Bryce Travis's Birth Story

I was 39 weeks, 1 day.  I woke up Friday morning at 2:00am with a mild contraction.  I laid there for a little bit to see if it was for real.  There were a few more contractions, very mild, so I got up and went to the bathroom and laid down again.  I still wasn’t sure if this was real, because I could lay down during the contractions and they were milder than my other labors.  But I thought this was probably it so I got up and started moving around.  Getting things packed, rolling around on the yoga ball, stuff like that.  The contractions were about 10 minutes apart and not bad at all.  I could still walk and do things during them.  I woke Travis up and told him they were 10 minutes apart.  He grunted and kept sleeping.  Even though it wasn’t progressing, I called my mom to come help with the girls because I knew things could get intense fast.  So she came and we hung out in the living room for a little while.  Travis came out (around 4:00am), looked at my mom and said, “Are you in labor?  Do we need to go?”  My mom looked at him and was like, “What?”  I was on the floor and started laughing.  I knew Travis didn’t have his glasses on and he thought my mom was me.  Haha!  Anyway, we all got a good laugh and I said no we didn’t have to go yet.  So we all went back to bed.  My mom laid on the couch. 

I still wasn’t progressing, but not able to sleep either.  So around 6:00am I got back up and started walking on the treadmill.  I walked a mile and the contractions completely stopped for about an hour.  Awesome.  So I sent my mom home and Travis to work.  The contractions started again and were mild and irregular.  I did some cleaning and entertained the girls.  Around 11:30am or so I texted Salli, my midwife, and she said to get as much rest as possible.  That just wasn’t going to happen with me taking care of the girls. J

The contractions started progressing and getting a little more intense.  So I called Travis and had him come home.  I laid down when he got home and had just a few contractions and couldn’t stay laying down anymore.  That was a good sign.  So I texted Salli again and said the contractions were 5 minutes apart and more intense.  She asked if I wanted to come in to the birth center.  I told her, “Kind of, yes.”  The contractions weren’t close yet, but it was definitely progressing and we had a 45 minute drive.  I knew it was probably early, but with Julia we got there just in the nick of time, so I wanted to be safe this time.

I called my mom and told her to meet us at the birth center.  Sophie made us promise (every day for the past 3 months!) that we would take her to get the baby out.  So Travis packed up the girls and got my seat ready for a car birth.  Plastic bags and towels.  Haha!  We got on the road and hit traffic on I-35.  The contractions were not bad and not getting any closer together.  I was thankful for that as we were sitting in traffic.  We got to the birth center and I was feeling pretty good.  We had 2 midwives and 1 student midwife waiting for us outside.  They made sure they were there before us because they remembered Julia’s birth.  And my mom pulled up right as we did. 

They had the tub ready for me, so I hopped right in.  Seriously, the contractions were not bad so I was moving around pretty well.  They left Travis and me alone in the room.  We looked at each other after 2 mild contractions that weren’t close together.  We both wondered if getting in the water was slowing down the labor.  In fact, we were both really bummed.  At this point, I wanted it to be quick like with Julia!  We thought we might be there all night and that was very depressing to us.

I was feeling so good that I decided to try a new position and I got on my knees and bent over the side of the tub during the next contraction (this was maybe the 5^th contraction since getting in the tub).  This was a very intense one and I was really squeezing Travis’s arm.  And there was a pop and I felt something drop.  We called the midwives in and I told her I thought I lost my mucus plug.  She got the flashlight and shined it in the tub and said it looked like maybe my water broke.  Secretly I knew it wasn’t because with the girls my water broke during pushing.  It turns out, this was my water breaking!  The next contraction was even more intense.  After that one, I heard my mom and girls come in.  Sophie wanted to check on me. J  They left after they saw us.  And two seconds later, during the next contraction, I couldn’t even kneel anymore.  And I felt the need to push!!!!  So I pushed!!!!  Salli and Jesse (the student) came over and Jesse said the head was crowning.  And Salli came behind her saying surely it couldn’t be yet and that it was something else (I can’t remember what she called it).  But then she came around closer and said, “Head!” and reached down and held his head.  I kept pushing and she said, “He’s out.  Lisa, grab your baby.”  I told her I couldn’t, so she put him on my chest.  And we were done.  What?! 

My mom didn’t even get down the hall from when they came to check on me and heard the baby.  She knew it couldn’t have been my baby (even though we were the only ones there).  So they ran back and saw little Bryce laying on my chest.  It was pretty surreal.  Seriously.  So chill and relaxed and then bam, there’s a baby.  Weird.  But I’ll take it!

He was born about 30 minutes after we got there and we hung out for another 3 ½ hours then headed home with a newborn boy.  I realize I am lucky to have these “easy” births.  He is one week old and we are excited to watch this little guy grow up!