I had my baby girl at home yesterday, Tuesday April 28 at 5:17PM. (4 days past her EDD). We haven’t yet discovered her name. She was 9lbs even and was born after about 2 1/2 hours of "hard" labor.
BIRTH STORY (kind of a long story for a short birth!)
I had crampy, fairly irregular but intense contractions starting when I woke up at a bit before 6. I made breakfast and puttered around, and my husband took my son to school on his way to work (he got a new job that started last Thursday). I went over to campus to use the computer labs and get some financial aid forms together for my son’s school. I’d slept so poorly that I decided to just come home and sleep/rest/read and take it easy. I had a feeling this was the day. My mom did some errands, tidied up and then at 1PM she picked my son up and brought him home. I read with him and we had a nap together. The whole time I was having contractions but they’d be every 7 minutes for a while, and then I’d go 20 minutes without one, etc. Suddenly around 2:45 I was napping/reading with my son and they just felt totally different. The were coming every 5 minutes, then every 4, and they were longer and much stronger. I called my husband and told him to come home, and the MW called to check in and I said, I think I'll be needing company soon.
At 3:30 my husband walked in the door and I asked him to call the MW and her assistant to tell them to definitely come. I was reading to my son while my mom got ready to take him to a 4PM swimming class, and my husband started setting up the pool. Got son and mom out the door and started filling the pool, cleaning up, etc. All of the sudden, I just couldn't function at all during contractions and in retrospect, I guess I was in transition. I was still joking around with my husband and puttering around, and then I asked him to help me undress and get in the pool. It felt great- I was in there for about two contractions and then I felt a crazy pressure and a POP and my amniotic fluid gushed out into the pool. I think it was around 4:45. Then I could feel my uterus really pressing downwards and felt sort of a panic that baby was coming right then! My husband called the MWs who were just down the road. He was looking white as a sheet but was just staying with me and very calm and collected. I almost told him to call our neighbor (who has had 3 UCs) but decided I could wait.
The MWs walked in the door and I said, "the pool is all dirty, I think I should get out of the water" but it was HARD to climb out. They asked if the bed was made up and we said yes, but I told them I didn't think I could walk into the other room. They said "we'll all help you" and they did. I got to the bed, started to climb up and I just had to bend over and my uterus contracted hard until I felt the head in my birth canal. Before the next contraction, they got me to put one knee up on the end of the bed and they were bustling around like crazy. My husband was bending over across the corner of the bed and I was hanging onto his neck, The next contraction I could feel burning and the head starting to emerge. I was saying, “it hurts, it really hurts” and the MW said, “nothing is going to feel very comfortable right now, you are doing great”. I reached down and could feel the head emerging between my legs, but I couldn't see anything. They asked me to spread my legs a little wider and I did my best. I think it was just the next push that her head was pretty much all out but she was hanging there and I so wanted it to be over, but I was concentrating on trying to NOT push too hard. With my son I tore, and he had a mild shoulder dystocia, I think b/c he just came to fast. I tried to think about just letting the tissues stretch.
Anyway, at that point I felt someone’s hand sort of reach into me. Later they told me that her hand was up by her ear, and they were trying to push the hand back to make it easier for her to emerge, but it didn’t work and she was born that way. They also said that when her head emerged, she opened one eye and looked around. Then when she slipped out I guess the pressure forced a whole lot of amniotic fluid out of her nose and mouth which sprayed onto the MW’s assistant! Anyway, at this point I wasn’t having a contraction, but the MWs told me to push and I said, “I don’t feel like it” and they said, “you can” and my husband said “push Emma” and I told him “don’t say that to me” but I did try to sort of bear down- I think I even put a hand on my own belly to help give me the feeling. Then there was a big gush feeling and an insane relief, and they handed the baby to me. I think I had about 3 “pushing” contractions before she was actually born. The MWs said it was about 10 minutes after they arrived.
I pulled the baby onto my belly and moved the cord aside and saw it was a girl! By this time I’d worked my way onto both knees, and with a lot of help I was able to turn around and sit back against my husband. The MW piled up pillow and placed a towel over baby and me. The baby was very vocal- yelling and crying and just having lots to say! The MW said this was good b/c she was born so quickly that she still needed to get the fluid out of her lungs. We hung out like that for a while until I felt a sort of gush come out of me and I said “I think it's the placenta” and they said, "no it's just a blood clot” but then the MW went in the other room to get her blood tubes and the MW’s assistant stayed with me and said they were going to collect cord blood soon (I am Rh-, so to determine if I’ll need the Rhogam). It was nice, we looked together at the cord and they showed me what part was still pulsing- they wanted to wait and let the baby get as much cord blood as it could but were going to take a blood sample and then clamp the cord at that point. So, we did that, but it was all at what seemed a relaxed pace to me. I cut the cord myself and then handed baby to my husband, and the MW and her assistant helped me into a squatting position so I could birth the placenta, which wasn’t too hard. Then I really got more comfy with pillows and towels and was just holding baby who finally showed some interest in nursing.
At that point my mom and son walked in- poor guy totally missed the birth and he’d been so looking forward to being there! However, we had a great, relaxing time to bond, snuggle, talk about what happened, and he seems fine about it all. Eventually I ate and took a shower, and then we came back together and the MW did the newborn exam after everyone was cozy and comfy. She explained a lot about the placenta to us all (esp my son) and was quite happy that I said I didn’t need it and she could keep it. I think they left by about 9PM. My son and husband made the baby’s birthday cake, so we sang to her and all had cake. By the time we all finally went to bed it was late, but it was still a beautiful and peaceful way to welcome our newest family member.
Baby is doing great- she loves nursing. I didn’t have any tears big enough to require stitches and despite some killer afterpains have been otherwise doing well, just tired! We are all just taken with this amazing new person and looking forward to seeing who she is going to become.
I've loved reading all the birth stories in this DDC as I was looking forward to my own, and I can't wait to read the last couple of them!
BIRTH STORY (kind of a long story for a short birth!)
I had crampy, fairly irregular but intense contractions starting when I woke up at a bit before 6. I made breakfast and puttered around, and my husband took my son to school on his way to work (he got a new job that started last Thursday). I went over to campus to use the computer labs and get some financial aid forms together for my son’s school. I’d slept so poorly that I decided to just come home and sleep/rest/read and take it easy. I had a feeling this was the day. My mom did some errands, tidied up and then at 1PM she picked my son up and brought him home. I read with him and we had a nap together. The whole time I was having contractions but they’d be every 7 minutes for a while, and then I’d go 20 minutes without one, etc. Suddenly around 2:45 I was napping/reading with my son and they just felt totally different. The were coming every 5 minutes, then every 4, and they were longer and much stronger. I called my husband and told him to come home, and the MW called to check in and I said, I think I'll be needing company soon.
At 3:30 my husband walked in the door and I asked him to call the MW and her assistant to tell them to definitely come. I was reading to my son while my mom got ready to take him to a 4PM swimming class, and my husband started setting up the pool. Got son and mom out the door and started filling the pool, cleaning up, etc. All of the sudden, I just couldn't function at all during contractions and in retrospect, I guess I was in transition. I was still joking around with my husband and puttering around, and then I asked him to help me undress and get in the pool. It felt great- I was in there for about two contractions and then I felt a crazy pressure and a POP and my amniotic fluid gushed out into the pool. I think it was around 4:45. Then I could feel my uterus really pressing downwards and felt sort of a panic that baby was coming right then! My husband called the MWs who were just down the road. He was looking white as a sheet but was just staying with me and very calm and collected. I almost told him to call our neighbor (who has had 3 UCs) but decided I could wait.
The MWs walked in the door and I said, "the pool is all dirty, I think I should get out of the water" but it was HARD to climb out. They asked if the bed was made up and we said yes, but I told them I didn't think I could walk into the other room. They said "we'll all help you" and they did. I got to the bed, started to climb up and I just had to bend over and my uterus contracted hard until I felt the head in my birth canal. Before the next contraction, they got me to put one knee up on the end of the bed and they were bustling around like crazy. My husband was bending over across the corner of the bed and I was hanging onto his neck, The next contraction I could feel burning and the head starting to emerge. I was saying, “it hurts, it really hurts” and the MW said, “nothing is going to feel very comfortable right now, you are doing great”. I reached down and could feel the head emerging between my legs, but I couldn't see anything. They asked me to spread my legs a little wider and I did my best. I think it was just the next push that her head was pretty much all out but she was hanging there and I so wanted it to be over, but I was concentrating on trying to NOT push too hard. With my son I tore, and he had a mild shoulder dystocia, I think b/c he just came to fast. I tried to think about just letting the tissues stretch.
Anyway, at that point I felt someone’s hand sort of reach into me. Later they told me that her hand was up by her ear, and they were trying to push the hand back to make it easier for her to emerge, but it didn’t work and she was born that way. They also said that when her head emerged, she opened one eye and looked around. Then when she slipped out I guess the pressure forced a whole lot of amniotic fluid out of her nose and mouth which sprayed onto the MW’s assistant! Anyway, at this point I wasn’t having a contraction, but the MWs told me to push and I said, “I don’t feel like it” and they said, “you can” and my husband said “push Emma” and I told him “don’t say that to me” but I did try to sort of bear down- I think I even put a hand on my own belly to help give me the feeling. Then there was a big gush feeling and an insane relief, and they handed the baby to me. I think I had about 3 “pushing” contractions before she was actually born. The MWs said it was about 10 minutes after they arrived.
I pulled the baby onto my belly and moved the cord aside and saw it was a girl! By this time I’d worked my way onto both knees, and with a lot of help I was able to turn around and sit back against my husband. The MW piled up pillow and placed a towel over baby and me. The baby was very vocal- yelling and crying and just having lots to say! The MW said this was good b/c she was born so quickly that she still needed to get the fluid out of her lungs. We hung out like that for a while until I felt a sort of gush come out of me and I said “I think it's the placenta” and they said, "no it's just a blood clot” but then the MW went in the other room to get her blood tubes and the MW’s assistant stayed with me and said they were going to collect cord blood soon (I am Rh-, so to determine if I’ll need the Rhogam). It was nice, we looked together at the cord and they showed me what part was still pulsing- they wanted to wait and let the baby get as much cord blood as it could but were going to take a blood sample and then clamp the cord at that point. So, we did that, but it was all at what seemed a relaxed pace to me. I cut the cord myself and then handed baby to my husband, and the MW and her assistant helped me into a squatting position so I could birth the placenta, which wasn’t too hard. Then I really got more comfy with pillows and towels and was just holding baby who finally showed some interest in nursing.
At that point my mom and son walked in- poor guy totally missed the birth and he’d been so looking forward to being there! However, we had a great, relaxing time to bond, snuggle, talk about what happened, and he seems fine about it all. Eventually I ate and took a shower, and then we came back together and the MW did the newborn exam after everyone was cozy and comfy. She explained a lot about the placenta to us all (esp my son) and was quite happy that I said I didn’t need it and she could keep it. I think they left by about 9PM. My son and husband made the baby’s birthday cake, so we sang to her and all had cake. By the time we all finally went to bed it was late, but it was still a beautiful and peaceful way to welcome our newest family member.
Baby is doing great- she loves nursing. I didn’t have any tears big enough to require stitches and despite some killer afterpains have been otherwise doing well, just tired! We are all just taken with this amazing new person and looking forward to seeing who she is going to become.
I've loved reading all the birth stories in this DDC as I was looking forward to my own, and I can't wait to read the last couple of them!
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Baby Girl!!
