This is a shortened version of a longer story including the medicated birth of my son that kicked my both me and him in the teeth, and two miscarriages last year. I've cut out pieces I'm sure, but at this time can't add more even with my mad one handed typing skills!
On the twenty seventh I ran Karl to work, and then Gabe and I ran to Meijer so we could get him a birthday snack for his class. His birthday was actually just two weeks ago, but they let all the summer birthday's celebrate at the end of the year. Anyway I had four dollars in my pocket which I spent on his snack. Then I ran him to school. He usually had afternoon school, but they had a field trip. I was running five minutes late, so I dropped him off to his class and talked to his teacher for a second. She took one look at me and asked if I was ready. Hell yeah! She told me to go home and relax. It would have been nice but I had an appointment in two hours with my midwife. I went to my appointment and the midwife asked me how I was feeling. I told her incredibly sore. She never mentioned checking me, but honestly I didn't want her to for a number of reasons. She said the baby's head was really low and said no wonder I hurt. All was well. I came home and relaxed for a little while and then I picked up Gabe. His teacher said goodbye to him and said "Help your mom have that baby tonight!" I kind of laughed, and we left. We went to pick up Karl and I was talking to my mom on the phone. I was bitching to her about my long day and how crappy I felt. I guess when we got off the phone she told her boss that I was going to go into labor soon. I honestly figured I had another couple of weeks. We got and I told Karl that I was ready to start working on getting things moving. We laughed about Gabe's teacher. How exactly was Gabe supposed to help? Karl and I did our part before dinner though...Gabe was downstairs watching tv, and in my state of mind even a quicky was worth a try.
That night we were getting ready for bed. I went to the bathroom and when I stood up I had a little trickle. I thought well either my water is broken or my bladder is shot. I went in and told Karl not to fall asleep cause I may be going into labor. We sat there for a little bit, and I wasn't really contracting. I decided to pack my bag that I hadn't packed yet. When I stood up I had another small trickle. I went to the bathroom and had bloody show. By eleven thirty or so I was actually having contractions. I decided I must be in labor. I then timed a couple and they were five minutes apart. We started calling people on our list to ask them to watch Gabe. We finally got someone, and decided to head out. At this point I had thrown up a couple of times. I did it with Gabe too, so I was expecting it. It was a twenty minute drive to drop Gabe off, and then twenty or so more to the hospital. We dropped him off and then called my mom to ask her to come get Gabe in the morning if I hadn't had the baby by then. She was a little confused and by this point I wasn't able to think though contraction let alone talk. While Karl was in settling Gabe into our friends house I was sitting in the car contracting at three minutes apart. I had been trying off and on to get a hold of my midwife. The answering service was busy. She called me back and we talked for a couple of minutes and she asked how far dilated I was at the office that day. I told her she hadn't checked me, and she said "Why not?" I laugh now because I realize she was half asleep and talking to herself, but then I was wondering how the hell should I know! Anyways she said she would call in and be in shortly.
We got over there and checked in. As I stood up in the triage room my waters ran down my leg. I looked at the nurse and said, "I wasn't sure if it was my water before, but I am now!" I sat down and they put the monitor on me. The nurse told me that they would do whatever I wanted since I was using hypnobirthing, and no one really had any experience with it. She said she needed to check to make sure it was amniotic fluid and then laughed when she lifted the sheet and say how much there was. She swabbed it anyway, but said she didn't need to. I sat with Karl and we discussed names in between contraction when I would take my deep breaths and relax. I threw up a few more times, but was fine unless they tried to make me lay down. We decided on a girl name and if we had a boy we decided to take the paperwork home. We just couldn't decide. They checked me when I got in and I had been at four. The monitor said my contraction were three minutes apart.
They moved me into a labor and delivery room. They did offer me an iv which I took, because I had been throwing up. They marked that I didn't want pain meds on the board in the room. That was the first second when natural childbirth became real to me. I was feeling fine though. They hooked me back up to the external monitor again. Then the nurse tried to lay me down again...I had to tell her that no I was going to sit up. It hurt to lay down and it made me throw up. I had to lay a certain way with my head just so. I was actually in kind of a weird position. None that I've ever seen in any book anyway. They said my midwife wanted to know where I was at so they checked me again. I threw up the entire time, but I was like seven I think. My midwife came in, said I was close and then started to take off monitors. I actually told her to leave the fetal monitor on because I was listening to heart beat during contractions. She left it on. She offered to get me juice or whatever I wanted to drink. I already had a sprite though that the nurses had gotten me. The nurses were kind of buzzing around the room, so my midwife told them to quite down since I was focusing. The midwife checked me again and said the baby was right there and then said to let her know when I was ready for her. Karl and my midwife sat and chatted. At one point Karl was watching the monitor and said "How fair is it that your contractions are every three minutes and lasting 90 seconds." I believe I told him to shut up cause I wasn't noticing so don't point it out. My midwife was filling out my chart. She goes "We won't be needing this!" and ripped out the c-section form. It was pretty funny. After a few more contractions I began to feel the need to push. I told her she got up and started getting dressing, and called nurses back. I kind of moved from the position on was in, but never really did the knees to chest thing. I remember them telling me to get there, but either in my head or out loud I told them no. The babies head crowning was truly the only part that hurt, and even then it wasn't that bad. At that point I was almost done and knew it. Since no one was holding my legs, and doing the count and push thing Karl was down by Gail watching. She asked him if he wanted to help catch. Karl had nearly passed out twice while Gabe was being born, but both times were do to interventions, so he was doing fine. She convinced him to gown up, and he did. She helped guide his hands and he caught the baby announce it was a girl and gave her to me. He now says it was the thrill of his life. She was laying on my chest and the midwife had Karl decide when the cord had stopped pulsing and it was time to cut it. She was covered in vernix when she was born. I kind of wish we had taken a picture of it. The nurses started to wipe her off and the midwife stopped them. Explaining why they shouldn't wipe her off. Karl decided when to cut the cord and then I put her to my breast. She was so alert, and nursed and nursed. Very different from Gabe. It was beautiful and perfect. We named her Cyan Linna. 7Ib 3oz 19in. at 5:15am. My labor start to finish was six hours long.
On the twenty seventh I ran Karl to work, and then Gabe and I ran to Meijer so we could get him a birthday snack for his class. His birthday was actually just two weeks ago, but they let all the summer birthday's celebrate at the end of the year. Anyway I had four dollars in my pocket which I spent on his snack. Then I ran him to school. He usually had afternoon school, but they had a field trip. I was running five minutes late, so I dropped him off to his class and talked to his teacher for a second. She took one look at me and asked if I was ready. Hell yeah! She told me to go home and relax. It would have been nice but I had an appointment in two hours with my midwife. I went to my appointment and the midwife asked me how I was feeling. I told her incredibly sore. She never mentioned checking me, but honestly I didn't want her to for a number of reasons. She said the baby's head was really low and said no wonder I hurt. All was well. I came home and relaxed for a little while and then I picked up Gabe. His teacher said goodbye to him and said "Help your mom have that baby tonight!" I kind of laughed, and we left. We went to pick up Karl and I was talking to my mom on the phone. I was bitching to her about my long day and how crappy I felt. I guess when we got off the phone she told her boss that I was going to go into labor soon. I honestly figured I had another couple of weeks. We got and I told Karl that I was ready to start working on getting things moving. We laughed about Gabe's teacher. How exactly was Gabe supposed to help? Karl and I did our part before dinner though...Gabe was downstairs watching tv, and in my state of mind even a quicky was worth a try.
That night we were getting ready for bed. I went to the bathroom and when I stood up I had a little trickle. I thought well either my water is broken or my bladder is shot. I went in and told Karl not to fall asleep cause I may be going into labor. We sat there for a little bit, and I wasn't really contracting. I decided to pack my bag that I hadn't packed yet. When I stood up I had another small trickle. I went to the bathroom and had bloody show. By eleven thirty or so I was actually having contractions. I decided I must be in labor. I then timed a couple and they were five minutes apart. We started calling people on our list to ask them to watch Gabe. We finally got someone, and decided to head out. At this point I had thrown up a couple of times. I did it with Gabe too, so I was expecting it. It was a twenty minute drive to drop Gabe off, and then twenty or so more to the hospital. We dropped him off and then called my mom to ask her to come get Gabe in the morning if I hadn't had the baby by then. She was a little confused and by this point I wasn't able to think though contraction let alone talk. While Karl was in settling Gabe into our friends house I was sitting in the car contracting at three minutes apart. I had been trying off and on to get a hold of my midwife. The answering service was busy. She called me back and we talked for a couple of minutes and she asked how far dilated I was at the office that day. I told her she hadn't checked me, and she said "Why not?" I laugh now because I realize she was half asleep and talking to herself, but then I was wondering how the hell should I know! Anyways she said she would call in and be in shortly.
We got over there and checked in. As I stood up in the triage room my waters ran down my leg. I looked at the nurse and said, "I wasn't sure if it was my water before, but I am now!" I sat down and they put the monitor on me. The nurse told me that they would do whatever I wanted since I was using hypnobirthing, and no one really had any experience with it. She said she needed to check to make sure it was amniotic fluid and then laughed when she lifted the sheet and say how much there was. She swabbed it anyway, but said she didn't need to. I sat with Karl and we discussed names in between contraction when I would take my deep breaths and relax. I threw up a few more times, but was fine unless they tried to make me lay down. We decided on a girl name and if we had a boy we decided to take the paperwork home. We just couldn't decide. They checked me when I got in and I had been at four. The monitor said my contraction were three minutes apart.
They moved me into a labor and delivery room. They did offer me an iv which I took, because I had been throwing up. They marked that I didn't want pain meds on the board in the room. That was the first second when natural childbirth became real to me. I was feeling fine though. They hooked me back up to the external monitor again. Then the nurse tried to lay me down again...I had to tell her that no I was going to sit up. It hurt to lay down and it made me throw up. I had to lay a certain way with my head just so. I was actually in kind of a weird position. None that I've ever seen in any book anyway. They said my midwife wanted to know where I was at so they checked me again. I threw up the entire time, but I was like seven I think. My midwife came in, said I was close and then started to take off monitors. I actually told her to leave the fetal monitor on because I was listening to heart beat during contractions. She left it on. She offered to get me juice or whatever I wanted to drink. I already had a sprite though that the nurses had gotten me. The nurses were kind of buzzing around the room, so my midwife told them to quite down since I was focusing. The midwife checked me again and said the baby was right there and then said to let her know when I was ready for her. Karl and my midwife sat and chatted. At one point Karl was watching the monitor and said "How fair is it that your contractions are every three minutes and lasting 90 seconds." I believe I told him to shut up cause I wasn't noticing so don't point it out. My midwife was filling out my chart. She goes "We won't be needing this!" and ripped out the c-section form. It was pretty funny. After a few more contractions I began to feel the need to push. I told her she got up and started getting dressing, and called nurses back. I kind of moved from the position on was in, but never really did the knees to chest thing. I remember them telling me to get there, but either in my head or out loud I told them no. The babies head crowning was truly the only part that hurt, and even then it wasn't that bad. At that point I was almost done and knew it. Since no one was holding my legs, and doing the count and push thing Karl was down by Gail watching. She asked him if he wanted to help catch. Karl had nearly passed out twice while Gabe was being born, but both times were do to interventions, so he was doing fine. She convinced him to gown up, and he did. She helped guide his hands and he caught the baby announce it was a girl and gave her to me. He now says it was the thrill of his life. She was laying on my chest and the midwife had Karl decide when the cord had stopped pulsing and it was time to cut it. She was covered in vernix when she was born. I kind of wish we had taken a picture of it. The nurses started to wipe her off and the midwife stopped them. Explaining why they shouldn't wipe her off. Karl decided when to cut the cord and then I put her to my breast. She was so alert, and nursed and nursed. Very different from Gabe. It was beautiful and perfect. We named her Cyan Linna. 7Ib 3oz 19in. at 5:15am. My labor start to finish was six hours long.
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