Clementine Grace
October 22nd, 2009
12:53am
8lbs even, 20 inches
She's 3 weeks old today, so this is a little late... but you all know what those first couple of weeks are like!!
Read the whole story (with some pictures) on my blog!
And just pictures here.
Synopsis:
We induced labor at 40 weeks 4 days because of my husband's work schedule (he would be on-call the following week and we wanted a couple days off with him and baby before he had to work).
My midwife came over and started induction stuff around 11 am on Wednesday October 21st. Nothing happened. No contractions ALL DAY. Finally when I was nursing my 20 month old to sleep at around 8pm I felt contractions start! Yay!
This is my 5th baby and my labors are usually pretty fast, so I was expecting contractions to come on like gangbusters, but they stayed "manageable" for several hours! At around 10:30pm I was hoping to be able to get into the birth tub but was only dilated to 4 and baby's head was still high, so my midwife suggested I try to sleep.
DH and I curled up in bed and slept until 12:15am when a rough contraction woke me up. Every 2nd or 3rd contraction was a bad one, with milder ones in between. Midwife checked me and I was 5-6cm dilated, very soft and open, baby low.
At 12:30am I got into the birth tub - heavenly!! Then I had a SUUUUPER bad contractions - kind of knocked me for a loop. Another one hit me hard and I braced myself for an hour or two of intense labor, trying to relax, breathe, let the pain flow over and through me... but for the first time I felt like I couldn't handle it. I couldn't find that place of relaxation I usually go to in labor - I felt like thrashing and wringing my hands in despair. I felt like crying at the thought that this was going to last for who knows how long! I was thinking, "I can't do this!!" (Classic signs of transition, I know, but that wasn't even in my mind at the time!)
Then after about 5 or 6 of these really killer contractions, I suddenly felt like I had to... PUSH! Already??!! I turned to my midwives and said, "Oh my gosh, I think I have to push!" They said go ahead, so I pushed!
Almost immediately I felt the baby's head crowning! I kept pushing as my midwife threw on a glove and put her hand in the water to catch the baby! She yelled for DH, who was trying to get our 20 month old back to sleep. He came running in time to see the head emerging. In another huge push I birthed the rest of the baby. I was kneeling and leaning against the wall of the birth tub, so my midwife put the baby back through my legs and DH took her and pulled her out of the water.
"It's a girl!" he said!
She was born at 12:53am, about 20 minutes after I got in the tub at 5cm!
I sat with her in the tub for quite a while (I didn't tear, so the water was pretty clear) and our other three kids (boys age 20 months and 3 years, daughter age 10.5 years) came to admire her. It was really beautiful to be all together as a family to welcome our new little daughter.
She nursed right away like a champ, and we all snuggled up in bed and fell blissfully to sleep after a beautiful, perfect 5 hour labor!
October 22nd, 2009
12:53am
8lbs even, 20 inches
She's 3 weeks old today, so this is a little late... but you all know what those first couple of weeks are like!!
Read the whole story (with some pictures) on my blog!
And just pictures here.
Synopsis:
We induced labor at 40 weeks 4 days because of my husband's work schedule (he would be on-call the following week and we wanted a couple days off with him and baby before he had to work).
My midwife came over and started induction stuff around 11 am on Wednesday October 21st. Nothing happened. No contractions ALL DAY. Finally when I was nursing my 20 month old to sleep at around 8pm I felt contractions start! Yay!
This is my 5th baby and my labors are usually pretty fast, so I was expecting contractions to come on like gangbusters, but they stayed "manageable" for several hours! At around 10:30pm I was hoping to be able to get into the birth tub but was only dilated to 4 and baby's head was still high, so my midwife suggested I try to sleep.
DH and I curled up in bed and slept until 12:15am when a rough contraction woke me up. Every 2nd or 3rd contraction was a bad one, with milder ones in between. Midwife checked me and I was 5-6cm dilated, very soft and open, baby low.
At 12:30am I got into the birth tub - heavenly!! Then I had a SUUUUPER bad contractions - kind of knocked me for a loop. Another one hit me hard and I braced myself for an hour or two of intense labor, trying to relax, breathe, let the pain flow over and through me... but for the first time I felt like I couldn't handle it. I couldn't find that place of relaxation I usually go to in labor - I felt like thrashing and wringing my hands in despair. I felt like crying at the thought that this was going to last for who knows how long! I was thinking, "I can't do this!!" (Classic signs of transition, I know, but that wasn't even in my mind at the time!)
Then after about 5 or 6 of these really killer contractions, I suddenly felt like I had to... PUSH! Already??!! I turned to my midwives and said, "Oh my gosh, I think I have to push!" They said go ahead, so I pushed!
Almost immediately I felt the baby's head crowning! I kept pushing as my midwife threw on a glove and put her hand in the water to catch the baby! She yelled for DH, who was trying to get our 20 month old back to sleep. He came running in time to see the head emerging. In another huge push I birthed the rest of the baby. I was kneeling and leaning against the wall of the birth tub, so my midwife put the baby back through my legs and DH took her and pulled her out of the water.
"It's a girl!" he said!
She was born at 12:53am, about 20 minutes after I got in the tub at 5cm!
I sat with her in the tub for quite a while (I didn't tear, so the water was pretty clear) and our other three kids (boys age 20 months and 3 years, daughter age 10.5 years) came to admire her. It was really beautiful to be all together as a family to welcome our new little daughter.
She nursed right away like a champ, and we all snuggled up in bed and fell blissfully to sleep after a beautiful, perfect 5 hour labor!
I'm glad to know there are others who love it too. Congrats on your little girl, too! Do you have a nickname for her or do you call her by her full name? There is a controversy going on here over this issue... 
Everyone thought I was crazy.
DH was like, "Hey, her name is Clementine!"
