At 42 weeks I was very ready to not be pregnant anymore. My estimated due date was December 25, 2013 and it was January 4. Through much debate my partner (Jeremy) and I decided to schedule an ultrasound to see how she was doing in there. She must've realized that she was going to be disturbed again because an hour after I made my appointment, my labor began. We were in midtown at a little gift shop, killing time before dinner with friends at 12 south. I went to use the restroom at a local bakery and my contractions began at about 15 minutes apart. We decided to have dinner with our friends and I ordered a vegetable lasagna and took most of it to go at around 8:30p.
We headed home. Very ready and very excited. I immediately got on my birthing ball and put on a comfortable robe. The contractions were light and easy, I kept telling Jeremy that I didn't think it was real labor because it was so gentle but suddenly, at around 10p, they hit. I went from 3cm to 9.5cm in a little under an hour and I stayed there until 5am the next day. The pain was incredible. The discomfort seemed endless. Sliding myself into our bathtub and then the birthing tub really took the weight off and I was able to labor much more comfortably. I spent the night laboring, through each contraction Jeremy held me and whispered how capable I was. I stayed very concentrated. The midwife assistant checked her heart rate every 15 minutes and she never went into fetal distress at any point during the labor and birth.
At around 10am I was exhausted. I couldn't stay awake any longer. I went upstairs, laid in my bed alone and slept through the contractions. After an hour I came downstairs and informed them I was ready to push. I pushed from 11a until 1:39p. I was on all fours and the last push was incredible. She was laid on my back to keep her warm. Then I held her. My husband and I couldn't believe what we'd just done. We couldn't believe how beautiful she was. We laughed at how her first noises sounded like a little baby goat and then we were a family. She immediately tried to latch onto my breast and I kept her warm and held her in the tub while she took in the new world around her.
When I was ready to get out of the tub and dry off my midwife held out her arm, I took it and suddently every thing went black. I fainted onto the tub and I woke up on the floor hearing my husband frantically asking if I was going to be ok. They checked my vitals and decided it was exhaustion. Noelle spent the next 6 hours skin to skin with her Dad and she met her grandmother (which was a very special moment for us). I went upstairs to sleep at around 9pm, after eating my leftover lasagna. I held her in my arms all night. I woke up to nurse her every hour & my husband brought me tea and toast to keep me nourished.
Noelle Snow Rivera was born naturally at home weighing 8lb 6oz. She was officially born on January 5, 2013 at 1:39pm. Perfectly healthy, wonderful latch. She opened her eyes the very next day and looked at everything with wonder. I am so happy I had her at home, with people I trusted, and got to fall asleep in my own bed that night. While having a home birth might be considered out of the norm I believe that healthy women with healthy pregnancies are fully capable of doing what our bodies were made for: laboring and birth. I would never trade in my experience for anything. There's nothing more empowering than the way she came into our world.
written/revised: January 13, 2013
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