Genevieve (Evie) Cree was born at 4:59pm on April 23, 2009 weighing in at 7lbs 11oz 20.5in long after 12.5 hrs of labor and 45 mins of pushing. Labor went well but my birth plan went out the window halfway through. I had originally planned on natural childbirth with the caveat that I had NO idea what I was getting myself into but had many different plans in place to try to manage the pain. I had been having prodromal labor on and off for about a week and a half and it was the strongest Wednesday night but I assumed it was not going to turn into anything so I went to bed. I woke up at 4:30 am on Thursday with strong painful contractions about 15 mins apart and dozed on and off between them until about 6:30am when I woke my fiance and told him that I was pretty sure I was in labor- at this point they were about 7 mins apart and about 45-60 seconds long. We lay in bed for another half an hour breathing through the contractions and relaxing and at 7am I decided we should go downstairs and wake my mother and have some breakfast. Well standing apparently changed everything because within 20 mins the contractions were 5 minutes apart and lasting about 1.5 mins accompanied by intense back labor. I ate some cereal and decided to get in the shower to see if it would help as they were getting pretty strong. The shower made everything more intense and the contractions started coming about every 2-3 minutes and lasting a full minute in which I couldn't talk, think or move. We decided it was probably time to head to the hospital which was the longest 10 minute car ride of my life over a very bumpy road! We got to the hospital at 9:30 with the contractions still piling on top of each other and intensely located in my backside and I was doing my best to vocalize through them but not handling it very well. I was checked and found to be about 4.5 cm dilated but already at 0 station and it was at that point that I broke down and decided to get the epidural. It was the best choice I could have made for my body I think, even though I was beating myself up for it at the time. It took the edge off but I could still feel each contraction enough that I had to vocalize a fair amount through them. I got the epidural around 10:45 and by noon I was almost 8 cm dilated. It took about 2.5 more hours to go to complete and then we let my body do some pushing from about 2:30 until 4:15 when we decided to start the pushing stage.
It was really the best birth I could have asked for- I had a wonderful ob who guided me very well and excellent support staff. We came home 24 hours after the birth and all is going well save for some difficulty staying latched.
and here she is:
http://i368.photobucket.com/albums/o...8/100_2604.jpg
It was really the best birth I could have asked for- I had a wonderful ob who guided me very well and excellent support staff. We came home 24 hours after the birth and all is going well save for some difficulty staying latched.
and here she is:
http://i368.photobucket.com/albums/o...8/100_2604.jpg
Genevieve!!
:
I may be heading for back labor, myself if this LO stays posterior ... brand-new territory.
