Disclaimer: This may be a little too much information for some, so I am warning you ahead of time. Read at your own risk

The day before Bunky’s birth, I visited my midwife, Nancy, for my 38 week check-up.  I was 4cm dilated and 70% effaced.  Nancy had discussed stripping my membranes the week before.  I did a little research and decided to go ahead with it.  (I had my membranes stripped with Spunky, but all it did was cause a week of contractions.  Even though I didn’t want that to happen again, I thought it was work the risk since my family had arrived in town the day before and I had their help and support.)

With my membranes stripped, I headed home with the hopes that I would go into labor.  As the day progressed, I began to wonder if anything really was going to happen that day.  By bedtime, I had had very few contractions.  I figured that it hadn’t worked again and that I would have the baby in a couple of weeks.

At about 2:30am, I started having very regular contractions that lasted about a minute and were 3-4 minutes apart.  Since my other labors had been fast, three and a half hours each, my hubby insisted we leave for the hospital.  We woke up my mom, grabbed our things and called my midwife, who headed to the hospital.

Of course, as soon as I checked in to the hospital everything slowed down.  By 9am, I had barely progressed more than a centimeter, so we decided to break my water.  Nancy said that she knew I would have the baby today, but didn’t want to send me home just to have me turn around and come back again.  By breaking my water, we hoped it would cause labor to speed up.

My water was broken mid-morning and I slowly progressed.  I walked around a lot, did squats, and even rested a little bit in between contractions.  By early afternoon, my contractions were getting harder, but I was still progressing but at an achingly slow speed compared to my previous two deliveries.

I labored quite differently than I did with my previous two children because I was not hooked up to an IV. I was able to move around as much as I liked.  I found what worked best for me was to sit on a stool and then lean against my hubby during contractions.  My secret to getting through them was to say to my hubby, in my head, over and over again, “I love you.”  It distracted me from the pain and made the experience of childbirth so intimate and beautiful for me.

Nancy had already delivered several babies of women who had come in after me, and I, her first patient, still had not delivered my little man.  At around 3:30pm (almost twelve hours after I had arrived at the hospital) the contractions were increasing in pain, but for some reason I got stuck at 9cm.  I was there for a while, and finally Nancy suggested that a little bit of pitocin would probably be enough just to get me ready to deliver.

The nurse hooked me up to pitocin.  My contractions were intense and constant with no breaks in between.  But within 18 minutes, Bunky was born.  After the first push, I heard my hubby say, “There’s the head!”  Which I thought meant the baby was crowning.  But, no.  The head was out!  The cord was wrapped once around Bunky’s neck.  Once that was untangled, I pushed again, and out came our little boy.  I heard my mom saying, “listen: he’s crying.”  Apparently, according to my mom, I looked a little bit in shock, but hearing my little boy’s cries brought me to reality.  I did not expect him to be born in just two pushes; so I think I was in a little bit of shock at that moment.  Bunky was born at 4:05pm on Saturday, August 22, 2009.

only a minute old

The nurse immediately placed him up on my chest while they wiped him off.  A little while later, my hubby cut the cord and a while after that the placenta came out.  I only needed one stitch, which I chose to have done without pain meds (it barely hurt).  The nurses checked out Bunky and everything looked great.  He weighed 6 pounds 15 ounces and measured 19 1/4 inches long.

Punky was 6 pounds 13 ounces and 20 inches long- three weeks early.
Spunky was 7 pounds 11 ounces and 20 1/2 inches long- one week late.

Daddy with his new son & Grammy with her third grandchild

After Bunky was measured and weighed, he nursed for a while.  Then, my husband, mother and I were able to spend a while admiring our handsome guy.  As soon as he got the call, my dad brought the kids over to meet their little brother.  It was a wonderful time that we all spent together.

Papa and Baby Bunky & The Boys

Although I can’t consider my birth completely “natural”, it was much closer to that than my previous two deliveries.  Once again, I was able to manage the pain naturally through breathing.  It might sound strange, but I actually enjoyed my labor with Bunky.  I was able to relax some and, even during transition, I had breaks between contractions.  Overall, it was a very positive experience for me.  And it brought my beautiful baby boy into the world, for which I am forever thankful.  We are truly blessed with three beautiful, heathly children.

Our Family of Five

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I recently took The Birth Survey and shared my birth experience so that others may use this knowledge to decide with whom and where to deliver a baby.  I had a very positive experience at the hospital that I used with both Spunky and Bunky.  I moved from using an OBGYN to a midwife this time around and was very pleased.  If you would like to share your experiences, I encourage you to follow the link below.  You never know who you may help in the process.