Birth Story!

Welcome Piper Ella Inez Gallipeau!

Born on September 16th, at 12:11 pm. 7 pounds, 18.75 inches. 

pure perfection

So, I'm finally back to posting after being on a hiatus for quite a few weeks. The last post that I made was my 38 weeks post. The day that Piper was born, I was actually 39 weeks and 3 days pregnant. I was planning on taking my 39 week chalkboard picture on Tuesday (the day after she ended up being born). So, unfortunately I do not have any pictures of that. Ironically, though, the chalkboard had: "39 weeks" with an "eviction notice" on it. Apparently she took that seriously! :)

And now, for the birth story...

(Be forewarned, I am sharing almost every single detail about the birth... some of which could be considered a bit graphic for some. So, read at your own risk :) )

I had been having contractions here and there for several weeks prior to her arrival, but they were always braxton hicks. Once Cameron and Falon arrived to NY (I was 39 weeks to the day when they arrived) I knew that we were good to go and was hoping that she would be born soon after. Because I knew that we were going to be leaving NY and driving to CA in just over 3 weeks, I was hoping that she would make an appearance sooner rather than later. I wanted to be sure that I had plenty of time to heal before making such a long trip.
I tried a few things here and there to try to motivate her to come out, but she was not budging. On  the night of the 15th, I decided that we should try some pressure points. We just used the simple ones on my feet and ankles, not really expecting much to happen. In a lot of what I read, women were saying that they starting contracting while they were pushing the pressure points and went into labor shortly after... so that was what I was expecting if anything were to happen. We did it for about 10 minutes or so with absolutely no luck. At that point I was frustrated and my thumbs were sore. I had not started contracting at all and I decided I just wanted to go to bed. "She is stubborn, just like her parents, and she will come when she wants" I thought, and we went to bed shortly after.
At 2 o'clock in the morning I woke up to go to the bathroom quickly and then headed back to bed. Usually I could fall right back to sleep after going to the bathroom but for some reason, this time I could not. I was tossing and turning and could not seem to get comfortable. I laid in bed for an hour or so and at three o'clock they started... the contractions started! Zack was sleeping and because I knew that we were going to have a long day ahead of us, I decided to let him sleep. I headed to the bathroom and started a very hot bath. In hopes that the bath would make me more comfortable, I tried it out. No luck. I was more comfortable in bed. So I went back to the bedroom. When I started timing the contractions they were averaging 9-10 minutes apart. So I just rode it out. Every 9 minutes another one came. And another one. And another one. (Even though it felt more like 3 minutes)
At this point I was up moving around because the bed was no longer comfortable. I went to the bathroom to sit on the toilet. Then moved to the couch. And then back to the bed. And back to the couch. It was frustrating, to say the least. Zack woke up around this time but I told him to go back to bed and get some more rest. Then the contractions went from 9 minutes apart to 5-6 minutes apart. This was when I first called Monica, my midwife.

--- Let me add: I had mentally prepared myself to be in labor all day long, mainly because it was my first baby. Even after they jumped from 9 minutes apart to 6 minutes apart, I still thought it would be quite a while before anything was happening. ---

I called Monica at 6:15, so I had been contracting for about 3 hours at this point. I let her know what was going on, and then she said the dreaded words. She said, "Okay, that sounds great. I am at another birth right now". My heart sank. I immediately started crying, but I tried to hold my composure. She expected the birth that she was at to go really quickly and then planned to head my way. We decided to keep each other updated and just go with the flow. Then, I called my mom. Because she was nearly 2 hours away, I made sure that she was the first person that I contacted. When I called her and everyone else, I told them to take their time, not to rush. Like I said, I expected this to take all day.
Within about an hour my contractions went from 6 minutes to 2 or 3 minutes apart. I finally went in to get Zack because I needed a hand to squeeze. I texted Monica to let her know that they were so close together and she called me right back and told me that she was on her way to my house. She contacted the nurse, whose name was also Megan, and she was the first to arrive. Megan walked in and the first thing that she did was crank the heat up. And it was unbearable. Then she took my vitals, got the bedroom set up, and just kind of worked through the contractions with me. By 8 or 8:30, Monica and everybody else had arrived. That was right about when I transitioned, and the hard labor began. I won't lie... it sucked. The boys went right to work filling up the birthing tub with hot water while the girls all stayed by my side in the living room, working through contraction after contraction.

Once the tub was filled up I decided that that was where I wanted to be. So, we headed to the birth room and I got in the tub. I labored in the tub for quite a while (I honestly couldn't even tell you how long). After that long while in the tub, and lots of loud screaming, both Monica and Megan could tell that I wasn't really progressing like I should be. I had hit a wall. So they told me to get out of the tub and head to the bathroom to try to pee. At the time I had no idea why they were telling me to go to the bathroom. I was in a trance and basically just following orders and trusting both mine and my child's life in these women's hands. Literally.

I waddled into the bathroom and sat down on the toilet. And then I felt it. I reached down and I could feel her head. All I remember from that moment is feeling terrified that I would have my baby in the toilet and yelling, "I don't want to do this here!". The next part is pretty much a blur... Zack grabbed one leg and one arm, and Cameron grabbed the other side and they literally carried me into the bedroom and laid me on the bed. From that point, the labor went extremely fast. Before I knew it, her head was making its way out and everybody was saying, "She's got a lot of hair!".
I got to the point where I said, "I don't want to do this anymore!" and I knew that she was almost here. Monica said that she would be born in 10 or less pushes. She was right, it was less than ten. It took maybe four or five pushes to get her head completely out, and once her head was out, my contraction stopped. I asked if it was okay that only her head was out, and Monica simply said, "It's okay, just take a break". (Meanwhile, everybody is telling me how beautiful she was.) I took a quick break, waited for my next contraction to build up, and the rest of her was out before I knew it. I reached down and pulled her right up onto my chest and I just remember crying. She barely made a peep when she came out, just a little whimper. Monica wiped off her face and after a minute or so she decided to test her little lungs out by crying. Within minutes of being born she had her eyes open and even lifted her head up to look around. It was amazing. She was so perfect.

Monica stayed for the next hour or two, getting everything cleaned up and situated. We weighed and measured her, and we tried to start breastfeeding. She didn't really catch on with the nursing right away, and I won't lie, I was a little nervous. But Monica reassured me that it was normal and she would be fine if she didn't nurse for the first day or two. So, we kept trying, and although it was tiring and frustrating, she caught on a little bit more every time. Megan stayed even longer, continuing to get our vitals and make sure that both of us were recovering properly from the birth. Once she felt that we were both okay, she left.
The house was still blazing hot but we headed out into the livingroom and cuddled on the couch. Falon made me some delicious waffles and everybody just hung out for the rest of the day. It was the perfect day and I could not have asked for anything better.

I can not express how incredibly happy, thankful, amazed, and grateful I am that we were able to have the homebirth that we wanted and planned. It was no easy feat, but I could not image doing it any other way. We are truly blessed.