Isaacs Birth Story: Part One

 It was April 28th, a Sunday. I was 39 weeks and 4 days pregnant. Gabriel and I decided to go to confession that night before Mass because we knew it would be my last chance to before our baby decided to come. 

In between confession and Mass, we were able to spend a few minutes together in the church courtyard. It was dark and there were string lights decorating the area. We found a bench to sit on. 

I told Gabriel that I thought our son was ready to come now, and he was just waiting for me to make it to confession first, and he agreed. I felt an overwhelming sense of peace, and I was ready for what was to come. 

I eventually realized that the bench we had been sitting on was near the second station of the cross, where Jesus accepts the weight of his cross. This station calls for reflection on sacrifice and self-denial for the sake of love, much like the pain of childbirth that I had been preparing myself to undergo. 

That night I cried as I walked in line to receive the Eucharist, feeling the presence of Jesus. I cried from then until the end of Mass. I tried to open my mouth to sing along to ‘What a Beautiful Name’ but I couldn’t form the words without releasing sobs. 

After reciting our St. Michael, we made our way back to the car. The entirety of our walk Gabriel couldn’t stop talking about how there was nothing more beautiful than seeing your full term pregnant wife crying after receiving the Eucharist. 

The next night, a little over 24 hours later, I experienced a bloody show, meaning I was in early labor.

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Once I noticed the small amount of bleeding I immediately notified the on call midwife. I was told to get as much rest as possible that night and to notify them when I started to experience contractions. I knew rest was so important in order to reach my goal of an unmedicated birth in a freestanding birth center, so I went right to bed after telling my husband Gabriel what was going on. 

I had my first contraction at 6am while I was in bed. They continued to come, although they were easy to work through and far apart. I felt them in my lower abdomen and my lower back. I texted the on call midwife at 6:30 to let them know my contractions had begun. I was told to keep them updated and let them know when I was at a 4-1-1 pattern, with contractions four minutes apart lasting a minute for at least an hour. 

Knowing that there was a high probability that I would move into active labor late the next night, I stayed in bed as much as I could and tried to sleep in between contractions. I only got out of bed for a little bit at a time for meals, but I wanted to prioritize my rest. 

Gabriel called out of work that day to stay home with me. He left to get me some snacks that I wanted later in the afternoon, and when he came back I took a shower and straightened my hair. I started to log my contractions with my app not long after this because they seemed to be coming closer together. 

Instead of just breathing through them, I started to need to make low moaning sounds to cope with them. I also had Gabriel apply counter pressure to my lower back during my contractions which helped with the pain a lot. At this point, my contractions were coming every ten to twelve minutes. 

The birth center would allow me to eat freely during my stay, but I ate one last full meal because I didn’t know if I would feel up to eating much when things got more intense. After I ate something, I brought my birth ball into my bedroom for some quiet time. 

I decided to get my Bible out and read some scriptures that would help me prepare for the birth. The ones that helped me the most were “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” (Philippians 4:13), “perhaps this is the moment for which you have been created” (Esther 4:14), and “for I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us” (Romans 8:18). 

I also meditated on a quote from St. Joan of Arc that had been important to me all throughout my pregnancy, “I will not be afraid. I was born to do this”. 

Gabriel and I both got in bed at 10pm for one last attempt to get some rest, we both knew I wouldn’t get through the entire night in bed and would need to start moving around to cope soon. 

It was very hard for me to rest because my contractions were intensifying and were coming closer together. At 1:30, my app told me I was in active labor based on their guidelines of 5-1-1. I knew I had a little longer to go before being able to go to the birth center as I was only fifteen minutes away. 

I got into the shower in the hopes that it would soothe my back pain, but the hot water instead intensified my contractions so I got out. 

The next hour or so I started to experience inconsistent contractions. I would have a few contractions that were only two minutes apart, and then I would have another one five minutes apart after that. 

I decided to wake Gabriel up to help me decide what to do, and we decided to get ahold of the on call midwife because of my contractions that were very close together even though I had not met the criteria yet because of my few contractions that had remained five minutes apart. 

The on call midwife, Heather, answered the phone at 2:30am and I sent her screenshots of my contraction tracker app and she took a few minutes to ask me questions and review the photos. 

She told me she could meet us at the birth center if we wanted to, or that I could stay home for a bit longer and do the Miles Circuit exercises to help make my contractions more consistent. 

I said that we could wait a bit longer, because I was scared of having her come out to the birth center too early and needing to send me home. 

Once the phone call ended and I reviewed the Miles Circuit, I felt like I was way too antsy to do these exercises, because one of them consisted of laying on my side for a total of thirty minutes. 

I texted this to Heather and she immediately called me back and said she could meet us at the birth center in thirty five minutes. 

I changed into comfortable clothes and we grabbed our birth bag and headed out the door. I was preparing myself to have to deal with at least four contractions in the car, but only one came. 

I told Gabriel I was worried that I wasn’t having as many contractions in the car than I expected to in a fifteen minute car ride. 

I even told him to not worry about bringing the birth bag inside because I thought that we might have to be sent home. I needed to be at least 6cm dilated to be admitted in the birth center, and I didn’t think the events of the car ride had been a good sign. 

We entered through the side of the small building into the room that I had decided to birth in during one of my prenatal appointments. The room was spacious and had a large bed, a birthing tub, a few comfortable chairs, a couch, and a private corner with a toilet. The room smelled like lavender and it was decorated nicely with artwork and pillows. 

Heather had me lie on the bed so that she could give me a cervical check. This was my first cervical check ever, as I had decided not to have any during my prenatal appointments. 

She asked me if I wanted to know how far along I was. When I asked if I was far along enough to not need to be sent home, she said yes, so I said I did not need to know how dilated I was. 

I felt that I was doing well so far coping with my contractions, and I knew arriving to the birth center was just the very beginning of the hard part of labor which could last much longer, and I didn’t want the knowledge of how dilated I was to mess with where I was mentally. 

What she did tell me though was that my cervix was very thin and that my bag of waters was bulging. 

I had gotten through early labor, and I was now officially in the first stage of active labor, where things would get much more intense. 

I knew the hard part was just beginning, but I had no idea that I was about to experience a labor that would fail to progress, a water bag that would refuse to break naturally, and a complication that would lead my midwife to use a technique that she hadn’t needed to make use of in the entirety of her ten years in the field of midwifery.

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I decided to break Isaacs birth story up into different parts because I had so much to share! Part Two should be out soon!

Thank you for taking the time to read my blog and may God bless you!