Birth Story # 1!!

When I did my doula training, I was reminded of the profound experience that giving birth is in a woman's life.  It is a day that is life changing, intense, profound no matter how the baby is born.  One never forgets it!  I would not have believed that 30 years later, I still recall some details like it was just yesterday!

My first child was due on September 27, 1984.  Like all first time mom's, I was convinced I would be early!   Things were different back in 1984.  I had no sonograms, no glucose test, no GBS test, pretty much not much of anything.  And all that was normal.  At that time, most of my friends all took independent childbirth classes, either Lamaze of Bradley.  My husband and I opted for Bradley classes.  It was a great choice for us.

I woke up the morning of the 27th, and felt different.  I had been having lots of Braxton Hicks, but these were a tad bit more painful.  I kind of ignored it and puttered around the house while my husband went to work.  I decided to do stuff like clean the toilets, and do some baking.  I had heard that if you are nursing a baby, you shouldn't eat chocolate.  Well, I decided that my baby would have to get used to it so I baked brownies!  The day went on, and about 5:00 I called my Bradley instructor to ask her a few questions.  After talking a few minutes, she said that I was in labor, to rest a bit and time my contractions.  Kind of interesting that at that time, the Bradley method taught to lay down during contractions and relax,  and not move around like we encourage people now.

I relaxed for a while, talked to my husband on the phone (He worked about 1/2 mile from where we lived) and wrote down when my contractions started on the back on an envelope!  (No cell phones, no apps, no computers in 1984!)  Contractions got closer, and I called the doc around 10 PM.  He said I could head to the hospital, and I asked if it was okay if I stayed home longer!  I also lived about a mile from the hospital, so I waited until the contractions were about 3 minutes apart.

 Around midnight we decided to head in.  It was just the way I wanted to do it, with no one knowing we were going.  We lived in Virginia, and our parents lived in Michigan and Illinois at the time.  And, yes, it was the first grandchild for everyone, but we still wanted it to be secret.

 (Mark took this picture right before we left for the hospital.  I remember telling him "Focus the camera quickly and let's go!!")

When I got to the hospital, I was dilated to 3 and they said I was a keeper.  One of the interesting thing about the hospital where I gave birth to my baby, was they had one special "birthing bed".  There were two labor beds in two rooms.  A total of four labor beds.  And there were two delivery rooms, that were quasi-operating rooms.  If you proved that you were going to have an unmedicated birth, you earned the right to use the birthing bed!  If you had an epidural you had to have the baby in the delivery room.  My goal was to have an unmedicated birth.  I guess I passed the test, because when I was dilated to about 7 or 8 I got to move to the special birthing bed!  Fortunately, I was the only one on labor that night so I didn't have to be in the same room with another laboring mom.  And I also got to use the birthing bed.  Kind of crazy to see how much that aspect has changed over the years.

I pretty much had a textbook, very easy birth.  I got to the hospital at midnight, and at 5:33 AM my son was born.  He weighed 8 pounds, 6 ounces and was 21 inches long.  I never realized how easy it was until I started hearing other peoples birth stories.  And it may help explain why I went on to have eight more babies over the next 17 years.  Other than the I love kids and having a large family, and, yes, I am crazy!

It is hard to believe that that was 30 years ago.  It does seem like yesterday.  To this day, I feel very privileged that I was able to give birth without pain medication.  There is lots more to my birth story, but this is the highlights.  And my kids are adults and I don't want to embarrass them with too many details!!

Thanks for reading.  Every birth is unique, life-changing, and a story worth telling and hearing.

Cathy