Thad’s Birth Story | Part 5: The Contraction Pattern Starts Holding Steady
I shared Thaddeus’s birth story in installments on social media. Since not everyone is on social media, I wanted to also share the story of his birth here on my blog. This version is the narrative form version, which I wrote initially for family and friends. If you’re jumping in here on this post, you may want to go back and start with Part One.
Alternatively, I also have an overview post of my pregnancy and Thad’s birth over here on this post.
By 8pm Wednesday night (24 April), all seemed calm. Contractions were well spaced – 15 mins, 20 mins. Mild: 40 seconds.
We got the kids to bed and Gabe hit the button on the tea kettle. “Do you want a cup of tea?” he asked.
I shook my head. “No. I’m going to brush my teeth and go to bed. I’m tired. I’ll go to the sleepout so I can hopefully get some good, undisturbed sleep.”
Our kids usually sleep through the night, but the last few weeks – probably sensing the transitions coming even in slumber – it seems like at least one child is awake every night. With my own frequent wakings, the sleepout is where I get the most rest.
I fell asleep quickly, waking sometime before midnight to another mild contraction. I lay still in the dark through five. With each one, I’d mentally start at my head and scan my body trying to relax along the way: relax the forehead, relax the cheeks, relax my lips, my tongue, my jaw, my neck, my shoulders, etc. I pictured a scoop of ice cream dropped on the black top in the hot sun, melting. I tried to melt into the pillows and mattress.
After 5 contractions, I reached for my phone and opened the contraction timer app (again) and started timing them. 7 minutes apart. 50 seconds long. It seemed like more of the same.
I lay in the dark for an hour, dozing between contractions, then doing my mental scan/intentional relaxation while picturing the ice cream and pacing my breathing: 3 counts in, 5 counts out, nice and steady. Hitting the Start and Stop buttons on the app through bleary eyes.
Contraction pattern was holding steady, but I needed to pee. I got up to use the toilet, drank water, and moved restlessly around the dark house. I’d been losing my mucus plug for several days, but that toilet run had indicated positive progress in the cervical softening and dilation arena. But these could be nothing more than another round of “warm up” contractions.
I lit a candle and paced and swayed through a few more contractions.
I woke Gabe up and told him the current status. “Should I fill the birth tub?” He asked.
“I don’t know… I just don’t know if these will go anywhere…” I sighed. “Let’s fill it half way. We can always drain it, but if things do progress, we can top it off with hot water,” I decided.
He nodded.
“I’m going to try to sleep through what I can.” I said, moving toward the dark bedroom and climbing in to the still-warm side of the bed where Gabe had been sleeping.
I took another deep breath as another contraction mounted. “Relax your forehead. Relax your cheeks. Relax your jaw…” I silently coached myself as I drifted into a dozy, focused space of steady breaths and silent work. The flicker of candle light was my company as my uterus muscle fibers did the hard, slow task of moving this baby toward the outside world. As the contraction eased off I breathed, “Good job, baby. Good job, body. You’re doing great.” Then I closed my eyes and drifted further into that dozy, in between space.