Clara's Birth Story

The morning of the day that I went into labor with Clara, I had no expectation that it

would be the day that I would get to meet her. I fancied myself a longer gestator, as my two

other daughters weren’t interested in coming into the world until well after their estimated due

dates. There were no warning signs or slow warm-up, and her birth was completely different

than either of my previous experiences. She came on her own time, in her own way, unique and

unexpected, just like the girl herself.

The day started as most did in that period of my life. I was a full-time midwifery student,

as well as in a clinical placement. I spent the day studying and finishing homework assignments,

trying to get ahead as I had just started my Winter semester of school. I played with my two and

four-year-old, and tried to ignore the horrible pelvic pain I had been enduring for weeks.

It was all pretty run-of-the-mill until my husband got home from work and announced

(half) jokingly that he didn’t want to go to work tomorrow and wanted to meet our baby that

night. I figured we were still a few days away, but I thought there was no harm in some gentle

exercises, so I had him help me do the Three Balances from Spinning Babies. As we finished, I

immediately felt something shift. The best way I can describe it is an adrenaline rush, but I

assumed I was imagining things.

We set off, putting our two older girls to bed, getting them in their pajamas, then Ben

started reading them stories while I went to use the bathroom. As soon as I had finished peeing,

I heard AND and felt a pop! Then a gush of water released. I was still in denial, but I put a pad

on just in case and went to tell my husband what I suspected had just happened. Sure enough,

as I walked around, I felt more and more fluid rushing out of me. When I walked into the girls’

room to tell Ben my water broke, I followed up by saying, “I’m really not in the mood to be in the amount of pain I’m about to be in.”

I had expected it to take some time for contractions to start, because with my oldest

daughter, it had taken several hours after my water broke for labor to fully set in, however, Clara

continued to defy expectations. With the older girls asleep, Ben and I decided to put on a movie

and try to relax, and I texted my midwives and birth photographer a heads up that my

membranes had ruptured. I decided to braid my hair and put my eyelashes on so I was

camera-ready while I waited for contractions.

I didn’t have to wait long. Surges came in quickly and were instantly closely spaced, but I

found that they were easy enough to cope with that I didn’t pay them much mind. It’s funny

looking back now, that even as a student midwife WELL into her training, I was completely

unaware I was in very active labor. I fixed my hair, I (somehow) did my eyelashes, all while

having to take frequent breaks to stand, rock, and moan through my waves as they hit, before

promptly returning to the task at hand. Ben requested I come lay down and rest several times,

offering back tickles and head scratches, but I continued to pace, unable to stand the idea of

sitting down (another obvious sign I chose to ignore). Finally, around 11 pm, I took notice of how long each contraction was and started timing them…only to realize that they were 2-3 minutes apart. I called my midwives and birth photographer, letting them know that birth was likely imminent and that we should probably all rush a bit to convene. I had decided to give birth at a birth center due to my strenuous schedule at the time, not feeling that I had the time to prepare my home the way I’d like to, and had some moments of regret during the dreaded car labor expedition.

Luckily, unlike with my labor with my second daughter, I was able to ground myself and

find a comfortable position during the car ride on my hands and knees, with my head pressed

against Ben’s shoulder as he drove. I put on some hypnobirthing tracks and was able to release

and relax on our journey. (Fun fact, we were driving next to one of my husband’s co-workers

almost the entire drive, somehow in the middle of the night.)

Things progressed quickly once we got to the birth center. My midwives filled the tub,

and my birth photographer arrived soon after. I hit transition and found that the best thing to

ground me was to feel the firm pressure of my birth team’s hands on me, so I didn’t feel like I

was floating away. I thought I would be afraid of how quickly things were going, but I felt myself

fully melt into the experience. I remember, even as I hit transition, I didn’t feel the usual panic

that I couldn’t do this. We had decided Clara was likely going to be our last child, so as things

escalated to my maximum threshold, my mantra was “It’s ok, because I never have to do this

again if I don’t want to! Three is a great number.”

Very soon after, it was time for me to push, which I took great solace in, as pushing is

when I often feel in control and like I have my power back. My previous labor and pushing had

been a bit of a challenge since both of my other daughters were in wonky positions, but Clara,

once again, decided to do things differently, granting me a massive favor by being in a

PERFECT position. In just a few pushes she came out into my husband's hands and I remember thinking, “That’s how it’s supposed to be?! It’s supposed to be that easy?!”

After catching my breath and gathering myself, I looked into her beautiful face and knew

she was our “Clara” right away. After receiving a pitocin injection for a mild postpartum

hemorrhage when my placenta came out, my bleeding slowed, and we made our way to the bed

to rest, eat, and bask in our beautiful, wonderful baby. Clara James came into the world quickly,

kindly, and completed our family in the most perfect way.