Macy's Birth Story

My labor with Macy started in the early moring on Thursday, November 12, the day after my due date. On Wednesday I was feeling normal, a little cranky I was still pregnant but over all I felt like it was any other day. I didn't have any feeling like I was going to go to bed that night only to wake up a couple hours later in labor.

It was around 1:00am on Thursday when I woke up to a pulling pressure in my lower abdomen. I got out of bed used the bathroom, and got a glass of water and went back to bed to try to fall back to sleep. But I felt another surge of pressure before I could fall asleep. After another few minutes or so I woke up Jake and decided it was time to go to the hospital. I wanted to get there early to try to get both doses of antibiotics I needed to kill off all the group B strep that could be passed to Macy's bloodstream during birth.

Jake and I got to the hospital at around 1:30ish. The Nurse checked my cervix and I was dilated to a three. I was a little bummed about being at a three. That is where I had been dilated to at my last two appointments. Soon my contractions and Macy's Heart Rate were being monitored and I felt like my contractions were becoming less frequent. I was scared I was going to be sent home. However before they even checked my cervix again the nurse let me know that I was going to be admitted because Macy's heart rate dropped with each of my contractions. To try to get a better result from Macy the nurse had me lay on down on my side. Ugh, it was so uncomfortable. I was a little worried that I was going to have to stay in that position all night, making my birthing experience a little harder.

I was taken to my room and hooked up to an IV to get the first dose of my antibiotics. Thankfully during that hour Macy's heart rate had improved enough that I didn't have to labor in bed. First I labored on the toilet and my midwife just let me do my thing. I don't know what it is about being on a toilet but it is just so comfortable to be sitting on one during labor. Then I gave the birthing ball a go but it wasn't all that great for me.

After watching me, my midwife told me that she thought I was in transition which is typically the most challenging part of labor. Also it means it is only a short time till you are ready to push. I wanted to believe her, but just didn't I feel like my body was doing that much work. She let me know that when I was ready she would check me. After a few more contractions I felt like being checked and sure enough I was dilated to a seven. I was in transition! It was great news to hear.

From that point on all I wanted for the rest of my labor was to wrap arms my around Jake's neck, rock back and forth between contractions having him support all my weight. During this my wonderful labor and delivery nurse applied pressure to my back and rubbed my arms. It felt so great. Sometime during this, my sister, Angela got to the hospital to journal, take pictures, and record the birth.

She stared to journal at 4:38am. At 4:41 my midwife told me she thought I was at dilated to a nine. Again I wanted to believe her but just didn't feel that the that my body had done that much work. A few minutes later I was checked and I was dilated to a little more than a nine. My Midwife then broke my water and I soon stated to push whenever I had the urge to.

I started to push at 4:48. At first I only pushed with little grunts while kneeling on the bed and my arms draped around Jake. I didn't want to bear down and hold my breath for 10 seconds like I did with Tori. I wanted to take my time and let Macy ease down to prevent myself from tearing. Plus when I was pushing with Tori I lost control of my breathing when I held it for so long. For another 20 minutes I let my body work Macy down. I went from my kneeling to laying down and started to feel the urge to bear down. I pushed a few times and I could feel Macy being born.

Gosh it is such an amazing feeling. Of course it isn't like having a massage but experiencing what my body was divinely designed to do is the most amazing feeling for me.

Even at this point I felt like I was in 100% in control of myself and I pushed when my body wanted to. Seconds latter Macy Leona Green was born a healthy 7 pounds and 2 ounces. The midwife wiped her off a bit and let Jake and I meet our little girl for a minute before the respiratory therapist did their thing on her.

The first thing I thought when I saw Macy was she looked nothing like Tori, she had hair, and had the cutest little chubby cheeks. She was perfect.