MamaEli
06-28-2008, 05:54 PM
On Monday, I'd been having lots of contractions, irregular but stronger than my usual Braxton-Hicks. I took a long hot bath that night, with very light contrax--I imagined being in the birth tub and visualized the beach. I was pretending to have a tropical drink in my hand, made a mental note to run out to Target and get one of those beach sounds CDs, some nice flavored juices, and thought I'd call the birth center to see if they had fans so I could fully induge my fantasy of being on the beach. I slept lightly Monday night, and was pretty sure that we were getting close, maybe Tuesday or Wednesday. At 4am I woke up incredibly hungry, so I had a bowl of cereal and cup of hot cocoa and then went back to bed and slept until 9. Once I got up and moving, the intensity of the contractions increased. I called my neighbor who offered to take the kids just to let her know that she should be "on call"---it may be after lunch, maybe dinner time, but probably sometime today. I decided to take a shower and see what that would do, and the contx continued--having DD in the shower didn't really help the situation! (But at least she was clean when she left the house!) When I got out of the shower, I told DH that we were having a baby today and he needed to cancel all of his appointments. (He'd woke up early too, but left before I woke up to get the oil changed and inspection done on his car, so he was just getting home.)
After the shower, I realized it was well past 10 and the kids hadn't eaten yet, so DH got them some cereal and I decided to take a hot bath. My friend was on her way back home from the grocery store, and we were waiting for her to get in the door. Meanwhile, I couldn't really talk through the contx anymore, and DH was putting the last few things into the bag. The kids were playing with their toys from outside of the tub while I sat in it. DS asked, "Mommy, why are you in the tub? Does the baby need to be clean for the doctor?" :giggle2: That was cute!
DH took the kids to our friend's house, and I wrapped a lesso (sarong) around myself and put on a Tshirt, and we were out the door.
We got to the birth center at 12:30 (made the 45 min drive in 30!) and got comfortable in the room. I was 4cm with bulging waters, just like with the other two kids at arrival. I found that sometimes closing my eyes helped, but often just looking out at the scenery when we were driving, or the tiles of the floor, helped. I also found that if I walked through them it was better than standing or sitting. If I was sitting, I wanted DH to rub my shoulders. I'd been getting a two minute break pretty steadily, so that was good. I got in the tub when it was ready, and just relaxed. I'd breathe through the cotrax and then chat with DH inbetween. It felt surprisingly normal. At one point I threw up, and our wonderful nurse was in the room. I jokingly said, "Well, with DS I threw up at about 6-7 cm, so maybe I'm entering transition." We kind chuckled, and just kept going. I would whisper "Open" sometimes (thanks Sandra Steingraber's book Having Faith,) and completely visualize the muscles moving and opening. I kept Ina May's advise to keep a loose jaw in mind. I could feel myself opening, as the contrax got stronger, I was moaning through them now. I looked at DH after one and said "That was a really productive one, I know things are just moving along." Maybe two contrax later I looked at him and said, "Get the midwide, the baby is coming now!" I could feel the pressure of the head and there was no stopping it. At this point, my body completely took over (again, thanks Ina for the warning of my inner monkey!) and I just vocalized "AHHHH" thinking I sounded like an opera singer. The nurse and midwife came in and asked if I wanted to birth in the tub. "I don't know" was my reply, but they determined there wasn't enough water. "You have to get up" they said, and I just hunched over the side of the tub and whispered, "no." The nurse and DH helped me up, I took two steps and got on the bed on my hands and knees, and our new baby came right out. :mrgreen: No pushing, four minutes from when I told DH to get them. No tearing. She was born in the caul with LOTS of meconium.
She was suctioned, and cried. Lots of vernix. Her crying got kind of grunty, so we held some oxygen up to her, and she got good pink color and good oxygen readings after a couple of minutes.
We chilled out at the birth center and left that night after our mandatory 6 hours. It's been wonderful to be home so soon, and I couldn't have asked for a more perfect experience. I was in real labor for about 4 hours, two at home and two at the birth center. It was so relaxing, and not at all as painful as I imagined. I feel great, and DH (who was VERY skeptical and not at all on board with birth outside of the hospital) is a total believer in natural birth and even offered today to talk to a friend's husband about the benefits of it!
So, the specifics: Nilah Achieng O----- was born June 24 at 2:20 pm and weighed 8 lbs 2oz and measured 21 inches long.
http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/bb61/NoellandGeoffrey/P1011321.jpg
After the shower, I realized it was well past 10 and the kids hadn't eaten yet, so DH got them some cereal and I decided to take a hot bath. My friend was on her way back home from the grocery store, and we were waiting for her to get in the door. Meanwhile, I couldn't really talk through the contx anymore, and DH was putting the last few things into the bag. The kids were playing with their toys from outside of the tub while I sat in it. DS asked, "Mommy, why are you in the tub? Does the baby need to be clean for the doctor?" :giggle2: That was cute!
DH took the kids to our friend's house, and I wrapped a lesso (sarong) around myself and put on a Tshirt, and we were out the door.
We got to the birth center at 12:30 (made the 45 min drive in 30!) and got comfortable in the room. I was 4cm with bulging waters, just like with the other two kids at arrival. I found that sometimes closing my eyes helped, but often just looking out at the scenery when we were driving, or the tiles of the floor, helped. I also found that if I walked through them it was better than standing or sitting. If I was sitting, I wanted DH to rub my shoulders. I'd been getting a two minute break pretty steadily, so that was good. I got in the tub when it was ready, and just relaxed. I'd breathe through the cotrax and then chat with DH inbetween. It felt surprisingly normal. At one point I threw up, and our wonderful nurse was in the room. I jokingly said, "Well, with DS I threw up at about 6-7 cm, so maybe I'm entering transition." We kind chuckled, and just kept going. I would whisper "Open" sometimes (thanks Sandra Steingraber's book Having Faith,) and completely visualize the muscles moving and opening. I kept Ina May's advise to keep a loose jaw in mind. I could feel myself opening, as the contrax got stronger, I was moaning through them now. I looked at DH after one and said "That was a really productive one, I know things are just moving along." Maybe two contrax later I looked at him and said, "Get the midwide, the baby is coming now!" I could feel the pressure of the head and there was no stopping it. At this point, my body completely took over (again, thanks Ina for the warning of my inner monkey!) and I just vocalized "AHHHH" thinking I sounded like an opera singer. The nurse and midwife came in and asked if I wanted to birth in the tub. "I don't know" was my reply, but they determined there wasn't enough water. "You have to get up" they said, and I just hunched over the side of the tub and whispered, "no." The nurse and DH helped me up, I took two steps and got on the bed on my hands and knees, and our new baby came right out. :mrgreen: No pushing, four minutes from when I told DH to get them. No tearing. She was born in the caul with LOTS of meconium.
She was suctioned, and cried. Lots of vernix. Her crying got kind of grunty, so we held some oxygen up to her, and she got good pink color and good oxygen readings after a couple of minutes.
We chilled out at the birth center and left that night after our mandatory 6 hours. It's been wonderful to be home so soon, and I couldn't have asked for a more perfect experience. I was in real labor for about 4 hours, two at home and two at the birth center. It was so relaxing, and not at all as painful as I imagined. I feel great, and DH (who was VERY skeptical and not at all on board with birth outside of the hospital) is a total believer in natural birth and even offered today to talk to a friend's husband about the benefits of it!
So, the specifics: Nilah Achieng O----- was born June 24 at 2:20 pm and weighed 8 lbs 2oz and measured 21 inches long.
http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/bb61/NoellandGeoffrey/P1011321.jpg
