The Birth of My little Briggs

6-28-14

Once upon a time a 41 week pregnant woman was about to go to bed, she was exhausted and her back was aching terribly. She left the dishes in the sink, the toys all over the living room floor and went to bed leaving her house in total disarray...something she hadn't done in awhile, since she was planning a home birth and wanted to be ready for company (the birth team) at a moments notice.

SO we all know where this is going....yep, the next morning I woke up about 7am and noticed my amniotic fluid was leaking....my water had broke!  I texted Toni my Midwife & the rest of the team just to inform them and let them know that today was the day!

Last moments as a only child

Since I wasn't having any contractions I thought I would put on some make up and have a nice breakfast. Beau was picking up the house...I called my mom and told her the news so she came to pick up our son.  Beau inflated the pool I wanted to birth in and then we both decided to take a nap... it took 24 hours last time to get that first baby out so we wanted to be ready for the long haul again if need be.

I woke up at 10:20 with a pretty strong contraction, so I went in the living room and sat on my birth ball while timing my contractions but they weren't consistent, ranging from 3-5 min apart.  Beau asked me a question and I realized I couldn't focus on him and answer him during a contraction...I knew things were getting serious but I still didn't think we were close to "go time" since I just starting having contractions.  I texted Toni at 10:40 and told her what was going on, she asked if I wanted her to head over...I said no, not yet....and then after another really strong contraction I texted her again saying "well, maybe you should come and see".  I tried to stand up to move to the bedroom and my belly looked like it was at my knees it was so low...Beau had to help me get back there.

Once in the bedroom I tried to get in the zone, like I did for Callans birth, but it just wasn't happening.  I couldn't relax.  I started sweating and got real hot, I asked Beau for a cold compress....to which my college-degree-holding, corporate-accountant-intelligent husband could not figure out what the hell a cold compress was.....seriously...he looked at me baffled, he walked out of the room and then right back in and said "whats a cold compress?" and all I could do was try my best to give him a "are you really asking me that right now?" look on my face as I was having a killer contraction....he managed to use some context clues and a few moments I had my cold compress. 

Toni arrived at 11:10am, she took a look at me and realized we were closer than I had thought.  After that things started happening really fast.  Beau was trying to fill up the birth pool and Toni said don't bother...lol, we don't have time.  I was laboring on my side and I remember trying so hard to relax, but my toes were curling and my lips were pursed, and I kept telling Beau, "I cant relax".  He was trying to coach me but it all felt very erratic.  I even said at one point " I don't think I can do this".  All I knew was I couldnt last 20 hours like this....

I kept hearing from Beau, Toni and Cheryl about how great I was doing...and I remember looking at them all wide-eyed and crazy-like...at least that's how I visualize it in my head, lol...Toni wanted me to roll on my back to check me to see how far dilated I was...and when I did I immediately had a strong urge to push...so I did.  I remember everyone scrambling to get whatever it was they needed, because this baby was coming out!


 At one point I felt the baby moving and I remember the image that popped in my head was like a soldier doing an army crawl.  Briggs was certainly working with me!  Another thing that got my attention in all this chaos was my babybelly...while I would have a contraction to push, my belly would basically stand straight up...it was the weirdest thing I had ever seen! It reminded me of a skyscraper...

So back to the story....
So there I was a-pushin' and Beau was at my side, holding my hand cheering me on...I remember saying "It stings, it stings" , lol and then Toni said for me to push on the next contraction to get his head out...to which I replied "no", to which she replied "Don't tell me no!"....a few pushes later he was born! They immediately placed him on my chest and I think we all took a moment to catch our breath.  He was born at 11:43am, a little over an hour after I had my first contraction!

I think my Mom, Alisa the massage therapist, and Whitney the photographer, arrived just moments after he was born.  Its funny because earlier that week I had highlighted a quote from a book I was reading, it said "stay committed to your decisions, but flexible in your approach."- Tony Robbins.  I thought this would be good to remember because as much as you can plan something, you really can never know how it will actually turn out.  I always knew, in all these blog posts I did about planning the birth, that it would happen how it was gonna happen and I really didn't have control of that....but it was fun fantasizing, visualizing and planning it out anyway. 

So there you have it.... Briggs Kyle Hinze, 10lbs, 21.5 inches....Born in the comfort of our home, and it was a quick, but great experience!