The Birth of Brian Tyler

My due date for our first baby was September 26, 2015. I was so happy being pregnant. I had the biggest roundest belly, everywhere I went people would ask if I was having twins. I did all of my prenatal care at a birth center, in Englewood, which has since closed its doors. I went in for an appointment. I was 41 weeks and 3 days, the cut off for having a baby in a birthing center legally in Colorado is 42 weeks. So while I was perfectly content still being pregnant, I was starting to get nervous that I was going to risk out of the birthing center. I was petrified of having a baby in a hospital. The weeks prior to my final appointments I tried all the classic wives’ tales for inducing labor, eating spicy food, having sex, eating a lot of pineapple, exercising, cleaning the house, going for a long walk, all to no avail. So I was 41 weeks and 3 days, I went in for an appointment, a non-stress test to make sure baby was still healthy and doing well. Everything checked out he was content as could be and I was not dilated. So the midwife recommended placing a foley bulb in my cervix. It is basically two small plastic sacks that get filled with sterile saline solution, one sack goes in through your cervix and gets filled and the other sits on the outside of your cervix and gets filled. The goal of the foley bulb is to put pressure on your cervix causing it to start to dilate. I also started a tincture of cotton root bark that I took every two hours, the goal of this remedy was to start to stimulate the uterus to have contractions.

I left the appointment with no signs of labor on the horizon, so we decided to take our Jeep down to our favorite four wheeling road in Gunnison, Colorado, aka 3-4 hours away from our birthing center, all while the foley bulb was in place, and I was taking the tincture. We drove and got off road and my contractions started almost immediately as we were bumping around. We stopped and got out of the jeep to show my mother the really cool abandoned railroad station that was on the pass. We walked around for a few minutes, but my contractions were starting to get stronger so I walked back to the jeep and after 10 more told them we should probably get going back. My contractions continued as we bumped our way down the pass. They got stronger and more close together, about every 3 minutes apart. Then suddenly I felt a small squirt of warm liquid wet my pants, uh-oh, was that my water breaking? The contractions continued, we had no service to call the midwife to see what we should do so Steven continued to drive. We finally got onto the main road and got in touch with the midwife. She said to go to the bathroom and cut the foley bulb out, gross right! So we stopped at a gas station, Steven bought a pair of scissors and cut the little tube hanging out of my vagina and the saline exploded and gushed everywhere, all over him! He immediately started gagging, and I was like “Oh would you relax! Its just saline!!” We got back into the car and drove home. By the time we got home my contractions had completely stopped. The midwife advised us to get some sleep and come in first thing in the morning so that she could check if my water had broken.

The next morning, 41 weeks 4 days. My water bag was still intact, I was not dilated, and I was not having any contractions. I only had three more days to birth where I wanted to. So we decided to redo all the things we did yesterday including the cotton root bark, the foley bulb, added in taking a dose of castor oil, and removed the four wheeling from the equation. While there the midwife decided it best to manually dilate me to a 3 using the foley bulb instead of just leaving it in me, ouch that freaking hurt! So we left and went and got breakfast. I was not terribly hungry and by the time we got home I had started having some contractions again. So I got into the bathtub around 1145, and by 1215 I was nauseous and threw up, then had diarrhea from the castor oil and said it was time to go to the birthing center. On the drive there I hung with my head out the window like a sick little dog in pain and moaning the whole way, it was an awful car ride. We got there and the midwife asked me to sit down or lay down on the bed so she could check if I was dilated, I attempted both positions and immediately popped up from them. I was starting to lose my breath and I was not comfortable at all. They filled the birthing tub and I got in and felt immediate relief but then transition started to happen, my contractions were barely 30 seconds to one minute apart as soon as one ended, I could take three or four breaths and the next one began. I remember thinking that I could not possibly do this. Steven kept putting cold washcloths on my back as I was just in and out of it through the surges.

The midwife told me whenever I was ready, I could start pushing. I had no idea what the heck I was doing. I would do what I thought was a push and then lay back down for a couple seconds and then attempt to push again. Nothing was happening, I did not know what it was supposed to feel like and I was doing it all wrong. Then finally I bared down and pushed hard curving myself around my belly and I felt the baby move through my birth canal, that was it, Ok I have got it now! I pushed a couple more times and the midwife and Steven were there telling me to reach down and feel the baby’s head, they could see baby’s hair. So I did, and yuck, not the best feeling in the world, then I pushed again and something, my water, burst. It shot out of me like a fire hydrant! It literally made waves in the birthing tub. I am not exaggerating! I immediately stood up and said “what the hell was that!! Something is wrong! What just happened? I cannot do this, I am done!!” The midwife forcefully said “sit down your baby is crowning, if you want to have a water birth you need to sit down right now and push baby out!” Steven looked at me and said “Olivia Look at me. Look at me!! You are ok! You can do this!! He is almost out!” so I squatted back down and two more pushes and he was out. I pulled him up into my arms and laid back in the water. I was speechless. I could not move. I did not know what to say. Finally I asked the midwife if he was ok because he didn’t cry and she said “yes he’s perfect, look at him.” And he was. He was a chubby, puffy little boy with light brown hair, neck rolls for days and went right to my breast to nurse when we laid down in the bed. The midwife did the uterus massage to get my uterus to shrink, which was quite possibly the worst part of the entire birth, then Steven cut his umbilical cord. Steven named him Brian, and I chose the middle name Tyler after my older brother’s middle name. After I nursed Brian for awhile the midwives told me it would be soothing to take a bath and give the baby to Steven to snuggle. They wrapped Brian in a swaddle and Steven stood holding him and stared at him. He did not say anything for a long time, then finally said “hi buddy” and continued to pace around the room holding his son. Three hours later we went home to our own bed, our three puppy dogs and our little home in Roxborough. Life was perfect.