My sweet little boy was born this morning at 8:24am after an amazing 4.5 hour labor! He's 8lbs even and 21" long...2 pounds heavier, 2 inches longer and 2 weeks later than his big brother. lol
Here's the rough draft of my birth story...I'm sure I'll add more as I think about it.
I think I noticed a few contractions during the night but they were so mild (like menstrual cramps) that it never woke me up enough to think much about it until 4am. I woke up then to pee and I noticed a little bit of blood streaked mucous on the toilet paper. I tried to lay back down and listen to my hypnobabies cause it always puts me right to sleep, but I realized that I was hearing parts of the track that I had never heard before so the sleep thing wasn't working. I gave up at about 5am and came in to try to distract myself on the computer and also to time my contractions. They were 3 minutes apart but only like 35-50 seconds long and weren't too intense. I just kept trying to keep my body relaxed and thinking "open, open, open." I tried to picture the sensations I was feeling as one group of muscles working hard to stretch another group. I love the way it feels to really stretch after a hard workout so that imagery was working well for me.
I think I woke DH up at around 530 and by about 615 he decided we should call the midwife (Margarett). She told me to get in a warm bath for a little while and see what happened. Right before I got in the bath I threw up the gatorade and toast I had managed to choke down. I was only in there for about 20 minutes and DH came back to check on me and my contractions were down to about 2 minutes apart. By then it was about 720 so we called Margarett back and she said "yep! come on in!" We made our other phone calls and got MIL headed our way to stay with DS1.
I got dried off and made some sort of half-hearted effort to fix my hair and brush my teeth. About that time the contractions started to get really intense. I started to feel the need to vocalize through them and I just couldn't focus on anything anymore.
When MIL arrived we got in the car and made the 20 minute drive to the birth center. I had a really hard time keeping my body relaxed during the drive and I would have to say that was the most difficult part of the entire labor. We got there at about 805 and Margarett and her assistant were filling the birth pool. I settled in on a daybed in the other room for a couple of contractions and couldn't get relaxed so I tried getting down on my knees beside it and leaning over the bed. She popped her head in the door at that point and said "make sure you let me know if you feel like you need to push!" and I just kept thinking yeah....uh huh....we're not there yet! That is...until that third contraction hit! And all of the sudden I was like "um...I think I feel a little pushy!" And then one more contraction and I was like "OMG!!!!! MY WATER JUST BROKE!!!!!" I didn't realize it but they were already there behind me at that point and had slipped a chux pad under my knees. It was all so fast! When my water broke he was starting to crown and I still had on my panties and yoga pants....and flip flops!!
Dh and the girls stripped me down really fast and that's where I had my baby. No birth pool for me!
I did manage to slow down as he crowned and put my hand over his head so that I could feel him slowly stretching my tissues. Margarett caught him because after his head was out I wasn't sure how he needed to turn or if he had his cord around his neck so I moved my hand. She just went ahead and laid him down on the chux pad and let me pick him up. I think I just sat there on the floor holding him for like a half hour cause the pressure of the floor felt so "safe" on my girly bits! lol I don't know why I was so worried because I didn't tear at all. My bleeding is about as heavy as the first day of my period. That's it! I can't believe how easy it was!
From the time we arrived at the birth center to when I was holding my lil boy was only 20 minutes. And it was only 4.5 hours from the time I woke up! Amazing. Just amazing. I'm so in awe of the whole process. Our bodies are truly amazing.
Here's my pretty little boy!
And both of my boys together
Here's the rough draft of my birth story...I'm sure I'll add more as I think about it.
I think I noticed a few contractions during the night but they were so mild (like menstrual cramps) that it never woke me up enough to think much about it until 4am. I woke up then to pee and I noticed a little bit of blood streaked mucous on the toilet paper. I tried to lay back down and listen to my hypnobabies cause it always puts me right to sleep, but I realized that I was hearing parts of the track that I had never heard before so the sleep thing wasn't working. I gave up at about 5am and came in to try to distract myself on the computer and also to time my contractions. They were 3 minutes apart but only like 35-50 seconds long and weren't too intense. I just kept trying to keep my body relaxed and thinking "open, open, open." I tried to picture the sensations I was feeling as one group of muscles working hard to stretch another group. I love the way it feels to really stretch after a hard workout so that imagery was working well for me.
I think I woke DH up at around 530 and by about 615 he decided we should call the midwife (Margarett). She told me to get in a warm bath for a little while and see what happened. Right before I got in the bath I threw up the gatorade and toast I had managed to choke down. I was only in there for about 20 minutes and DH came back to check on me and my contractions were down to about 2 minutes apart. By then it was about 720 so we called Margarett back and she said "yep! come on in!" We made our other phone calls and got MIL headed our way to stay with DS1.
I got dried off and made some sort of half-hearted effort to fix my hair and brush my teeth. About that time the contractions started to get really intense. I started to feel the need to vocalize through them and I just couldn't focus on anything anymore.
When MIL arrived we got in the car and made the 20 minute drive to the birth center. I had a really hard time keeping my body relaxed during the drive and I would have to say that was the most difficult part of the entire labor. We got there at about 805 and Margarett and her assistant were filling the birth pool. I settled in on a daybed in the other room for a couple of contractions and couldn't get relaxed so I tried getting down on my knees beside it and leaning over the bed. She popped her head in the door at that point and said "make sure you let me know if you feel like you need to push!" and I just kept thinking yeah....uh huh....we're not there yet! That is...until that third contraction hit! And all of the sudden I was like "um...I think I feel a little pushy!" And then one more contraction and I was like "OMG!!!!! MY WATER JUST BROKE!!!!!" I didn't realize it but they were already there behind me at that point and had slipped a chux pad under my knees. It was all so fast! When my water broke he was starting to crown and I still had on my panties and yoga pants....and flip flops!!
Dh and the girls stripped me down really fast and that's where I had my baby. No birth pool for me!I did manage to slow down as he crowned and put my hand over his head so that I could feel him slowly stretching my tissues. Margarett caught him because after his head was out I wasn't sure how he needed to turn or if he had his cord around his neck so I moved my hand. She just went ahead and laid him down on the chux pad and let me pick him up. I think I just sat there on the floor holding him for like a half hour cause the pressure of the floor felt so "safe" on my girly bits! lol I don't know why I was so worried because I didn't tear at all. My bleeding is about as heavy as the first day of my period. That's it! I can't believe how easy it was!
From the time we arrived at the birth center to when I was holding my lil boy was only 20 minutes. And it was only 4.5 hours from the time I woke up! Amazing. Just amazing. I'm so in awe of the whole process. Our bodies are truly amazing.Here's my pretty little boy!
And both of my boys together
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