this moring we welcomed our son tavish! he was born at home, in the water, and into my hands. we're doing great! 2 hours active labor, about 6 min. of pushing. he had a cord around his neck and came out pretty fast, so he's a little bruised in the face, but is totally perfect and healthy. we're laying in bed as a family right now; dh and tavish are sleeping off the birth. dd will be home from the grandparents soon to meet her new brother! i am high on this birth and i don't wanna come down!
birth story:
tuesday the 26th at 5 i was nursing dd and i began having some mild to moderate contractions. they went on for a couple hours and i called my mw to give a 'heads up' and called dd's support person and let them know that *maybe* this was something, but i wasn't certain. by 7pm dh arrived home and was filthy from work, so he went to shower and dd asked me for some eggs. i was preparing the eggs and decided to call her suuport person again to start on their way to get her; things were not any different, but i called anyway. dd was being very energetic and loud, and the contracitons spaced out and evetually stopped. dd's support person had arrived, we sent her off and i came inside and was feeling frustrated and nesty. i began vacuuming and making dh help me set up the bed and the fishy pool for the birth, even though i was almost certain nothing was going to happen that night. i ate some dinner, belly danced, squatted against doors and tried to "will" the contractions back. nothing happened. finally, around 1030p dh and i went to bed. we made love for the last time before our baby arrived. afterward dh and i cuddled and went to sleep; for about 10 minutes! 12am rolled around and i had gone from nothing to full on active labor... contractions were 2 minutes apart, about 1 min or longer and VERY strong. dh filled the pool and i called the midwife and turned on our music. i remember smelling the rain from outside and thinking that ds was coming in with the quiet storm. midwife arrived and i asked her to check me; i was a stretchy 4 and totally effaced. i had about 45 min of contractions and had dh call sil to come and take pics and video. a little while after sil and my 17 y/o niece arrived i began to get pushy in the water; again (i did this w/dd too in the water). the pressure was intense and i could feel baby's hands down by my cervix; very interesting, and i knew he had those hands by his head. i knew i wasn't complete yet and my midwife suggested i stand up in the pool and hang on to dh. i made her check me again; i needed perspective, i guess, and i wanted to know if my cervix was swelling like it did last time.
* i had a lot of trouble getting out of the midwife part of my brain and remember counting baby's heart rate and taking note of the fact that there was a cord by his chest after hearing the familiar sound of the doppler picking up cord sounds in addition to the heartbeat. i knew he had a cord around his neck, but it didn't worry me. i was more concerned that he had his hands up by his head and wondered if he'd move them out of the way for the birth.*
anyways i was a 6-7 by now, and not swollen at all. i stood up, danced with and held on to dh as i moaned through the contractions. after three contractions while standing my water broke as my body began to push involuntarily. i felt him moving down and he was getting ready to come out. i got back down in the water and let my body do it's thing. sil and niece were being so encouraging and supportive and got some great camera and video shots. he was coming fast and i asked him to stop for just a second. my midwife reminded me to breathe and that helped. i felt his head crown and i touched his little head. i felt his hair swaying back and forth in the water as well as my husband's hand on baby's head. my body gave another push but i did not feel baby move. because his head was out and staying out, i knew his shoulders were fine; it was his hands! those hands were up by his chest and i knew it. i felt around his neck as it began to emerge and i told my midwife he had a cord around his neck. it was very loose, but i was not in a frame of mind to get the cord off, so i had her do it instead. as i pushed again, my midwife knew that baby had his hands up, tried to help guide it out, but as i birthed his posterior hand, it came upwards and tore away the left side of my inner labia away from where it attatches to my clitoral hood. i tore down about 1/2", and i knew it. his body followed so fast after the hands were freed and i caught him and brough him up to my chest at 203am on the 27th. he had a SUPER long cord and it was wrapped one more time around his chest. my midwife unravelled the cord and her and the assistant midwife tended to ds. he was gunky and needed a little suction from the bulb syringe and a bit of stimulation, but was crying and pinking up within a couple of minutes. SIL was quick to have me drink some electrolyte water and make sure i was staying hydrated. dh and i were in heaven! i stood up from the water and birthed the placenta. they moved me to the couch and dh and i just stared at our son. i had a bit of bleeding, but the midwives were great at making sure they kept it under control while not being intrusive. of course, they are my friends and mentors, so i had no problems with them doing what they needed to do. i got ds on the breast and he took right to it, also helping with the bleeding. after a while, dh cut the cord, SIL brought me some yogurt, and i gave ds to dh while i ate (actually SIL fed me, lol). dh and i bonded with our baby as everyone else took care of things around the house. once i felt up to it, i got up from the couch and took a shower. after that, i was helped into bed and my midwife repaired my tear. dh made me some toast after i was in bed nursing ds, and the midwives, sil and niece were cleaning up and checking on us. by 5am, everyone was heading out the door and ds and i were hugged and kissed by everyone and tucked into bed
dh locked up the house and crawled in bed with us.
pics!!
in labor
just born
learning to nurse
big sister holding little brother
6 days old
birth story:
tuesday the 26th at 5 i was nursing dd and i began having some mild to moderate contractions. they went on for a couple hours and i called my mw to give a 'heads up' and called dd's support person and let them know that *maybe* this was something, but i wasn't certain. by 7pm dh arrived home and was filthy from work, so he went to shower and dd asked me for some eggs. i was preparing the eggs and decided to call her suuport person again to start on their way to get her; things were not any different, but i called anyway. dd was being very energetic and loud, and the contracitons spaced out and evetually stopped. dd's support person had arrived, we sent her off and i came inside and was feeling frustrated and nesty. i began vacuuming and making dh help me set up the bed and the fishy pool for the birth, even though i was almost certain nothing was going to happen that night. i ate some dinner, belly danced, squatted against doors and tried to "will" the contractions back. nothing happened. finally, around 1030p dh and i went to bed. we made love for the last time before our baby arrived. afterward dh and i cuddled and went to sleep; for about 10 minutes! 12am rolled around and i had gone from nothing to full on active labor... contractions were 2 minutes apart, about 1 min or longer and VERY strong. dh filled the pool and i called the midwife and turned on our music. i remember smelling the rain from outside and thinking that ds was coming in with the quiet storm. midwife arrived and i asked her to check me; i was a stretchy 4 and totally effaced. i had about 45 min of contractions and had dh call sil to come and take pics and video. a little while after sil and my 17 y/o niece arrived i began to get pushy in the water; again (i did this w/dd too in the water). the pressure was intense and i could feel baby's hands down by my cervix; very interesting, and i knew he had those hands by his head. i knew i wasn't complete yet and my midwife suggested i stand up in the pool and hang on to dh. i made her check me again; i needed perspective, i guess, and i wanted to know if my cervix was swelling like it did last time.
* i had a lot of trouble getting out of the midwife part of my brain and remember counting baby's heart rate and taking note of the fact that there was a cord by his chest after hearing the familiar sound of the doppler picking up cord sounds in addition to the heartbeat. i knew he had a cord around his neck, but it didn't worry me. i was more concerned that he had his hands up by his head and wondered if he'd move them out of the way for the birth.*
anyways i was a 6-7 by now, and not swollen at all. i stood up, danced with and held on to dh as i moaned through the contractions. after three contractions while standing my water broke as my body began to push involuntarily. i felt him moving down and he was getting ready to come out. i got back down in the water and let my body do it's thing. sil and niece were being so encouraging and supportive and got some great camera and video shots. he was coming fast and i asked him to stop for just a second. my midwife reminded me to breathe and that helped. i felt his head crown and i touched his little head. i felt his hair swaying back and forth in the water as well as my husband's hand on baby's head. my body gave another push but i did not feel baby move. because his head was out and staying out, i knew his shoulders were fine; it was his hands! those hands were up by his chest and i knew it. i felt around his neck as it began to emerge and i told my midwife he had a cord around his neck. it was very loose, but i was not in a frame of mind to get the cord off, so i had her do it instead. as i pushed again, my midwife knew that baby had his hands up, tried to help guide it out, but as i birthed his posterior hand, it came upwards and tore away the left side of my inner labia away from where it attatches to my clitoral hood. i tore down about 1/2", and i knew it. his body followed so fast after the hands were freed and i caught him and brough him up to my chest at 203am on the 27th. he had a SUPER long cord and it was wrapped one more time around his chest. my midwife unravelled the cord and her and the assistant midwife tended to ds. he was gunky and needed a little suction from the bulb syringe and a bit of stimulation, but was crying and pinking up within a couple of minutes. SIL was quick to have me drink some electrolyte water and make sure i was staying hydrated. dh and i were in heaven! i stood up from the water and birthed the placenta. they moved me to the couch and dh and i just stared at our son. i had a bit of bleeding, but the midwives were great at making sure they kept it under control while not being intrusive. of course, they are my friends and mentors, so i had no problems with them doing what they needed to do. i got ds on the breast and he took right to it, also helping with the bleeding. after a while, dh cut the cord, SIL brought me some yogurt, and i gave ds to dh while i ate (actually SIL fed me, lol). dh and i bonded with our baby as everyone else took care of things around the house. once i felt up to it, i got up from the couch and took a shower. after that, i was helped into bed and my midwife repaired my tear. dh made me some toast after i was in bed nursing ds, and the midwives, sil and niece were cleaning up and checking on us. by 5am, everyone was heading out the door and ds and i were hugged and kissed by everyone and tucked into bed
dh locked up the house and crawled in bed with us.pics!!
in labor
just born
learning to nurse
big sister holding little brother
6 days old
:
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