Mika's Birth

Yes, this was a home birth. Yes, you can think I'm crazy. No, there are no disgusting pictures or descriptions.

So I'll begin Mika's birth story by saying that I didn't even know I was in labor for about six hours. Yeah, sounds really stupid, I know. I thought that contractions were going to feel the same for all my labors. My contractions with Jackson felt like a giant hand squeezing my uterus, and it was painful from the start. This time around it began like mild menstrual cramps that didn't hurt at all. I had stayed up until 4 AM the night before so I could finish all my school work for the semester and turn it in early. So when I had to get up at 7 when Paul left for work, I threw some Poptarts on a plate for Jackson, turned on Disney Jr., and passed out on the couch. I woke up periodically because I felt those mild cramps, but I thought it was due to how I was sitting on the couch. And besides, you never feel comfortable when you're ten months pregnant. It didn't even occur to me that they might be contractions until Paul came home for lunch. I told him how I felt, but we still weren't 100% sure I was in labor. Paul went back to work, and I called him back around 2 to tell him he might as well come home because I figured the only reason I would be cramping was if it was labor. He took a long time to come home, and I figured he was in a meeting or something. But he had remembered that I had said I wished my birthday flowers lasted until I went into labor because I wanted flowers to look at while I labored. The flowers were long dead, but he had gone to buy me new ones.

We called the midwife to let her know I was in labor, and she told me to get as much rest as possible. So being the stupid/kind of OCD person I am, I decided Paul and I needed to clean the house. We did 6 loads of laundry, washed the dishes, cleaned the kitchen (including the fridge), cleaned the bathrooms, cleaned the breakfast room, vacuumed the whole house, went to school to turn in my homework, ate dinner, gave Jackson a bath, and put him to bed. Not bad for early labor, eh?

(We had planned on my neighbors watching Jackson when I went into labor, but they stopped by in the afternoon to let us know they had to go out of town to be with family. I wanted to scream, "NOOOOO!" but we told them we hoped everything would turn out ok and we would see them later. BUT it ended up working out perfectly because I went into active labor an hour after Jackson went to bed and he woke up right before Mika was born, so we ended up not needing anyone to watch him after all.)

last "family of three" picture

When I went into active labor, I decided to catch up on my couponing while Paul diddled around on him computer. I think active labor was pretty easy for an hour or so, then Paul called the midwives to come. By that time it felt like pretty painful menstrual cramping, but I could deal with it by doing breathing exercises and thinking happy thoughts.  Fast forward to about 4-6:30 AM and it felt like someone was cutting my uterus open with butter knives. I was determined not to go to the hospital again because I truly believe that birth is a natural life process and not a medical emergency, and should be treated as such. However, I couldn't help but think back to my wonderful epidural and how it took all my pain away with Jackson. (Also, we wouldn't be able to afford to replace our rotten siding and paint the house if I went to the hospital. Paul had told me days earlier that I could go to the hospital again if I couldn't take the pain, but I was determined not to go unless the labor really did turn into a medical emergency.) Paul and the midwives were talking to me, trying to tell me to do different positions so that it would help me progress faster. I just cussed them out because it was so irritating to have people telling me what to do when I was in so much pain. I broke down crying, told Paul that the rest of our children would be born in the hospital, and asked myself (screamed at myself?) why I was doing this because "only crazy people do home births." They finally convinced me to get in the tub. They were right, because I started pushing as soon as I got in. The midwife kept telling me to slow down, but let me tell you, the "ring of fire" feels like a cactus is coming out. I was determined to get the baby out as quickly as possible. I didn't care about tearing, I didn't care about whatever the midwife was trying to tell me. That baby was coming out. I think I only pushed for about ten or fifteen minutes. Whatever it was, it was so short that she didn't even get that "cone head" look that naturally-birthed babies get.

9 pounds, 3 ounces, no pain meds

I REALLY didn't want my picture taken. I think I had the mentality of my two-year-old, the idea that if I just closed my eyes then no one could see me and I wouldn't really be in the picture. LOL. I was really upset after the birth because I realized that we didn't get a video of it. Then I realized that I did NOT want a video of it. I would never watch it and I would never allow anyone else to watch it. I was half naked and cussing everyone out. Not really a great family movie.

Mika getting checked out by the midwife

It was rough, and I'm proud of myself that I birthed a child naturally. It's so nice to be in your own home with no one making you do anything you don't want to do (like having an IV in your arm) or telling you that you can't do something because it's against the rules (like no eating). And when everything is done, you go to rest in your own bed instead of some uncomfortable hospital bed. And Jackson got to see his sister be born, which I think helped him understand (as well as a toddler can understand) where she came from and why she is here.

Side note about names- I had originally just used the initials of our first names because I didn't know who all would be reading my blog and didn't know how much information about us I wanted to give out. (I didn't care about saying our last name because Burke is such a common name.) But I realized that 99% of the people who read my blog are my Facebook friends, so there's not really a point to hiding our names. Also, her name is pronounced "meek-uh," not "Mike-uh."