May 2002 Hipmamas - Page 7

[Serenity]

Congratulations Electricita!

Thanks for sharing your birthstory staleyg, I was wondering what such a long labor was like.

I hope to be joining you new mammas soon!

[BattleAxe]

MAMAS!!!! Happy mother's day! Congratulations, Electricita - I am glad there was enough pretty in the world for your babe! What a calm birth that must have been, though I'm sorry to hear Liva had to stay at the hospital for a while. Hope everything is okay now.

Staley, thank you for posting your story - not only was it beautifully written and totally inspiring, it also made the whole 36-hour-labor thing seem, well, possible somehow. Especially with the great support you had - brava to your midwives and DH, and to you!!! Oh, and I gotta tell you that we Aries-Taurus cusp babies (I'm 4/22) are fabulous - you'll find out!

Huey, thanks for the note about interventions. I've been fearing them a lot lately, and realized when I read your line, "trust your instinct," that I haven't been trusting anything lately. You reminded me that it's all about bringing the baby into the world - not about control or "the perfect experience" or anything else. What's perfect is holding your baby for the first time and making eye contact... okay, gonna cry here. Anyway, thanks again, Huey!

CosmicMama, I was hoping for a Mom's Day baby, too, but, yeah, he'll come when he's ready. I felt twinge-y and had some back achiness this morning, but that went away pretty quickly. I've been pretty active today, but Laz has been extremely quiet - too quiet for a while, so I started massaging my belly and trying to get him to squiggle... nothing. Then I sat down at the computer and put on some classical music... either the kid hates it or loves it, because it seems to work every time! Such a relief, even though he's still not moving much (now I'm kinda relieved that I have a nonstress test scheduled for tomorrow). Anyway, I think I have another week to go, at least, more likely two. But I'm READY - I assembled the car seat and stroller today - one more thing checked off the list....

StarKitty, I just got a big package of birth vibes that I'll forward on to you - you deserve a fast, easy birth for hanging in there an extra two weeks!! If you do have the induction on Tuesday, best of luck. In the meantime, I hope you enjoyed your "free" Sunday... :2

IslandGirl, I'll save some of those birth vibes and send them along to you... hang in there, but don't work TOO hard to keep the peace with Mom et al. - you'll need all that energy for labor!

-love to all, anna

[esperanza]

holy jeez! babies, babies, everywhere! congratulations electricita! sofie is the first name of one of our little girls! congratulations huey! thanks for the birth story staley, it was definitely inspiring.

still jealous and waiting here! we're at 36 and a half weeks now. one or another we're going to have this baby by the 26th, because that will be 38 weeks and at that point we are inducing if nothing else. my PUPPP rash is getting better, now i just look like i'm recovering from chicken pox!

these kids are active! they have been squirming and moving and kicking as much as they can in the past few days, it seems like. and LOTS of cervix pushing, so hopefully when we have our appt. tomorrow she will have some news for us. my ligaments underneath and on the sides of my belly are all kinds of stretched. painful. my feet have started to swell up a little too, which i was dreading because my mom had serious issues with that when she was pregnant with me.
so glad to have you all. you give me hope that pregnancy does not last forever!

[Serenity]

Well, today is my due date. SO tired of waiting. I'm having lots and lots of Braxton Hicks contractions. When will this baby come? sigh. So far, no nesting instinct or any other signs for that matter. I'm so impatient and its so hard to wait. So glad to have other mammas to wait with here.

[Ravenmoon]

Congrats to the new mama's!i'm sitting here with my beautiful Opal in my lap.She is opening her eyes more and focusing way better.She is already 10lbs and she is just 2 weeks.She makes the cutest little squeaky noises when she talks to us.

I never realized how hard it was for my body to carry her for that extra few weeks until now.Mentally i was at the end of my rope but having my body back is such a blessing.I can bend over again!But the aftermath is a bit startling.My belly stretched to scary lengths and now i have marks like up to my boobs!If she would've came on time they wouldn't be there!Now it's time to lose all this weight.Yes i love,love,love my new babe but when you can't fit into a darn thing it is a bit frustrating.

So, here are some gentle birthing vibes to those in waiting!My b-day is May 20 and a great day to have a kid!

[AnnaRed]

Electricita - CONGRATULATIONS!! I love the name too, and i'm so happy for you guys.

Thank you for the birth story Staley - i love reading them and yours was great.

Ravenmoon- I'm glad Opal is doing so well! I hear the tummy looks like a fallen souffle after birth, i'm trying to prepare myself for that. Its worth it though!

Hang in there Serenity, and Islandgirl and Starkitty....you are super close and it will be good.

Huey - Rhew is a lucky lil guy.....thanks for the insights too.

Playfulmama/Lisa D - how are you? do you have the baby?!

I'm 11 days from due date. No real contractions or anything...lots of cervical stabbing pains and wierd sensations. Thought i was losing mucous plug but i think it was my imagination....

OK, back to work. This fri is my last day for a few months!
AnnaRed/Peggianne

[Ravenmoon]

Hey Staley could you help me post some pics on Mamatron of Opal?I'm already registered over there but i haven't a clue of how to post pics.Let me know and i can email you pics or if you can tell me how to do it.Thanks!

[Pinfeather]

Well, I woke up in labor this morning. Contractions all day from 4-7 minutes apart, pain, it's all good. Called the MW. Got Isa up and made breakfast. Then it's like I clenched up. After visiting twice w/ MW, we came to the conclusion that Isa was stressing me out so much that I was stalling. SO, back to the drawing board. Baby is way down, had some bloody show, still no more than about 2cm and 25% though. Suck suck. I've been contracting on and off here tonight, and i've been trying to relax, but the MW says it could be another week.
BUT she and her assistant took me to the bedroom and massaged me! It was AWESOME! They talked and laughed and massaged my hands, feet, legs, back, oh it was heaven. I had made dinner in anticipation, so we ate a bit and hung out. Then everyone went home. So that was my day. I'm still waiting around to see if I get revved up again.

[Electricita]

Hang in there Ruhiel, you're almost there! You'll be holding that baby before you know it!

So it's day two here at the house and we are loving it. I am waiting for the other shoe to drop: She eats, she hangs out and wants entertainment and she wants a new diaper. If she gets those things, you don't hear one complaint from her. Her dad is great with her, does everything but feed her and loves being around her. He is already saying that he wants to stay home with her when I go back to work (probably when she is 7 months) - and unless he lucks into a kickass job before then, there is no reason why he shouldn't.

And - I almost hate to say it but this comes from someone who has been trying to lose 20 pounds for 10 years - to have that same amount come off in a single week (sure, baby and lotsa other things figured into those pounds) and be only 4 pounds off my pre-preggers (over)weight feels really damn good...

Maybe Nemesis will come down on my ass hard later - maybe it's just my turn to get lucky!

[playfulmama]

hi all, don't yet have time to read all the posts for the past week... later ; )!

we are the proud parents of Tyla, born Wednesday May 8 (emergency c section). Just got home from the hopital on sunday and am happy to report we are both healthy and happy... and a tad tired from nursing (but so glad my milk finally came in).

missed you all

can't wait to catch up!

xoxo lisa d.

[FiberChick]

birth story

ok first off congrats to all the new mamas!!!
I haven't been on for a while but WOW!!
And Staley's birth story was great.
But, it was the talk of necessary interventions that made me finally get down to my birth story---6 weeks later!
I had just about every intervention I didn't want but it saved me and my darling baby and I'm glad for it. Never say never and the end justifies the means.

On thursday (March 28), I went in for an appt with my midwife. Up until then it had been a "model" pregnancy. At this visit my blood pressure was super high after being low every other visit.
The midwife sent me to the hospital for a 24 hour observation and urine collection (you have to save all urine on ice for 24 hrs).
All the blood work came back good, no kidney or liver failure, and the strip from the baby monitor looked good. They were going to release me fri morning, but my bp stayed high even overnight. The mw was preparing me for mandatory bedrest for the rest of the month.

Fri morning the midwife and OB/GYN (who had now been called in)came in to talk about the options of perhaps needing to induce early, within a week even. They didn't release me, bp was still sky high. They had done another sonogram and told me that the was very small for gestational age, a significant drop from the last sono.
We talked about an amnio to check if the baby's lungs were developed. I wanted to know for his sake but had always said that I would NEVER have an amnio. We should have guessed the trouble we were in when the mw said "if you do the amnio today and his lungs are ready, the OB will want to induce tonight." Yikes!
So we chose to wait until sat am.

sat morning we went for the amnio. My mw came too and was so great but I was so terrified of the needle that I couldn't stop shaking and hyperventilating. Every time I moved, it made the amnio hurt, it probably wouldn't have hurt nearly at all if I had been calm. ugh.
Results came back in the afternoon-- the lungs were ready! My mw showed us his growth charts from the sonograms (we'd had to have several because of this thing they had seen in the placenta at the first sonogram). The baby was in the 10th percentile which means he was super small. So we decided to induce that night. This required some cytotec started in the afternoon to prep my cervix for the pitocin to come later that night and early morning.
Well, the cytotec got some minor contractions going on its own and after just the first dose, we were seeing it on the monitor.
Problems arose when the baby's heart rate started to slow way down just after each mini-contraction. We weren't even in labor yet and he couldn't handle it. Meanwhile the bp was going up too.
The OB came back to the hospital at around 10:15 pm and said that he thought we should do a c-section. He said that we could wait, but that it was his opinion that we would end up with a c-section either way. If we waited, it might have to be even more of an emergency than it would be now.
So, we said, "okay, let's do it". The Dr. said he'd call in the surgical team. It seemed like minutes later and everyone was there, ready to go.
Everything was going so fast! The anesthesiologist came in and gave us the option of a spinal or general anesthesia. I was so afraid that if I only had the spinal I would freak out so much that it would compromise the surgery (I am really afraid of needles and cutting of any sort). He assured me that it wouldn't, that I wouldn't be able to move from the waist down and that it would be okay. So, since I wanted DH to be able to be there too, I said okay to the spinal.

We got into surgery and got the spinal. I stayed still long enough for him to get the needle in my back with the help of my ever-so-calm midwife.
They started going and I could feel a lot of tugging and pulling, but it really hurt (it turned out that I only got a 'light' spinal because of the size and condition of the baby).
When the baby was going to come out they told DH and he stood up to look over the curtain. That was the best part of the whole thing for me. DH was nearly sobbing, he kept saying, "Oh, Rach, oh, wow, there's the baby, he's beautiful!" and stuff like that. Just watching his face was so cool.

After that they were stitching me up and I thought I wanted DH to go with the baby to the nursery. That was what we had decided, but when it came time, I balked. So, my mw came to the rescue again and offered to follow the pediatrician with the baby.
Later, she came back and DH left. I was in the recovery room and since the spinal had been light I could already feel stuff. I would have been able to go down to be with them early ( I had been really concerned about that first hour of bonding), except that the nurses couldn't program the morphine pump right (it was a new machine).
So, after my initial dose of pain killers, there I was waiting for my morphine and dying of pain. The nurse tried to call the doctor to approve more morphine while they were trying to get the damn machine working, but he was in surgery on another c-section. Finally, they called over to the operating room and asked for more morphine. The doctor said "give her whatever she needs" Thank God for him!!!
Well, they finally got the thing working but by the time I got back to the room and the baby, he was asleep. I was so frustrated and angry and in pain, it was horrible. But when I held Seth for the first time it was so wonderful. My DH asked, "are you in pain?" and I reportedly said, "Yes, but it doesn't matter anymore."

I still feel sad about not having the birth I wanted, it shows up at wierd times,but I'm so happy that Seth is healthy and with us. I couldn't have waited another month on bed rest without going insane.

so, that's my story, sorry it was so long.
I posted pics on mamatron today too, with Staley's expert assistance.

[esperanza]

hi everyone-

congratulations lisa d!!!! i'm so glad you and your baby are both doing well.

fiber, what a great birth story. i'm determined to stay happy about our birth even though it may well be an internventions-heavy one. even if the first baby comes out smoothly, very often the second baby finds herself with so much more room in the uterus that she flips all around and gets difficult! sometimes women have to have a vaginal birth, and then a cesarean afterwards for the second one......wow.

went to our doctor yesterday and my cervix is still all closed. we were all surprised! have another appt on monday to have a sonogram and check the babies' position and size in preparation for inducing once we hit 38 weeks. we were a little disappointed that we are still not getting to see our babies yet, so we went to see "spiderman". it was pretty good and i managed to hold my potty-urges until it was over!

i told my husband yesterday that one of his post-birth responsibilities was going to be logging in here and telling you how it goes! i'm so glad to have kept this support and it really does lift my spirits every time one of us comes the other side and emerges a proud and healthy mother!

lots of love and luck and hugs to everyone!

[staleyg]

opal luna

i'm on my way to post a pic of ravenmoon's opal luna at mamatron! come see the cutie

[Electricita]

I don't know how to find the May baby pictures on Mamatron....? Could someone post a direct link?

[FiberChick]

Electricita (and anyone else)
here's a link.
http://www.mamatron.org/viewtopic.php?t=1457

[Ravenmoon]

Mamatron was put together by Mamavegan after Hipmama went down.It is a great place.

[AnnaRed]

Playful/Lisa D - I LOVE the name Tyla and i'm so glad your baby is here!
I love reading the birth stories....

All the baby photos on Mamatron are beautiful - do you all have digital cameras? We don't - do we just scan a regular photo and go somewhere like kinko's to put in on disk? We want to be able to email baby's picture when he/she comes. What's the easiest way to do it?

I'm at 39 weeks this weekend. We'll see......

Huey - the way you addressed interventions was very helpful - thank you for being so articulate.

I want to join the new mamas!

[AnnaRed]

ps....

Starshine/Katey-kat - are you still here? How are you? I don't think we've heard from you in a while.....

[staleyg]

annared the best way to get your pics online with a regular camera is to have them developed by an online source like snapfish or ofoto or shutterfly. they will develop your film for free and post your pics online. once they are online you can download them on your home computer and also post them anywhere you want. just go to the website (www.snapfish.com, etc.) and sign up. they'll send you film mailers. if that makes no sense pm me and i'll try to explain it better!

[Hueylene]

Hey MAy mamas in waiting-
I just want to let you knnow I'm thinking about you all. It won't be long now. I feel another flurry of births about to happen.
I thought of three more things to tell you that might be helpful if you are going to the hospital to birth.
1) Even though you will probably cry and feel evil it's ok to send the baby to the nursery for a little bit. As long as you trust the nurses to bring him back at a specific time or when he's hungry (say 2hrs max.) you'll all be fine. It turned out to be the only way I slept for even like 30 min because I was so wired when he was in the room. It was like being on drugs, I had heart palpatations and I could feel my blood in my veins.
2) At some point (I reccomend the middle of the 2nd night) do aforementioned step 1 and go outside the hospital with your partner for five minutes and breathe. I was totally loosing my shit at about midnight and the night air really helped me calm down. Air conditioning and hospital air makes you nuts I'm convinced.
3) Take your own toilet paper or wipes to the hospital!
That is all
Huey