Keeping Up

Mar. 20, 2006 - Reflecting on a birth

I'm sure I have A's birth story around somewhere, but I can't find it. So while it is somewhat still fresh in my mind (you know, as compared to when he's 16!) I wanted to write it out tonight.

My due date was quickly approaching, and I was very ready to have a baby. Here I am on 3-11-2004

On Thursday, March 18th, I had an appointment with my midwife. I was unchanged from the previous week--not even 1 cm dialated, and not effaced. She warned me that she was completely off call from Friday morning until Saturday afternoon, when she would check in with me, but go off call again on Saturday evening through Sunday afternoon. She was alone in her practice, so we went over what I would do if I did go into labor when she was off call (just call the hospital and tell them I was coming in). I wasn't too worried, though, as I wasn't having any contractions at all.

On Friday morning, March 19th, I lost some of my mucus plug, and I started getting contractions. Of course. Because of the timing, I realized quickly that there was little chance of my midwife being around for the birth--I knew it could be awhile, but it just didn't seem like it would be 36+ hours until the baby was born.

I went to the park with DS, then 2, and loosly timed contractions all morning. They were very irregular, but ranging from 5-15 minutes apart. The irregularity continued all day, but they were mostly "easy" contractions.

Around dinnertime, we had to make a decision, though. If we thought we were going to have a baby that night, we wanted Gramma and Grampa to come get DS, so that we wouldn't have to call them, then wait for them, in the middle of the night, as he would be staying with them. After some debate, we decided to alert them and have DS go to their house. At the very least, we'd get a good night's sleep!

He left around 7pm. From 6pm on, it started getting more difficult, and I did have to relax through contractions. It was harder, though, because DH was taking care of DS. It helped a lot when he could focus on me, after DS left. They were still really irregular, though, from 2-9 minutes apart, and from 30-90 seconds in duration. But the intensity of them surprised me, it was nothing like my early labor with DS. I didn't expect them to be so hard to handle when it seemed like it must be early still, since I had no regular pattern.

I wanted to wait as long as possible before going to the hospital, since I had no idea what to expect with my care, without my midwife. I wanted to just get there to have the baby, with no time for intereference. But the irregularity yet intensity of the contractions had me perplexed. We finally decided to go in around 10pm.

I was checked around 10:30, and I was 5 cm dialated. It was a bit of a letdown, I had really been hoping to be farther along. Especially since it was really painful at that point. It was also really hard to get comfortable in the hospital bed. I tried walking around, but the contractions were too intense. At home, I had been able to completely relax on my bed, but the hospital bed was more uncomfortable, and I couldn't figure out a good position.

I finally achieved a good place--lying on my left side, with DH lying behind me. I just got comfortable, and they wanted to check me, at about 12:15 am, now March 20th. The OB was now there, the first time I'd seen him, and he said I was 7.5, almost 8, and asked if he could break my water.

My DH is the perfect labor coach and advocate. He knew I didn't want to have any interventions if they weren't necessary, so he said no, but looked at me. At that moment, I started shaking, and realized I was in transition, and told him to go ahead and break my water. I knew it didn't matter anyway, I guess. He broke my water, and left the room (I don't think he realized I was as close as I was--since it had taken me 2 hours to go 2.5 cm, I think he figured it would be at least an hour). A few minutes later, maybe 5, I started telling DH that I had to push.

At first he tried to calm me down, relax me with soothing words--until he realized I wasn't just saying I couldn't take it anymore, but that I WAS PUSHING! Thankfully the nurses heard my yells, and came right in. They did a quick check, and yes--I was 10cm and completely effaced.

It was very classic--after that initial "urge" to push (as it wasn't really an urge, but an overwhelming need to push, and my body just pushed without my will anyway!), I had a break of about 5-10 minutes with no contractions, no urge to push. Just a rest. The doctor got back, and was ready by the time my next urge to push came.

I pushed a handful of times. After the 2nd push, I had the "ring of fire", and wow. It was something I didn't experience with my elder DS, and it certainly is intense. The OB was great, and tried to ease the baby out--but just like big brother, once his head was out, his whole body was out (with such a big head, it clears a nice path for the rest of the body!). We had not found out the sex of the baby at our previous ultrasounds, so the doctor held up the baby for DH to look and say "It's a BOY!!" It was a very special moment for him.

It was a beautiful birth experience. Even without my midwife, I had a low-intervention, drug-free hospital birth. My DH is a great birth coach, and we had a beautiful son. He was 9lbs, 6 oz, and 21 inches long and adorable. We spent a bit of time getting to know him, then were transferred to our post partum room where we all slept for a few hours. We only stayed at the hospital until 5pm the next day, since we found a shared room not very restful, and we were eager to get our little boy home.

It's so hard to believe that little guy is now two. Happy birthday to my sweet sunshine!

• Post A Comment!

Mar. 21, 2006 - Untitled Comment

Posted by MamaHen

Beautiful!!! (You had me going for a while, I was thinking, I didn't know she was pregnant, LOL. I didn't look at the year on the picture.)

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