Full disclosure about my story, I had Callum at a nurse midwife run birth center, complete with such scary hippie things like birthing tubs, herbs, and birthing balls. The flower ladies with the bongo drums were otherwise engaged and were unable to show up(totally joking). So read on if you're interested or curious!
On Thursday, September 17, Sue came up to spend Friday with us so I could rest. I had contractions on and off all day, but they really picked up that evening when she got to our house. I went to bed fully expecting to wake up in labor, but they had fizzled by morning.
A week later, the same thing, including Ryan's mom being here, happened! They started while I was at work around noon, and I went home expecting a baby soon! I took a nap and when I woke up, they were mostly gone. Friday I had a huge burst of energy and wanted to get lots of things done. Sue planned on leaving Saturday morning. I went to bed earliesh, very tired at about 10:15. At 4am I woke up and felt a little trickle. I sat up and felt more and when I stood up there was a total gush! Membranes ruptured! But no real contractions yet, just crampy. I called Nativiti, and Jaelynn, the nurse midwife on call, said to call back when they started up because she would want me to come in, since my labor with Rylee was fairly quick! I showered, cleaned up and went back to bed. Ryan woke up a little and asked if I was ok. I told him we were gonna have to reschedule our plans with some friends because my water had broken!
I tried to go back to sleep, but Ryan and I were both excited, and then I got hungry and told Ryan I wanted something to eat. Rylee(who was sleeping in the middle of our bed) woke up and very sleepily said "I'm hungry too Mommy." I told her we could have breakfast in the morning and she said ok and fell back asleep.
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| Holding him for the first time, and relieved he was here! |
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| A very proud daddy and my wonderful nurse midwife, Jaelyn. |
A week later, the same thing, including Ryan's mom being here, happened! They started while I was at work around noon, and I went home expecting a baby soon! I took a nap and when I woke up, they were mostly gone. Friday I had a huge burst of energy and wanted to get lots of things done. Sue planned on leaving Saturday morning. I went to bed earliesh, very tired at about 10:15. At 4am I woke up and felt a little trickle. I sat up and felt more and when I stood up there was a total gush! Membranes ruptured! But no real contractions yet, just crampy. I called Nativiti, and Jaelynn, the nurse midwife on call, said to call back when they started up because she would want me to come in, since my labor with Rylee was fairly quick! I showered, cleaned up and went back to bed. Ryan woke up a little and asked if I was ok. I told him we were gonna have to reschedule our plans with some friends because my water had broken!
I tried to go back to sleep, but Ryan and I were both excited, and then I got hungry and told Ryan I wanted something to eat. Rylee(who was sleeping in the middle of our bed) woke up and very sleepily said "I'm hungry too Mommy." I told her we could have breakfast in the morning and she said ok and fell back asleep.
Contractions started at about 4:30 and were about 2-3min apart. I called Jaelyn and she told us to come on in.
We were all so excited. Ryan ran down the stairs to tell his mom while I kissed rylee bye(she was asleep in our bed), gathered some breakfast and snacks and we were out the door. I texted my sisters and parents in between contractions to let them know little guy would be arriving soon. There was no traffic on our 30 min drive since it was about 5am on a Saturday. Towards the end though I was starting to feel a faint urge to push. That got Ryan going!
We got to the birth center and my midwife and nurse greeted us. Jaelyn checked me and at first she said I was at a 9! Then she said I still had a posterior cervical lip and was really a 5. But oh well, I went from a 5 to completely dilated with Rylee in 15 min! I felt that transition was close.
I didn't want to get into the water first, feeling like I needed to keep moving. I was also unsure at this point if I wanted to birth in the tub or not, I just figured I would go with whatever felt good at the moment. I bounced on a ball and Ryan gave me great sacral pressure. Jaelyn and the nurse stayed close by in the room, I think fully expecting a baby soon too. The room was dark and quiet. They turned on some soft relaxing music and I totally felt like I was rocking my labor and would meet little guy soon.
I started to feel shaky, which happened during labor with Rylee too. I decided to get into the tub to see if the water helped. The first contraction in the tub was amazing! I highly recommend floating in the water at least during part of labor, if you're too weirded out with the notion of a water birth!
Then my contractions slowed down. Jaelyn didn't say anything about my labor slowing, but I noticed it did. The midwife and nurse both gave us some space, and let me labor in blissful peace with Ryan. I stayed in the tub for a good hour, feeling pretty good. Ryan and I joked and talked quietly. All pushing sensations had gone away and I started to feel a little impatient! I decided to get out and move about. While I had some back pain, I bounced on the ball and Ryan applied sacral pressure during contractions. Then I ended up favoring the toilet for contractions because I was peeing so much.
After listening to a classic guitar album, we turned on my Pandora Hipster Cocktail Radio station...judge if you like, it's awesome music! I stood up and swayed to the music during contractions.
And then all of a sudden they got even more intense and I just about collapsed. Ryan helped me over to the toilet and I started groaning.
Jaelyn and I knew these were different. I started shaking involuntarily, but just kept trying to relax as much as possible. I got back in the tub because I hated the shaky feeling. The water felt better but I still felt awful. I couldn't get into a good position, the contractions were overwhelming and I still had no urge to push.
It wasn't too much later though that I was pushing and it was intense, much more intense than with Rylee. I felt totally out of control! I remembered with Rylee that pushing almost was relieving, but I hated every second this time around. At one point I was just about to get out of the tub and leave, thinking that that would let me escape what was happening! I think that as he was crowning and it was even more overwhelming, I was 100% decided on no more babies, EVER!
After only 15 minutes of pushing and what felt like was back to back contractions, I felt Callum be completely born and there was literally instant relief. Jaelyn passed him under my legs to Jaime, the other CNM who was there, and Jaime pulled him up and out of the water. She handed him to me and I leaned back up against the tub, crying in relief that he was here! 9:39am!
I kept waiting for him to take a big breath and fully pink up...he didn't. The midwives immediately took over and started giving him extra stimulation, all the while encouraging us to rub his feet and call his name(just as an aside, the nurse midwives are fully trained in neonatal resuscitation and have all equipment there at the birth center). He did have a couple little cries and pinked a little, but his respiratory efforts still weren't great. They went ahead and cut and clamped his cord, and I knew at that point that things were getting more serious, because they normally practice delayed cord clamping.
I was in a little denial that anything bad was going to happen at this point. He had good tone(wasn't limp, he was moving his arms and legs at first and pinked a little, just wasn't very consistent). I kept telling myself that he would be fine on his own and we wouldn't have to transfer to the hospital. I did not want to be separated from my little guy!
The midwives worked quickly on him right at the side of the tub. I felt a little lost because everyone's attention was on him, I hadn't delivered my placenta yet, my glasses had been misplaced(and I'm totally blind without them), and I felt totally stuck in the tub. I found his little foot under the towel he was wrapped in and just held onto it, sending all my energy to him to be ok.
They bagged him, did mouth to mouth, deep suction, blow by oxygen, and then decided to call the paramedics in case we needed to transfer him. When they asked Ryan to call 911 my heart just fell. Ryan panicked, his phone wasn't working and he just kept repeating "it won't call!" I told him where my phone was and he put them on speaker for the midwives.
I felt so incredibly helpless! The only thing I could do was not become hysterical at that point so everyone could focus on Callum.
And then, all of a sudden, our little man decided to breathe normally and wake into the world. His O2 sat was up to 90%, which was great for being 10 min old. EMS arrived literally within minutes to find a perfectly pink breathing baby. The paramedics arrived shortly after that and there were probably at least a dozen people in the room, me butt naked in the drained bathtub feeling like an incredibly irresponsible crunchy hippie mom! The midwives gave me back Callum and I just held him, relieved again that he was back on my chest. They checked his O2 sat again and it was up to 95%. Everyone was fine with not having us transfer, and I was so relieved! Slowly they all left, and it was just us and the midwives again.
Sometime during all of this, I had another contraction and delivered my placenta. Ow that hurt too! Jaelyn checked me out and said I only had a slight tear, but didn't need sutures. And then I started bleeding, and I ended up with a shot of pitocin in my thigh(no more problems after that). I was starting to feel really uncomfortable in the stupid tub because it had been drained at this point and I felt like a beached whale!
Callum started rooting around and I asked if I could get up to the bed so I could nurse him. I got settled on the bed and imagine my surprise when Callum latched on beautifully the first time! Opposite experience from with his sister!
Ryan and I lay peacefully on the bed for awhile, drinking up the sight of our new son.
I devoured a breakfast burrito, drank a couple juice pouches, and ate a granola bar.
Sue brought Rylee to the birth center and it was absolutely the best thing ever to see her meet Callum for the first time. She got so excited and started yelling "My baby! It's my baby!"
Little man passed with flying colors! Normal discharge time is about 4 hours post delivery, we stayed about 6 just so they could keep an extra eye on him. His vitals were nice and stable though, and respiratory efforts totally normal after his little incident.
We were all so excited. Ryan ran down the stairs to tell his mom while I kissed rylee bye(she was asleep in our bed), gathered some breakfast and snacks and we were out the door. I texted my sisters and parents in between contractions to let them know little guy would be arriving soon. There was no traffic on our 30 min drive since it was about 5am on a Saturday. Towards the end though I was starting to feel a faint urge to push. That got Ryan going!
We got to the birth center and my midwife and nurse greeted us. Jaelyn checked me and at first she said I was at a 9! Then she said I still had a posterior cervical lip and was really a 5. But oh well, I went from a 5 to completely dilated with Rylee in 15 min! I felt that transition was close.
I didn't want to get into the water first, feeling like I needed to keep moving. I was also unsure at this point if I wanted to birth in the tub or not, I just figured I would go with whatever felt good at the moment. I bounced on a ball and Ryan gave me great sacral pressure. Jaelyn and the nurse stayed close by in the room, I think fully expecting a baby soon too. The room was dark and quiet. They turned on some soft relaxing music and I totally felt like I was rocking my labor and would meet little guy soon.
I started to feel shaky, which happened during labor with Rylee too. I decided to get into the tub to see if the water helped. The first contraction in the tub was amazing! I highly recommend floating in the water at least during part of labor, if you're too weirded out with the notion of a water birth!
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| Having a contraction |
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| No I was absolutely not asleep. |
Then my contractions slowed down. Jaelyn didn't say anything about my labor slowing, but I noticed it did. The midwife and nurse both gave us some space, and let me labor in blissful peace with Ryan. I stayed in the tub for a good hour, feeling pretty good. Ryan and I joked and talked quietly. All pushing sensations had gone away and I started to feel a little impatient! I decided to get out and move about. While I had some back pain, I bounced on the ball and Ryan applied sacral pressure during contractions. Then I ended up favoring the toilet for contractions because I was peeing so much.
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| It was the weirdest thing but Ryan rubbing my belly during contractions felt so good! |
After listening to a classic guitar album, we turned on my Pandora Hipster Cocktail Radio station...judge if you like, it's awesome music! I stood up and swayed to the music during contractions.
And then all of a sudden they got even more intense and I just about collapsed. Ryan helped me over to the toilet and I started groaning.
Jaelyn and I knew these were different. I started shaking involuntarily, but just kept trying to relax as much as possible. I got back in the tub because I hated the shaky feeling. The water felt better but I still felt awful. I couldn't get into a good position, the contractions were overwhelming and I still had no urge to push.
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| Utterly exhausted! |
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| I made some very unpretty noises, ranging from guttural grunts to whimpers. |
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| Don't know if you can see Ryan's face, but I think Callum must have been crowning, judging by the look on my face! |
After only 15 minutes of pushing and what felt like was back to back contractions, I felt Callum be completely born and there was literally instant relief. Jaelyn passed him under my legs to Jaime, the other CNM who was there, and Jaime pulled him up and out of the water. She handed him to me and I leaned back up against the tub, crying in relief that he was here! 9:39am!
I kept waiting for him to take a big breath and fully pink up...he didn't. The midwives immediately took over and started giving him extra stimulation, all the while encouraging us to rub his feet and call his name(just as an aside, the nurse midwives are fully trained in neonatal resuscitation and have all equipment there at the birth center). He did have a couple little cries and pinked a little, but his respiratory efforts still weren't great. They went ahead and cut and clamped his cord, and I knew at that point that things were getting more serious, because they normally practice delayed cord clamping.
I was in a little denial that anything bad was going to happen at this point. He had good tone(wasn't limp, he was moving his arms and legs at first and pinked a little, just wasn't very consistent). I kept telling myself that he would be fine on his own and we wouldn't have to transfer to the hospital. I did not want to be separated from my little guy!
The midwives worked quickly on him right at the side of the tub. I felt a little lost because everyone's attention was on him, I hadn't delivered my placenta yet, my glasses had been misplaced(and I'm totally blind without them), and I felt totally stuck in the tub. I found his little foot under the towel he was wrapped in and just held onto it, sending all my energy to him to be ok.
They bagged him, did mouth to mouth, deep suction, blow by oxygen, and then decided to call the paramedics in case we needed to transfer him. When they asked Ryan to call 911 my heart just fell. Ryan panicked, his phone wasn't working and he just kept repeating "it won't call!" I told him where my phone was and he put them on speaker for the midwives.
I felt so incredibly helpless! The only thing I could do was not become hysterical at that point so everyone could focus on Callum.
And then, all of a sudden, our little man decided to breathe normally and wake into the world. His O2 sat was up to 90%, which was great for being 10 min old. EMS arrived literally within minutes to find a perfectly pink breathing baby. The paramedics arrived shortly after that and there were probably at least a dozen people in the room, me butt naked in the drained bathtub feeling like an incredibly irresponsible crunchy hippie mom! The midwives gave me back Callum and I just held him, relieved again that he was back on my chest. They checked his O2 sat again and it was up to 95%. Everyone was fine with not having us transfer, and I was so relieved! Slowly they all left, and it was just us and the midwives again.
Sometime during all of this, I had another contraction and delivered my placenta. Ow that hurt too! Jaelyn checked me out and said I only had a slight tear, but didn't need sutures. And then I started bleeding, and I ended up with a shot of pitocin in my thigh(no more problems after that). I was starting to feel really uncomfortable in the stupid tub because it had been drained at this point and I felt like a beached whale!
Callum started rooting around and I asked if I could get up to the bed so I could nurse him. I got settled on the bed and imagine my surprise when Callum latched on beautifully the first time! Opposite experience from with his sister!
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| Look at all that vernix! Rylee was not a cheesy baby! |
Ryan and I lay peacefully on the bed for awhile, drinking up the sight of our new son.
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| I'm melting right now! |
Sue brought Rylee to the birth center and it was absolutely the best thing ever to see her meet Callum for the first time. She got so excited and started yelling "My baby! It's my baby!"
At this point, we decided to have our herbal bath. Callum was weighed, 8 lbs 1 oz!
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| Rylee watching in on our herbal bath. We sang happy birthday to our little guy which got Rylee really excited. "Happy Birthday Baby Brother!" |
After our bath, I got cleaned up and dressed. Jaelyn came in to do Callum's newborn exam. It was neat to be able to sit on the bed with her and our baby as she checked him out head to toe.
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| CNM's do full pediatric newborn exams, just like pediatricians at the hospitals. They also do congenital heart defect screening. PKU is done at 2 day home visit, and hearing exam is done at 2 week postpartum visit. |
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| Bow tie is a little big! |
We got home in the afternoon, and Callum got to meet Abuelita, Gramps, and Aunt Cassie for the first time. Rylee was interested in holding Callum this time, and it was adorable! The first thing she said, while pointing at his feet was, "His feet so tiny!" and just giggled hysterically!
I left Callum with my family and Ryan and I took a nap. It was an amazing day! I have felt so much better than I did postpartum with Rylee. Although I had a natural drug free birth with Rylee, I had a second degree tear with multiple sutures, and much more swelling, bruising, and overall miserableness. I also HATED the hospital postpartum. I didn't sleep well, the bed was awful, and there was too much going on. It was so nice to just go home after Callum's birth!
Afterbirth cramps were pretty intense this time around, and engorgement was unkind as usual when my milk came in literally on day 2! A nurse made a home visit on Monday, and we took Callum to his first ped appt Tuesday. He'd only lost a little weight, 7lbs 12 oz, which is totally expected. We had two days of some latching issues and I started forming a blister, but when engorgement finally slowed down the night before our appointment with the lactation consultant, he latched perfectly all night and checked out well with the LC, despite his posterior tongue tie. He was also back up to 8lbs 0.5oz!
Two things I'd like to close with. First, our nurse midwives, Jaime and Jaelynn were amazing! I highly recommend Nativiti Family Birth Center if you're anywhere in Houston. Jaelynn gave the perfect amount of privacy and support during my labor. She was soft spoken, peaceful, confident, and wonderful. They acted quickly and efficiently to help our little guy breathe, and I felt safe with them 100% of the time.
Secondly, Ryan was the most perfect birth companion I could have asked for. With Rylee, things happened a little fast once we got to the hospital and I was very much withdrawn into myself with focus and concentration. This time around, even though my labor was shorter, we had a little longer to sit and wait for our baby. Somehow, despite not reading any of my prepared material for him, the man knew exactly what to say, what to do, and how to support me the entire time. This might be melodramatic, and obviously Callum was going to come into the world no matter what I or him did, but I felt Ryan was absolutely critical in birthing our son. He truly was perfect(enjoy the moment Ryan!)
And that is the story of how Callum Derek Campbell came into this world to join our family!
Awesome birth story! Way to go crunchy mama! I need to meet these babies! Hopefully soon!
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