It's a girl! 
Lillian Leslie M. was born at 12:29 am on Sept 19th weighing 7 lbs, 1 oz. She was born at home with the help of our two midwives, and, of course, her Daddy!
I woke with contractions at 6 am on the 18th. Nothing too strong or regular(maybe 25 minutes apart?) but definitely "the real thing." By 4 pm contractions were still only 10 minutes apart, but strong. I was swaying, rocking and Aaaahhh-ing my way through each contraction. For a while I was playing the guitar and found that singing loudly really helped me through contractions (how crunchy is that!). But playing guitar around a big belly is tiring so I only got a few contractions out of that. Then I tried listening to music and singing along. My two favourite songs were "Ordinary Day" by Great Big Sea, and the Rolling Stones' "You can't always get what you want."
At 6 pm, I got my husband out of bed, where he was trying to sleep away the flu, to help me through my contractions. At 9:30 or so, contractions were 6 minutes apart, but were awfully strong. I was, as someone else on the net wrote, "vocalizing like hell" through contractions by then. I asked DH to call my midwife. He found out that not only my primary, but also my backup midwife were off call that night, so we talked to my backup-backup, who suggested that since contractions were still fairly far apart that I should have a bath or a glass of wine and call back when things picked up again. I opted for a bath, which helped for a while.
By 11:30, contractions were finally about 5 minutes apart (the magic number for the midwife to come to the house), but I was really feeling like this baby was coming very soon. I was feeling the urge to push, but wasn't sure I was "allowed" yet, and was sure to freak out DH if I told him that he was going to have to catch the baby. And though I have been fascinated by UC stories, it turns out I'm not quite comfortable/brave enough to try it myself.
The midwife arrived at 11:45, found me to have only an anterior lip remaining, ad called my backup-backup-backup midwife to come and assist. After a few very difficult contractions while I was waiting for "permission" to push as the midwives set up and I made my way to the bedroom, I finally started pushing at 12:20 am and my baby was born at 12:29!
I bled fairly heavily after the birth, and was grateful to have the midwives there to administer oxytocin and do uterine massage. They tried to give me IV fluids, but between me and DH, we talked them out of it and they gave me oxygen and I drank a bunch of juice instead. I much prefer my fluids through a straw! I also was thrilled to hear that I had only one tiny tear that did not need any stitches! I needed several after DS's water-birth sitting on a birthing stool. I delivered on hands-and-knees this time, which may have helped, or it could just be that this was my 2nd baby and, as my mother says, "the road was paved".
Baby Lily is doing very well, sleeping for one good 4-5 hour stretch a night and nursing like she's done it all her life. I was feeling reasonably well, considering the bleeding, but I've since caught DH's flu, which is slowing down my recovery. Here's hoping vitamin C and echinacea kick this virus real quick!
Baby Lily - about 12 hours old: http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3440/...98df679ec6.jpg
Lillian Leslie M. was born at 12:29 am on Sept 19th weighing 7 lbs, 1 oz. She was born at home with the help of our two midwives, and, of course, her Daddy!I woke with contractions at 6 am on the 18th. Nothing too strong or regular(maybe 25 minutes apart?) but definitely "the real thing." By 4 pm contractions were still only 10 minutes apart, but strong. I was swaying, rocking and Aaaahhh-ing my way through each contraction. For a while I was playing the guitar and found that singing loudly really helped me through contractions (how crunchy is that!). But playing guitar around a big belly is tiring so I only got a few contractions out of that. Then I tried listening to music and singing along. My two favourite songs were "Ordinary Day" by Great Big Sea, and the Rolling Stones' "You can't always get what you want."
At 6 pm, I got my husband out of bed, where he was trying to sleep away the flu, to help me through my contractions. At 9:30 or so, contractions were 6 minutes apart, but were awfully strong. I was, as someone else on the net wrote, "vocalizing like hell" through contractions by then. I asked DH to call my midwife. He found out that not only my primary, but also my backup midwife were off call that night, so we talked to my backup-backup, who suggested that since contractions were still fairly far apart that I should have a bath or a glass of wine and call back when things picked up again. I opted for a bath, which helped for a while.
By 11:30, contractions were finally about 5 minutes apart (the magic number for the midwife to come to the house), but I was really feeling like this baby was coming very soon. I was feeling the urge to push, but wasn't sure I was "allowed" yet, and was sure to freak out DH if I told him that he was going to have to catch the baby. And though I have been fascinated by UC stories, it turns out I'm not quite comfortable/brave enough to try it myself.
The midwife arrived at 11:45, found me to have only an anterior lip remaining, ad called my backup-backup-backup midwife to come and assist. After a few very difficult contractions while I was waiting for "permission" to push as the midwives set up and I made my way to the bedroom, I finally started pushing at 12:20 am and my baby was born at 12:29!
I bled fairly heavily after the birth, and was grateful to have the midwives there to administer oxytocin and do uterine massage. They tried to give me IV fluids, but between me and DH, we talked them out of it and they gave me oxygen and I drank a bunch of juice instead. I much prefer my fluids through a straw! I also was thrilled to hear that I had only one tiny tear that did not need any stitches! I needed several after DS's water-birth sitting on a birthing stool. I delivered on hands-and-knees this time, which may have helped, or it could just be that this was my 2nd baby and, as my mother says, "the road was paved".
Baby Lily is doing very well, sleeping for one good 4-5 hour stretch a night and nursing like she's done it all her life. I was feeling reasonably well, considering the bleeding, but I've since caught DH's flu, which is slowing down my recovery. Here's hoping vitamin C and echinacea kick this virus real quick!
Baby Lily - about 12 hours old: http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3440/...98df679ec6.jpg
