Eliana Corinne Berger
7lbs. 14oz., 20.5 in.
Eliana’s Birth Story
May 18th I had an appointment with Paula. I was already two days over the due date she had given me and eight days over the due date that the ultra sound had given me. That day, I had Paula sweep my membranes to see if that would trigger anything. I left her place not feeling any different.
Later that night, I started feeling some cramps. Nothing that got my hopes up, but I started keeping track of how often I felt them. For a while there was no pattern to them. Anything from 5 to 25 minutes in between. Finally around 10PM (after the last episode of MASH) I asked Josh to start helping me keep track of the contractions. They were definitely getting stronger. By 10:30 I called Paula and said that things were starting. I had to call back a half hour later and let her know that things had picked up and the contractions were 2-5 minutes apart lasting for a good 45 seconds each.
After talking to Paula, I decided it was time to call Josh’s mom and let her know that she was going to have to take a couple days off of work. I then called my friend Rae who was going to be my doula. Rae got to the house shortly before midnight. We sat around talking and laughing waiting for everyone else to get there. By 12:30, Paula had arrived with her two assistants, Krista and Karen. The only person not there yet was Josh’s mom. At this point, the contractions hadn’t really gotten any closer together or any stronger. Paula went to take a nap, because we all figured it was going to be a long night.
Joyce finally got to the house around 1:30. I was still in the kitchen talking and laughing and eating Cheerios. About that same time, my contractions got very intense. Something in the back of my mind kept telling me that I was starting transition. This scared me a bit because I had gotten stuck in transition with Caleb. I kept telling myself that each contraction brought me closer to holding my little angel. During this whole phase, Josh was absolutely wonderful. He kept putting counter- pressure on my back during each contraction and offering words of encouragement.
Twenty minutes into transition, I decided to get into the tub. I needed to try something else to help deal with the contractions. Josh got in behind me and continued to put pressure on my back. After about 2 contractions, I got a very strong urge to push. Paula came in, checked me and said that I was at 10 and could push when I felt like it.
Within minutes, I felt the urge. The first push, my water broke. The second push, Eliana’s head appeared. With the third push she was out. She was immediately placed in my arms. Josh and I sat there as a family for a few minutes until the placenta was delivered. Although he wasn’t able to catch Eliana like we had planned, he was still able to cut the cord.
Eliana was born 50 minutes after I started the transition phase of labor. Joyce barely made it in time to see her granddaughter born.
Although we had planned a homebirth, we had not entirely planned a waterbirth. With Caleb, I had been too uncomfortable in the tub to want to labor in it. With Eliana, the water helped with the contractions and then she decided to come very quickly. After making us wait more than a week, she was in a hurry to meet her family.