I tried to keep it short but then dh started helping me edit it and it got to be longer :P
Sunday night, Aug 23rd, I started having a few contractions about 20 minutes apart. By the time I went to bed they had spaced to one every hour. I was upset because I was hoping this was it! Monday morning I got J and C off to school. It was C’s first day and we were all so excited for him.
I had made an appointment with the chiropractor because my body was just killing me; as it had been the entire pregnancy. At 9:00am, S and I paid her a visit. I had a few contractions on the way there and then while I was there. The Chiropractor informed me that my pubic bones where over lapping, after she adjusted my pubic bone, which made me yell, we headed home. At 11:00 we went and got C from school. I had a few more contractions but nothing too serious. I came home and took a shower. I was hoping it would help prevent my back from hurting so badly and I needed to get ready for a maternity photo shoot scheduled with a friend at 6:30. At 3:00 we went to get J from school, I did my make-up in the car and had a few more contractions except these were a little more intense and much closer together.
When we got home, S had fallen asleep. I tried to move her to her bed but she ended up waking up and was whiny for the rest of the day which is not a fun thing to deal with while laboring. At about 4:00 I called my midwife, M, and informed her that I thought I could possibly be in labor. She said she would come over after she was done at her clinic. I called dh right after and told him I was probably in labor. He asked what I wanted him to do and I told him to stay at work. I’d been doing it all day, another two hours weren’t going to be a big deal. I then called my friend and told her I didn’t think I’d be able to make it to our photo shoot since I was in labor. I also called my mom and informed her that I thought I might be in labor because she would come take pictures and my dad would take care of the kids. During all this time, I did straighten my hair because I didn’t want my after pictures to have bad hair like all my previous births. I was getting my priorities straight this time.
My midwife’s assistant H came at about 5:30 and I was cooking dinner. I guess this is the difference between having your first and having your fourth. The older kids have to eat! It took forever because at this point I was having contractions every 5 minutes and S was still whining non-stop. It was nice to have the company and someone to distract S. H was able to set up the pool and get the bed ready. Two things I neglected to do. She also took all my vitals and checked the baby’s heart rate while I walked all over the place. During this time my boys were being awesome and playing Lego Star Wars and only arguing on a few occasions.
M came at 6:00. Dh got home at 6:15 and I called my parents to tell them it was time for them to come over. I was able to get dinner ready and when my parents got here they brought the kids all upstairs to eat. I couldn’t handle all the noise so I took some food downstairs and played on the computer for a bit. After the kids were getting done, I escaped outside so I wouldn’t have to hear them. All the talking doesn’t help when I’m having contractions, It’s like nails on a chalk board and the kids high pitched quasi screaming is like someone is trying to pound a metal spike in my ear drum. I tried to check out my garden, see if there was anything that needed to be attended to but I couldn’t really stay still and had a few more contractions. By the time I came back inside, my dad had taken the kids to the park and my mom was doing dishes. I figured at this point with how I felt that I wanted to get in the pool. Dh said it wasn’t time yet because I wasn’t being mean enough.
At 8:00 we went upstairs and M checked me and told me the only thing keeping this baby in was a bag of water. I was complete and ready to go when my body was ready to do it. I walked back downstairs and got in the tub. As soon as I got in the tub, it felt as if the contractions weren’t coming any more. Flashbacks of C's labor haunted me; with C I got in the tub too early and spent about four hours in the tub ending up on a bed and not in the tub when He was born. I got a little annoyed and voiced that I felt stalled. Of course right then I had a contraction, and then probably every 3 or so minutes after that. I was starting to get impatient because I wanted the baby to come out and I wasn’t feeling like I should push. M told me to try a few different positions and maybe try to push. I had said earlier that I thought it would be cool to have him born in the caul but around 8:30 or so I was done and just wanted him out. I really wanted them to break my water. They said I could do it if I wanted but I just didn’t have a lot of control during contractions.
I’m not sure what time it was but I finally started really wanting to push. I also felt like my hips were going to split in two and I had to have Melissa push on my hips while I held onto Dh’s upper body. I was finally getting somewhere and very serious at this point. However, it was getting dark and the kids needed to get in bed for school tomorrow, so my dad brought the kids home from the park while I was pushing, the absolute worst time for me. J opened the front door and was bar aided with yells of “not this way” and “Close the door”. Dh, however told J to walk quietly down stairs to open the garage door so that they could put their bikes and stroller away but instead of going out to the backyard like I hoped they came inside from the garage making all sorts of racket. I yelled to get them out; so they went outside but were soon back complaining about mosquitoes. Would there ever be peace and quiet? I relented to let them sneak quietly up to their rooms, but when have kids ever been quiet when they’re suppose to, there is that hammer and nail again.
J was pretty upset that I wouldn’t let him stay there to watch his brother being born but I just couldn’t handle the noise. Later my dad told me they could hear me and S would say “mommy sad” Yea, no, I was thrilled! Soon after I felt a pop as the front of the water broke and I started feeling him coming down. I wanted to get him out so bad and I knew once I had the head out, it was easy sailing. I supported myself while he was crowning and M had come into the pool to support my back as I pushed the head out. But he didn’t just slide out like he was supposed to and I had to support myself again to push out his shoulders while Dh and M gently pulled him out. She removed the cord from around his neck as they pulled him out and told me to keep pushing him out. He was born at 9:00pm and we untangled him from the cord and pulled him up on me.
He was kind of limp and a dark purple color. When he didn’t start to pink up on his own; she moved me back up against the pool so she and H could work on the baby. I sensed that something was wrong so I asked if he was OK. M’s serious “No” as she concentrated on her work, nearly pushed me over the cliff of despair. He wasn’t really breathing and had a slow heart rate so they had to put him on a flat board while we played with his hands and feet in order to get him going. Clinging to hope and silent prayers Dh and I encouraged him to breath. M and H then used the oxygen mask to force air into his lungs to jump start them. After He had a little bit of oxygen he was turning pink and looking much better. The dark cloud that threatened to engulf us disappeared to be replaced with a spirit of joy and gratitude. As soon as he was stable, we had my dad bring the kids down to meet their new brother. They were pretty excited!
I delivered the placenta and we had J cut the cord to help with the fact that he didn’t get to see him born. I think he thought that was pretty cool.
After much deliberation we named him Weston. He came out at 7lbs 14oz and 20.5 inches long. I didn’t tare and have been healing really well. He was a great sleeper for the first couple days but now that my milk is in, he seems to think he needs to eat every hour. Oh well, I haven’t been engorged, so that’s a good thing.
Sunday night, Aug 23rd, I started having a few contractions about 20 minutes apart. By the time I went to bed they had spaced to one every hour. I was upset because I was hoping this was it! Monday morning I got J and C off to school. It was C’s first day and we were all so excited for him.
I had made an appointment with the chiropractor because my body was just killing me; as it had been the entire pregnancy. At 9:00am, S and I paid her a visit. I had a few contractions on the way there and then while I was there. The Chiropractor informed me that my pubic bones where over lapping, after she adjusted my pubic bone, which made me yell, we headed home. At 11:00 we went and got C from school. I had a few more contractions but nothing too serious. I came home and took a shower. I was hoping it would help prevent my back from hurting so badly and I needed to get ready for a maternity photo shoot scheduled with a friend at 6:30. At 3:00 we went to get J from school, I did my make-up in the car and had a few more contractions except these were a little more intense and much closer together.
When we got home, S had fallen asleep. I tried to move her to her bed but she ended up waking up and was whiny for the rest of the day which is not a fun thing to deal with while laboring. At about 4:00 I called my midwife, M, and informed her that I thought I could possibly be in labor. She said she would come over after she was done at her clinic. I called dh right after and told him I was probably in labor. He asked what I wanted him to do and I told him to stay at work. I’d been doing it all day, another two hours weren’t going to be a big deal. I then called my friend and told her I didn’t think I’d be able to make it to our photo shoot since I was in labor. I also called my mom and informed her that I thought I might be in labor because she would come take pictures and my dad would take care of the kids. During all this time, I did straighten my hair because I didn’t want my after pictures to have bad hair like all my previous births. I was getting my priorities straight this time.
My midwife’s assistant H came at about 5:30 and I was cooking dinner. I guess this is the difference between having your first and having your fourth. The older kids have to eat! It took forever because at this point I was having contractions every 5 minutes and S was still whining non-stop. It was nice to have the company and someone to distract S. H was able to set up the pool and get the bed ready. Two things I neglected to do. She also took all my vitals and checked the baby’s heart rate while I walked all over the place. During this time my boys were being awesome and playing Lego Star Wars and only arguing on a few occasions.
M came at 6:00. Dh got home at 6:15 and I called my parents to tell them it was time for them to come over. I was able to get dinner ready and when my parents got here they brought the kids all upstairs to eat. I couldn’t handle all the noise so I took some food downstairs and played on the computer for a bit. After the kids were getting done, I escaped outside so I wouldn’t have to hear them. All the talking doesn’t help when I’m having contractions, It’s like nails on a chalk board and the kids high pitched quasi screaming is like someone is trying to pound a metal spike in my ear drum. I tried to check out my garden, see if there was anything that needed to be attended to but I couldn’t really stay still and had a few more contractions. By the time I came back inside, my dad had taken the kids to the park and my mom was doing dishes. I figured at this point with how I felt that I wanted to get in the pool. Dh said it wasn’t time yet because I wasn’t being mean enough.
At 8:00 we went upstairs and M checked me and told me the only thing keeping this baby in was a bag of water. I was complete and ready to go when my body was ready to do it. I walked back downstairs and got in the tub. As soon as I got in the tub, it felt as if the contractions weren’t coming any more. Flashbacks of C's labor haunted me; with C I got in the tub too early and spent about four hours in the tub ending up on a bed and not in the tub when He was born. I got a little annoyed and voiced that I felt stalled. Of course right then I had a contraction, and then probably every 3 or so minutes after that. I was starting to get impatient because I wanted the baby to come out and I wasn’t feeling like I should push. M told me to try a few different positions and maybe try to push. I had said earlier that I thought it would be cool to have him born in the caul but around 8:30 or so I was done and just wanted him out. I really wanted them to break my water. They said I could do it if I wanted but I just didn’t have a lot of control during contractions.
I’m not sure what time it was but I finally started really wanting to push. I also felt like my hips were going to split in two and I had to have Melissa push on my hips while I held onto Dh’s upper body. I was finally getting somewhere and very serious at this point. However, it was getting dark and the kids needed to get in bed for school tomorrow, so my dad brought the kids home from the park while I was pushing, the absolute worst time for me. J opened the front door and was bar aided with yells of “not this way” and “Close the door”. Dh, however told J to walk quietly down stairs to open the garage door so that they could put their bikes and stroller away but instead of going out to the backyard like I hoped they came inside from the garage making all sorts of racket. I yelled to get them out; so they went outside but were soon back complaining about mosquitoes. Would there ever be peace and quiet? I relented to let them sneak quietly up to their rooms, but when have kids ever been quiet when they’re suppose to, there is that hammer and nail again.
J was pretty upset that I wouldn’t let him stay there to watch his brother being born but I just couldn’t handle the noise. Later my dad told me they could hear me and S would say “mommy sad” Yea, no, I was thrilled! Soon after I felt a pop as the front of the water broke and I started feeling him coming down. I wanted to get him out so bad and I knew once I had the head out, it was easy sailing. I supported myself while he was crowning and M had come into the pool to support my back as I pushed the head out. But he didn’t just slide out like he was supposed to and I had to support myself again to push out his shoulders while Dh and M gently pulled him out. She removed the cord from around his neck as they pulled him out and told me to keep pushing him out. He was born at 9:00pm and we untangled him from the cord and pulled him up on me.
He was kind of limp and a dark purple color. When he didn’t start to pink up on his own; she moved me back up against the pool so she and H could work on the baby. I sensed that something was wrong so I asked if he was OK. M’s serious “No” as she concentrated on her work, nearly pushed me over the cliff of despair. He wasn’t really breathing and had a slow heart rate so they had to put him on a flat board while we played with his hands and feet in order to get him going. Clinging to hope and silent prayers Dh and I encouraged him to breath. M and H then used the oxygen mask to force air into his lungs to jump start them. After He had a little bit of oxygen he was turning pink and looking much better. The dark cloud that threatened to engulf us disappeared to be replaced with a spirit of joy and gratitude. As soon as he was stable, we had my dad bring the kids down to meet their new brother. They were pretty excited!
I delivered the placenta and we had J cut the cord to help with the fact that he didn’t get to see him born. I think he thought that was pretty cool.
After much deliberation we named him Weston. He came out at 7lbs 14oz and 20.5 inches long. I didn’t tare and have been healing really well. He was a great sleeper for the first couple days but now that my milk is in, he seems to think he needs to eat every hour. Oh well, I haven’t been engorged, so that’s a good thing.
:
I wouldn't trade it for the world though
about the hair... after Tor was born and I took a shower I actually brushed/braided my hair specifically since I remembered the "bed head" pictures from my last two births.
