Welcome to the World | Ace's Birth Story
I remember looking down and seeing our sweet baby boy on my chest and looking over at Andy and saying I freakin did it and feeling so proud of myself.
Back story: Once I became pregnant I knew I wanted to delivery at a birth center, but due to insurance I thought it wasn’t going to happen. To be honest, I was devastated. In a hospital setting, the cascade of interventions can happen quickly and really without you knowing or being able to have a voice in the matter. Fast forward to October we realized Willow Birth Center was in network with our insurance and I transferred care without hesitation.
Most 1st time moms go late- average of 41 weeks and 3 days-ish, so I mentally prepared for that from the very beginning and if anyone asked I always said I would always say oh I’ll most likely go late. And I felt really great throughout my pregnancy and the end that I thought I would definitely go late since I didn’t have any early labor signs…well jokes on me. The day before we were at a birthday party were I was roping the dummy and bouncing on the little trampoline!
I started having mild cramping (what I now know as contractions) at 4am on 2-7-21 and I was 38 weeks and 5 days. I tried to sleep them off until I realized they were becoming more regular and growing in intensity. I wasn’t sure if they were Braxton Hicks, so I turned to Google and started timing them at 5:30am. After a few contractions that were about 30-45 seconds long and 3-5 minutes apart the app told me I should probably head to the hospital. I knew not to trust that, but I figured I’d better wake up Jose. I went into the room and whispered, “Hey, are you ready to have a baby?” And a groggy Jose responded, “I don’t know.” And I told him to get ready because I think it’s happening today!
By 6:45am things were getting more intense and I told Jose to pack his bag, so we can head to the apartment and be closer to the birth center in case this was actually happening. By the time we reached the apartment everything was pretty intense and I definitely couldn’t talk through the contractions and even in the in-between was spent just trying to recover. After speaking to our doula she recommended switching up positions and trying the tub to make sure labor didn’t stall out. The tub did not help very much and my body kept getting hot and cold, so I got out of the tub and just labored on the bathroom floor. The only position that felt good was on my hands and knees, so I continued there. I also started having the feeling to use the restroom around this time and that’s where my water broke. This was around 10am and right as it broke our Alyssa, our doula, arrived and really helped coach me through these contractions. This is where I think I entered transition and started questioning how in the world was going to make it to the birth center because it was so intense, but they assured me we would make it.
I had the urge to use the restroom again and is actually when I pushed for the first time and we knew things were really close. Shortly after that we headed to the birth center. I remember going down the stairs as fast as possible because there was no way I was going to have a contraction on the stairs. I flew in the backseat dreading the drive, but since I was in the pushing stage in-between contractions wasn’t bad at all and I was able to breath and relax a bit in between.
We got to the center around 11am and I all but ran in for fear I was going to have a contraction not in a position that was not comfortable. The midwife ushered me to the room to check me and I didn’t know it at the time, but I was already 9 centimeters dilated.
I asked if I could get into the tub and as soon as I did it was immediate relief. The water just felt so nice. I took a minute to find what position was comfortable and I spent the majority of the time in a squat leaning over the side of the tub. It was such a different feeling than the contractions before. During them my body just instinctively pushed and I could feel pressure building and then as soon as the contraction was over it was like everything got sucked back up and I felt completely fine. That repeated for what felt like forever.
I was able to joke in-between contractions and my birth team just couldn’t believe how relaxed and chill I was. There were times of doubt and I said I don’t think I can do this, which I think was coming from fatigue because I had been up since about 2am and since my contractions started at 4am I hadn’t really ate or drank anything. But my team was quick to say you can do this and I would just repeat back it back, “Yes I can do this!”
Some moments felt like I wasn’t really progressing much, so we tried other positions, but nothing felt comfortable like the squat, so I continued there until it felt like we weren’t moving forward. I ended up slightly on my back/side and pushing as hard as I could. I remember them telling me they could see the head and it had hair. It was so insane being able to look down and see the head. It was only a little bit of his head, which I didn’t realize at the time, and thought to myself oh my gosh his head is so small and it’s going to be such a small baby. Little did I know that was definitely not the entire head.
I wasn’t sure what labor was going to be like as far as how much involvement the midwives would have, but they were so incredible and just let my body do it’s thing. I remember asking if I was doing okay or if I needed to try and push longer and they just kept reassuring me to listen to my body and do what feels natural. I got most of the baby’s head out and felt a burning sensation like no other. I told the team, “I know you guys don’t do this and that’s what I signed up for, but this is where I really wish you guys would just pull him out.” And that got a few laughs out of them. After a few more pushes I finally got the head out and felt a bit of relief as I waited for the next contraction. I remember pushing as hard and as long as I could, but was loosing strength, so they encouraged me to relax and just wait for the next contractions and work with my body instead of against. It felt like so long that his head was in the water and I even asked it this okay, is the baby okay and once again they assured me everything was fine.
Finally, the rest of the baby started coming out and they assisted a bit and pulled him the rest of the way out. As soon as he was on my chest he let out little cries and it was like a relief I never felt. The female body is truly a miracle. Jose was anxious to find out what the gender was while I was just relieved it was over and if you ask him we took forever to find out the gender. So, we finally lifted up the towel to see if we had a baby girl or boy and they all shouted it’s a boy!
All throughout pregnancy anytime someone asked me what I thought it was and in the beginning I felt boy vibes, but later on I really had no inclination. As soon as they said boy I realized that deep down I thought it was going to be a girl (we have tons of girls in our family), so I was totally shocked to know it was a boy.
They drained my tub immediately and it was like my body went into shock (which is essentially what happen), I got so cold and my entire body was shivering/convulsing. They helped me out of the tub and into the bed and just told me to not fight the shivers and that it was completely normal.
We waited a few minutes until I had another contraction to deliver my placenta. They were just about to give me a tincture to help progress it when I had a contraction and two pushes later it came flying out. It was a mad dash to get the bowl to catch it and it was just so crazy to see how big it was and that it was what was giving life to our baby.
One of the best things about delivering in a birth center is they just let you hang out for a while and just enjoy your new baby on your chest. About two hours later, they did an exam on him and everything was perfect. Ace Joe Martinez entered the world at 1pm on 2-7-21 weighing 7 pounds 5 ounces 20 inches long. We got home around 8pm that same day and were welcomed by our family as we shared the news that we welcomed a sweet boy into the world.
In my circle I didn’t really know anyone personally that delivered at a birth center and had an unmedicated birth. But, I worked and prepped so much to have a natural unmedicated birth and to have to all pay off was such an incredible feeling. I share my experience to help encourage other women that your body is incredible and knows how to birth your baby! I encourage you to challenge the things that you think are “normal” and look into if that is actually normal.
However you decide to bring your child into the world is absolutely amazing and I don’t want to diminish that, but instead share my experience to others that may not know what options they have.
A special thanks to the wonderful people that have been a part of Ace’s birth story.
Jose - thank you as always for being my biggest supporter and always standing by my side. We are so lucky to have you in our lives.
Alyssa from Cherry Blossom Doula - we truly could not have done this without your support and I’m beyond grateful to have you be a part of Ace’s entrance into the world.
The team at Willow Birth Center - thank you for always making me feel welcome and heard at our appointments and giving me the support and encouragement I needed during birth and after.
Culture Chiropractic - for making my pregnancy pain free and being an encouraging voice for my natural pregnancy and birth. We surprised them and didn’t tell them we had the baby and all got adjusted 24 hours after birth :)