Birth of Collin Sorvillo
It was February 26, 2005. Me and my husband, Mike, were having a really late dinner at 9 and watching television. It was two weeks before my due date and all of a sudden it felt like a rubber band snapped inside my belly. It didn't hurt but I could tell my water was starting to leak. I yelled to Mike to go get me a towel and I knelt on the floor so I wouldn't get the recliner wet. While I got cleaned up, Mike called our midwife Margie to tell her my waters had broken. She told us to relax since this was our first baby and contractions weren't starting yet. Mike went in the other room to use the computer and I sat indian style on the couch attempting to watch something on TV. A few minutes later it was really starting to take effort to breathe through my rushes. I told Mike to call our friend Teri Lynn who was acting the part of my doula. When she arrived 10 or 15 minutes later, I decided to turn around on the couch and kind of squat. She rubbed my back and it felt like heaven. It was the only thing that kept me grounded. My husband kept asking me to tell him when the contractions were starting and stopping. It didn't feel like it ever let up, so I stayed silent. He called the midwife to warn her it was starting to get pretty intense, but that he didn't know how far apart my contractions were. She said she'd get ready but that it might still be a while since this was my first baby. Mike told me that and I seriously thought, oh boy, if I have 10 more hours of this I've definately made the wrong decision to have him at home.
I can't say much about the rest of my labor except to say I felt very instinctual. I moved where I wanted to and moaned when I needed to. Teri Lynn, bless her, she never stopped rubbing my back. At some point while I leaned forward on the couch, I just decided I wanted to go sit in the bathtub. I told Teri Lynn "I'm getting in the tub, I think I might push." Then walked away and started filling my tub! I think she hurridly told my husband, who called the midwife and said she needed to come right away. I got into the tub nightgown and all and boy did that water feel good! Mike and Teri Lynn came into the bathroom and Mike was still on the phone with the midwife. I could feel the baby moving down and felt the urge to bear down. I never told anyone, I just did it. I'm sure she (midwife) could tell by the noises in the background that I was definately pushing. She asked my husband to check and see if he could see a head. He couldn't see anything but said he could feel something squishy and pulsing, he thought it could be the cord. I got angry thinking NO! THIS IS A HEAD!! Margie said not to push and try to breathe through them. I seriously don't think I'd classify anything I felt during my labor as pain. Powerfull yes! But not painful. Trying to stop myself from pushing...was painful. Margie asked Mike what position I was in and he told her I was still squating. She said "GET HER OUT OF THAT POSITION!" I leaned back in the tub but it was too late. I felt his head ease out and one contraction later he spun out like a tiny torpedo. Mike scooped him up and placed him on my chest. Margie told him to get a towel to warm him up and asked if he was breathing. I just remember him starting to pink up on my chest and looking right at me. He was breathing fine. (At this point Margie was probably running up my apartment stairs.) When Margie got there she helped me get out of the tub and checked on both Collin and I. We were great! What an adventure! It was only 11pm..my entire birth had only taken 2 hours! It was very special for my husband since during my pregnancy he told us he didn't even want to cut the cord, because he thought it might gross him out. Now not only had he cut the cord, but he caught his own son. A story he tells people with much pride. Collin was 5lbs 14oz.
Amy Sorvillo's Birth
This continued, about every day or so I would get contractions around 5 minutes apart, and every week I would get measured during my prenatals and never be more dilated than 4cm. My due date came and went and I really wondered if Amy would ever come out.
It was September 13, 2007 at 5:30am (10 days past my due date) and I woke up because my back was aching. No big deal, happened before. So I decided to take a shower hoping that it would relax my muscles so I could go back to sleep. It helped a little but I decided to stay up and get some things done around the house. As usual I started getting some mild contractions but I was really used to them by now and didn't think anything of it. I had another prenatal appointment scheduled for 12, so I figured she would check me then anyway.
I think it was around 10 or so in the morning and I notice I was starting to get a little snippy with my son (who was 2 at the time). I figured it might be a good idea if I had my grandmother watch him during my prenatal and went ahead and got us ready early. Both my grandma and my midwife lived about 30-45 minutes away. During my drive I had a sudden realization that I was concentrating pretty hard on my contractions. This must be finally it, and I laughed at the thought that everyone around me would be freaked out if they knew I was in labor. I dropped my son off with my Grandma and she shooed me out of the house nervously. I called Sandy to say I was coming early and she said she had another client but that her assistant would check on me. My mom called me on the way to Sandy's and told me my cousin Nicole was also in labor (both girls were born the same day).
I got there 30 minutes before my appointment and her assistant chatted me up while she took mine and the baby's vitals and gave me some herbs to take to help things along. I would have to stop every now and then and really concentrate on the sensations, but she just kept gabbing away. I was a little annoyed and wondered why she kept talking, doesn't she understand I'm in labor?! Then Sandy came out and her assistant cherped, oh yea she's in labor alright, she ignores me and everything, ha!
So we go into Sandy's office and she asks when I've last eaten and hands me the most delicious breakfast sandwich. Once I'm done nibbling she checks me and I'm 8 centimeters! She tells me, oh boy, well I've never had a birth here before. You know you're not driving back home now right?...RIGHT?? I'm dissapointed but I understand (I wasn't willing to have Amy on the side of the road) and I call Mike at work to come down. Sandy and her assistant run around gathering supplies and Sandy finds a little twin matress she can put on the floor. I labor sitting backwards on a chair and just watch everyone running around, breathing through my contractions. Once the bed was set up I labored on it and tried to lay down. I very quickly moved since it made my contractions overly painful and got on my hands and knees. Sandy checked me again and I was fully dilated but my bag hadn't popped yet and my husband wasn't there yet. I knew if she poppped it I would have the baby soon, so I just tried to pant through them.
Mike ran through the door and after a kiss from him I asked Sandy to rupture my bag of waters. I was getting an incredible burning sensation in my pelvic bone and it really hurt. It took a couple of tries (that bag was tough), but without the pressure of the bag bulging on my pelvic bone, it was much easier to cope. Amy's head was almost crowning immediately afterwards and then I was pushing her out. Sandy coached me so I wouldn't tear, telling me when to relax and let myself have time to stretch. Her head popped out, and with another push or two her body was born into Sandy's hands. She covered her in a blanked and slid her up to me so I could see her. I checked, and found out she was a girl. She was born at 1:04pm and she weighed in at 7lbs 4oz.