At 10:30 pm on 2/22 I started having regular contractions that lasted 90 seconds and were 4 minutes apart. I didn’t feel they were strong enough to call the midwives, but Tyler insisted at 11:30 pm. In the next few minutes they arrived. They decided to watch the contractions, timing them, and decided to hang out for at least two hours to see if they got stronger. Two hours later my labor had not seemed to progress.
.
Julie asked if I wanted to be checked. I hadn’t planned on being checked, but in that moment I felt defeated and curious. At 1:20 am on 2/23, I was 7cm, +1 station, cervix posterior. I was shocked that I was 7cm – I had not expected that!
.
At 6:00 am, there were no changes. Since I hadn’t progressed and my contractions had stopped I told them to go home and get some rest. Julie suggested I try inversions after resting. She felt that his head was so low that it was impeding my cervix from moving forward and dilating any further. I knew since I was 7cm it would not be long before our son would join our world. All I wanted was sleep! When I woke up I would try the inversion.
.
I tried the inversion at 12:00 pm. Oh boy did that hurt! Having the baby come back out of my pelvis in the wrong direction is probably the strangest sensation I have ever experienced. I checked myself at 2:00 pm and my cervix had finally moved forward! At 2:00 am on 2/24 I had my third bloody show as of date. Contractions were steady and uncomfortable yet faint, not seeming to put me into transitional labor.
.
I woke up on 2/24 around 10 am when Tyler left for work (a little late so I could sleep in while he helped J with her morning routine). When I got up I walked to the kitchen and a small gush of wet came out of me. I thought in a sleepy and confused way “Oh that might be my water breaking”. I calmly go to the bathroom and check my underwear it was slightly pink but very watery. I call Julie to let her know what happened and that I’m not having contractions. I was to have an appointment with Julie and Angela at 3:00. They said on their lunch break they would stop by and see how I was doing.
.
I went about my morning. I sat on the couch to wait for Tyler’s parents and watch cartoons with J. A few minutes later I had a contraction. Now, this contraction was much stronger than any I had been experiencing up to date, which made me stop because it hurt quite a bit. I called Tyler and said, “I think it’s time, but don’t come home yet – I will call you when I know for sure.” I had another contraction. This one brought me to tears, not because of the pain, but because in that moment I realized that this was happening right now – my son was coming today. I felt I would do most of my laboring alone like when I had J and for some reason that made me scared and tearful. I called Tyler again and informed him while sobbing, “This is real, I need you here!” Tyler’s parents came over to help with J until Tyler was able to get home. Tyler arrived and I decided that I wanted to be in our room so I could have more privacy and Tyler could start filling the tub.
.
I was on my birthing ball, using the bed for balance and trying to relax through each contraction, when my midwives arrived. Julie watched me throughout the contraction. When it was over she stated that I was actually in labor – that I was completely focused on the contraction this time. I continued to sit on my ball doing wide, rolling hip circles. I decided the tub seemed like a good idea at this point, and as soon as I got in it eased the contraction pain and I relaxed. I tried different positions to see what I liked. I sat on my knees while having them spread out, I leaned forward, backward, but mostly I was squatting. I relaxed as much as possible and let the contractions do their job. In between contractions I kept conversations going with my midwives and Tyler. I wanted control and knowledge over my birth so I had my hand down to feel where his head was. I felt his head was about half a finger inside of me and the bag was still intact with a little bit of squish (that’s an official term). I kept my midwives informed on what I felt.
.
J wanted to see us so Tyler’s mom brought her in. She asked if I was ok and let us know that I was having “baby brother”. She was excited and doing very well with the situation. She left to lay down for her nap as I continued to labor in the tub.
.
At each contraction I felt his head move down a bit but as soon as the contraction was over his head slid right back to where it was before. I did notice though that the bag around his head was bulging much more than before, it took a little push on it to feel his head when I had felt his head right away before. So I decided to get out of the tub (around 2:30p) because I felt I wasn’t progressing. I decided to pace the room and see if it helped me to get things moving but that was causing even more pressure in my back. I decided to do wide hip circles on the ball again. This time, each circle I did gave me a really hard contraction. After awhile I was ready for the tub again. It felt like HEAVEN!
.
Julie asked me if I wanted my water broken. She said she would rather not break it, but if I wanted to I could actually do it myself. All I had to do is push on the bag with my finger during a contraction and it should pop and break. I was not ready for that step yet. I continued to labor and started to feel rather discouraged so I decided that with the next contraction I would push on my bag. I was nervous and knew that he would arrive very soon after it broke.
.
I felt cautiously as my contraction tightened around my belly. Internally, I felt the bag get taut and bulge even more. I put a tiny bit of pressure on it and slowly added more until… POP! It actually surprised me and made me jump a bit. “Wow, that was so amazing!”, was all I could think. Then my contractions became very intense. These were so close together I just focused in on my body. I don’t recall how many of those contractions happened before I was pushing.
.
Angela holds up four fingers to let Julie know how much of the head she feels.
With J once her head came her whole body slid out and I had expected that to happen this time. I had to give another strong push to get his body out. Tyler was behind me as I was squatting and leaning on the edge of the tub. Tyler and Angela were there to catch him. I was so relieved that he was out! I turned around and lifted my right leg over the cord so I could face them and see my baby.
Tyler handed him to me while he was quietly sobbing from joy. I laid him on my chest, relaxed against the tub, and took in those first few moments with my new baby. Everyone asked, “So is it a boy?” I felt under his bottom and confirmed he was indeed a boy.
.
I was asked to stand up and get out of the tub to deliver the placenta. I didn’t have to do much – I just stood there, as gravity did the work, and gave a small push to get the last part of it out.
.
Then I made my way to our bed. And that’s where I finally had the chance to really look into the beautiful face Tyler and I had created. We laid him on my belly so he could find the breast on his own, as he squeaked and talked to us. He stretched and crawled all the way up to my breast rooted around, found my nipple and started to suckle all on his own! He latched perfectly the very first time. It was one of the most precious moments I have ever witnessed.
.
While I was in a little love trance, my midwives were watching my bleeding. Due to some lemon-sized clots and a continuous flow of blood (even after massaging my uterus), I took some medication which slowed the bleeding – but not enough. Next, they suggested putting a small piece of the placenta in my mouth stating that the hormones in it would work to stop the bleeding. After cringing I figured, “Why not? It’s better than going to the hospital.” The bleeding stopped almost right after I put it in my mouth. To help me build up the blood I lost, my midwife asked me to drink 32 oz of water with the last of the chlorophyll from the bottle I had been taking during pregnancy. My mouth and teeth turned green from the chlorophyll. I was a sight for sure! Pale as snow and a green mouth.
.
We left the cord intact so that baby could get all the last nourishments from it. After about an hour when it had emptied and naturally clamped off itself we burned his cord instead if cutting it. It took over 20 minutes for it to burn all the way through.
.
C was born at 3:33 pm on 2/24/2012 – weighing 7 pounds 1 ounce, 20 inches tall, and a 14 inch head circumference!
.
I am so glad he is in our lives. It feels as if he has always been here and we are even more complete than I ever thought possible! I love watching him and my daughter interact – no one can make him laugh quite like she can. They have an incredible bond and I can not wait to see how it continues to grow stronger – which only makes me more excited to have more babies when the time comes!
-Courtney
-Courtney
No comments:
Post a Comment