Delilah Soleil Poulter: A Birth Story

So, it is about time we share the amazing story and experience that was the birth of our #2. Sandra will most likely make a more attractive post with beautiful pictures and a description from her perspective, but this is our story from my perspective.

First off I need to thank Delilah for waiting for me to finish my finals. She was due on my last day of finals (Wed. June 1). I had been worried that she would come early and disrupt the tests. In fact, I was so caught up in her expected arrival that I actually put off a take home final that was due by noon on June 2. Anyways, I am sure that no one cares about any of that, but the point is, when I finally did finish that final (about an hour late) the contractions started.

But the story actually starts even before all that.
Sandra had been worried that Delilah would come like her brother, late and induced. She wanted it to be a natural labor in every aspect. The last scheduled check up before the due date (thurs. prior) had her at 2 centimeters dilated and about 50% effaced. This was better than she had ever gotten with Morrison (about 1 cm dilated at the time of induction) so we were encouraged but still wondered if she would come on time.
Then it happened... almost... On Monday we called Jason and Amber over to watch Morrison. We were going to the hospital! We were going to have the baby! Sandra had been having pretty consistent "contractions" for about 5 hrs. The Dr. had told us that if she had more than 8 in an hour we should head to the hospital considering the fact that we lived almost an hour away and this was baby #2. We showed up to the hospital. Sandra approached the maternity ward desk and politely and calmly said that she was having contractions and thought she was in labor. They put us up in a room, and hooked her up to the monitors. Sure enough, she was having contractions and they were consistent. When they checked her she was still only 2 cm dilated... we sat and waited... contractions continued... a few hours later they checked again and... still only 2 cm. We knew what that meant, false alarm. She was not progressing and we were sent home at 4am.
On Thursday (June 2) Sandra had her appointment that we had hoped would not come. While we were there we wanted to ask the Dr. to strip her membranes to get the ball rolling. He checked and she was 3 almost 4 cm dilated and a little more effaced. Sandra asked him to strip her membranes and he said she didn't have any membranes to strip, there was nothing left and he was surprised that she had not already gone into labor. In some ways it was encouraging, in other ways it seemed like we might have another induction on our hands and we set the appointment for the next Tuesday and went home.
I finished my final and Sandra took a nap. When she woke up I fixed her lunch. Right after lunch the contractions started, but this was different, these were not the same as before...
I left with Morrison to get some things at the grocery store. I took my time to let Sandra rest, but her uterus had other plans. She called the hospital and was explaining what she was feeling to the nurse when another contraction hit. That was all the nurse needed to hear and she told her to come in saying, "Honey, these are the ones we have been waiting for."
Jason and Amber were using the car to move when Sandra called them and told them to pick me up at the grocery store and that we needed the car to go to the hospital. Jason picked me up with a car loaded with stuff inside and out. We got back to our place, unloaded the stuff and uploaded the pregnant lady who was obviously uncomfortable.
We headed towards the hospital. The contractions continued. Sandra described it as feeling like she was being split in two. I told her that this felt a lot more like the movies when the couple is racing to the hospital. I thought about how the nurses must have seen her come in before, all sweet and calm, saying she was in labor. I am sure that they knew right away that it was not real labor and thought, no your not dear but said, "ok, you will be in room 3." This time was going to be different.
Sure enough it was. The announcement of our arrival at the maternity desk was much less sweet and they showed us into our room.
They got her hooked up and checked in at 7:30pm. She was 7 cm dilated! We were both shocked. They went over her birth plan with her and reaffirmed that she had requested a midwife and a natural birth, no drugs... (Sandra was understandably nervous and while she was somewhat resigned to not having an epidural she did hope to get some sort of meds for the pain. Her biggest fear was that she would wait too long to decide she wanted them and it would be to late to get them.) She tried a few different positions and would squeeze my hand during the contractions but I WAS NOT allowed to speak. Believe me, I tried, but what could I say? Obviously not anything that brought her any comfort. So I shut my mouth and let her squeeze my thumb til it turned purple... it was the least I could do and was obviously incomparable to what she was going through.
The midwife suggested a change of scenery, encouraging Sandra to move around and try some different positions. She got in the shower and the warm water on her back seemed to help a bit.
A little after she got out of the shower her contractions got worse. The pain was excruciating. The midwife came in and suggested that she kneel down and lean over the exercise ball and rock back and forth a bit. They checked her again before she got down on the ball and she was up to 8 cm and 80% effaced. They figured the baby would be out in about one hr. She got down over the ball and hated every second of it. At this point the nurse and midwife were there to stay, and it was a good thing. Sandra asked for some meds but they said it was too late (yeah, remember what her worst fear had been? I felt terrible) She begged and pleaded and said that she could not do it but the midwife said no and was encouraging and calm. The midwife said everything that I wanted to say, how she knew she could do it, that she was doing it, that she was amazing. The difference was that Sandra could not bite the head off the midwife for saying it... she could mine so I stayed quiet.
After a few minutes (felt like forever to Sandra) on the ball we got her back into the bed. She was laying on her side, still squeezing my hand with every contraction, and the nurse gave her a full back, leg, neck and foot massage with lotions and everything. I was really quite impressed that she was even there with us as much as she was, let alone giving the massage. It was much appreciated by both of us.
Soon after the massage was over Sandra expressed that she felt like she needed to poop. The nurse and midwife both gave her permission to push. I thought she was going to crap the bed, but the pushing wasn't really for that. She pushed and out it came, the water sac that is. Yeah, crazy, her water had still not broken yet and there it was hanging out of her like a little water balloon! The midwife told Sandra to reach down and touch it! Sandra looked at here like she was crazy and said "WHAT!?" I am not going to do that." But the lady was insistent so she reached down and touched her amniotic sack. At this point they had her roll onto her back but stay in a sitting position. Sandra was pushing and screaming that she couldn't do it. It was the only point that she might have gone somewhat hysterical but it only lasted a second as the midwife kindly yelled "Sandra, get it together" and she calmed down. She pushed again, insisting that she could not do it. At that point Delilah's head filled the water balloon. Seriously, that is what it looked like, like a baby's head in a water balloon... They broke the sac and pulled her out a little bit and then invited Sandra and I to pull her out the rest of the way, so we did. It was amazing. Sandra and I were basically able to deliver our baby girl as she came into this world.
We set her immediately on Sandra's chest. They left her there and after a few minutes she began to root around and moved herself over to Sandra's breast for her first meal. It was amazing, so beautiful and natural. She knew what to do.
They left her on Sandra's chest for about an hour before taking her weight and measurements. 7lbs 2.3oz. and 19.5in. She was beautiful... They were both so beautiful.
I was sooo amazed and impressed with Sandra and proud of her. I had always known she could do it. It is really quite amazing to witness the power of her body and see her push it to its limits and overcome.
The recovery appears to be much much easier this time around, at least from what I can see. That is not to say that she has not been sore of course, but Mommy and bibi yaya, as morrison calls her, are doing great. Morrison was super happy to have them both home. He is an awesome older brother. He loves his little sister sooo much. He helps her when her pacifier falls out of her mouth and is protective of her when she goes outside with Mommy.
I am so blessed to have the beautiful family that I have. I love my wife. I am grateful for all the many blessings she has brought into my life, especially for my baby boy and baby girl. I love them both soooo much. Being a husband and father is the greatest blessing of my life,

p.s. interesting note, Delilah is the first baby "Poulter" girl in 53 years. My aunt Terry was the last and the few girl cousins I have were all born to my aunts under the last names of their fathers. Kinda crazy huh?
P.P.S. Everyone was very impressed that she had been born inside the amniotic sac since that is really quite rare and considered to be a sign of good luck in some cultures... we have since adopted at least that aspect of those cultures and consider ourselves extremely lucky and blessed to have such a beautiful baby.