Born June 18, after a 27 minute labor. Wow, it was intense and surprising and beautiful. The midwives were still on the way, so it was a surprise UC, and it was such an honor to do it all together -- my husband, my five year old, and me and baby!
My water broke while I was sleeping. I woke up because it felt like someone kicked me in the cervix. I remember saying, "That HURT!", and then I felt the trickle. I called to my husband that my water broke, he came and put a towel between my legs while I squatted to release the water, and I had a light contraction. I told dh to get the phone in case we wanted to call the midwives, and then headed to the bathroom because I had to poop. Then, while pooping on the toilet, I had the most intense contraction. I was in transition -- I had the "Oh my gosh I can't do this" thought, and I actually thought of an epidural (something I never thought of all through my previous labor). I remember grabbing onto the towel bar, writhing, thinking I couldn't make it through hours more of contractions like that one. I remember shouting to dh "Call the midwives!!" When it was done, I immediately got up, because my body manages labor much better in a standing or leaning position. Dh had the midwife on the phone, and I talked to her for a minute or so, then another contraction came and I remember throwing the phone across the room. Dh said he picked it up and the midwives said "We're on our way!"
And then I felt the baby moving down. It was the fourth contraction, I think. They were much more manageable standing, so I was less scared about hours of them. But they were intense, and that started to make sense when I had the baby-poop feeling. But I was still in disbelief, and didn't say anything to my husband, just got on all fours and had another contraction. He had the bed ready by then, and I crawled over to it. When I got up on it, he saw my bottom and said, "Is baby coming?" I said, "Yes." He turned on the light so he could see better, then I had a contraction and I could feel baby's head descending. Everything was fast from there. Dh did so great; when the head came out he looked for the cord around the neck and loosened it -- didn't mention anything to me about it, thank goodness. My five year old saw the head come out, then took a break in his room, then came back when he saw that the baby was out. We picked up our baby, amazed, and I snuggled with him on the bed until the midwives arrived. Whew!! It was amazing.
I didn't post much in the past few months, because I got a little reclusive, but for those who remember my story, I was wanting a homebirth but unsure if I could have one because there is a possibility our baby has hemophilia, like his brother does. When I found out it was a boy at 20 weeks, we went into full research and eval mode, and eventually decided we could do a homebirth, after consulting with hematologists and an OB. We had amazing midwives, who accompanied us each step of the process.
I kept affirming that we would have a "fast, gentle, easy, healthy birth", and I drank about a boatload of Red Raspberry Leaf infusion -- not the tea, the infusion, which is a much stronger version of the tea. I think we ended up having one of the most gentle births possible for this little one, because all of my dilating obviously happened with the water bag still intact! The water was only broken for those 27 minutes.
So, welcome Sullivan Emmet, and thank you ladies for all your support over the past months -- it's been nice to be a part of this group.
My water broke while I was sleeping. I woke up because it felt like someone kicked me in the cervix. I remember saying, "That HURT!", and then I felt the trickle. I called to my husband that my water broke, he came and put a towel between my legs while I squatted to release the water, and I had a light contraction. I told dh to get the phone in case we wanted to call the midwives, and then headed to the bathroom because I had to poop. Then, while pooping on the toilet, I had the most intense contraction. I was in transition -- I had the "Oh my gosh I can't do this" thought, and I actually thought of an epidural (something I never thought of all through my previous labor). I remember grabbing onto the towel bar, writhing, thinking I couldn't make it through hours more of contractions like that one. I remember shouting to dh "Call the midwives!!" When it was done, I immediately got up, because my body manages labor much better in a standing or leaning position. Dh had the midwife on the phone, and I talked to her for a minute or so, then another contraction came and I remember throwing the phone across the room. Dh said he picked it up and the midwives said "We're on our way!"
And then I felt the baby moving down. It was the fourth contraction, I think. They were much more manageable standing, so I was less scared about hours of them. But they were intense, and that started to make sense when I had the baby-poop feeling. But I was still in disbelief, and didn't say anything to my husband, just got on all fours and had another contraction. He had the bed ready by then, and I crawled over to it. When I got up on it, he saw my bottom and said, "Is baby coming?" I said, "Yes." He turned on the light so he could see better, then I had a contraction and I could feel baby's head descending. Everything was fast from there. Dh did so great; when the head came out he looked for the cord around the neck and loosened it -- didn't mention anything to me about it, thank goodness. My five year old saw the head come out, then took a break in his room, then came back when he saw that the baby was out. We picked up our baby, amazed, and I snuggled with him on the bed until the midwives arrived. Whew!! It was amazing.
I didn't post much in the past few months, because I got a little reclusive, but for those who remember my story, I was wanting a homebirth but unsure if I could have one because there is a possibility our baby has hemophilia, like his brother does. When I found out it was a boy at 20 weeks, we went into full research and eval mode, and eventually decided we could do a homebirth, after consulting with hematologists and an OB. We had amazing midwives, who accompanied us each step of the process.
I kept affirming that we would have a "fast, gentle, easy, healthy birth", and I drank about a boatload of Red Raspberry Leaf infusion -- not the tea, the infusion, which is a much stronger version of the tea. I think we ended up having one of the most gentle births possible for this little one, because all of my dilating obviously happened with the water bag still intact! The water was only broken for those 27 minutes.
So, welcome Sullivan Emmet, and thank you ladies for all your support over the past months -- it's been nice to be a part of this group.
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And it wasn't even on the list of names we had when I was pregnant. We like it too.
