Frank was my first baby. We planned to have a nurse midwife for his birth at the big teaching hospital where I was a labor and delivery nurse. I labored all day at home; listening to beautiful calming music- making a play list to take to the hospital for when labor got intense. I called my husband to come home for dinner about 5pm and called my friend who was going to be our support person. I made dinner for everyone, ate and then went to lay down through a couple of harder contractions. My friend read me encouraging words. I got too uncomfortable laying down so I got up and then I had to go to the bathroom. After I peed; there was a pop and a huge gush of fluid- my water broke right into the toilet- pretty convenient!
After that it felt like the baby’s head came down against my cervix- instead of floating above it with the bag of amniotic fluid creating a nice internal water balloon pillow. Suddenly the contractions were very very intense. I needed my husband to come in and help me pull up my undies- and stick a overnight pad on them because I kept leaking more and more fluid. We drove to the hospital in the dark of early evening- I remember telling him not to change lanes because I couldn’t handle the bumps when we were going over the reflector nubs that marked the lane divisions. I was breathing hard and (unbeknowst to my husband) trying not to push!
We arrived at the ER entrance and they put me in a wheel chair. My husband said I changed from being strong and in charge to being an obedient patient. They wheeled me to the desk to sign paperwork and I tried to stay calm through the contractions- but I could tell the baby was coming and I had to push. I told them to take me up to labor and delivery (where I worked as RN); and when they heard that they took me right to the elevator.
We made it up to the ob floor; and I climbed into the bed; my feet in stirrups. My nurse midwife had arrived at the hospital a few minutes before us- coming straight over from a backyard BBQ- her jeans and t-shirt under her white hospital jacket. I pushed three times once I got on the bed and my son was in my arms!! I had some stitches- with local anesthetic- not as bad as I thought it would be.
After the birth I went to the post-partum floor to recover. The nurses kept taking baby Frank away for blood tests, a bath, weight and length checks. They said he was hypoglycemic- low blood sugar. My husband would always go to the nursery with him but it made me sad- I wanted my baby with me. I had trouble getting him to latch to the breast and there was no lactation consultant available. Breastfeeding was much more awkward than I thought it would be but after two days we got the hang of it and went home!
My mom came to help us out for the first two weeks which was great! I was pretty tired and sore- and so emotional. Everything seemed to make me cry- even though I was so happy and baby Frank was perfectly wonderful. My mom was experienced with breastfeeding and really helped me get through the first two weeks of nipple pain and engorgement.
I felt so overwhelmed when my mom left on the plane, but day by day baby Frank showed me what he needed. He calls himself “the guinea pig kid- taught my parents everything.” Breastfeeding became a special bonding/relaxation time. He went for lots of stroller walks with daddy. Even diaper changes became play times. I went back to work- nights as a nurse- but my career did not feel as significant as before- I was a changed person. My breasts would fill up at work-automatically letting me know it was time to pump- and that I was a mother! I was grateful we had a nice private pumping room and I brought a picture of Frank with me to help with let-down. Using the pump was not my favorite- it made me feel like a dairy cow.
My husband would get up with him in the night while I was at work. Sometimes it was pretty rough if baby Frank didn’t want the bottle of breast milk- or couldn’t get it fast enough- or woke up just as daddy very gently set him in his crib. My husband decided the crib had to go- “why should our baby be all alone in a cage?” he said to me one day. So he started having baby Frank sleep in our bed- and then all of us slept better.
Frank grew up on lots and lots of books, Legos, Pokemon, scouting, home cooking and playing in the backyard. He went to public school, Christian school, homeschooled a couple years and then back to public school again. We drove across the USA from San Diego to Maine, five times and moved six times before he finished highschool.
Today Frank is an amazing young man- a college graduate, fluent in Japanese, living and working as a translator in Tokyo, Japan since 2014.
Water of Life Midwifery 