 7 – 10 minutes. After church we drove home and took a rest.

Nathaniel told me it would be a good idea to call my midwife, so I called her just to give her a heads up. We spent the rest of the evening at the Wahlquist's. I was still having contractions but they weren’t very painful so I still thought it may be false labor. We walked home and I took a bath and tried to sleep. I was awake for a little while, but I eventually fell asleep still contracting. In the morning they were still coming but were very light. I told Nathaniel maybe he should just go to work and not waste his time off just in case it was false, but he gently reassured me that even If It was false It would be worth staying home with me. :)(Nathaniel told me afterwords that he was pretty sure It was real labor being I was still having contractions) We began timing the contractions and they were about 5 – 7 minutes apart. Nathaniel told me to go ahead and call Renee to give her another update. By now the contractions were stronger and I could talk through them but would rather not. I wanted to go on a walk to see If the contractions would get stronger or stop, so Nathaniel and I went up to the Wahlquists' stopping along the way when I had a contraction. We walked home after a short break at the Wahlquists'. Mrs. Wahlquist had the great idea of sending Stephen, Deborah and Elisha over to come play Canasta with us to help me get my mind off the contractions. They came and we played. I stopped a few times during the game for the contractions. The Wahlquist's were so sweet to bring us lunch and we kept playing the game after lunch until It was getting close to the time for Renee (our midwife) to come. I was just starting to convince myself that this was real labor and that I could have the baby before too long. Renee' came and checked my cervix and she looked a little startled and looked at me and said, ”Let me double check this before I tell you how far you are.” She went on to say, “You are 7 cm dilated!!!! By how you were acting, I would have guessed 2 or 3 cm. You should have this baby in about 3 – 4 hours!” I was extremely surprised and reality started to set in place .: )

The afternoon came and went. My contractions were definitely stronger and I would sit on my birthing ball or lean up against it and rock as I was going through them.

Renee had the birthing pool all set up and she checked me again at 7:30 to find that I was still 7 cm dilated. Renee' filled the pool and told me that they needed to break my water in order to get labor progressing. She said that the contractions would get a whole lot stronger after my water broke. About 2 contractions after my water was broken they were very, very strong. I had to put all my focus into relaxing and reminding myself that the baby would be coming soon.

I got into the birthing pool and kept laboring for about an 1.5 hours. Renee checked me to find that Kathryn had rotated, positioning her back against mine. I was having back labor. I was told I had to get out of the pool and try some different positions to get her to turn back around so that her back was facing my stomach.

I climbed out with Nathaniel's help and was placed on the bed. I continued pushing the baby out while Renee tried to turn the baby. After about 15 minutes of pushing Kathryn was born!!!!