Nykki's Birth Story
-by Erin
Donnelly Sigman. Also read by Erin- The
Inducing Nightmare
My son Nykki was born at 46 weeks gestation. Being
my first it was hard to wait, but I stood my ground,
refused to go to the hospital and gave birth to
my son, Nykki, at home on June 14th, 2003. Just
when HE was ready :)! (to the left- Nykki at
4 1/2 months)
* * *
It was Friday the 13th. I was hoping for the
baby to be born on this day but something told
me I had to wait just a little while longer.
At 11 pm that evening I began having some rushes
but since I have had cramping and rushes for over
a month I decided not to get too excited about
it. The rushes were no longer then 10 minutes
apart and so intense that I couldn't sleep. I
decided to wait until 2 am to make a decision
as to whether or not I was in labor.
At 1:37 am I had a rush so intense that I felt
hot and lightheaded. I woke Fred up and told him
that I thought the baby was coming. He was skeptical,
I could tell, we had waited so long. Something
felt different though and I knew this was it.
I called Kaye, the midwife, and told her what
was going on. She told me to take a long soak
in the tub and call her back in 45 minutes. After
the soak the rushes were coming every 3-7 minutes,
but because they weren't lasting long, we were
all reluctant to believe that it was going to
come anytime soon. Within an hour the rushes felt
back to back. I could sometimes not manage to
get my breath.
Kaye was at another birth so she sent another
midwife named Jill over to check on me. Jill proclaimed
me to be 3 cm dilated, which depressed me a little.
The most important thing for me to do was get
some sleep but I couldn't because the rushes were
so close together. Kaye concurred with Jill that
I needed to relax as much as possible, letting
my body go limp during the rushes so that my natural
instincts could take over and let the labor even
out a bit. Kaye suggested to Jill that I have
a glass of wine to calm myself and try to sleep.
We didn't have any wine in the house so I had
a little beer. It didn't work however because
by this point the rushes were causing me to throw
up. Jill told me to settle in and rest as much
as possible, and she left.
As the sun came up I had Fred call Kaye again
because the rushes were increasingly intense and
closer and closer, I knew something was going
to happen soon but still the rushes weren't lasting
very long so everyone else thought I had some
waiting to do and that I would probably have the
baby that late afternoon or early evening. Kaye
told Fred to have me come to the office. She said
it would be good for me to get up and out. I knew
I couldn't do it. I could barely stand, so I called
Kaye back and told her myself exactly how I was
feeling. She told me she would come over after
her first prenatal that morning. She checked me
when she arrived and I was about 5 cm. I felt
terrible because I knew I still had a long way
to go. I was so tired and all I wanted to do was
get a little sleep.
Soon after Kaye's arrival however I began to
feel the urge to push with the contractions, then
it went from an urge to an involuntary action
of pushing. I told Kaye and she set up the birthing
chair. I was only in the chair a short while when
things really started to rip. I felt like a puppet,
some unknown force was pulling the strings, I
had no control. My body was pushing and pushing,
it was all happening so fast. The quickness of
it began to stress the baby and Kaye became concerned.
She had me lie on the floor so she could closely
monitor the baby's heartbeat. It wasn't doing
well during the intensity of the rushes. Kaye
had a judgment call to make. This is where having
a midwife proves itself to be the best way to
go. She knew me, and she knew my body. She knew
that the best thing I could do was to push out
the baby and quick. Pushing felt a lot better
but I couldn't feel myself making any progress
so it was a little discouraging.
I pushed hard as Kaye coached me and Fred held
my hand. I had never worked so hard in my life
and I was so tired. The baby was coming and coming
quickly and soon I could feel the head at the
end of the birth canal. This was the hardest part.
As the head pushed against me to come out I was
terrified of tearing. I didn't want to rip myself
apart and it felt like that's what would happen
if I pushed any harder.
The water still hadn't broken so in an effort
to speed things up Kaye broke my water at this
point. Kaye told me I had to get the baby out
and fast and that I had to push through it. I
reached down deep to a place inside myself that
I didn't know existed. I found the strength somewhere
and I pushed. It felt like a really intense Indian
burn and then "pop" out the head came.
I took a brief break and some deep breaths. I
could no longer feel the baby as he rested half
in and half out of my body. Kaye suctioned him
out and told me she wanted me to get the body
out in one push. The body wasn't actually hard
to get out. I pushed and then "slip, slip,
bump". He was here. I felt so selfishly great
at that moment. It was over, the labor had ended
and I felt like I could get up and dance!
Kaye checked the baby over giving him some breathing
assistance and some oxygen. She kept saying he
was fine he just needed a little help. I couldn't
see him yet; in fact I didn't know it was a him.
I looked to Fred who had dutifully held my hand
the whole time even though I almost broke his
wrist. I asked him "What did we have?"
He looked and then he looked closer and raised
his hand in the number 5. I had given birth to
the fifth Fred Sigman!
Soon enough Kaye placed him on my chest. He didn't
look at all like I had pictured. He had big brown
eyes but his hair was so light it was almost blond!
Blond hair, where on earth did he get that? He
wasn't quite as chubby as we expected but boy
was he long. I knew he had to be from the way
he had laid in my womb. He had large feet and
hands and we knew we had a future tall, skinny
Sigman man. I was so glad he was here. I felt
this sudden rush of energy. Again I felt as though
I could get up and dance. Compared to labor the
minor discomforts of the present moment seemed
like nothing. I couldn't believe how great I felt.
The time that Frederick "Nykki" Neunan
Sigman the fifth joined our world was 11 am on
June 14th, 2003
Blessings,
Erin Donnelly Sigman
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