Freya’s Birth

Freya Lorraine Hicks was born July 25th at 5:50 am at the Birth and Women’s Center. She was 8 pounds 10 ounces and 22 inches long and had a perfect Apgar score.
I had my last midwife appointment the morning before and my midwife Cherie Boettcher told me “Oh this baby isn’t coming for days and days. Your cervix is nowhere near ready.” I was having braxton hicks contractions though and I had a little hope that things would progress. I’m so happy Freya decided to prove the midwife wrong with her debut! My contractions continued throughout the day getting gradually stronger and more uncomfortable but considering what Cherie had told me, and that I had experienced a long prodromal labor with Norah and that Alice was 8 days late, I thought it was also very possible that these contractions could continue for some time. By 10 pm I knew I was not going to be able to sleep and but I tried to relax and rest as much as possible between them. By 2 am I was sure I was in active labor and woke up Bryan. I felt like my pain was manageable though and I decided to try to wait one more hour to wake up my midwife. At 3 am I called her and she told me “I already have another mother in prodromal labor downstairs and I’m trying to get some sleep in the other room.” She listened to me labor for 3 contractions – around 20 minutes, and asked me lots of questions about my previous births. She said the first contraction was quite short and they were too irregular to be active labor. I told her that that was how Alice’s birth had started but Cherie thought it was prodromal labor and said since I was just 15 minutes away I could always come in later. I was extremely discouraged at this point. I wish I had had the confidence to insist that she have me come in and check my cervix but I figured she’d delivered thousands of babies and was right that I was in prodromal labor. I also felt like Cherie was telling me there was nowhere for me to labor at the birth center anyway. I mentioned that I could really use a soak in their whirlpool tub and she told me to soak in my tub at home. As soon as I got off the phone, around 3:30 my contractions intensified dramatically but I attributed this to my disappointment at hearing I was not in active labor. When I was in labor with Alice I thought it was prodromal and when I found out it was active labor I was so happy to know I was making progress that my pain lessened significantly so I had reason to think this was just psychological and tried really hard to slow my contractions but I couldn’t. I was throwing up and utterly discouraged and at 4:30 I called back and said “I have to come in, even if I’m not in active labor I need help.” It took me 15 minutes to make it into the car and 15 minutes for Bryan to drive there – running through red lights and pulling over for me to puke. When we arrived I labored on the porch for about 5 minutes while Bryan rang the door bell and called Cherie. No one was answering the door! I guess things had progressed significantly for the other mom in labor as well and Cherie was busy with her and had not called soon enough for back up help. Once Cherie had a moment to let us in she quickly checked my cervix and said I was a 7 and would have the baby within a an hour. She left us alone in the room upstairs and went downstairs to aid the other mom. I looked around the room and realized that there was no midwife or nurse to attend to me and that nothing was ready for the baby and I started to panic. I was bearing down and trying to fight the urge to push until someone could make it there to make sure it was ok to push and I was scared and angry. It was such a contrast to the peaceful birth I had experienced with Alice. With Alice, my midwife had insisted I come in when I first called even though my contractions were irregular. I was dilated to a 4 and was able to labor in a calm environment with her support as well as a labor and delivery nurse throughout. I felt let down by the birth center. Cherie was running half way up the stairs to ask Bryan if I was pushing and he just said “well you can hear her.” A nurse arrived and had just enough time to check the fetal heartbeat while Cherie delivered the baby downstairs. Then they traded places and Cherie broke my water and helped deliver Freya – she was born just 10 minutes after the baby downstairs. Bryan was both my support and the labor and delivery nurse handing the midwife what she needed. Freya came about 40-45 minutes after we arrived made it to the birth center. I think if we had waited even 15 minutes longer longer to come in I might not have been able to get in the car and we would have had a homebirth. Thankfully Freya arrived in mint condition – and her dad got to catch her!