Birth Story

"umm, wha... I think my water broke. See, there!" We were both hoping for a straightforward birth, so much so that I think we assumed that we'd have one. Defined starting point, clean ending, and jazz hands to finish. At 10:30 on the night of the 27th, just as we had brushed our teeth, put on our jammies, and sat down on the bed, Laura reports a pinging feeling and her little trickle. Problem was, it was only a trickle, so it was hard to tell just what was going on. Laura had already used all the test strips the midwife had given us to test for amniotic fluid. When she could muster enough fluid, they were all negative, and now that we really needed one, we didn't have one. Hmmmm. We called Geraldine, the midwife, who said that it was likely that our water had broken, and that we should pay attention to see if the baby moved within the next hour. 55 minutes later, the baby had not moved, so we started poking and prodding it to wake it up. To no avail. Then we put on "Chan Chan" by the Buena Vista Social Club, and the baby started right up, dancing the night away. Within a few minutes, Laura's contractions started in earnest, a minute long and under 8 minutes apart, right off the bat. That's more like it. Laura breathed through the contractions, though she couldn't sleep between them. By 1:00 AM it was apparent that they were progressing, so we called Christa and Gramma Dee, and made arrangements with Geraldine to go to the Birth Center, 15 minutes away. We packed food, and drove off. Laura informed me that there were "too many bumps" on the drive. Once at the birth center, we checked the baby, and all was well, and then walked around the empty birth center, breathing, sipping Gatorade, contracting. Laura was both in her own world, but also hyper-alert (particularly to odd smells). Things continued to progress, and the contractions got stronger.  By 3, Laura and I got into the birth tub, with me behind holding laura, who was mostly on her side. At 3:45 she was at 5 cm, which was not quite as far as she was hoping considering how intense the contractions were. They surged and surged and surged, and for several she was unable to breath through them, instead resorting to yelping and grunting. She felt like she was losing control, and before long, Laura exclaimed "the baby is coming!" Geraldine was in the other room calling for Tracy, the other midwife, to assist. She came in, trying to calm laura down, who continued to insist that the baby was coming. At the next contraction, Geraldine looked down and said matter-of-factly, "oh. there's it's head." She guided laura's hand down to feel the head, and Laura's eyes got really big. The next contraction gave us the rest. We immediately pulled the baby onto Laura's belly and cuddled her, spreading the sticky vernix on our hands. The baby cried quickly, and soon lost its blue tint. It was 4:15 AM on 11/28/2012. This little baby had long fingers that wrapped intently around my thumb. It calmed quickly, laying belly to belly on momma, looking around at its family. Its legs and arms were also long, and it held its left fist to its cheek. There, we saw a bruised outline of the fist, and noted that its nose was completely squished to the right side. The left eye couldn't open because of the swelling, and it looked like a tiny boxer.  Its toes were also long, and it had very flat, adult-like feet, like they were ready to dance. After ten minutes, Christa couldn't help herself any longer: "Well, aren't you going to check the sex! You've got to, I'm dyin' here!" We chuckled, and turned the baby over. A Girl! A beautiful little girl! A fighter of a girl! A peaceful little girl.  Kinley Madrona Schoene. Our sweet baby, whose birth was extraordinary, calm, intense, and wonderful. What a big world we have for her, and what a superlative girl we have for it.
We spent another hour or two at the birth center, eating some food (tamales for some, milk for others), and headed home as the sun was rising. We caught Omie before she went to school, and soon little Sienna, who seemed soooo big now, came and met her sweet sister. "This is the baby in the belly?" She had many visitors that first day, though she probably won't be able to remember them because, well, she slept all day, saving energy so that at 11:25 PM she could start dancing again through the night. Look at what we started!