Moon’s Birth
Tuesday March 6th
12pm: I was laying down with Tao for his nap and started to feel small
contractions. They were very sporadic and not too painful. I questioned if they
were real. I was able to stay laying down with him for his whole nap. When he
woke we went out on the balcony and when a small contraction would come I would
walk back and forth. My parents arrived back from the store and started playing
with Tao. I decided to take a vitamin B and coconut water and headed to the
shower. The shower seemed like a good place to try and figure out if what I was
feeling was labor. I wasn’t ready for anyone to know that I probably was in
labor, so I tried to act normal.
Once in the bathroom I
fumbled around with my ipod, finding it extremely difficult to concentrate,
that was my first sign that this was real labor. I put on Nitin Sawney and got
under the water. The contractions got stronger but still not time able (to
sporadic). The first few contractions in
the shower I spent swearing under my breath. I decided to try something
different, and for the next few said, “hello baby” over and over. This improved
things a bit. As contractions got a bit stronger I decided to try a new tactic
and turned on Ted Lennon’s version of “Don’t think twice it’s alright” because
I can sing along to it easily. Singing as loud as possible when the contraction
hit was amazing! It helped so much! As they slowly intensified I switched to
Cas Haley and sung his version of “walking on the moon” along with other tracts
on his album. At that point I was kneeling down leaning on the edge of the tub
singing. I felt a bit anxious and scared about what was ahead of me. I thought
of Ina May and expressing your fears to move forward. Out loud I said, “I’m
scarred!” Silently I told myself, “I can do this, it’s ok”. The fear was
somewhat released.
I decided I wanted to get out
and sit on the toilet. My contractions at this point were very close together.
I sat on the toilet and started fumbling to get to the next song on the album
and my arm hit the snooze button. The music stopped. I felt a bit panicky
because I couldn’t get the music to play again and singing was helping so much.
All of a sudden an extremely intense contraction hit. I felt something shoot
out of me (probably my mucus plug). I turned to look and saw blood, lots of
blood. I knew it was time to call my Midwife. I reached for my phone to call
Freddie, who was a few rooms over (he had no idea what was going on). The call
went through but I could only make myself whisper, “Come in the bathroom.” He
opened the door and I handed him the phone and said, “Call Mary, close the door
I’ll tell you if I need anything.” As soon as he was gone a huge contraction
hit, I was screaming. I sat on the toilet and another one hit. Reaching down I
felt my body stretching and the baby’s head approaching. The contraction was so
strong that it completely took me over. It was beyond pain, something
indescribable. After the contraction I gathered a pile of towels in case
Freddie didn’t make it in time and I needed to slip the baby onto them. Another
contraction hit, and I called out Freddie’s name. He opened the door right
away. Moon’s head was already out. The last strong contraction hit and Moon’s
body slipped into Freddie’s hands. I don’t remember pushing at all. The last
set of contractions were so strong that they must have guided Moon out. I never
felt my water break ether, maybe it broke during the contraction were I felt my
mucus plug shoot out.
Freddie placed Moon on my
chest. Immediately I called for Tao. I remember Freddie calling to my parents
saying, “We have a baby.” Tao came over to me and I showed him Moon! One of my
parents asked the gender. I pulled Moon away from my body for a second. “A
boy!” Freddie told them.
2:42pm: Freddie, Tao, Moon
and I were all together, and the world felt perfect.
