May 26, 2011 {Diana & Ben: A beautiful waterbirth to welcome this precious baby girl.}
Be sure to check out the beautiful slideshow of this birth here: Tessa Rose
Being pregnant for nine whole months always seems to feel like a year, but when you go an extra week past your due date, it seems like an eternity! That’s exactly how I felt. My due date was May 19th, 2011 and for weeks my bags had been packed with a variety of outfits that were for our baby girl and changes of clothes for myself of course. They sat by our bedroom door, waiting for the moment for labor to begin, so they could be placed in the car. To our surprise 3,4,5,6 days had passed and my one week past due date appointment came and I was beyond miserable. I had been trying to jump start labor by many different methods, but nothing worked for me! As my appointment approach, I began to wonder, what could happen if I didn’t go into labor on my own? I was fully prepared mentally, physically, and emotionally to give birth at Birthways Birthing Center in a tub! I didn’t want that to change, so I was hoping to hear that I was beginning to dilate pass 2 cm. As my appointment got on its way, I was given information on what to do if I didn’t go into labor on my own before 42 weeks. I was given a few more suggestions and then the answer to one of many important questions was finally answered, I was dilated to 4!! Whoo Hoooo! 🙂 I was so happy because that meant progress was finally starting. By this time it was 2 pm in the afternoon, May 25th.
We arrive home from the appointment and we (Ben and I) put our daughter, Mya down for a nap. As soon as she went to sleep, so did I! I was so tired and figured I better take advantage of getting a nap in while the little one was sleeping. Before I laid down, I decided to take Evening Primrose capsules. I was told it could help speed things up naturally and after speaking to my midwife, she said it was fine to take them. So I decided to take 2 capsules. Then off to sleep I went.
It was around 4:30 pm when I woke up, I was still sleepy but I decided to get up cause Mya was gonna wake up at any moment. As I sat on the couch, watching Oprah’s final show, I started feeling tightness. I didn’t make a big deal at first, but after 10 minutes of it I began to wonder, could this be it? Ben and Mya were still sleeping, so I started timing the contractions. They began to be 6-7 minutes apart. A half an hour went by and the contractions started to get closer, now they were 5-6 minutes apart. I continued to time them for the next hour and they were consistently 5 minutes apart and lasting 1 minute long. By this time, I knew this was it!! We were gonna meet our baby really soon!! 🙂
By this time, it was around 6pm, and I told Ben about my contractions and we should get a sitter for Mya just in case the contractions really progressed. So he went to talk to our sitter, who thankfully is one of our neighbors, and I call my midwife Christina. I explained everything to her and we both agreed I would stay home for a little longer, unless I felt like I needed to go in. Since I was in no mood to cook dinner, Ben ordered pizza. I didn’t have an appetite so I just continued to drink water and rest as best as I could. At this time, I also called my friend, Synethia, who is also a photographer. We had discussed that she would take pictures of my labor and delivery, so she was on her way to meet us.
Now it was around 7-7:30pm. I was doing some last minutes things around the apartment, getting clothes out for Mya, and packing up our food and drinks for the trip. By this time, my contractions were becoming more and more intense, where I began not being able to talk through sentences and had to stop if I were walking. My heart began to race, my mind began to race because all of the sudden, I felt like I was not prepared for labor and delivery! I started getting anxious, nervous, and excited.
When it was 8 pm we decided to put Mya to bed. We did our normal bedtime routine and off to bed she went. Shortly after, our sitter came over for the night. I called my midwife once more to let her know that the contractions were getting stronger and closer. She told us to meet her at the Birthing Center around 9pm. Once I felt like we had every thing ready and everything that I needed, we left our home and headed to Birthways.
As we arrived to the birthing center, my excitement had grew more, along with my nervousness. As I walked into the Birthing center, I was calm and relaxed even though I had the complete opposite emotions 2 minutes ago. I was greeted by both of my midwives, Christina and Kristin. I got settled in the birthing room and was checked to see how far I was dilated too and to my surprise, I was dilated to 6 cm! Right away I was so happy because instantly I began thinking I could go through labor within a few hours. After being examined I was walking around, letting my hips open and helping the baby start descending downward. I was handling everything very calmly at this point. Whenever I had a contraction, I would stop, breath deeply til it was over then continued walking. It wasn’t til around 11 or maybe even midnight when my water had broke on its own. I happened to be standing up then all of the sudden, pop!!! That’s when all the real fun began.
Now the real intense contractions started. All I wanted to do is to lie down on my side. I also felt nauseous, so I tried eating some fruit, but that was a wrong decision!! I continued walking throughout the birthing center until I had enough of that. By this time, I’m guessing it’s around 2 in the morning and my midwife had filled the tub up with water. Shortly after getting in I felt a huge relief of pain gone. My muscle were becoming nice and relaxed and even though the contraction were pretty painful, they were much more manageable while I was in the water. I stayed in the tub for a little while, then decided to get out because I started feeling really sleepy! I walked around some more, sat on a birthing ball and laid down a few times. Even though I wanted to lie down during most of my contractions, I couldn’t because the baby’s heart rate kept slowing down. So most of the time, I sat on the birthing ball or got back into the tub.
I remember looking at the clock a million times during this whole labor. Every time I looked at the time, I was thinking, ‘Wow, time is going so fast. I wanna have her really soon, but I’m not exactly to that point quite yet!’ It was 4am and I was becoming discouraged, I felt like I couldn’t handle being in labor anymore and I was definitely wanting all of this to be over!! Needless to say, welcome to transition labor!! Frankly, I was on the home stretch!!
Around 4:30 am, that’s when I starting feeling the urge to push. I told the midwives and they examined me and told me I was at 9 cm, but if I felt like I needed to push, go ahead. During this time, I was in the water. Ben was sitting behind me and I just sunk into him. I held on to his biceps and whenever I needed to push, I just grabbed on and gave it what I could. At first, I wasn’t getting anywhere. I could feel my body wanting to push this baby out, but I had to put more oomph into my pushing. I rested for a few minutes, then I was told to give a BIG push the next time I felt the urge. Well that next push brought me minutes away from giving birth! I felt another push right away and went for it and at this time, I was able to feel my baby’s head crowning! It was so amazing, I was on so many levels at this point. This was the moment that Ben and I had been waiting for, the birth of our baby girl. The next push, I gave it everything I had and more! Right then, our baby girl was born in the water!
Tessa Rose Lintner, was born at 5:05 am, May 26th, 2011. We just bonded with her in the water for a few minutes, just staring into her alert eyes and welcoming her into our family! Shortly after that, we (Tessa, Ben and I) got out of the tub and got situated on the bed. Ben cut Tessa’s umbilical cord after it stopped pulsating and right after that I delivered the placenta. I was rearrange on the bed again and that’s when Tessa nursed for the first time! She was a natural! It was simply beautiful. She nursed for 20 minutes or so. I was so in love with her already! I was in complete awe with her. After she ate and rested, she was weighed and measured. Our baby girl weighed in at 8 pounds 12 ounces and was 20.5 inches long. Her daddy got her dressed in her very first outfit to be brought home.
It was only 4 hours after Tessa had been born and we were on our way home! I was so exhausted and just wanted to snuggle up with the baby and sleep! So when I got home, that’s what I did! That afternoon, Mya got to enjoy her baby sister some more and instantly she was in love with her as well! This was the first day of the beginning of our family of 4 and I couldn’t have been any more happier or more in love with my family!!!
I just want to add, I couldn’t have done this without the wonderful support of both of my midwives, Christina and Kristin! Throughout my pregnancy and more so during labor! They gave me all the support and encouragement I needed when I felt like giving up! Also, Ben was awesome. He did everything he could do, along with encouraging me when I felt too weak or was in too much pain. I also want to add Synethia, she took all the pictures when I was in Labor. The pictures are fantastic and the video just makes me cry every time I see it!! Thank You ALL!!! You all helped to make this a forever lasting wonderful memory, that I will cherish for the rest of my life! Thanks again!!!
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