Written by Hattiesburg Midwifery Mama, Jamie Lippincott

Like many first-time moms, I had several of the “am I going into labor?” moments from week 37 up until Lucy’s birth at 39 weeks and 4 days. However, I knew something was definitely different and labor was approaching when I got up on December 16th.
I got up that morning and went to work like normal. My job involved sitting at a desk quite a bit that day. I remember multiple distinct contractions throughout the morning. I finished work at 12 and walked the business cell phone to my boss since I knew I was definitely not going to be answering phone calls during my maternity leave. ( I was met with wide eyes as he laughingly realized I was going into labor and told me “good luck. Have fun”)
I had a prenatal appointment with Amanda that afternoon at 2. So with a little time to kill, I went to Walmart and Sam’s to stock up on a few food items and lots of paper plates! Walking through Sam’s while 9 months pregnant in early labor stages may not have been my greatest idea, but boy was I glad to have those strawberries, fig bars, and rotisserie chicken!
Everything was normal throughout the appointment and I left ready to see how things would progress. I called my husband, Evan, on the way home. We had made plans to have 3 close friends over for a steak dinner as a graduation celebration for one of them. Since I was still in the very early stages of labor, the distraction and hearty dinner was welcomed. My contractions were consistently 15-20 minutes apart at that point. I rested for the next hour or two. Evan cleaned our house and got everything ready for dinner. As our friends arrived, my contractions were about 10 minutes apart but not so intense that I wasn’t able to conceal the fact I was in labor. As we ate, contractions were getting stronger and I was having to concentrate through them. We ended up telling our friends I was in labor around 9 pm when I couldn’t conceal the contractions anymore. I deal with pain and can stay relaxed best with distraction, so having our friends there for the first stages of labor was actually nice… however different than how I would’ve thought it would be!
I had kept Amanda posted with the progress up until that point, as well as my sister (Sharon) who was planning to attend the birth. At around 10:30pm, Evan began setting up the birth pool in our room and Sharon arrived. By 11pm, the contractions were 4 minutes apart, but only lasting about 30 seconds. I tried to sleep again, but that was definitely not happening. I walked the short hallway in our home, just trying to meet the urge to move around. The next few hours were filled with walking, bouncing on/leaning over the birth ball, listening to Sharon tell me stories to help me pass the time, listening to my favorite worship songs, resting through contractions as I could and hugging and swaying with Evan when they were more intense.
By 2am, contractions were 3 minutes apart but still not very long. I was beginning to get tired but still felt that we had a good way to go left. This was when we decided to text Amanda. She and her team started arriving 45 minutes later. She checked my vitals as well as Lucy’s heart rate and position. We then talked through a few options to try to rest a little better through the next little while and hopefully the contractions would either slow down just a little, or grow in intensity. We decided on filling up the birth pool and spending some time trying to rest in the hot water. There was about an hour that was very peaceful and calm. As Evan held my hands and held me close to him, Sharon applied counter pressure on my hips when contractions came. I distinctly remember one particular contraction that felt powerful, but calm and peaceful. That hour of calmer contractions was so helpful! And then the contractions started getting way more intense.
The times are a little fuzzy to me… I was definitely in labor land and didn’t even notice the big thunderstorm that rolled through. Somewhere around 6 am I started feeling like I should push. I had gotten out and back in the birth pool. We went through several different positions, but none of my pushes were feeling very effective. I spent several contractions on the toilet and then moved to the birth stool… which I will forever look at differently. (it’s a love/hate relationship with that stool) I had expected the contractions to be painful… obviously. But what i didn’t expect was the charlie-horse cramps in my hips. I’ve had intense leg cramps for years, mostly in my calves, but sometimes in quads or hips. They were frequent in pregnancy. As each contraction came, a charlie-horse cramp came with it. After 2.5 hours of pushing and trying positions to avoid the cramps, we started realizing something would have to change.
Amanda asked how I felt about a cervical check at that point to assess where we were at. At that point, we realized that part of my cervix was not effacing. That gave some guidance as to a few different labor positions that might be more effective as well as helped us realized that it would need to be held out of the way manually until Lucy’s head was low enough to hold it back.
After a few positions, my water did end up breaking and we were seeing progress. I was finally starting to push effectively. I was exhausted at that point though and not handling the contractions paired with the leg/hip cramps well. I remember trying to push but recoiling away from the pressure because of the cramps. I remember Amanda telling me that I was going to have to push harder. I told her I didn’t know if I could do that. She responded by reminding me, gently but firmly, “well, you either have to figure out how to push harder or we’ve got to transition to the hospital” That was what I needed in that moment. Something shifted mentally for me then. I wasn’t trying to manage both the contractions and the cramps. (and not managing either one well for that matter) But I shifted into embracing the contractions and trying to lean into them, despite the increasing charlie-horses.
I’ve dealt with my share of pain and it has always made me more quite as i dealt with it. So I always thought I would be the quite type in labor… that was most definitely not the case! Something about labor changes the way your interact with your surroundings. I wouldn’t have thought i would’ve yelled but I did, without even realizing it. as each contraction came, and my exhaustion continued to grow, the yelling and effective pushing came too. We knew at that point that we couldn’t work around the charlie-horse cramps anymore. If I was going to be able to get that baby out, I was going to have to do it with the charlie-horses. Amanda suggested getting into a deep supported squat. Between the contractions, the charlie-horses, and lack of electrolytes compounded by having POTS, I couldn’t feel my legs. I remember my husband telling me in my ear that he had me (as he supported so much of my weight that my legs couldn’t handle at that point) and that we were going to get to meet our little girl soon!
Amanda said to give it three contractions in that squat. “You can make it through 3! and then we can change positions” That squat was more painful that anything I had anticipated, but effective. At the third contraction came, Lucy’s head was crowning and I finally knew how to push. We were definitely not moving from that squat until she came out!! I could feel Lucy’s head with my hand and knew she was right there! That was such a strength booster at that point. On the next contraction, out came her head followed by her body on the next contraction.
We sat on the floor in between the foot of our bed and the dresser, a space of about 2 feet. The relief and joy was through the roof. The passing of time is a blur, but I remember hearing Whitney call out the times as Amanda checked Lucy’s breathing. She needed a little help breathing. After a couple rescue breaths though, she was breathing well on her own!
We transitioned from the floor to our bed. Having Lucy lay on my chest and knowing she was out safely was the best feeling… slightly interrupted by the delivery of the placenta… which was a little more difficult than I expected. Lucy was born at 10:23 am and the placenta at 10:38. My bleeding was excessive and I was hemorrhaging. Amanda gave me a shot of pitocin IM followed by an IV. When my bleeding slowed and everything was stable. Amanda addressing any tearing and gave Lucy a thorough exam right there next to me. While Sharon and one of Amanda’s assistants made sure I ate something and drank electrolytes. I had started labor off with a hearty, protein heavy dinner, but only had yogurt and electrolytes throughout labor. I was pretty weak! After food, electrolytes, and a little rest. I was starting to feel better and greatly wanted a shower. We slowly eased into the bathroom. We stopped walking and I went to touch the wall in front of me to stabilize myself. The next thing I can remember is waking up looking at the ceiling and realizing that I had fainted… and that I wasn’t going to get to take a shower. haha! I went on hands and knees back to my bed and get settled in the bed with Lucy back on my chest. And we stayed right there for the rest of the day.
Amanda and her team handled everything so well and got us settled down for some sleep. We all slept with instructions not to get out of bed until Amanda returned that evening. When she returned, I was much more stable on my feet and made it to the bathroom and back and onto the porch for a few breaths of fresh air.
We settled in for sleep that night for the first time as a family of three… happy for the safe arrival of our little girl!

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