Marni
12-06-2005 Tuesday, 11:14 AM
He's almost a year old so I hope I haven't forgotten the details, but what a perfect birth!
<O:p
History:
DS#1 was born in 6.5 hours (already at 4 cm, when induced by AROM (9 days late), 4 hours to full dilation, 2.5 hours of pushing)<O:p
This is the story of DS#2:
I seem start dilating naturally at around 30 weeks. While this is scary and I have to be careful, it seems to be normal for my body. I did this with both babies. <O:p
I was put on modified bed rest (bathroom, limited mobility, but mostly in bed, not chores, no stairs, no shopping). Needless to say, I did all my Christmas shopping on line that year! I also made good use out of those motorized carts at the grocery store on the occasion that I snuck out of the house for necessities.<O:p
After 6 weeks of bed rest, I made it to 37 weeks and went to DH's company Christmas party (my first day off of bed rest). We love to dance, but I could only do about 1/2 of a song before we had to sit down. I think we left the party after about an hour. I was afraid that DS would be born that night. Fortunately not. The weeks went by and I was *terrified* that baby would be born on Christmas eve or Christmas day. This would mean that our Doula could not meet us and, worse, we had *no one* to take care of my 2 year old. I would be all alone having this baby with no support (husband would have to take care of DS#1).<O:p
Yea! we made it past Christmas by a few days. I went for my 39 week checkup. The OB made a funny face and asked me if I needed to go home & get my bags before I went to the hospital. I said "what? I'm not in labor" She said "you are 5 cm with a bulging bag, you'll have this baby soon". Yea! I went home, went to the store to lay in supplies (food) for after the birth, made some homemade vegetable soup. Called to put the Doula on alert. <O:p
I called my sister to update her. I said, "yea, It'll probably be a few days, you know how my babies come late." She got on a plane and came the next day (Thank God!).<O:p
Waited. Nothing. Went to bed. Got up the next day, went about my business, picked my sister up from the airport, checked the hospital supplies. Talked to Doula, she is off to a birth, but expects it to be a fast one. Took a little more Evening primorse than usual (4 caps or so). Went to bed
The actual Birth:<O:p
Got up at 1:00 am as usual with a contraction that normally occurs when I have to pee at this late stage. Go to toilet to pee. Ouch - real contraction - this one hurts more than usual. I yell to DH "It hurts". He's on alert so he jumps out of bed and says "are we ready to go, let me get my shoes"? YES! I called Dr and told her I had one contraction, but I was already at 5cm and I had fast previous births, I'm going to the hospital. She says, OK, I'll check on you when you get there. Call doula. No answer. Call Doula backup (from the car), she'll be there in a 1.5 hours (long drive). <O:p
Thank God for my sister. We woke her up, gave her the baby monitor and while my husband was trying to tell her what TV channel DS likes to watch, I was yelling at him to go *now*. I gathered the bags & put them in the car. (labor bag, hospital bag, cooler, camera, purse). He thinks I'm crazy for bringing so much stuff.
Hop in car. Husband drives to Baylor (35 miles). When we get off of the freeway, I have to give him instructions. I can't lean back in the seat (uncomfortable). I'm sitting on my fists because it hurts to sit down on my bum. Breathing through contractions which are coming 3-4 minutes apart. We call ahead for a wheel chair to meet us.
Nurse meets us with wheel chair and we go to room. I change and sit on the toilet for a long time (5 minutes). They convince me to come near the bed so they can get a 20 minute strip on the baby.<O:p
The nurse is great and holds the monitor on my belly. There is *no way* I can lay on the bed and she doesn't ask me to except once to check my dilation. I don't give her much time because the contractions are coming very close together & I can't stand to be reclining when they come. She says we're at 7-8 cm, she doesn't feel a bag, but I don't remember my water breaking<O:p
They send in another nurse to *try* to give me an IV (I am supposed to have antibiotics for GBS)<O:p
I try sitting on the birth ball, doesn't feel good, so I ask the nurse to lower the foot of the bed so I can kneel & lean on the bed. This is good. I feel like I have to poop. I realize that I need to push so I try a few little pushes. I realized that I have to push it makes the contractions feel better, I tell the nurse I'm pushing. She tells someone to call my doc. She tries to check me (while I'm kneeling/hands and knees). She says she'll try, she's never checked someone in that position. I get another contraction before she gets "in" and make her stop. <O:p
The nurse who is supposed to put in my IV is hopeless. I pull my hand away during a contraction & she can't get it in time.<O:p
Then, I feel a large round ball in my pelvic bones, all of a sudden I feel his head "there" not on the perineum, but in my pelvis, very low. The nurst is still holding the monitor on my belly - she keeps moving it lower!<O:p
I tell the nurse - "baby's coming *now*". She runs to the door to call the resident.<O:p
Resident comes in and he knows better than to bother me. I push the head out without any help, perineum support, or coaching. (and got a small tear as a result).<O:p
I ask "is the head out" (don't know why, I knew this). Then I push the shoulders out on the next contraction. <O:p
Note: I'm still kneeling/on hands & knees. The resident catches the baby & I roll over and they place him on my belly. I don't remember the cord cutting, but they put him on my chest & put a blanket over us. I immediately offer him the breast & he nurses like a champ. (it is now 2 am – one hour from the first contraction!)<O:p
They take his temp & it's a little high! It is caused by my body heat & the heated blankets. Open the blankets a little & he's fine. <O:p
DH calls my sister to tell her, she thinks we’re calling to tell her we got to the hospital. She was really surprised to hear that the baby arrived.<O:p
The Doctor on call arrives - Dr Graham. We talk for a bit & she talks the resident through delivering the placenta and she does the repair of the tear. We talk about the missing antibiotics & I decide not to worry unless the baby shows any negative symptoms. I had no other risk factors (fever, long labor, extended ROM), I decide not to give baby prophylactic antibiotics. They check the baby on my chest & he looks fine. <O:p
The backup doula arrives and we talk a bit. <O:p
Dr Graham washes my feet! They got a bit yucky when I stepped in all the birth "stuff" that had landed on the bed where I was kneeling. They cleaned up the sheets & stuff.
<O:pAfter I nurse the baby for an hour or so & they stitch me up, I finally let them take the baby to weigh him (still in my room). Husband is anxiously waiting to hold baby so I go get a shower. The Doula helps me (mostly just goes in the bathroom with me to make sure I'm OK, hands me soap & towels). They don't like to let women shower so soon after birth, but I was doing so well & had so little blood loss, I was fine.
<O:pWe went to our room and I kept DS with me almost continuously. I insisted that they minimize the time we were apart. For the most part, everyone was very cooperative. <O:p
<O:p
After the birth:
DH stayed with me until 5:00 am when he left to go to work L
<O:pI was all alone until later in the day when he brought my sister & DS to visit. DS was scared of the hospital/bed so they took him home. I spent the night by myself (with new baby) and had some trouble with the night nurses, did not sleep a wink and was very happy to be released and go home the next day. The day nurses were amazing, they were very nice & did their best to comply with my crazy requests (keeping DS with me, etc)<O:p</O:p
<O:p
History:
DS#1 was born in 6.5 hours (already at 4 cm, when induced by AROM (9 days late), 4 hours to full dilation, 2.5 hours of pushing)<O:p
This is the story of DS#2:
I seem start dilating naturally at around 30 weeks. While this is scary and I have to be careful, it seems to be normal for my body. I did this with both babies. <O:p
I was put on modified bed rest (bathroom, limited mobility, but mostly in bed, not chores, no stairs, no shopping). Needless to say, I did all my Christmas shopping on line that year! I also made good use out of those motorized carts at the grocery store on the occasion that I snuck out of the house for necessities.<O:p
After 6 weeks of bed rest, I made it to 37 weeks and went to DH's company Christmas party (my first day off of bed rest). We love to dance, but I could only do about 1/2 of a song before we had to sit down. I think we left the party after about an hour. I was afraid that DS would be born that night. Fortunately not. The weeks went by and I was *terrified* that baby would be born on Christmas eve or Christmas day. This would mean that our Doula could not meet us and, worse, we had *no one* to take care of my 2 year old. I would be all alone having this baby with no support (husband would have to take care of DS#1).<O:p
Yea! we made it past Christmas by a few days. I went for my 39 week checkup. The OB made a funny face and asked me if I needed to go home & get my bags before I went to the hospital. I said "what? I'm not in labor" She said "you are 5 cm with a bulging bag, you'll have this baby soon". Yea! I went home, went to the store to lay in supplies (food) for after the birth, made some homemade vegetable soup. Called to put the Doula on alert. <O:p
I called my sister to update her. I said, "yea, It'll probably be a few days, you know how my babies come late." She got on a plane and came the next day (Thank God!).<O:p
Waited. Nothing. Went to bed. Got up the next day, went about my business, picked my sister up from the airport, checked the hospital supplies. Talked to Doula, she is off to a birth, but expects it to be a fast one. Took a little more Evening primorse than usual (4 caps or so). Went to bed
The actual Birth:<O:p
Got up at 1:00 am as usual with a contraction that normally occurs when I have to pee at this late stage. Go to toilet to pee. Ouch - real contraction - this one hurts more than usual. I yell to DH "It hurts". He's on alert so he jumps out of bed and says "are we ready to go, let me get my shoes"? YES! I called Dr and told her I had one contraction, but I was already at 5cm and I had fast previous births, I'm going to the hospital. She says, OK, I'll check on you when you get there. Call doula. No answer. Call Doula backup (from the car), she'll be there in a 1.5 hours (long drive). <O:p
Thank God for my sister. We woke her up, gave her the baby monitor and while my husband was trying to tell her what TV channel DS likes to watch, I was yelling at him to go *now*. I gathered the bags & put them in the car. (labor bag, hospital bag, cooler, camera, purse). He thinks I'm crazy for bringing so much stuff.
Hop in car. Husband drives to Baylor (35 miles). When we get off of the freeway, I have to give him instructions. I can't lean back in the seat (uncomfortable). I'm sitting on my fists because it hurts to sit down on my bum. Breathing through contractions which are coming 3-4 minutes apart. We call ahead for a wheel chair to meet us.
Nurse meets us with wheel chair and we go to room. I change and sit on the toilet for a long time (5 minutes). They convince me to come near the bed so they can get a 20 minute strip on the baby.<O:p
The nurse is great and holds the monitor on my belly. There is *no way* I can lay on the bed and she doesn't ask me to except once to check my dilation. I don't give her much time because the contractions are coming very close together & I can't stand to be reclining when they come. She says we're at 7-8 cm, she doesn't feel a bag, but I don't remember my water breaking<O:p
They send in another nurse to *try* to give me an IV (I am supposed to have antibiotics for GBS)<O:p
I try sitting on the birth ball, doesn't feel good, so I ask the nurse to lower the foot of the bed so I can kneel & lean on the bed. This is good. I feel like I have to poop. I realize that I need to push so I try a few little pushes. I realized that I have to push it makes the contractions feel better, I tell the nurse I'm pushing. She tells someone to call my doc. She tries to check me (while I'm kneeling/hands and knees). She says she'll try, she's never checked someone in that position. I get another contraction before she gets "in" and make her stop. <O:p
The nurse who is supposed to put in my IV is hopeless. I pull my hand away during a contraction & she can't get it in time.<O:p
Then, I feel a large round ball in my pelvic bones, all of a sudden I feel his head "there" not on the perineum, but in my pelvis, very low. The nurst is still holding the monitor on my belly - she keeps moving it lower!<O:p
I tell the nurse - "baby's coming *now*". She runs to the door to call the resident.<O:p
Resident comes in and he knows better than to bother me. I push the head out without any help, perineum support, or coaching. (and got a small tear as a result).<O:p
I ask "is the head out" (don't know why, I knew this). Then I push the shoulders out on the next contraction. <O:p
Note: I'm still kneeling/on hands & knees. The resident catches the baby & I roll over and they place him on my belly. I don't remember the cord cutting, but they put him on my chest & put a blanket over us. I immediately offer him the breast & he nurses like a champ. (it is now 2 am – one hour from the first contraction!)<O:p
They take his temp & it's a little high! It is caused by my body heat & the heated blankets. Open the blankets a little & he's fine. <O:p
DH calls my sister to tell her, she thinks we’re calling to tell her we got to the hospital. She was really surprised to hear that the baby arrived.<O:p
The Doctor on call arrives - Dr Graham. We talk for a bit & she talks the resident through delivering the placenta and she does the repair of the tear. We talk about the missing antibiotics & I decide not to worry unless the baby shows any negative symptoms. I had no other risk factors (fever, long labor, extended ROM), I decide not to give baby prophylactic antibiotics. They check the baby on my chest & he looks fine. <O:p
The backup doula arrives and we talk a bit. <O:p
Dr Graham washes my feet! They got a bit yucky when I stepped in all the birth "stuff" that had landed on the bed where I was kneeling. They cleaned up the sheets & stuff.
<O:pAfter I nurse the baby for an hour or so & they stitch me up, I finally let them take the baby to weigh him (still in my room). Husband is anxiously waiting to hold baby so I go get a shower. The Doula helps me (mostly just goes in the bathroom with me to make sure I'm OK, hands me soap & towels). They don't like to let women shower so soon after birth, but I was doing so well & had so little blood loss, I was fine.
<O:pWe went to our room and I kept DS with me almost continuously. I insisted that they minimize the time we were apart. For the most part, everyone was very cooperative. <O:p
<O:p
After the birth:
DH stayed with me until 5:00 am when he left to go to work L
<O:pI was all alone until later in the day when he brought my sister & DS to visit. DS was scared of the hospital/bed so they took him home. I spent the night by myself (with new baby) and had some trouble with the night nurses, did not sleep a wink and was very happy to be released and go home the next day. The day nurses were amazing, they were very nice & did their best to comply with my crazy requests (keeping DS with me, etc)<O:p</O:p