Squishy Feet

This story begins at 1am on Friday Sept. 18. Well it actually began about ten months ago in a cabin in the woods with lots of snow around. But on the 18th Natalie had her first signs of an imminent birth day. She’d been having minor “surges” all week and we knew the time was near when I headed to work that Thursday night. Natalie called me about 1:30 (I work overnight shifts) and told me that I should get my on-call guy prepped. We decided we would both try and get some more rest and that I would come home near sunrise.

Natalie got a little rest and I had a client wake me up at 3am and basically with that and my excitement I really didn’t get any restful sleep. Natalie called me again around 5am and let me know that contractions had started but that she was handling them well and that if possible I should pick up some biscuits and gravy on my way home. The Old Town Café opens at 6:30am and agreed to have some biscuits and gravy ready at 6:30, perfect! My relief showed up at 6am I hopped on my bike and pedaled to Old Town where I waited outside for a very, very long 15 minutes. Finally they opened the doors and I picked up the Breakfast and headed home.

When I arrived Natalie was reclining in bed listening to whale songs and meditating. She said she was happy to have had the alone time to find her own strength and go inward and tap into her own womanly energy and focus.All morning we

enjoyed time together talking, timing and taking notes on the contractions. Natalie was so confident and focused it was hard for me to know what to do for her. It felt like anything I offered might just break her perfectly natural meditative breathing.

By early afternoon Natalie was having leg pain so we called our Doula Hayley over and got her in the tub to see if it would help. After an hour or so in the tub we decided Natalie should try and walk around some. Contractions had been progressing steadily, getting closer together that is, but when she got out of the tub they spiked some and jumped to 3minutes apart and were very intense. Haley got behind Natalie and pushed in on her hips with both hands to provide some counter-pressure, this provided some welcome relief to the escalating contractions. This counter-pressure became a vital element of our support efforts. Natalie says it made a huge difference for her. This was all around 4:00 or so in the afternoon.

We got Natalie Back in the bathtub to see if contractions would ease back off again, when they continued at about 3 minutes apart we decided it was probably time to head to the Birth Center. Natalie stayed in the tub with Hayley supporting her while I gathered our many things. The

cooler was stuffed with fresh squeezed juices from our friend Heather, home-made calzones for microwaving, fresh fruit, various flavors of popsicle ice cubes, champagne, and some crazy oxygenated water things, and then there were the snacks in the suitcase. Cookies, jerky, granola-bars, ramen, trail mix. One might have thought we were going camping or something. Of course if you know Natalie you might know that she keeps these dry goods pretty close at hand all the time anyway. Somehow I think our overpreparedness allowed Natalie to feel confident and have less to trouble her mind, nonetheless we barely used any of the stuff we

brought but it was there just in case, that's what mattered.

Once I had everything in the car we got Natalie geared up for the ride and made our way to the car. She had several contractions on the way to the car and was able to just lean on me while Hayley or I pushed in on her hips. Once I drove us very slowly to the Hospital. It wasn’t like the race you might see in the movies because, of course, she was so vulnerable I just

wanted to drive as gingerly as possible.

We arrived at the birth center at 5:50pm, Eloisa, one of our attending midwives, checked for

dilation. Natalie was at 4cm, not as much as we’d hoped, but was 80% effaced so a lot of the hard work was done. We immediately got her in the tub where she leaned over the side and I held her from the other side of the tub.

Eventually I got in the tub and there was a little seat where I could sit high

er and she could lean against me with her arms over my forearms or thighs. Later I got all the way down in the tub so that Natalie could recline against me and push against my hands or knees with each contraction. From this position I felt like I could really lead her breathing, groaning Ohm, and relaxing between contractions largely by example. Hayley and the midwives kept offering ice and the cold rag and advice on keeping vocal tones low. Contractions eased up a little and I told her she was over the false summit, i.e. transition, the baby had really dropped and the bag of waters was bulging out with each contraction. She was able to rest better between contractions sometimes sleeping even. So, after much incredible, beautiful, hard work by Natalie our little boy was born with Natalie in my arms at 8:30pm on Friday Sept. 18th.

Katriona, another attending Midwife, lifted him to Natalie’s chest.

We enjoyed a few minutes together in the tub. I got out and changed but Natalie stayed in the tub holding him for some time. After the cord had stopped pulsing I cut it at around 8:45. Soon after, Natalie was reclining in bed holding him and beginning breast-feeding. After we had some alone time as a family, measurements were taken: 9#6oz., 20.5inches long. What a success! It’s now been three days and we’re feeling more blessed with each moment. Natalie and the baby are learning to feed and napping lots.