The Birth of Baby Ronan
Lara so graciously wrote out her birth story to share. Together she and her husband Aaron welcomed baby Ronan at 1:09 am on March 24, 2023, his due date! He weighed 8lb 11oz. Here is her birth story in her own words:
I'm a planner; I wanted so badly to know what day I would get to meet the little hitchhiker my husband and I picked up in Norway last year. As the due date approached, I fully expected to go days over it, maybe even a week, maybe two. On the evening of May 22nd, just 30 hours from his due date, I started to feel some light cramps while I sat working on the 3000 piece puzzle I hoped to finish before the baby arrived. I ignored it and let Morgan know before going to bed that night but I wasn't so sure that it was actually labor. Through the night the cramps kept coming; they weren't painful, just bothersome enough to make it hard to sleep so I took a bath at 2am and then went back to bed to get as much sleep as I could. Around 5:30am I awoke and the cramps were still coming and going but more regularly now. I decided to time them for an hour or so and notified Morgan again since it seemed this might actually be the real thing and spoiler, it was!
I labored at home all day, my husband helping me however he could - overall, it was pretty manageable. It was so helpful to be able to text with Morgan and get reasssurance and advice throughout the day. Our midwife Sadie asked us to come in to the clinic to get checked around 6pm to see how things were progressing. I was shocked to learn I was dilated to 5cm already since to that point the contractions were pretty easy to manage. On her advice, we went home and waited for the contractions to get more intense. Morgan came to our house around 8:30pm and by that time I was needing a lot more focus and support to get through the contractions. My husband was holding my hand, applying couterpressure, and helping support my belly from behind through each one, which really helped take the edge off the intensity. Morgan timed the contractions and advised that we start heading to the birth center. I was nervous about the car ride but I was able to use the TENS unit which definitely helped.
Once at the birth center I was excited to get in the warm tub and, dang, did it feel good to be in the water! Morgan set up a fan to keep my face cool and handed me a spiky ball to squeeze, which made each contraction bearable. Soon after getting in the tub I felt my body bearing down and I felt like I needed to push. The only problem was that I was only 8cm dialated and my water hadn't broken yet. To keep things progressing, Sadie broke my water on the bed and then Morgan had me do sidelying releases through three contraction on each side. Despite feeling the need to push I had to blow through that urge so I didn't damage my cervix. This was the hardest part. I remember my husband's calm support as I tried to mentally stay above the waves. I don't remember thinking much, I was just doing and focusing on being relaxed, open, and in control of my mind when my body felt out of control. I felt a tinge if exhaustion and desperately wanted to get back into the tub so I asked Sadie to check me again. To our surprise, I was fully dilated and the babys head was decending!
It was now about 1am on May 24th, our baby's due date, and I got back in the tub and I was allowed to push with my body. The knowledge that my baby was almost here reinvigorated me, I was smiling, the water felt good, the pushing even felt good. I got to look into my husband's caring eyes and sqeeze his hand. Soon I felt the head crown and with the next push it was out! But, there was a problem: the shoulder was stuck. The midwives instructed me to get out of the tub and I did. Kneeling on the floor next to the tub I prayed a simple, quick prayer that the baby would come out ok. I felt the bones and my midwife's hand and with the next push the baby was out. The relief was euphoria - I didn't process that the baby was dark purple or that it hadn't cried yet. I look down and saw my son laying below me and then, a cry. He was perfect and healthy and I felt wobly but well cared for and accomplished.
Our little family laid back on the bed and I breastfed my son for the first time as Sadie delivered the placenta. We could breathe and bond and be proud of our healthy son and the work we and our team put in to getting us all to this moment safely. While the birth wasn't perfect, I feel all the ways I wanted to feel about it. I felt capable, heard, cared for, and free to be in-tune with my body. I am so grateful to Morgan for preparing us so well for the birth and for supporting us every step of the way through it; and for Sadie our midwife from Northshore Midwives, who showed us such a high standard of care and professional competency through preganacy, birth, and the postpattum recovery. I am also so grateful to have the experience captured so beautifully in Morgan's photos, they are treasures to me.
Midwife: Sadie Whitten of Northshore Midwives
Birth Location: Puget Sound Birth Center
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