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Beckett Nolan Sex: boy Born: 31 July, 2008 Age: 3 years & 200 days Birthday in: 165 days Starsign: Leo Development: See the 32 months page. Biggest achievement so far: -

Birth details

Original due date: August 1 2008
Type of delivery: Vaginal (without pain relief)
Duration of labor: 29 hours
Weight @ birth: 7 lbs 1 oz
Length @ birth: 20.5 in

Beckett Nolan`s birthstory

I suppose everything actually started late Tuesday evening - my back started hurting on the right side and I felt a little crampy, but I brushed it off and assumed that the baby was pressing on a nerve. I went to Michael's playoff soccer game and what a game it was - so exciting (I almost wonder if it didn't help really kick labor into high gear - that along with the pedi with the extra ankle rub from earlier that day). Anyway, we got home really late from the game and I started feeling crampy and some intermittant discomfort, but not contractions persay. I had a feeling something was going on though and told Michael that although I wasn't sure I had a feeling labor was starting. We went to bed around 12:30 and by 1:30 I was having contractions that were starting in my back and I knew it was the real thing. So, I got out of bed and came into the living room to start timing the contractions on the contraction master website. They were 5 min apart and regular! So after about an hour of regular contractions I woke Michael up and told him that I was fairly confident that I was indeed in labor and he started timing the contractions. We called Erin, our doula, at 4 am and I told her what was going on. She asked if she should come now and I told her to rest easy I wanted to be sure it wasn't going to stop before I called her out. So, I made myself sleep for a little while because I knew I was going to need all my energy if it continued to progress. We both slept until almost 7 am and I awoke because the contractions were a little hard to sleep through at that point. I started timing the contractions again and they were still coming every 5 min - I remembering thinking to myself that maybe I would be one of those women who had really fast labors since the contractions had started out at 5 min apart and about 1 min long......HA!

We called Erin and told her that things were still going strong so she came over to the house. I spent the morning nesting and getting things ready around the house - anything to keep my mind busy and my body upright to let gravity do it's thing. By about 1 pm my contractions were still in the same place - every 5 min and about the same strength so Erin had me take another nap and told us to call her as soon as I woke up and we would start again. I slept until about 3:30 pm until the contractions woke me up. I still didn't feel like they were getting overwhelmingly strong so I called Erin and told her to hang tight - we could manage here alone for a little while. By about 5:30 I called her back and reported that I could feel they were slowly begining to strengthen and to go ahead and come back. After she arrived we went for a nice long walk around the neighborhood and I felt like that really helped move things forward. I had some dinner and when I went to the bathroom there was more of what sort of looked like my plug on the toilet paper, but had a little more fresh pinkness to it and Erin said that was a very good sign and that we should starting thinking about going to the hospital to be checked for progress very soon. So we loaded up the car and started toward the hospital, I was so afraid I hadn't made much progress even though I had been having contractions for hours - it was about 10:30 pm when we arrived at the hospital and a wonderful nurse named Judy took me back to check my progress. My contractions were 3 min apart and according to her I was bascially completely effaced and 4 heading towards 5 cm dilated!! I had to sit with the belt on for a while to see how the baby was tolerating the contractions, then they took me to my room. We gave the nurse our birth plan and you can imagine my excitement when she told me that she had delivered all 5 of her children naturally and how good of a job I was doing. She was so supportive, I can't even express my gratitude toward her.

To get things moving Erin and I walked the halls for about an hour while Michael went to the car to get the bags and get the room set up. The contractions were defintitely getting stronger and Erin had to rub my back to ease the intensity. It was amazing how fast time seemed to move once I was in active labor. We arrived at the hospital at 10:30, next thing I knew it was almost 1:30 am and I was ready to get into the jacuzzi. The water felt wonderful and really helped me ease the contractions. I could feel things getting really strong and started using some techniques I had learned in the Ina Maye Gaskin book - I found myself using really low groaning noises and blowing out like a horse... it was amazing how far I got using those techniques. I asked Erin if she thought it was ok to get a check to see how much progress I had made after a while and she said if that was what I wanted she would call the nurse. So I made way out of the tub (I was freezing after I got out so the Judy, the nurse, brought me some heated blankets) and got situated for an internal exam. It was about 3:45 at that point and I was relieved to find out that I was about 8 cm. Erin asked if I wanted Dr Helmrich to come in and break my water to help push me the final 2 cm quickly and I agreed - I was ready to have this baby! While I waited for the Dr to come in and break my water I started to feel really nauseous and told Erin. She grabbed the a bucket and I got soooo sick. Poor Michael, I don't think he knew what to think, but seemed unsure but relieved when Erin and Judy told him that it was a very good sign that things were really progressing. It took Dr Helmrich a while to get there almost an hour it seemed, but he did a check and said I was unevenly dilated - I guess I had a lip on one side? Anyway he said I was a 7 on one side and 9 on the other - I was deflated because I thought it would take forever to get to 10 at that rate. He broke my water and said everything looked good and he was gone. After my water had been broken the pressure was unreal. The contractions were much more intense and I was hanging on Michael's neck while Erin rubbed my back. Then I sat on the birthing ball for a while while my back was rubbed. Finally Erin recommended that I get back into the tub for a while and that I would probably make the final cm in no time at all. Things were so intense I really started to doubt my decision to do natural birth for a while. At one point in the tub I was in tears and told Erin and Michael to "just cut him out" that "I can't do it anymore". She asked if I was feeling "different", and I told her I wasn't sure, but the pressure was even greater and I was starting to feel a slight urge to bear down - she told me to blow out candles when I was having a contraction and to just wait it out a few more contractions and she was sure I would be ready to push - so I did. Finally about 10 min later she got me out of the tub and she and Judy wrapped me up in warm blankets again. I was so out of sorts I couldn't even get the gown back on before I got onto the bed. Judy did another internal exam and said I was clear for take off - no lip, I was completely dilated!

This may sound strange, but I thought I would automatically know how to push effectively - uuhhh.... not so much. Erin and Judy worked with me until I finally got a good feel for it. I started out inclined and holding the back of my thighs, then they put up the birth bar and dropped the foot of the bed and I tried squatting (After 28+ hours of labor I was just too tired to squat and push effectively) so I went back to inclined laying back and started grabbing the fronts of my knees and that really seemed to work. Michael fed me ice chips between every contraction - I was so thirsty and HOT!! I flung the blankets off of me and butt naked continued to push - Michael got a cool rag for my head. I had pushed for about 45 min before I had moved the baby down most of the way and Judy did a visual check and said she could see hair and was calling for the Dr. God I was tired. He came in and saw that I was really read to go and got me set up to deliver. They kept a check on the baby's heartrate and he seemed to be showing some signs of distress so they put the oxygen mask on me to help get some pure O2 to the baby and me, I even took a rest through a few of the contractions to give us a small break. I could feel the Dr stretching and massaging my perenium as I had requested that I not be cut unless under extreme circumstances. Finally they told me that I was so close and they could see the top of his head, I was actually able to put my hand down there and feel it! Inspired by the progress, I really put my effort into the next contractions and pushed his head out. The Dr asked me to stop pushing and found that his cord was wrapped around his neck - Helmrich asked me to push VERY lightly as he unwrapped the cord and then I was clear to push him on out. What a crazy feeling it was to feel his body leave mine - it was so sudden and amazing. They suctioned his mouth and put my beautiful son on my tummy and it was the most important moment of my life so far. He had stopped crying and I felt like we were laying there staring at each other and drinking one another in. I cried a little because it was so overwhelming. Michael cut his cord and the Dr delivered the placenta - I was hardly aware of anything else going on because it seemed like I was in another world holding and staring into my son's eyes. At some point I became aware that things weren't going as well as they should on my end. Apparently I was bleeding a lot more than they would have liked and were really working to control the situation. They took my son to warm him and give him a little extra pure oxygen since the cord had been around his neck and started rubbing on my uterus to get it to contract. It took a while to get things stablized, and they ended up putting pitocin in the IV to force my uterus to contract and control the bleeding. I ended up with a small tear that had to be sewn up (I didn't feel it at all - had no idea I had torn until they were sewing me up). Then they were done - I had delivered our son, happy and healthy (apgar scores 8 & 9).

After everyone had gone Michael and I sat down and snuggled with the newest member of our family and admired our work. We looked over the names we had brought with us to choose from and within moment had named our son - Beckett Nolan Phillips. He is so precious and beautiful and my life will never again be the same... I couldn't be happier.

Not sure if anyone will actually read this long winded experience, but it's something I don't ever want to forget. It was and still is a surreal experience that I feel so honored to have been blessed with such an opportunity. I hope other women can take some inspiration away from reading this - that natural childbirth IS possible even in a hospital setting if you choose your Dr carefully (they aren't all supportive of natural childbirth - no matter what they say) and research your hospital carefully. I highly recommend habing a doula - Michael is great and he doesn't lose his cool very easily, but he might have been lost during the final stage of transition without Erin. A girlfriend of mine works as a L&D nurse and was shocked to hear that I planned to go natural, I think she really had her doubts as to whether or not I would make it. We spoke later that day after his birth and she was amazed and asked if I would do it again. I couldn't answer that question so soon after his birth, but as I sit here only days removed from the situation I can honestly say "YES!!" I would and will do it again.

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