A Precipitous Natural Hospital Birth
Rebel Antonio Carlisle DeLaFuente
Born June 23rd 2020 at 7:50am
On Monday night around 9 pm, my contractions started. I told the hubby to maybe get his hospital bag packed and to not be surprised if we had a baby tomorrow. I packed some stuff up for myself and already had everything for Rebel ready to go. I went to bed around 11 with Delilah and was still having mild contractions. As the night went on, I could feel my contractions getting stronger while I tried to sleep through them. I kept waking up because I was even having dreams about them progressing. Around 4:30 am, I finally came to a point where I could no longer sleep and decided to get up and keep my mind busy. I texted my mom and told her to get ready because I thought I was going to have to go to the hospital soon. I took a bath and tried to relax but my contractions were progressing quickly but I just kept breathing through them. Around 5:15 am, Delilah woke up and came to the bathroom to see what I was doing. She knew I was hurting and was telling me it was okay, coaxing my face and arms, being the bright light she is. I held her and cried a little bit as I thought about our time with just us being over and praying she handled the transition well. We finally went and woke up daddy and told him it was about time to head to the hospital. My mom came around 5:40 am and was helping me finish up packing a bag and snacks for Tony and hanging out with Delilah. By that time, contractions were hitting hard and about 3 minutes apart and my mother kept telling me it was time to go, which at this point I knew it probably was. Once we were all packed up and ready, we headed to the hospital. I was breathing through each contraction and holding onto the walls as I walked to the car.
We got to the hospital and up to l&d around 6:30 am and they took me to a triage room to see if I was in active labor, even though I knew I was. They checked to see if I was dilated and I was already at a 7! Being GBS positive I told them I wanted to start antibiotics as soon as possible (in hope of being released within 12hrs if delivery) and we headed to a room to get an iv started. As this was happening, my contractions were coming faster and stronger and I was squeezing Tony’s hand as hard as possible while I breathed through them. It got to a point where I was hurting, bad, and I started to panic a bit. They had to call labs down to get an iv started since I’m such a hard stick and when they got there, I had one big contraction and felt my water break. The nurse called my OB and told him to get there because baby was coming. Minutes later he walked in, suited up and ready to go. I started to feel baby move down through my pelvis, my body completely opening up for him to make his debut. I suddenly felt a ton of pressure and FER kicked in. He was really coming! I told Tony to hurry up and grab the camera. About 3 or 4 contractions later, he was here. I cried and I prayed and I screamed and I felt the ring of fire as his head and shoulders emerged. I couldn’t believe I was actually doing it! He was born at 7:50 am and Tony immediately started crying as he was taking pictures (which he did an incredible freaking job at). I was looking at Rebel still in disbelief at what just happened, in shock that he was already here, listening to his cry. He was so perfect in every single way. They put him on my chest right away and I’ll never forget that smell - one of the best smells in the entire world. It was intoxicating. We delayed cord clamping until it was time to cut and daddy did the honors. We did skin to skin for a good while and he latched almost immediately when we put him to the breast which was a super special and intimate moment! After he ate, daddy did skin to skin while he napped and I got to take a much needed shower.
Pregnancy was hard for me this time around. I was tired all the time, my body ached, I gained so much weight, and I was constantly worried about how my labor and delivery would go since I’d be birthing during a pandemic. I was so upset my mom couldn’t be there to help me labor. I was sad that my doula couldn’t be present to support us & help us document the precious moments we’d never get back. I was heartbroken that Delilah wouldn’t be able to meet her baby brother right away. But against all odds, my birth was everything and more of what I could’ve prayed it to be, especially during such an unpredictable time. It was very healing for me in so many ways. I finally got the unmedicated birth I’ve wanted and I couldn’t be more proud of myself and my hubby. We did the damn thing. He was SO supportive and got me through each and every contraction on top of photographing our birth. I really don’t know how he did it looking back but I’m so thankful he did. Life is beautiful right now and I couldn’t be any happier. I love my hubby and I love my beautiful babies! - next, home water birth! 😛