Alexa Avalon's Birth Story

The story of your birth begins before your birthday.  Your Father and I decided we wanted to have you born at our home, where we would be most comfortable and where we could welcome you into the world without any unnecessary outside intervention.  We hired a midwife, Robin Weisbrod, who specialized in home births in our area.  She is the only licensed midwife in the Hampton Roads area that is legally allowed to perform home births.  I saw Robin for several prenatal visits, and she visited our home too before the birth to bring us a birthing tub and ensure we had the necessary supplies required to have you born at home.  I still continued my care with the Naval Clinic at Sewell’s Point just in case we needed to transfer to the hospital.  I had full confidence though that that wouldn’t be necessary.  I never preregistered at the hospital and I never packed a hospital bag.

Your estimated due date was December 29, 2003, but I was really hoping you would arrive before Christmas.  I was having a hard time walking from all the pressure of where you were sitting, and I wanted to be able to show you off for Christmas.  I had a visit with Robin on December 23rd, and she confirmed you were sitting very low and appeared to be ready, but time would tell.  Late that evening I started losing my mucous plug, and that continued the entire day of December 24th.  I had off work on December 24th and took a long nap which I desperately needed and was projected to have off until your due date.  I was so happy I could be at home and relax and enjoy my last few days of pregnancy with you.  On Christmas Eve we went over to your Aunt Paula’s house for dinner, and when we came home your Father, brother Benjamin and I opened our Christmas presents.  I continued with my bloody show until we went to bed. 

On December 25th I was awakened with a contraction.  I glanced at the clock and it was around 12:30 am.  I didn’t think too much of this as I had quite a few episodes of painful Braxton Hicks contractions throughout the past month.  I woke up here and there with a contraction, but never looked at the clock much anymore.  At 2:00 am, or perhaps a bit sooner Benjamin woke up during the night and your Father went in his room to sleep with him. At this time I couldn’t go back to sleep, or if I did it was only for very brief moments.  Since my contractions were at the point where sleep was impossible, I decided to get up and time them.  I went into your brother’s room and woke your Father up to let him know.  At that point Ben was back asleep and your Dad went back to our bedroom to sleep.  After putting my watch on, I came downstairs and started to time the contractions and write them down.  They were basically ten minutes apart and lasting only about 30 seconds each.  I timed them for an hour and all were consistent, meaning I was in early labor.  While I was having a contraction I just sat on the birth ball and swiveled and did deep breathing.  The contractions were all very easy to get through.  In between contractions I just started tidying up the Christmas wrapping we had left out and began putting gifts away.

At 3:18 I went upstairs and woke your sleeping Father up and told him the news.  I asked him to wake up and set up the birth tub.  He was pretty sleepy still and didn’t seem to want to get up.  He asked me twice what time it was and I had to wake him twice to finally get him up.  At 3:30am I paged our midwife Robin.  She called back within two minutes and I wished her a Merry Christmas and told her I was in early labor.  I let her know what my contractions were like and told her to go back to bed and hopefully she would be able to open Christmas presents with her family before I needed to call her again.  She just asked me to call if anything changed.

After this, things became a little more intense, but I still thought we had plenty of time.  After all, your brother Benjamin wasn’t born until 36 hours after my water broke with 30 hours of real labor.  I was hoping you would be faster, but still felt I had all the time in the world to get things taken care of.  I was wrong.  Your Dad was busy setting up the birth tub and I was still trying to put presents away and tidy the house a bit.  It was getting harder to do my tasks though, as the contractions started coming more frequently and were definitely more painful.  I started needing your Father’s help to get through the contractions.  I even threw up at one point.  In the mean time, your Father was very busy also.  We set the birth tub up in the living room near the fireplace and within view of the Christmas tree, but your Father initially forgot to put the disposable liner in the birth tub and had to pump out a bit of water from starting to fill it and start over.  This naturally caused the hot water supply to run down, so your Dad was diligently boiling water on the stove to add to the tub.  When he wasn’t doing that he was he trying to accomplish tasks that I needed done.  He helped me pack up Ben’s clothes to take to Grandma and Grandpa’s house, lit candles for the aroma and pleasant mood, brought our birth supplies downstairs and endlessly helped me through the increasing contractions. 

My contractions seemed like they were occurring every two or three minutes now and were lasting about 40 seconds to one minute each.  They peaked immediately and slowly dissipated.  I had lower back pain and lower uterine pain with each contraction, and some pain in my anterior thighs also.  I either wanted to sit on my birth ball or be on my hands and knees.  I went in and out of the bathroom about every thirty minutes and mostly crawled on my hands and knees because it was more comfortable than walking.  The best thing your Father would say to me during the contractions was to feel my uterus working.  It really helped me focus and concentrate on the fact that you would be here soon.

Ben woke up at around 5:15am and your daddy called my parents to come and pick him up.  Ben was 23 months old today and too young to stay for your birth.  We knew he would be afraid watching mommy in pain.  While waiting for Grandma and Grandpa to arrive Ben sat on the couch downstairs and let me hug him through a few contractions.  I knew this would be the last time I would see Ben as an only child.  It was a bittersweet moment.  I so anticipated your arrival, yet knew Ben was too young to understand that soon he would lose a lot of the attention he was used to.  Grandma and Grandpa came at sometime around 5:30 to 6:00am to get Ben.

I don’t remember what time Dad called the doula, but I really wanted an extra pair of hands here to help.  She didn’t answer either her cell or home phone, but Dad left messages on each.  I also don’t remember what time he called Robin back, but according to her it was at 6:30am.  He told her the contractions were about four minutes apart, although they seemed more frequent to me, and the longest one he timed was one minute and six seconds.  Robin said she was on her way.

Dad made me soup but I could only take a few bites.  I was just in so much pain.  I didn’t know what I wanted to do.  Dad thought this might be a good time for me to get in the birth tub.  It took about five minutes for me to get the energy between my frequent contractions to get up and in the tub.  The moment I got in I positioned myself on my hands and knees and I immediately felt the pressure of your head very low and felt like I had to push.  I told your father I felt your head descending and I reached down and touched what I thought was your head.  I had your Dad look and he said it was your amniotic sac bulging out.  I asked your Father if he was prepared to deliver you himself, and he calmly said he was.  He barely got his swim trunks on but ended up just kneeling over the side of the tub when I pushed your head out.  The bag of waters remained intact and your Father said you were moving your head as if to look around.   I reminded your Dad to check if your cord was wrapped around your neck, but it wasn’t.  With the next push your arms came out and the water broke, and with the final push your Daddy was holding you under the water.  I turned to sit down and your Father handed you to me as we brought your face up and out of the water.  You didn’t breathe immediately, but we weren’t worried since we knew you were still getting oxygen through the cord.  We suctioned you with the bulb syringe but didn’t get much if any mucous out.  About a minute after that you took your first breath and opened your beautiful eyes. 

You were as gorgeous as could be with dark, wide set eyes, dark hair,  and had flawless skin.  You were the best Christmas present I ever have received.  All I could do was cuddle you and admire your beauty and determination to be born so quickly.  It was a very special moment having only your Father and I there to bring you into the world.  We will cherish the memories of your birth forever.

Within five minutes of your birth you were nursing.  We kept you in the water held next to my skin.  Your Daddy paged the midwife about five minutes after that to let her know you had arrived and she was at our door about twenty minutes after you were born.  She clamped your cord and Dad cut it, and then we took you out of the water and let Daddy hold you while I delivered the placenta.

Next we went upstairs where the midwife assessed me and sutured my tears.  I had two very small tears and one a bit larger.  After I was taken care of it was your turn next.  The midwife assessed you and then you were weighed and measured.  You seemed so small, but you surprisingly weighed 8 pounds 4 ounces and were 20.5 inches long.  Your temperature was only 96.3, so we dressed to in a onesie and let you cuddle in bed between dad and myself to warm you up.  Our doula, Jennifer, did finally call us back, but we told her you were already here and she didn’t need to come by.  The midwife and her assistant cleaned things up and then came upstairs to say goodbye for the day.  They left around 11 am and your Dad and I spent the rest of the day holding and loving you.

Later that evening your Grandparents and Aunt brought Benjamin back home to see you.  Ben was a bit apprehensive seeing you at first and we let him spend the night back at Grandma and Grandpa’s house.

Daddy and I couldn’t have asked for a more meaningful birth experience.  Everything was perfect from the first contraction to the delivery of you into Daddy’s hands.  We are  so fortunate to have you as a part of our lives.  We love you so very much.