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!!!!
Oh Kate! Such a wonderful birth story!! In the pictures it does not even look like if you just had a baby you were all smiles :) I know that that is just the way it should be!!!! I am so happy for you!
ReplyDeleteKind Regards,
Kezia
Thank you so much for commenting Kezia!! It always makes blogging so much funner when I get them. I'm glad you enjoyed the story.
DeleteBlessings,
Katelyn