Emma Lynn Traaseth - WI
Emma Lynn’s Birth Story
After a rather upsetting hospital birth experience with our first daughter, we decided to have our second at Morning Star Birth Center. We were both very comfortable with the decision, and knew that it would be a wonderful experience.
My pregnancy was very uneventful, with very little morning sickness or any of the other wonderful side effects of pregnancy. At my 39 week appointment, I told my midwives that it was going to happen this weekend (I just had a feeling).
My contractions started two days later on a Saturday at 2:30 am. They started out very light, and I questioned whether they were contractions or not. Finally at 3:15, I started timing at about 15 minutes apart. By 5:30 am I decided to get in the shower to make sure they were the real thing. At that point the contractions were about 8-10 minutes apart. After calling my midwife at 6am, we both decided that I would stay home and wait for the contractions to speed up and get stronger because they really didn’t feel that strong. Throughout late morning and early afternoon my contractions spaced out to about 20 minutes apart, but felt much stronger. I was advised to get in the bath tub around 2pm and I relaxed in the tub for a good hour. By the time I got out of the bathtub, my contractions had picked up considerably and were quite strong. By 4:00 I advised my husband to hurry up at get home from work; we packed the car quickly and were to the birth center by 5pm. At that point my contractions were about 4-5 minutes apart and very strong. The birthing tub was quickly filled and I got in shortly after arriving. Once in the tub, my contractions became incredibly strong, almost unbearable. I struggled finding the best way to deal with them. I found that being on my knees and leaning forward with my arms on the edge of the tub was the best position for me. During each contraction I would bury by forehead into a towel on the edge of the tub and make low moans or “moo” sounds.
After several minutes of strong contractions, I began to feel the slight urgency to push, and as I pushed, the contractions were more bearable. As I began to push, I became quite frantic feeling the pressure and trying to find the best position where I could get the most pushing leverage. After pushing for what seemed to be a long time (my husband said it was only 20 minutes), Emma Lynn came into the world at 7:29pm. She was born posterior (face up) but I never did feel any back labor, which is said to be quite painful with a baby being born that way.
I reached down into the water and brought her up to my chest. After her initial light cry, she quickly calmed down in the warm water. She laid there watching me for several minutes, she wasn’t hungry right away, but nearly fell asleep in the water. After the placenta was delivered, we got ourselves into bed before cutting the umbilical cord. As we relaxed in bed, our first daughter came with grandma to see her new little sister. We went home during the night. It felt so good to be able to sleep in our own bed with the newest addition to our family.
It was truly a wonderful experience and everything that I hoped and prayed it would be. I feel so blessed to have had such a peaceful birth experience and a perfect healthy baby girl.
