As I got down on the floor, I noticed Isaac and Lilah asleep on a couch pillow in the corner of the room. I saw that my friends, family and support team was all gathered. I'd really been oblivious to them before. Everyone was sitting quietly on the floor waiting, even the kids.
In previous labors the kids had always come and gone. This time they actually stayed for the entire birth. They were very quiet and well behaved. They even had their own doula, Denay. I told someone to wake them up, probably around the time of the vaginal exam. My friend Kim went to wake Isaac up. She said, "Get up, the babies are coming!" He replied in a sleepy voice, "I'll see them in the morning…" She made him come into our room anyway.
Because of the slower pushing phase, I was actually able to really feel the progress of the baby. It was really neat. I felt when baby A slipped right under the pubic bone and stayed. I was very aware of my body. Kevin and one of the midwives were sitting by my feet, awaiting the arrival of the first baby. We had hoped Kevin would be able to help catch this baby as he had Lilah.
After the head was under the pubic bone it was just a few more pushes and the baby was born very quickly, probably due to her small size in comparison to my other kids (Owl weighed 8 lbs.). Kevin handed the baby to me and I started crying right away. We turned the baby over to see if it was a boy or a girl. It was Isaac's job to tell us, he just stared at the baby. He finally said, "It's a boy." The midwife said, "Are you sure?" "No it's a girl!"
I sat there and cried and cried over my baby girl. I even said that she was the prettiest baby I'd ever had, which was true. Kevin cut the cord fairly quickly so that we didn't have to worry about baby B not getting enough blood. It was the first cord he'd ever cut.
After a few minutes I felt like I needed to really focus on the next baby so I handed Owl to my friend Eve, who kept her nice and warm and introduced her to her siblings. I had this strange fear that if I held onto A that I'd crush her while trying to push B out.
The head midwife was now at my feet with Kevin, awaiting baby B. We'd been very glad this baby had turned to the head down position and now we intended to make it stay that way. The baby spent a few minutes on my pubic bone. Another midwife was listening for heart tones. I lifted my now semi-deflated belly up so she could find a good spot. When I did that the baby started to move off my pubic bone. So I kept doing it.
The baby sounded great and there wasn't any real hurry. However, I was starting to get nervous and really wanted to get the baby out so I could stop worrying. All along I knew that there would be more potential problems with baby B. At one point I heard the midwife ask how long it had been since the birth of A. Another midwife responded that it had been 15 minutes. While this is not a long time, I realized I was beginning to obsess, so I asked to hold Owl again. She was passed to me and I gazed into her eyes and cried some more. I was also coughing a lot still from a nasty ear/throat infection from a few weeks before.
She was so calm and had this amazing effect on me. I'd never really felt as attached to a new baby as I felt with her. The other times I'd been so relieved labor was over, or so in shock. This felt good.
Finally I could feel Nose moving down more and once again I passed Owl off to focus on the next birth. My water broke with a huge explosion! It was worse than famous performance artists and everyone in the front row was definitely covered in amniotic fluid! They were all laughing, the kids really thought it was great. They had to wipe my midwife's face and glasses off. I just said, because we'll all good friends, "Just be glad it's me…"
Finally I felt the baby move to my pubic bone and past. I really wanted it over with to hold Nose. I began pushing with all my might, while belly lifting with one hand and doing fundal pressure with the other. Later someone told me that I said, "Stop it!" Isaac told the midwife, "She said stop!" The midwife said, "Honey, I'm not hurting her, it's the baby she's talking to…" To which Isaac replied, "Nose, stop it!"
