I had my baby boy on Saturday, 5/23 after a 14 hour labor. He was 7lbs 15oz, perfect and healthy.
A little background - I used the Hypnobabies program with my first child and it didn't go so well. I found I was unable to focus, my labor was long, DS had some positioning issues and although we avoided pitocin and other interventions I did have an epidural and a lot of stitches needed afterwards. It wasn't at all what I'd wanted, and I was determined to have a drug-free birth this time.
I posted on the chat thread that I was starting to feel something going on Friday evening and as it turned out it really was labor. At about 6 I felt crampy and by 7pm the cramps had turned into contractions. I've had plenty of contractions off and on for the past few weeks, so they were pretty intense, 4-5 minutes apart and it was nearly midnight before I was willing to say it was labor. I spent as much time as possible in the shower from that point to going to the hospital. I was GBS+ and planning to get the antibiotics, and when I requested to be checked at 5am and was 5cm they put in the saline lock and did the antibiotics. It was at this point that I got out my ipod and started listening to my hypnobabies scripts instead of just trying to turn my lightswitch off, which really wasn't doing it for me especially lying in bed during labor instead of being in the awesome shower. With the script playing, however, I found I could rest and relax while the antibiotics were being administered. After that I went back to the shower for a while, then wanted a little more sleep so back to the bed and the Easy First Stage track. I have no idea what was on that track, but it was over at 8am when I woke up or came out of hypnosis, whichever you like, and decided to head for the shower. I had a contraction on the way after which my water broke in a trickle. My DH helped me into the shower/tub and I told him to tell the nurses that my water broke. With my next contraction I felt like bearing down a little, and when DH and the midwife returned I told them this development. As it turns out, I slept through transition and was ready to push. I moved over to kneel by the bed and gave birth about 20 minutes later. Another mama in the next room was also feeling pushy and the midwife was back and forth between us, and our babies were born 10 minutes apart. The placenta came on its own quickly and I had no tearing at all. This was a refreshing change after two cervical tears and a sideways tear with my first birth.
I can't even describe the difference between the birth of my 2 year old and my newborn. I am physically doing so much better and in a way this fantastic birth really settled the feelings I had about my first birth and that something really was off. Plus who wouldn't want to sleep through transition?
It was a great experience plus now I get to snuggle my new baby and juggle tandem nursing! Whoa!
A little background - I used the Hypnobabies program with my first child and it didn't go so well. I found I was unable to focus, my labor was long, DS had some positioning issues and although we avoided pitocin and other interventions I did have an epidural and a lot of stitches needed afterwards. It wasn't at all what I'd wanted, and I was determined to have a drug-free birth this time.
I posted on the chat thread that I was starting to feel something going on Friday evening and as it turned out it really was labor. At about 6 I felt crampy and by 7pm the cramps had turned into contractions. I've had plenty of contractions off and on for the past few weeks, so they were pretty intense, 4-5 minutes apart and it was nearly midnight before I was willing to say it was labor. I spent as much time as possible in the shower from that point to going to the hospital. I was GBS+ and planning to get the antibiotics, and when I requested to be checked at 5am and was 5cm they put in the saline lock and did the antibiotics. It was at this point that I got out my ipod and started listening to my hypnobabies scripts instead of just trying to turn my lightswitch off, which really wasn't doing it for me especially lying in bed during labor instead of being in the awesome shower. With the script playing, however, I found I could rest and relax while the antibiotics were being administered. After that I went back to the shower for a while, then wanted a little more sleep so back to the bed and the Easy First Stage track. I have no idea what was on that track, but it was over at 8am when I woke up or came out of hypnosis, whichever you like, and decided to head for the shower. I had a contraction on the way after which my water broke in a trickle. My DH helped me into the shower/tub and I told him to tell the nurses that my water broke. With my next contraction I felt like bearing down a little, and when DH and the midwife returned I told them this development. As it turns out, I slept through transition and was ready to push. I moved over to kneel by the bed and gave birth about 20 minutes later. Another mama in the next room was also feeling pushy and the midwife was back and forth between us, and our babies were born 10 minutes apart. The placenta came on its own quickly and I had no tearing at all. This was a refreshing change after two cervical tears and a sideways tear with my first birth.
I can't even describe the difference between the birth of my 2 year old and my newborn. I am physically doing so much better and in a way this fantastic birth really settled the feelings I had about my first birth and that something really was off. Plus who wouldn't want to sleep through transition?
It was a great experience plus now I get to snuggle my new baby and juggle tandem nursing! Whoa!
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