Eighth Baby, Longest Labor

The Natural Homebirth Story of Caleb Lyon

Caleb’s birth itself was great. He was born into the hands of his Daddy, Jeff. The birth was witnessed by six of his siblings—Ted (17), Sarah (15), Elizabeth (12), Seth (9), Lydia (7), and Susanna (4).  He was born in the caul with a compound presentation and the umbilical cord wrapped around his neck. His Daddy rose to the occasion and caught the slippery newborn who was covered in vernix and gently unwrapped the cord from the neck.

Braxton Hicks had been going on for a few days. On Wednesday, I was 40 weeks. On Friday evening. we realized that our washing machine was broken. With my modern world view, I didn’t want a to have a newborn baby with a broken washing. We use the machine all the time, especially with a new baby when we do load upon load upon load. Jeff arranged online for a repairman to come the next business day which wasn’t until Tuesday, February 14^th.  The repair place called Saturday morning and I said, “I am about to have a baby, could you please come sooner.” A repairman came within a few hours and replaced the missing screw. The washing machine was repaired. Hurray! I could go into labor now that we had a working washing machine.

Later that Saturday I had some “bloody show.”  I had been waiting for a sign that my cervix was doing something.  In the evening, I had lots of contractions. My body shook for a bit around 10 p.m. Jeff called the midwives, Gerri and Heather, and asked them to come. I was lying in bed sleeping between contractions and relaxing on my side during contractions. After the midwives arrived, I said “good I can have my baby now.” Gerri and Heather watched me have a contraction. Jeff thought that the baby would arrive soon.  At 4:20 a.m. we decided that Ted should not go on his Boy Scout ski trip. We didn’t want him to miss the birth. By 7 a.m. the contractions had stopped. Gerri did a vaginal exam, I was 4 cm dilated. We made a decision together that Gerri and Heather could go home. They left all their equipment since no other births were pending in their practice.

On Sunday we stayed home in case labor really started up. We taught our Bradley^® childbirth class in the evening. Jeff and I mentioned to our expectant couples that we had were having the labor role play situation of the long labor.

Sunday night contractions continued closer together and more intense. My body shook again and we called Gerri and Heather. They arrived again about 11 p.m. Again, I said “Good now I can have my baby.”  Our midwives went to sleep on the sofas as they had the previous night.  Our little Seth snuggled up on the sofa with Gerri during the night.

Monday morning arrived and the contractions stopped. Gerri did a vaginal exam and said I was 6 cm and cheerfully said that I had made progress. Yes, in 24 hours I had dilated 2 cm. Gerri and Heather left for home and work. They had Monday office hours and my labor had stopped again.

Jeff and I discussed the day and decided to continue with the plans for the day. He did some work remotely. The children had a vacation day from school. We decided that Seth could still have his friend over from as planned. I said I didn’t think I’d have the baby while his friend was over. Elizabeth’s friend’s dad came to pick her up. I went out to his truck to get phone numbers from him. I told him we are having a baby soon.  He wrote down three phone numbers for me. Ted went on his bowling date.  Lydia and Susanna were playing with the girls next door.

I continued to have contractions. I told Sarah she was going to help me. She didn’t look to happy, when I said bring your book you are reading, she was happier. The job was to time contractions. When I told her one started and stopped and to apply pressure on my back during contractions. I read between contractions until I finished my book around 11:30 a.m. I didn’t feel up to starting another book so I just lay on our bed and rested between contractions. Labor was progressing.

Seth’s friend was picked up by 2 p.m. and Elizabeth was dropped off at home. Jeff said he was done working for the day and came into our room. I told him to call the midwives to have them come. This would be the third time of their driving the hour to our house.  Jeff asked Gerri when they usually come and she said not until the contractions are five minutes apart. At this point my contractions were about 7 minutes apart. In my head I felt done with labor. In hindsight, I was in transition at that moment. I was not going to get to five minutes apart. They contractions were intense enough for me. At this point, I actually was done with first stage of labor.

At my request Jeff put the computer away, out of our room. I didn’t want in in our room when we were having a baby. I put my nightgown back on and moved from our bedroom to our spacious bathroom.

Jeff call Ted and called him to come right home. Jeff had Elizabeth get Lydia and Susanna from next door. The neighbor asked, “is it a boy or a girl?”

Some of our children checked with us in the bathroom. It was communicated that they should just be in the living room. I just wanted their Daddy in the bathroom. I heard sounds of children cooperating and nicely playing in the living room. In my mind’s view, the six children were all sitting on the living room floor playing cards together.

If our bathroom shower had a bar, I would have used it for squatting. I leaned against the bathroom sink.  The coldness of the countertop and the coldness of the floor felt good. I went on hands and knees on the floor and pulled up the back of my nightgown. I told Jeff to tell the children to come. Ted, Sarah, Elizabeth, Seth, Lydia, and Susanna came into our huge bathroom.

I felt a creaking as my cervix opened wider. Out came the baby. Jeff caught the slippery baby who was covered in vernix. Elizabeth announced, “It’s a boy.”

Jeff said the cord in around the neck. I asked “can you unwrap the cord?” He did. He is a competent baby catcher.

I was still on hands and knees with my eyes shut. I asked “What happened to the water breaking?” My water had never broken.

Jeff’s answer was “He was born in the caul.”

Jeff had me sit down. He wanted me to hold our baby. I said “he’s slippery.”  Ted and Sarah brought receiving blankets and a baby towel out of the baby’s drawers which are right in the bathroom where he was born. He pooped meconium right away. He was slippery, wet, and beautiful.

Ted emailed our oldest daughter (20) that her new brother was born. She was spending the semester in Costa Rica was online at that moment. She wanted to skype.

Jeff sent a child to get a space heater. The space heater warmed up the bathroom very quickly.

Jeff called the midwives and put them on speaker phone right after the birth. They were still a half hour away. Heather said it was raining and they were stuck in traffic. Gerri told me later she heard me laughing at our house so she knew that everything was okay.

The baby seemed a little slow to get going but he was still attached to the umbilical cord and the placenta.  Initially we used a lot of receiving blankets on him. We used so many because he was wet and pooping.

We were all sitting on the bathroom floor. I was holding our newborn. Seth, our official photographer, took pictures. Lydia whose birth job was artist, starting drawing a picture of the baby.

The midwives arrived. Jeff brought the computer into the bathroom and we skyped with Rachel within 30 minutes of his birth. I held him up so she could see him. Gerri took a few pictures of us around the computer skyping with Rachel.

When we stopped skyping Gerri said “the cord is still pulsing.” By this time, it was an hour after the birth.  Geri wanted me to focus on delivering the placenta. She said “the medical community likes the placenta to be delivered within an hour of the birth.” Later she told me the placenta was delivered an hour and fifteen minutes after the birth.

Elizabeth made the phone calls to family and friends which was her job. Sarah had to wait hours to do her assigned job of putting the first clothes on the baby. We had all been busy bonding and giving our newborn love.

Jeff weighed the baby on the fish scale. He was 8 lb. 2 oz. The children started their turns holding the baby. They went in order of age. Each child took less time than the one before. Ted who was first must have held him for at least 20 minutes.

About 24 hours later, we named our baby Caleb Lyon Dean. He had a beautiful although long homebirth. We all had patience for him to make his appearance is his own time.