Chelsea’s Birth Story

As I lay here on the couch, Ahlia fast asleep on my chest, my mind wanders to before we knew she existed.
I was working a retail job I somewhat enjoyed, meeting people, greeting regulars, and talking with coworkers when there was time to spare. But that changed when my period was a little late. It wasn't unheard of when times were stressful for me to be a week late but as I hit the 2 week mark I got nervous. Was I possibly pregnant? Only a test could tell me for sure.

As I sat there waiting for the stick to say yes or no I thought about my previous worry, that I might be unable to get pregnant. It was something that stuck in my mind every so often, especially around my cycles. We weren't trying or anything, just going with the flow, but it still bothered me that after 5 years, nothing had happened.

I looked down at the stick, number 3 of 3 tries, and saw the 2 lines, 1 faint and 1 clear. I felt elated and ran upstairs, waking Jason to show him that we were indeed pregnant. Half asleep he smiled and said that's great babe, and gave me a hug.

Now I had to find a place that did confirmation ultrasounds that wouldn't cost me an arm and leg. I set up the appointment and attached it to the fridge, it's still there actually. August 1st, of 2019 actually, and that's when we saw our little baby, "teddy graham" size. I was told that we were 8 weeks along and given some pictures, along with advice to go see someone in a few weeks to see health of baby and possibly find out gender.
Fast forward to seeing the fetal specialist around week 12, she said girl most likely but we were welcome to come back at week 20 to double check. In the meantime work wasn't bad, the nausea sucked around week 11 but we fixed that with diet tweaks and preggi pops. My coworkers wouldn't let me lift anything heavy and were excited that I was expecting.

Week 20 rolls around, we go back to the specialist, confirms it's a girl, gives us the gender ultrasound pictures, a 3D image of her skeletal structure, and sends us on our way. I still have the pictures in my phone from the email which I also saved.

Now we get to October, still early in pregnancy but for the betterment of our little family I chose, with Jason's input, to quit working. I remember it clearly because I had asked for the week of his birthday, October 1st, off as his present. Coming back it was a Sunday and an early shift, and for various reasons it was a rough day. So that Wednesday I chose as my last day. I played twisted sister's "We're not gonna take it" on the way to work that morning, smiling. I don't recall telling people I was leaving that day but I told the manager on duty, Perry, when I went on lunch that I needed to talk to him after, he wasn't pleased. Long story short they wanted me to stay but I wasn't budging and ruefully they took my vest, badge, etc. I honestly have never felt so happy to walk out of that place. Only been back once since I quit and don't miss it, just some of the people.
Soon after that Jason and I got married on October 16th, 2019. Wasn't anything big, just us, a marriage official, and out in 30 minutes. I won't lie, I cried a little at "I do".The where's, why's, and what's didn't matter, we were now husband and wife.

Spent the next few months eating better than I had been. I now eat broccoli, asparagus, mushrooms, tomatoes, and celery sometimes. My cravings weren't even that bad; just pickles, cereal, crab legs, soda, cucumbers, chocolate ice cream, nothing like what I expected.
Had my baby shower the 1st Saturday in January, it was actually fun. Didn't think I had so many friends and family that cared that much.
Time still passed and March 8th got closer, we got nervous about leaving the house unless it was for the appointments at the Tree of Life Midwifery and Birthing center where we chose to go.

Side note, ToL was and is great. The midwives are awesome and don't push for things we didn't want done whether it be tests or against our preferred birth plan. They were patient with our questions and always took great care to be sure everyone was healthy.
A week or so before my due date Lori (midwife) asked if I wanted a doula, a support person that was practiced in helping women in labor. We thought why not and went for it. Amara (doula) was awesome as well. She met us at our mext to last appointment before my due date and was kind, open, and helpful.

My due date was a Sunday, it came and went, I had an appointment the next day. No contractions, mucous plug falling out, or bloody show. They asked those questions and I gave them negative answers. Oddly enough, it wasn't until early Wednesday morning that I went into labor.
Jason and I couldn't sleep so we were up watching movies until little before 3am. On deciding to go to bed we went upstairs and were talking on the dark. I commented on how it felt when Ahlia was kicking me and demonstrated with pushing my hand against Jason's face. He responded with "and I will make it move" by blowing a raspberry on it and when I laughed I felt wetness and thought I had peed myself. Well when I got up to change my panties the wetness didn't stop and I told Jason to get a towel, my water just broke.

He smiled actually and said "midget inbound" as he went to get me another towel as I sat in the floor laughing as I messed up the only towel in the room. We texted ToL that my water broke and what to do. Get sleep if I can for a few hours then message them when I got up. That lasted until about 7 when my contractions were close together but because if how I work I tried to not wake Jason as I timed the painful cramps in bed. they were 3 mins apart but didn't want to text ToL that early so I waited.

9am rolls around and I wake Jason, time to call them. It basically goes "if you want to be checked feel free to come in, otherwise, labor at home for a while, be comfortable" 11ish I was at the midwifery, got checked, was only 4cm dialated, not all the way effaced, told I could go home, go walk around for a few hours, anything to start the contractions again, then come back.

Didn't want to go all the way home so Jason had me walking around the parking lot, midwives made us go get food (wasn't hungry) ate a few bites but didn't have the stomach really for it. Time passed and they said I could get in the big birthing tub if I wanted and they would call Amara if I wanted, said yes to both. It was nice to be in the bug tub with water. Didn't help decrease the time between contractions but it helped me relax and Amara was great with helping through the contractions. I can remember them getting stronger toward evening and Jason getting in the tub with me as I worked through each one.

It blurs a bit from there between the tub, sitting backwards on the toilet and pushing, walking around the room, bouncing on the birthing ball, and sleeping at some point for a few hours but as soon as I could doze another contraction would start and mess me up. At some point the next afternoon after being checked for how soft and open my cervix was I was told go back to the toilet and try pushing again. It half worked and I can remember Jason using a washcloth to wipe sweat from my face and neck, giving me water, and using a warm cloth to help with the muscle aches in my lower back.

That evening I can remember the last check to see where Ahlia was. Leah saying she can feel her head, though it was horribly uncomfortable for me to be checked. When they made me go sit on the toilet again I checked for myself after asking permission from midwives. I could feel the top of her head! It had me close to tears to feel her so close. at that moment I told myself I would not be there another day. I was leaving with my baby one way or the other.

Near the end I was leaning chest and head over the edge of the bed and pushing in the contractions, Jason and Lori offering physical touch support, Leah checking Ahlia's heartbeat every so often, when it clicked again that I only had an inch or two until she would be born. I had to get through this.

It was dark when I started zoning out staring at a window across the room from the bed and saying to myself I can do this in my head. Everyone was voicing support as I pushed, Jason by my side. I heard Lori say "I'll let you guess if she's got a full head of hair" to Jason through my labor haze but I don't know if he could see it. What I do know is the warm compresses to keep me from tearing felt nice, along with Jason's encouragement and providing me with water, cool washcloths, and the honey pouch things for energy. Lori and Leah were behind me, watching for Ahlia to appear. I would bear down hard and they would say "keep pushing" but I would reach the end of the breath and have to start over. But I could feel her getting closer with each push. I briefly remember the ring of fire as her head and shoulders came out but it didn't hurt as much as I expected. I kept pushing but they had me change my leg position because of her feet being hung up.

After she came out the midwives helped me get up slowly without tangling in the umbilical cord and get on the bed, sitting on puppy pads to keep the bleeding in 1 place. then they handed my little blood and vernix covered baby wrapped in a blanket and squalling up a storm.
They had me push out the placenta while holding her but all I could think of was "She's beautiful" as they set the wrapped placenta between me and Jason. They left us to bond with our new baby for a while and I honestly couldn't have been happier. All that work and we could finally see and hold her.

The last thing they had us do before getting me ready to go home was cutting the cord. They handed me the clamp and showed me where to put it then gave Jason the scissors to cut the cord itself.
The whole birthing experience, while not something I'm keen to repeat, was like nothing else in my life. I would do it all over to see little Ahlia if I had to.

Now, 2 weeks and a handful of days later, through some sleepless nights, better days, bad emotional days, better nights, and a healthy baby appointment later I'm glad I did what I did. I had my little girl completely natural, no drugs, and purely through the force of my own body she came to be and come out. I AM A BADASS!!!!!!!