The one with the baby
Forgive my typing..it's one handed cos I'm holding Baby Nate (Johnathan Eric). :-D
Monday morning I woke up at 4 am pretty uncomfortable..I knew the baby engaged Sunday afternoonish, so I tho't it was just from that...But, the feeling kept coming and going. I tried peeing, but it kept up..so I decided to time it. It kept up every 5 min, and I wasn't really sleeping in between, so I woke Jacob up. We kinda kept an eye on it and they kept up for another hour, so we decided to call the midwife. She didn't think a whole lot of it, but said she'd be by at 9 to check on us. We went for a walk, and they picked up to 2 1/2 min a part while we were walking then back to 5 when we got back. Jacob had to go to work, but came back at 8:30 after he got everyone set up.
When Maria got here, she was pleased to find a low, engaged baby and 3 cm of dilation. She left us to work it out on our own for awhile, and we tried sleeping. I slep hard inbetween contractions, but they woke me up with a jolt...we "slept" for about an hr and a half. It picked up intensity and came closer together after that, so Maria came and she and the apprentice (Iris) set up camp. By eve it had slowed a little, so we went for a walk...they picked flowers for me and Jacob and I worked thru contractions. At 7 we decided it was sleep or get it really going, and we went with work.
We found a tree with a brach I could hang on, and would do a contrx there, then squatting, then all 4s, then standing. We did that till 9 pm, and it moved us into active labor.
Sometime in the night I hit transition ( I knew what it was as soon as I started bawling for like 15 min and felt like I couldn't do it), and by early morning I tho't I was ready to push. They had checked me and found almost 10 cm with a little lip, but tho't the urge to push might mean it was just tissue and not cervix, so we got all geared up to have the baby and I pushed for about 20 min...nothing happened. They checked again and it def was cervix. So, everything got put away and it was "don't push!" I guess I'd made the bit of cervix swollen...we tried contrx on hand and knees, that wasn't the best..then in the tub, but when a contrx hit I came out of the tub. Laying down was horribly uncomfortable the whole labor. I finally got into a rythm on hands on knees leaning on the toilet and somehow in my own little world..I didn;t even realize I'd gotten into that pattern till I heard someone say "that's good control." Sometime in there I heard Jacob praying over me..I was having a really hard time with it, and they gave me a homeopathic remedy for back pain/sciatic pain. I couldn't tell you if it worked or not. I guess it slowed a little cos they all wanted me to change scenary..We went outside and i got propped up in a glider chair. Contractions got super strong and I was falling asleep inbetween them, so we went inside so I could lay on his lap and sleep inbetween. It wasn't many later and I couldn't breathe thru the peak anymore, my body was pushing.
Honestly, at that point I was kindof upset with the midwives for ignoring me (so I tho't) and not letting me push. I yelled out to Jacob in the middle that I was pushing even tho *I* wasn't pushing and he got Maria in the room with us..She let me go thru a few more contrx and when I was pushing involuntarily, she decided we could try it.
We went into the bathroom so I could pee first and were pushing at the peak and breathing thru the rest. I moved baby (and bag of waters, it still hadn't broken..I actually felt it and baby's head at one point) pretty far down, b/c they all set up for us to have him in there. But, when it started getting close, they wanted me to be not over the toilet when he came out (can't imagine why) and tried moving me to the side of the tub. That did NOT work, so we walked into the living room where it was all set up for me to be on the birthing stool and Jacob to be tucked behind me on the couch. At 11:20ish I finally pushed the bag of waters so it popped (which was fun..haha), and then was on the baby. Somehow I managed to ease him out "beautifully" and ended up with only one small tear (not big enough for a stitch) and a couple scrapes and bruises.
I tho't he was huge when they laid him on me..He started nursing about 5 min after he came out (hardly fussing) and stayed for 30 min till we got in the bath.
He's got such a wonderful demeanor, and let us sleep from 12 till 7ish this morning. He was 8lbs 8 oz and 21 inches long.
I'm pretty tired..it ended up being about 40 hrs before I slept, but it's been nice seeing grandparents (and great granparents) see the baby. The midwives will be here soon for our post partum check..Anyway, that ended up long but I tho't you guys might wanna hear all that. :-D
Pics are at http://good-times.webshots.com/album/554402686glTLRK
Monday morning I woke up at 4 am pretty uncomfortable..I knew the baby engaged Sunday afternoonish, so I tho't it was just from that...But, the feeling kept coming and going. I tried peeing, but it kept up..so I decided to time it. It kept up every 5 min, and I wasn't really sleeping in between, so I woke Jacob up. We kinda kept an eye on it and they kept up for another hour, so we decided to call the midwife. She didn't think a whole lot of it, but said she'd be by at 9 to check on us. We went for a walk, and they picked up to 2 1/2 min a part while we were walking then back to 5 when we got back. Jacob had to go to work, but came back at 8:30 after he got everyone set up.
When Maria got here, she was pleased to find a low, engaged baby and 3 cm of dilation. She left us to work it out on our own for awhile, and we tried sleeping. I slep hard inbetween contractions, but they woke me up with a jolt...we "slept" for about an hr and a half. It picked up intensity and came closer together after that, so Maria came and she and the apprentice (Iris) set up camp. By eve it had slowed a little, so we went for a walk...they picked flowers for me and Jacob and I worked thru contractions. At 7 we decided it was sleep or get it really going, and we went with work.
We found a tree with a brach I could hang on, and would do a contrx there, then squatting, then all 4s, then standing. We did that till 9 pm, and it moved us into active labor.
Sometime in the night I hit transition ( I knew what it was as soon as I started bawling for like 15 min and felt like I couldn't do it), and by early morning I tho't I was ready to push. They had checked me and found almost 10 cm with a little lip, but tho't the urge to push might mean it was just tissue and not cervix, so we got all geared up to have the baby and I pushed for about 20 min...nothing happened. They checked again and it def was cervix. So, everything got put away and it was "don't push!" I guess I'd made the bit of cervix swollen...we tried contrx on hand and knees, that wasn't the best..then in the tub, but when a contrx hit I came out of the tub. Laying down was horribly uncomfortable the whole labor. I finally got into a rythm on hands on knees leaning on the toilet and somehow in my own little world..I didn;t even realize I'd gotten into that pattern till I heard someone say "that's good control." Sometime in there I heard Jacob praying over me..I was having a really hard time with it, and they gave me a homeopathic remedy for back pain/sciatic pain. I couldn't tell you if it worked or not. I guess it slowed a little cos they all wanted me to change scenary..We went outside and i got propped up in a glider chair. Contractions got super strong and I was falling asleep inbetween them, so we went inside so I could lay on his lap and sleep inbetween. It wasn't many later and I couldn't breathe thru the peak anymore, my body was pushing.
Honestly, at that point I was kindof upset with the midwives for ignoring me (so I tho't) and not letting me push. I yelled out to Jacob in the middle that I was pushing even tho *I* wasn't pushing and he got Maria in the room with us..She let me go thru a few more contrx and when I was pushing involuntarily, she decided we could try it.
We went into the bathroom so I could pee first and were pushing at the peak and breathing thru the rest. I moved baby (and bag of waters, it still hadn't broken..I actually felt it and baby's head at one point) pretty far down, b/c they all set up for us to have him in there. But, when it started getting close, they wanted me to be not over the toilet when he came out (can't imagine why) and tried moving me to the side of the tub. That did NOT work, so we walked into the living room where it was all set up for me to be on the birthing stool and Jacob to be tucked behind me on the couch. At 11:20ish I finally pushed the bag of waters so it popped (which was fun..haha), and then was on the baby. Somehow I managed to ease him out "beautifully" and ended up with only one small tear (not big enough for a stitch) and a couple scrapes and bruises.
I tho't he was huge when they laid him on me..He started nursing about 5 min after he came out (hardly fussing) and stayed for 30 min till we got in the bath.
He's got such a wonderful demeanor, and let us sleep from 12 till 7ish this morning. He was 8lbs 8 oz and 21 inches long.
I'm pretty tired..it ended up being about 40 hrs before I slept, but it's been nice seeing grandparents (and great granparents) see the baby. The midwives will be here soon for our post partum check..Anyway, that ended up long but I tho't you guys might wanna hear all that. :-D
Pics are at http://good-times.webshots.com/album/554402686glTLRK