My Birth Story

How does anyone put into words the best experience of her life?
Well, I am going to give it my best shot with writing this birth story. The
story of my labor and delivery, and meeting a baby girl at the end of it.


My EDD was August 6th, 2012. That day came pretty quickly and of course was
uneventful. No birth! I wasn't even dilated at my 40 weeks doctor’s appointment.
41 weeks came and went. By this time I was thinking my due date was a little
off. I finally started feeling some very mild contractions on Wednesday and
started thinking, "tonight may be the night!” So I walked, bathed, and went to
bed, then I woke up the next morning. Bummer! Labor didn’t wake me up out of
bed! After a pep talk from my doula I decided I was going to stop trying to get labor to start and take it easy. I was still having contractions and they lasted all day, but were mild and about 10 minutes apart. I kept to myself that day, watched movies, sat on the back porch, took photos of sunflowers and bees, and told myself "this baby WILL be born!” Thursday evening my contractions started getting much stronger. So I asked my husband, Allie, to start timing them. They were lasting 60-90 seconds and about 5/7 minutes apart. This was the nice part of labor. I bathed, showered, got massaged, and then my contractions started getting closer and stronger, yay progress!!! We finally called our doula, Shannon, around 11:30 pm when my contractions were feeling pretty intense. They were about 2/3 minutes apart now. Then the vomiting started. YUCK! I vomited with my son during labor, and it is no fun! I would usually vomit after a very strong contraction and Shannon later said that she thinks each time I dilated, I would vomit. Interesting. My favorite position through all this was hands and knees. I would rock, sway, moan, and it made things pretty bearable. I labor on the toilet, outside on the back porch with the tiki torches burning; it was all so peaceful and perfect.

We decided to head to the hospital around 1:30 am. Allie called my mother and told her to head over the hospital too. Shannon
came into triage with me (only one person allowed in there). The nurse checked me and I was just 4/5 cm!! I was pretty disappointed. I wanted to be close to pushing, you know, spend the LEAST possible time at the hospital. So I decided I would leave, go home, and labor some more there, then come back. It sounds like an easy task, but in triage nothing is cut and dry! They wanted to monitor the baby, talk to the doctor, etc. etc. After an hour passed in triage and I was in a pretty good labor groove. I was using my headband as a blindfold to block out the bright lights and the triage bed frame was my very own squat bar. I was squatting over a chucks pad holding onto the railing of the bed and leaning back stretching through each contraction. I tried a few other positions, but was very limited with just a bed and a curtain surrounding me. I soon felt like I was the only laboring woman in this overcrowded hospital. Each time I contracted I would breathe and moan through it, saying things like open and down.

Now the verdict was okay, let just stay here and get a room, but, of course there are no rooms or nurses available! So, we had to wait a little longer until one opened up. Well, my body and baby didn't feel like waiting any longer. After a good throwing up session (ha-ha! right), I started feeling the urge to push a little. Shannon decided maybe she could sweet talk the lovely triage nurse into letting Allie sneak in with us. She said yes, and Shannon called Allie to come. He was sleeping in the van getting some rest for when we would finally get into a delivery room. After Shannon and Allie got off the phone I had a stronger urge to push and went along with it...POP! "My water broke"-Me. "Her water broke, and she is feeling pushy"-Shannon. "Baby is coming!"-Me. Nurses start to get up, Allie is at the triage door, I am trying to get in the triage bed (I was in a full squat on the floor), I get into the triage bed and they start RUNNING me down the hall. Allie called my mom, and told her to come in, Rachel is pushing!! Baby is literally crowning as we are going down the hall. Then we got into a room, I transferred to the hospital bed
and was on all fours. My mom made it in on time, and saw me on all fours pushing, she had some funny thoughts I am sure! The doctor came in (one I have never met before, Kaiser for ya!). He asked how I was going to deliver and I told him I am comfortable like this, so I am going to stay. He was game! Thank goodness! Some more pushing, RING OF FIRE!!!, baby’s head came out, then the shoulders, ouchie, finally that gush of remaining fluid and baby's body and legs!!!! Allie first said "it’s a boy!"....but I looked down under my legs and all I can see is HER feet and legs! "IT'S A GIRL!!!!" I flipped over with some assistance and she was handed right to me. The doctor examined me and said I had no tearing! What a relief!

Baby girl Adele Dixie Rea Ivison was born at 4:02am on August 17th, 2012. She weighed 9lbs 3ozs. She was born without the
need for pain medication, no ivs, no heplock, absolutely prefect in every way!


Our room was filled with so much oxytocin, love, and excitement! I have a little girl! My son has a sissy! Grannie has a Granddaughter! Daddy has his baby girl! The world is perfect. I would not change a thing about my labor and delivery. Even being in triage for 2 hours, it worked, I went from 4/5 cms to 10cm in just 2 hours, and held a baby girl shortly after.

Now I am enjoying the baby moon, and adapting to life with 2 little ones. Hope you enjoy my birth story! I wish I was a better writer so I could truly communicate the pure joy, happiness, and beauty of this natural child birth.


*The photo above is just after they handed her to me. My doula's hand is on my shoulder. It touches me deeply. There is a deep bond between a doula and her client, well in this case a client and her doula.  

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He is going to find out if it's a boy or girl in a few minutes!

Nice foot mommy! My view between my legs was just her legs, feet, and vagina!