Elliot was born 1/12/09 at 6:12 pm (two days late) after 13 hours of labor. He was born at home, underwater, and in the caul. He had a hand up against his face during delivery that made everything more difficult. He's 7 1/2 lbs, 20 inches.
Labor started at 5 am, and our midwife and her assistants got here around 11 am. By 4:30 I was in the birth tub, fully dilated, and needing to push. I pushed for about an hour and 45 minutes, and it was total butt labor, which was incredibly difficult. There just isn't anything anyone can say to prepare a woman for that. His water wouldn't break until his head was born, which I think also made pushing harder. The placenta came about 30 minutes later. Our midwife and her assistants were fantastic. They stayed calm when I was panicking during labor and they kept DH calm afterwards, when I was really shaky and my BP dropped and my pulse was racing.
But we're all fine. Sleeping was so difficult, something I hadn't thought about. I only got about 4 hours since he was born, and DH only got about a half hour. I'm pretty sore today, but I had only one tear that doesn't require stitches. Elliot wasn't nursing too well at first (neither of us knows what to do!) but today he had a marathon session which left him pretty sated. He's laying next to me in bed, just checking everything out!
Labor started at 5 am, and our midwife and her assistants got here around 11 am. By 4:30 I was in the birth tub, fully dilated, and needing to push. I pushed for about an hour and 45 minutes, and it was total butt labor, which was incredibly difficult. There just isn't anything anyone can say to prepare a woman for that. His water wouldn't break until his head was born, which I think also made pushing harder. The placenta came about 30 minutes later. Our midwife and her assistants were fantastic. They stayed calm when I was panicking during labor and they kept DH calm afterwards, when I was really shaky and my BP dropped and my pulse was racing.
But we're all fine. Sleeping was so difficult, something I hadn't thought about. I only got about 4 hours since he was born, and DH only got about a half hour. I'm pretty sore today, but I had only one tear that doesn't require stitches. Elliot wasn't nursing too well at first (neither of us knows what to do!) but today he had a marathon session which left him pretty sated. He's laying next to me in bed, just checking everything out!
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