Molly’s Birth Story: “It was everything—magical and intense and beautiful and peaceful and really hard.”
On her baby’s first birthday, Andaluz client Molly shared his birth story, and has gracious allowed us to share it here on our blog! Below are Molly’s words:
One year ago today, I was working through all the waves to meet our baby boy. It’s a day I will forever remember and have thought about every day since. Pregnancy and birth have always inspired me, and after experiencing both, I am so grateful for how incredible women’s bodies are and am in constant awe of how empowering birth really is.
For as long as I can remember, I have dreamed of having a waterbirth but as soon as I found out I was pregnant, I started doubting that I could do it. My midwife team quickly turned into my biggest hype team (besides my partner Dan), and with each and every appointment I started believing that I could and would make this dream come true. I am also so lucky to have watched my sister go through her pregnancies with Andaluz Water Birth Center. After a tour of the center I left BEAMING and so at peace with this decision. There have only been a few times in my life that I’ve had this feeling, and this day was one of them. My experience with Andaluz was nothing short of amazing. Each midwife was attentive and made me feel capable, strong, and validated. What was more special is that I shared the same midwife as my sister who delivered my sweet nephews in the very same birth tub.
At the birth center you may go past your due date by ~2 weeks until they need to shift to a hospital birth plan, so most of my pregnancy I was convincing myself that pregnancy is 42 weeks, not 40. My sister had both her boys right on the cusp of needing to go the hospital which confirmed in my head that I was going to be late. One week past my due date, on August 29th, I had an appointment with my midwife where we discussed options we could do at home to try to get things moving even more. I had my second membrane sweep and was only 1cm and 0% effaced. I then had a routine nonstress test where sure enough I felt my first contraction- but nothing to make me feel like it was going to be happening in just a few hours. After this appointment, I went home made plans to take the midwife brew concoction (if you know, you know) later that evening.
The remainder of the day was spent quite literally on my hands and knees scrubbing our bathroom floors, doing laundry, chores around the house, curb walking, and taking a really great nap. This little brew is known to help induce labor sometimes pretty quickly, but I had it set in my mind that I was going to be taking it every night for the next few days just to gently get things moving. At 7pm on the dot I made this little concoction, and walked out the door with Dan for what would be our last walk as a family of 3 (hi Frankie). I went to bed early that night as Danny had taken to the couch to try and help me get a peaceful night's sleep. At this point in my pregnancy, I was pretty restless. At 10pm I was woken pretty abruptly by a strong and intense contraction. I thought maybe it was just a one off, but had gotten up to go to the bathroom and immediately noticed I was losing my mucus plug. I went back to bed kinda shocked and confused, even texting Dan "I just had an intense contraction", to which he responded "nice love!" Clearly both in so much denial that I was close to labor.
One contraction quickly led to another so I walked downstairs to tell Danny it was go time. It was quiet and peaceful and there was something in this moment that didn't have to be said but filled the room- our baby boy was coming. We went back upstairs to try and time the contractions and I quite literally fell asleep in a child's pose position between each one while Danny timed them.
At this point we were in touch with our midwife, Carrie, who so wonderfully came to our home at 3am to check in with us so she wouldn't have to send us back home if I wasn't progressed enough. She got to our house at 3am and I was still at 1cm but was 100% effaced. I honestly couldn't believe it with how intense the contractions were. Carrie told us we would be meeting our baby boy today, but I had convinced myself it was going to be way later in the day or even into the night. Carrie gave me some tips and "stations" to work through so I did my best to mentally prepare for this ride I was going on.
Again, beyond grateful for my sister who taught me that in labor you and your baby are going through it together, we were a team, and he knew what to do just as much as believing and knowing my body knew what to do. I just mentally needed to allow myself to get out of the way so he could be here.
I told Danny to get some sleep while I worked through these beginning stages a little more so that at least one of us could get some decent sleep. Breathing through each wave, I rotated between being in the bath and Parker’s recliner in his nursery. There I was able to get more rest as I held and rubbed my belly and tried to envision what this room would be with him here. Ok, I also had Greys Anatomy playing on my computer next to me. The most relaxing? No. But a comfort / distracting show? Yes.
Somehow the hours passed and I got to about 6am when I called my sister. A 6 minute phone call with 3 contractions and her urging me to wake up Dan and get to the birth center. Still in denial, I hung up and got back in the tub and then yelled for Dan to wake up and help apply counter pressure during contractions, while in between them he was running around packing up the car. I think my sister knew I wasn't leaving yet so she showed up to our house to help us get on the road. At this point my body quite literally started pushing- I had this urge to push that I couldn't stop. We texted our midwife and planned to get there around 10am. I was DREAMING of the birth tub. My sister and Dan helped me get to the car- walking at this point was hard. I'll never forget walking out the front door, in my robe, and a neighbor walking by seeing me in full contractions- ha! My body and baby boy were working hard but I'll forever be so grateful for how present I was able to be. I asked my sister for one last picture as a family of three with Frankie girl and we hit the road.
I truly believe I'll always remember this car ride. It was one of the hardest parts of labor. Danny was the most calm and grounding person I could've asked for but on the way to the birth center I looked over to see tears coming down - I asked him what was wrong and he just responded that we're on our way to meet our baby boy. I loved this moment. I will also never forget him speeding over a bump in the road when I was in the middle of a contraction.
We got to the birth center close to 10am, where another midwife (Mandy) met us out in the parking lot because she heard me... yikes. She helped us to our room and started filling the tub so I could get in right away. Another midwife came in while we waited for Carrie. I immediately asked what was going on and where I was at- thinking... 6cm? They looked at me and said you're doing it! You're pushing. Dan and I looked at each other with mouths dropped opened. You mean, I completely labored at home!? I could not believe it.
The midwives had shared in previous appointments that when you switch environments during labor your progression can begin to stall. I remember being in the tub and immediate relief came- the break was wonderful but still very hard. Carrie encouraged us to try some new positions and even had me get out of the tub to continue pushing on a birth stool so that she could help guide my pushing. The birth stool is not for the faint of heart! It was the hardest thing I've ever done and finally after an hour of pushing on this stool I was helped back into the tub at 12:20pm. 20 minutes later, Carrie put her gloves on and she said "It's always a good sign when the gloves come on."
Looking back, I know with 100% certainty I couldn’t have done this without Danny. He never wavered. From applying ice cold wash cloths to making sure I was hydrated. Our room was quiet which was not something I expected- I had a birth playlist and all but all I needed was him. He gave me these constant looks of encouragement and awe which helped me believe in myself even more. He was so grounded in this moment and just brought so much joy and peace into our room.
I couldn't believe he was almost here. Danny got ready to catch him and with one more push at 12:41pm he was here, into his dads arms and quickly put on my chest. Relief and an overwhelming sense of something I cannot explain overflowed my body. I quite literally cried out "Our baby is here!" It was everything—magical and intense and beautiful and peaceful and really hard.
Unfortunately I did lose quite a lot of blood and had to have a Pitocin shot right after to help with my bleeding which caused some really hard contractions after his birth. Thankfully the placenta came quick but I remember shaking and being really cold and just wanted to be on our bed wrapped in blankets with him. He was the most beautiful baby I had ever seen and I couldn't believe he was here and ours. The look on Danny’s face while I was holding him in the tub was something I'll always remember. He was a dad. We were parents. He was ours. I was a mom- I was his mom. Everything that I had ever gone through made sense in this moment.
There isn't a thing I would change about his birth - maybe our postpartum healing journey but that's a story for another time. We cuddled up in our bed where Dan got to cut the cord. We had the most healing and wonderful smoothies made by our team and then the most delicious soup of my life with warm bread, followed by the greatest nap with our baby boy on my chest.
Our families all gathered together at 5pm to meet our newest member, and where we got to introduce him for the first time as Parker Andrew. Named after my side of the family and my best brother-in-law, Andrew. When I say I have thought about this day every single day for the past 365 days, I mean it. I am forever grateful for our journey to get here, my pregnancy, and my birth, and our beautiful baby boy PAR.
