David in labor (Liza is the one having the baby)
We planned a home birth for this baby. All was prepared and now we just had to wait for the baby to decide that it wanted out! The birth went something like this:
Around 1AM on Saturday May 6th, I woke up with a contraction thatactually bothered me. I had beenhaving practice contractions for days. I fell back to sleep and woke upevery ten minutes or so for another contraction. At 3:30 I woke Dave. At5:00 or so I got a real good one. At 6:00 I called the midwife (Jane) to comeover and see if we were getting anywhere. She lives in the neighborhoodand told me to call and she'd come over and check, if it wasn't anythingshe could always go home. She came, I was only 3 centimeters dilated, but shedecided to stay.
I got in the tub around 9:00 and things really started happening. Nicehefty contractions that I really had to concentrate to get through, butstill only every ten minutes. I thought, Yuck! This is going to go on allday. Poop!
Liza in the tub, David coaching
Dave was there, of course. Rebecca was by my side the whole time unlessshe was fetching things. Nate was there, but was in and out. Sam wascleaning the kitchen because she had way too much adrenaline so I told herto go clean the kitchen. (My kitchen has never been so spotless! LOL!)
Maxx and Alex were not happy to be there. They thought I was much tooquiet and it scared them. My friend Tamara took them to their room andread them books and talked to them and reassured them.
At 10:00, I had gotten out of the tub for a bit, the doorbell rang and itwas the postman with a box from California. Sam thought it must be a giftfrom one of my friends so she opened it. It was massage oil for laboring womenfrom my friend Maria. Just in time!!! I laughed when she told me. We used it. Ithas a nice quietly gentle smell and it was lovely.
Nathan and Maxx, Tamara in the background
Around 11:00 I got back in the tub. Was feeling very into myself andhardly knew what anyone else was doing I was concentrating so hard onrelaxing. During the next half hour the contractions went from ten minutesto five minutes apart. One would assume that this meant it was gonna be along day. I assumed this. If you assumed this, too, we'd all be wrong.
At 11:30 I said I thought that I was feeling a lot of pressure, but thoughtmaybe it was the amniotic sac bulging in front of the head. This happenedwith Maxx and we decided that if it happened again we'd have the midwifebreak it because for some reason I produce very thick membranes and they aredifficult to break naturally and it just makes me tired. The midwifechecked and yes, that was it. First we tried her pushing with her fingerduring the next contraction, but it didn't break. So she got the hook out.We waited a few minutes for the next contraction and she managed to breakit.
At 11:36 or so--the midwife looked at her watch--I had a contraction and Istood up in the tub and said, "Das Baby kommt! Jetzt!" (Don't ask me whyI spoke German at this point. I don't even know. Anyway, for those whoaren't Germanically inclined I said, "The baby is coming! Now!") Themidwife said to me, "You have to decide now. Tub birth or bed birth?" Ichose the bed. For some reason I wasn't sure I'd have enough maneuveringroom in the tub. So, I got out, someone dried me off, and I walked/gotdragged to the bed.
And that's when all hell broke loose. This child was coming and she wascoming FAST! I couldn't be calm anymore. I couldn't concentrate anymore.I couldn't relax anymore. All I could do was yell really loud and pushlike hell. And sometimes I couldn't push, she was coming so fast.
I don't really know how many pushes or contractions it took. Not many.And that's with the fact that it took a little effort to get her shouldersout. She's got her mom's broad shoulders.
To give you an idea. I went from 8 centimeters just before the rupture ofmembranes to holding a baby in my arms in 15 minutes. So, it was a bitintense to say the least. Not a big bad painful thing, just a crazy,out-of-control, rollercoaster ride and I wasn't steering. I was just goingwith it and yelling my head off.
As soon as she was out, I sat straight up, let out a war whoop and a hugelaugh and grabbed her up into my arms. And that's when everyone in theroom realized that I wasn't really a demented maniac and that everythingwas okay. Poor kids, they weren't expecting such a change in me. I wasn'texpecting it either. Poor Dave. I had never done that to him before.Maxx and Alex left the room and stood outside and held their ears. Theygot over it when they saw me directly after the birth, obviously healthyand happy, but they had a few scary minutes, poor little things.
Nathan had forgotten how much gunk and stuff comes out with the baby andhow red the gunk looks. He told me later that "it scared the shit out ofme" but then he looked around and no one else seemed concerned so hefigured it must be okay.
Right after I picked her up and laid back, I looked around the room andeveryone was in tears. I was laughing in sheer relief. I said, "It'sokay. See? It's a baby!" And they all laughed and cried and had aboutfourteen simultaneous emotions.
All in all, it was really cool!
Liza and Victoria, that was hard work!
(a relieved and red-eyed Rebecca in the background)
Liza and Victoria with Samantha getting a good look
Last updated: 20-May-2000