Birth Story
We welcomed our son into the world at 1:52am on September 10th. He weighed 7lbs 13oz, was 21 inches long and had a head circumference of 13 inches. We haven't decided on a name yet.
Thursday, September 8th
I had a stretch and sweep done in the morning and had some mild contractions after it for an hour or two, then they petered off into a crampy feeling. That night I went to games night (strategy board games! 'Cause hubby and I are nerds like that) and at about 9pm I really wanted to go home and my back started hurting. I figured I was just overtired, but in hindsight it was probably the start of labour. I had back labour, and the back pain I felt Thursday night was the same as what I woke up with.
Friday, September 9th
I woke up at about 5:30 to goto the bathroom and never got back to sleep. I was having uncomfortable contractions every five minutes or so, but I'd keep having breaks where I wouldn't have a contraction for 10-15 minutes. By 9 the contractions were painful enough I had to get out of bed. I was timing contractions for quite a while all morning and I was still having 20 minute breaks, although most contractions were only 3-5 minutes apart. My contractions never regulated, actually.
I walked to the hospital (took us about an hour... it's usually a 20-25 minute walk) at about 2. I probably should have waited longer at home, but I just felt like I'd be more comfortable at the hospital... and I was. My doula mentioned how much more relaxed I was when we got there. It was nice to not have to worry about getting to the hospital.
I got to the hospital just after 3. My doctor was at a maternity convention until 5, so they'd called in the old male OB/GYN. I was so glad he was only there temporarily because he hooked me up to the continuous monitor (which is not my doctor's policy) and threatened to leave me on it unless I let him break my waters. I was only 4cm at this point in time (I was so upset when they told me that was all I was dilated). I refused, multiple times, and he finally said that the monitoring so far had given no reason to have me hooked up. I was glad, because being stuck in bed was really uncomfortable. I was determined to tough it out until my doctor got there, if I had to.
Free to move, I tried a few positions and ended up on a birthing ball with my doula using a rolling pin on my back. (I highly recommend the rolling pin.) I spent a lot of time hanging over the back of the bed, too, with pillows supporting my stomach.
I was moaning through my contractions... and talking and laughing in between. All the way up until I started pushing. I had a couple of contractions during transition that were pretty bad, and pushing was hella painful. The rest of the time they were only slightly worse than my menstrual cramps (which are pretty bad).
I spent transition in the shower, on the ball. I got out and checked at 8-8 1/2 cm dilated. Since most of my cervix was on one side, they had me laying on my right side for a few contractions with my legs held open. Not fun. They tried to talk me into a few more but I just couldn't do it and went back in the shower.
I was fully dilated at 10pm and started pushing around 10:30. I think I pushed for so long because the baby wasn't coming down straight. I kept begging for help since I felt like I wasn't doing it right. Eventually the nurses put fingers in my vagina to help me focus on where I was supposed to be pushing and that helped.
I spent some time pushing on a low stool (not an actual birthing stool, since they don't have one, but close enough), hung over the back of the bed (my favourite), backwards on the toilet (they made me try that hoping the change would speed things along - I hated it). Most of the time I was pushing I actually spent on my back and it was what worked best for me. I was surprised.
They were driving me crazy, because they wanted his heartbeat after every contraction and my pelvis would still be so sore after. Eventually they were having so much trouble finding it that they hooked up the internal monitor. I was so glad, since my only real objection to the internal monitoring is the lack of mobility, and by that point I wasn't moving anyway. The only problem was that his heart was slowing with every contraction and after a few with the internal monitor in it started stopping each contraction. Then everything started happening very fast. The vacuum extractor came out, I got an episiotomy, all the coaching for the pushing became really urgent.
The first thing I said, when my son was born at 1:52am was "OMG I did it!" The second was asking if he was alright and the third was "I'm no longer nauseous."
Daddy cut the cord.
Since he'd been in so much distress, and was breathing really quickly, they did have to take him away after he'd only been on my chest for a few minutes. Four hours later his breathing still hadn't gotten slower so they did a big hubaloo of tests. Everything came back normal and eventually his breathing slowed down, but then his heart slowed down too and was too slow... Eventually that evened out too. We had a lot of monitoring during our stay. Everything turned out fine though, thank God.
Also, my son falls asleep at the breast... which is great, except when he's only been feeding for a minute or two and hasn't had a full meal in three hours and Momma's breasts are engorged. I already tickle him and rub his back/head and talk to him... Is there anything else I can do to keep him awake? He's fallen asleep after a minute or two three times in a row now and is currently sacked right out on Daddy's chest. HALP! (This is not the first time he's done it, but usually he is hungry enough by this long that he stays awake to feed... *worries worries*)
ETA2: We weighed my son yesterday (woo first doctor's appointment!) and he weighs more than his birth weight already (at six days old). Given that he's gaining ... um... amazingly... my doctor isn't worried about his long stints of sleeping.
ETA: If I could give one piece of advice to a pregnant woman it would be to have a doctor that you trust. When everything started to get really stressful and all of the decisions needed to be made (urgently, too) it was wonderful to just be able to nod and agree with what my doctor thought needed to happen.
Thursday, September 8th
I had a stretch and sweep done in the morning and had some mild contractions after it for an hour or two, then they petered off into a crampy feeling. That night I went to games night (strategy board games! 'Cause hubby and I are nerds like that) and at about 9pm I really wanted to go home and my back started hurting. I figured I was just overtired, but in hindsight it was probably the start of labour. I had back labour, and the back pain I felt Thursday night was the same as what I woke up with.
Friday, September 9th
I woke up at about 5:30 to goto the bathroom and never got back to sleep. I was having uncomfortable contractions every five minutes or so, but I'd keep having breaks where I wouldn't have a contraction for 10-15 minutes. By 9 the contractions were painful enough I had to get out of bed. I was timing contractions for quite a while all morning and I was still having 20 minute breaks, although most contractions were only 3-5 minutes apart. My contractions never regulated, actually.
I walked to the hospital (took us about an hour... it's usually a 20-25 minute walk) at about 2. I probably should have waited longer at home, but I just felt like I'd be more comfortable at the hospital... and I was. My doula mentioned how much more relaxed I was when we got there. It was nice to not have to worry about getting to the hospital.
I got to the hospital just after 3. My doctor was at a maternity convention until 5, so they'd called in the old male OB/GYN. I was so glad he was only there temporarily because he hooked me up to the continuous monitor (which is not my doctor's policy) and threatened to leave me on it unless I let him break my waters. I was only 4cm at this point in time (I was so upset when they told me that was all I was dilated). I refused, multiple times, and he finally said that the monitoring so far had given no reason to have me hooked up. I was glad, because being stuck in bed was really uncomfortable. I was determined to tough it out until my doctor got there, if I had to.
Free to move, I tried a few positions and ended up on a birthing ball with my doula using a rolling pin on my back. (I highly recommend the rolling pin.) I spent a lot of time hanging over the back of the bed, too, with pillows supporting my stomach.
I was moaning through my contractions... and talking and laughing in between. All the way up until I started pushing. I had a couple of contractions during transition that were pretty bad, and pushing was hella painful. The rest of the time they were only slightly worse than my menstrual cramps (which are pretty bad).
I spent transition in the shower, on the ball. I got out and checked at 8-8 1/2 cm dilated. Since most of my cervix was on one side, they had me laying on my right side for a few contractions with my legs held open. Not fun. They tried to talk me into a few more but I just couldn't do it and went back in the shower.
I was fully dilated at 10pm and started pushing around 10:30. I think I pushed for so long because the baby wasn't coming down straight. I kept begging for help since I felt like I wasn't doing it right. Eventually the nurses put fingers in my vagina to help me focus on where I was supposed to be pushing and that helped.
I spent some time pushing on a low stool (not an actual birthing stool, since they don't have one, but close enough), hung over the back of the bed (my favourite), backwards on the toilet (they made me try that hoping the change would speed things along - I hated it). Most of the time I was pushing I actually spent on my back and it was what worked best for me. I was surprised.
They were driving me crazy, because they wanted his heartbeat after every contraction and my pelvis would still be so sore after. Eventually they were having so much trouble finding it that they hooked up the internal monitor. I was so glad, since my only real objection to the internal monitoring is the lack of mobility, and by that point I wasn't moving anyway. The only problem was that his heart was slowing with every contraction and after a few with the internal monitor in it started stopping each contraction. Then everything started happening very fast. The vacuum extractor came out, I got an episiotomy, all the coaching for the pushing became really urgent.
The first thing I said, when my son was born at 1:52am was "OMG I did it!" The second was asking if he was alright and the third was "I'm no longer nauseous."
Daddy cut the cord.
Since he'd been in so much distress, and was breathing really quickly, they did have to take him away after he'd only been on my chest for a few minutes. Four hours later his breathing still hadn't gotten slower so they did a big hubaloo of tests. Everything came back normal and eventually his breathing slowed down, but then his heart slowed down too and was too slow... Eventually that evened out too. We had a lot of monitoring during our stay. Everything turned out fine though, thank God.
Also, my son falls asleep at the breast... which is great, except when he's only been feeding for a minute or two and hasn't had a full meal in three hours and Momma's breasts are engorged. I already tickle him and rub his back/head and talk to him... Is there anything else I can do to keep him awake? He's fallen asleep after a minute or two three times in a row now and is currently sacked right out on Daddy's chest. HALP! (This is not the first time he's done it, but usually he is hungry enough by this long that he stays awake to feed... *worries worries*)
ETA2: We weighed my son yesterday (woo first doctor's appointment!) and he weighs more than his birth weight already (at six days old). Given that he's gaining ... um... amazingly... my doctor isn't worried about his long stints of sleeping.
ETA: If I could give one piece of advice to a pregnant woman it would be to have a doctor that you trust. When everything started to get really stressful and all of the decisions needed to be made (urgently, too) it was wonderful to just be able to nod and agree with what my doctor thought needed to happen.