Christopher's Story

My due date was November 20th...Hello! and Goodbye! My hope was to have the baby before Thanksgiving so I could eat a BIG dinner but the baby had other plans. On Thanksgiving Day (Nov. 27th) we had two dinners, one at Joe's parents and then one at my moms. I felt great all the way up until we got home from my moms at nine o'clock. Even then I felt fine but I was very moody. Joe said I saved up my nine months of being moody into those two hours! We went to bed at eleven o'clock and I started having contractions. Of course Joe fell asleep three seconds after his head hit the pillow so I decided to just let him sleep. I ignored the contractions for an hour but couldn't fall asleep. I didn't want to get my hopes up that this was the real thing since it was the first time I had ever felt contractions. They continued to be steady enough that I couldn't fall asleep so at midnight I got out of bed and walked around the house. By one o'clock the contractions were gone good thing I didn't get Joe out of bed! So I went to sleep and woke up at 4 am with more intense contractions. And this time I just knew it was the real thing!

I let my husband sleep for a while and just walked around down stairs, luckily our house is designed so I can go around in a circle instead of pacing back and forth. I woke Joe up at 6 am and he joked that I was lucky I was in labor because he couldn't have taken another hour of me being so moody. I went downstairs while Joe took a shower and I called Jen at 6:30 am to give her a heads up that today was the day! Unfortunately, I had to interrupt her Black Friday shopping, but of course she didn't mind. She just told me to call again when I wanted her to come over, and that I would just know when the right time was. The contractions were every 3-4 minutes and pretty bearable at this time. My mom and sister got to the house around 8 am and I was on my hands and knees leaning against the birthing ball. I started feeling nauseous and ate some crackers. Around 8:30 am, the contractions got more intense and I didn't talk much after that. This is when I decided to have my mom call Jen. It was time for her to come over.

My husband and sister got the pool ready and I just remember breathing through the contractions. I knew my baby was coming today and I was just listening to my body; visualizing the baby moving down. I got in the birthing pool at 9 am. The contractions were three minutes apart throughout the whole labor; they just kept lasting longer and getting stronger. I really don't remember much until Christopher was born. I was so focused on breathing through the pain and relaxing my face. I remember Jen telling me at one of our appointments that if my face was relaxed that my body would relax and I could open up to birth my baby. That is what I did.

I do remember getting out of the pool once to go to the bathroom and I can say for sure that the water definitely helped the pain. At some point I asked my husband to put music on and I didn't even care what it was. That was another focus for me. The second the music stopped playing, I asked him to start the cd over. No one else had even realized that it had stopped. Jen got there at 10:30 am (sorry I interrupted your Black Friday shopping). It took her a little longer than usual because my angel baby decided to be born in one of the first winter storms of the year.

Throughout my labor I remember that everyone was there for me but I really felt that I didn't need them to do anything except just be there. I remember Jen telling me I was doing awesome and my husband being at my side. But mostly I was just so focused on birthing my baby that I didn't know what was going on around me. I was leaning over the side of the pool on my hands and knees and stayed that way until I felt like I had to push. It was about 12:30 pm when I got that very uncomfortable urge and couldn't stay leaning over anymore. I tried sitting in the pool but I soon realized it wasn't going to work. I remember going back to leaning over the side of the pool and looking at Joe. I told him that I couldn't do it anymore; that I just wanted the baby out. Looking back I laugh because Jen told me and Joe at one of our appointments that this is when she knows it's almost time for the baby to come. Of course I didn't think about it at the time.

Speaking of time, I mention the time just to tell my birth story but during my labor I had no clue what time it was. I wasn't on a timer like in a hospital, I was birthing my baby and my baby was going to come when it was his time. I wasn't hooked up to a machine to tell me when a contraction was coming, I was just focusing on making each contraction count and using each contraction to open to birth my baby. Right after I declared that I was quitting labor, Jen suggested that I try to squat (not told me that I had to but wondered if I wanted to try it to see if it would help the baby come down). And what a great suggestion it was! After three pushes, I welcomed my baby into the world and all pain was instantly forgotten the second I held my beautiful baby. Jen handed the baby to me and my mom announced It's a boy! Christopher Joseph was born at 1:57 pm on Nov. 28th (of course he had to stay in my belly long enough to have Thanksgiving dinner). He cried once and then just looked at me; as if to say We did it, Mom! Joe came over behind me to look at his son and I remember him telling me I was amazing! Christopher was so calm and it was like he was just enjoying the moment as we were. My husband's family was anxiously waiting in the bedroom across the hall and peeked in to welcome their 10th grandchild into the family. After the cord stopped pulsating, my younger sister cut the cord and Joe got to hold his son for the first time. I got out of the pool and delivered the placenta on the bed. Then I looked around the room at everyone that shared in the birth of Christopher and just thought about how perfect my birth had been.

Everything was so relaxed; no bright lights; no one timing each contraction; no one telling me when to push, when not to push, or how long to push for; telling me where I could or couldn't go. I was making the decisions for what was best for me to naturally birth my baby. There were only people we loved touching our baby and most important our whole family was there to welcome our baby into the world.

Christopher Joseph Hubler weighed 7 lbs. 10 oz. and was 21 in. long. He is a wonderful calm and happy baby and I truly believe it's because he was born into a wonderful calm and happy environment! I couldn't have imagined a more beautiful way for my son to enter the world!