On Monday afternoon (the 15th) I went in for my doctor's appointment since I was 1 week 3 days overdue. We did all of the stress tests on the baby to see how he was doing in there and they said he was doing just great and not sure why he didn't want to come out! But regardless, we were essentially given a 72 hour countdown at the Birth Center before we would get sent over to the hospital to be induced. “Time to get this baby to come out" they said! I was dilated about 1-2 cm, the midwife scraped my membrane, looked at Eric and said" I did what I could to help her out, you know what you have to do to help her out", and also suggested Castor Oil and Acupuncture before sending us on our way. That evening I did feel like I was pretty sure I was having a couple of contractions, but they would maybe only happen 15-20 minutes...
I woke up Tuesday morning (the 16th) and didn't really feel like I was having contractions, but Eric and I decided we were gunna get this baby out of me! Eric “did his job", then we went on a long walk (taking any stairs we came across), and came back home to make a good hearty breakfast. After breakfast (11 a.m.) I took my 1st 2oz dose of Castor Oil mixed with juice. Then I called and left a message with the recommended acupuncturist to see how soon they could see me. At about noon, they called me back and said that they had a cancellation so they could see me at 3 p.m. I said “I’ll be there". At about 12:30 pm, I pulled out the breast pump to give “nipple stimulation" a go. Five minutes on the pump and I exclaimed to Eric "I think my water just broke"! He turned around, I stood up, Eric looked at me, got a big grin across his face and said" Good job babe"!
We called the midwife, who was very excited for us, but reminded us that " since my water had broke, we had a 24 hour window to get him out before I would need to go to the hospital" so " best to keep doing everything we can to keep the ball rolling". She said that if I thought I could stomach it at all to go ahead and still take the 2nd dose of Castor Oil, and to start watching my contractions and give her a call in a couple hours, or when my contractions were at 4-1-1. I got into the shower and Eric went and pulled up the contraction master website we had found to help catalog my contractions (such a great idea, Google it). I told him that if he thought he could at all, I thought he should go and try to take a nap, which he did. I spent the next couple hours, watching T.V. and logging my contractions, doing the dishes, cleaning up the house a bit, call the acupuncturist to cancel my appointment, and posting my pregnancy photos on Facebook :)
Eric woke up around 4 p.m. and my contractions were about 5-7 minutes apart and lasting about 30 seconds, on average. So, we called my Doula Lori, and told her that “the show seemed to be on so go ahead and head our way"! Lori and Andrew arrived at my house around 7:30 pm and my contractions were definitely getting stronger, coming very regularly about every 3-4 minutes and lasting for a full minute, so by 8:30 p.m. we were all loaded up in the car and on our way down to the Birth Center to meet Ashley, our midwife.
Best Start Birth Center is located in an old Victorian home in the Hillcrest area of San Diego, and we had the whole house to ourselves for our special event! They got me upstairs to " the penthouse room" and everyone else got settled in with our stuff in " the family room" Ashley examined me, determined I was 4- 4 1/2 centimeters dilated, and that my water had in fact NOT broke ( it must have been my mucus plug. She said that was actually a good thing because we did not have a 24 hour deadline, and she seemed very happy that my labor was progressing well. Both mommy and baby's vitals were great we spent the next couple hours having me “dance" about the house staying active and moving as much as I could. Around midnight, my water actually did break. I had gotten stick to my stomach, I was really struggling to eat or drink anything after that; we had been trying several different positions, but I was really feeling quite uncomfortable and asked if there was anyway I could hang out in the shower for awhile- Ashley thought that sounded like a great idea. There I got to sit, stand, lean however I wanted with nice warm water relaxing my body- I felt so blessed to have so many options and feelings of control over “how to get myself through this"- it really gave me such a sense of confidence!
Around 2 a.m. came a pretty dark period for me. The labor was very intense, I couldn’t get comfortable anywhere, Ashley examined me a couple times and hadn't really given me any tangible feedback- I just knew I wasn't progressing very much. I had been doing this for over 12 hours and was starting to feel very alone and desperate. When having me, my mother was 2 weeks overdue, and went through 40 hours of labor that eventually resulted in a c-section. Fears of that being my experience really started creeping up on me. Right then my sister April, showed up! She had gotten in her car and driven down from Oakland, CA. When she asked me how I was doing, I told her that I was really lacking confidence, and asked if she could go find Ashley. She came in and confirmed that I had not really dilated further, and let me know if there was no further progression in the next couple of hours, a transfer to the hospital may be something we would need to discuss. I told her my mom's story, and confessed my fears to her, and saw her face starts to perk up. She said she was so glad I expressed that, that she really didn't believe that was my story or something I needed to worry about; but that if I was holding on to that fear, it could be something that was preventing my labor from progressing. Everyone gave me a big pep talk and she suggested that it was time for the birthing tub. She urged everyone else to go lay down for a bit, drew the bath, and got April and I set up in there. She said she would come back and check in on us in a couple hours. She told me to relax, use low loud moans to connect to my belly- and I sure felt bad for everyone else who was trying to rest; but with my sister by my side, we committed to "doing the work"
About 2 hours later, things really started getting intense. I called Ashley and told her I was really starting to feel a lot of pressure, and the urge to push. She said that was great progress, but since my water had already broken, and it had only been 2 hours, she still wanted to wait another 45 minutes before examining me again. Eric had woken up about that time, and I was so grateful to have more help. I was getting tired and those next 45 minutes went by sooo slowly!
When Ashley finally did check on me, her eyes lit up and a huge grin crept across her face. She said she was so proud of me- I was fully dilated and she could feel the baby's head-time to push! I had almost made it :)
April got out the video camera to film the event for us, and after 1 1/2 hours of hard pushing, I was asked to reach down into the water and pull my baby out of my body and into my arms. It was the most beautiful experience I have ever had; and it brings me to tears to my eyes just thinking about looking up into Eric, April, Lori and Ashley's glowing, weeping faces smiling back at me for what we had just accomplished. At 6:56 a.m. weighing 7 lbs 9 oz measuring 20 1/2 in length, Preston Indi Jones Cohen made his grand entrance! Eventually, everyone helped us get moved to the bed, Eric got to cut the umbilical cord, and we had a perfect, beautiful, healthy son to debut to the world! We were all back home safe and sound by 1 p.m. that same afternoon. A new family had been created; and to me, that truly is a miracle :)
We just want to thank everyone who has shared this experience with us, and also thank you to everyone who stopped by and has sent well wishes our way. I feel very confident that everything happened just the way it needed to. I am so happy with the decisions that Eric and I made for how we wanted our son to enter this world, and so accomplished that our desires manifested into a reality. I cannot believe that was only 24 hours of our life; and going through it had instilled in me a level of confidence that I can accomplish anything I want to be in life- I don't expect those feelings to fade soon. Every time I look down at our little guy, I get affirmation for how lucky I am, what a blessing life is, and very sincere enthusiasm for what life is going to bring my way next !
Mommy and Daddy are so proud to bring you into a world that has surrounded us with so much love- we can't wait to see what you make of it little man :)