Let me preface this: So much of the 2nd half of last year is a blur for me. Between work stress, Viv's birth, subsequent loss of my job and moving in my my parents, I know that I have forgotten some details. 
Where to start this story… We found out in early January 2009 that we were expecting our 3rd child, edd September 16. Elation tempered with caution was our first emotion. Emotionally we had planned for this, financially we were not in the position we wanted to be.
We talked to the only legal home birth midwife in our area and discovered that she wouldn’t be covered by our insurance and there was no way for us to come up with the money. So we went for the second option – the midwives at the University of Iowa. We signed up for care there.
In the meantime, I was sending out resumes to places looking for an associate position. Two different places looked promising and I went out for interviews. I ended up accepting a position that was 8 hours away from where we were at the time. Dh left his job and planned to be the SAH parent. We moved the last week of May to Missouri. And I started looking for a new care provider.
The job was great for the first several weeks then the hours started adding up and stress abounded. Within a month of starting the job, we realized that things were not what we had been promised. I was very quickly working 53-65 hours a week and not doing well health wise. About this point, I found a home birth midwife and made arrangements for care. Judith was and is fabulous. Shay – her assistant was great too.
As August started, I was showing signs of stress when we dipped my urine – I was throwing ketones, protein, glucose and leukocytes. My blood pressure was creeping up from 106/60 to 130/80. I started having swelling in my left leg and foot. The swelling turned into pitting edema. I started getting comments at work about doing “jumping Jacks to get that baby out sooner” and “belly size” contest, primarily for their scheduling convenience.
Finally, the first part of September my mw put me on chlorophyll because my hemoglobin was 10.5 and I still had edema. On the morning of September 14, I told my boss that my body wasn’t keeping up with the stress and I needed to be home resting. I finished working that morning and went home. My parents arrived that night to help out. On Tuesday I taught the health care class and Wednesday (my edd) I did an external marketing thing for an hour. By Tuesday night, my blood pressure was down almost to my normal.
Baby continued to just hang out. Text messages from work were causing stress and pressure to hurry things up. On Tuesday, September 22, my mw gave me directions for induction with EPO and herbal tinctures. I didn’t feel right about using them… so the wait continued.
Friday, September 25, I woke up in a better mood than I had been for a long time. I posted on another board I belong to the following entry:
The sleep was a really big deal to me as I had been dealing with insomnia for most of the last month. I'd wake up around 2am and not be able to get back to sleep until after 5am.
I spent most of the day playing on the computer, relaxing and trying to get comfortable. Send Dan and dad to the movie and Mom out shopping without me. Took a nice warm shower, talked to friends on the phone and enjoyed my little bit of time by myself. Had a little bit of blood but no mucus after peeing off and on throughout the day.
About 3pm, I walked down to the bus stop to get the kids. Mom caught up with me there. Kids got off the bus and we walked the block home. I noticed that I was contracting, but it didn’t hurt. About 5 or 5:30, the contractions started hurting – but only very low, around the cervix and they were very intense. Texted back and forth with my 4th sister and called the midwife to let her know what was going on. She was on her way to see another client about 1.5 hours away from me. Told her I thought we’d be ok for a bit. She said that she’d be back in town between 8 and 9. (*I know that I had several conversations with Judith, but right now I honestly can’t say what was talked about in which call.*)
We had supper – roast beef, carrots, onions, gravy and acorn squash around 6. I was dealing with the ctx ok on the ball and the toilet but otherwise was not. Tried to rock with Dan for a bit as that had worked with both of the other two but couldn’t find my zen. I seemed to do the best when I was in the bedroom by myself with the lights out. Sometime between 6 and 7 I lost my mucus plug all at once.
About 8:30, Dr. G (my co-worker and fellow chiropractor) came over and I got adjusted. I felt much better afterward but really was wishing that everyone would leave and the TV was off. Dr. G and his wife left a little after 9, and around 9:30 I told Dan to call Judith. The contractions were getting harder to handle and I was tensing through them.
Judith and Shay arrived around 10 and Judith talked me thru a couple of ctx and they were much better. At this point I was kneeling beside my bed on the red flannel backed tablecloth, still had on my black dress and green bra. I felt very warm and tired. I didn’t want to be touched – any sensory input just felt like too much. At some point I told mom to tell dad to turn off the TV (he was watching the news).
Sometime between 10:30 and 11 my water broke spontaneously – a first for me. It was a pop and a good gush; we turned on the light to check for staining and it was clear. I know that I was dripping bright red blood but Judith was rock steady. I know at one point she asked me what I was feeling and I told her that I feel like I needed to take a giant poo (used a much different word tho). Later, I told mom to tell Dad and Dan to STFU - they were talking and laughing in the next room. I remember feeling really angry that they could be having a good time when I was hurting so bad.
All this time, I was in the bedroom with Mom, Judith and Shay. Mom was to my left and between me and the door. Judith was forward and to my right, and Shay was behind me to the right. I had a lovely triangle of womanly support around me. I pushed and found that I needed to have one knee up. Moving from leaning against the bed to half kneeling was so hard to do, but once I was there I felt better. I reached down to touch and my hand came away very red with blood. I kept pushing. The ring of fire was incredibly intense (at this point I kept hearing "Ring of Fire" by Johnny Cash in my head
). Judith told me that once the baby’s head was out to just keep pushing the rest of the body out too. I could feel baby moving down and the burning… then in a gush of fluid the baby shot out and I reached for her. I registered her hair color (red) and sex at about the same time.
Vivienne was born at 11:29pm, into my hands and the hands of Judith and Sharon. She was 8 pounds 7 ounces and 22.5 inches long.
After Vivienne was born, Sharon and Judith helped me get up to my bed. I had lost a lot of blood (between 4 and 6 cups) but not realized it yet. I don’t know how long it took for the placenta to come out, but I know that Sharon was the one who helped me to get it out – with trailing membranes. Judith gave me arnica and rescue remedy and told me to visualize my uterus clamping down. Mom said that I was almost as white as my walls and was going whiter when I was trying to push the placenta out. Once the placenta was out, I needed to pee. I had help to the bathroom and left the door open so I could get help if I passed out. It hurt like crazy to pee.
Judith checked and found that I had a 2nd degree tear that needed stitches. It took a long time to get stitched up, but Judith did a great job and my mom held Viv. I was fascinated to hear her talking with Sharon as she was doing the repair.
I opted to eat part of my placenta to help with the blood loss and to help my uterus clamp down. Sharon prepped the pieces for me. I had enough for about 3 days and I believe that it did help.
Judith, Sharon and my mom got the room cleaned up; Dan got the bed remade, and I snuggled with Vivienne. I think that Judith and Sharon left around 2:30am.
I woke up around 4:30 or 5am and needed to pee, but was having trouble rolling over to get out of bed due to the stitches and aches. I finally let my bladder go on the chux pads on the bed a little before I got up. I left a trail of blood from the bed to the bathroom and suspect that I lost at least another cup of blood.
I spent most of the next week curling up with my beautiful girl and not doing much else. I was blessed that my mom was able to stay with us for another three weeks.
All in all, I am so thankful for having Judith and Sharon there to take care of me. I am thrilled that my mom was there to see Vivienne born. I have no doubts that had I gone with an OB and had a hospital birth that I would have had a c-section.
Post Script: It took me better than two months to feel back to mostly normal. I dropped 20 lbs from the beginning of my pregnancy to the day I had Viv. In the two weeks after her birth I dropped another 30. I can afford the weight loss, but the speed of it wasn't good for me and I have rebounded about 10 lbs. Vivienne is happy, healthy, and growing quickly. I thank God every day for allowing me to have this beautiful child in my life and for the fact that my family is healthy and safe. While I am now unemployed, I am grateful for the time with my family.
Where to start this story… We found out in early January 2009 that we were expecting our 3rd child, edd September 16. Elation tempered with caution was our first emotion. Emotionally we had planned for this, financially we were not in the position we wanted to be.
We talked to the only legal home birth midwife in our area and discovered that she wouldn’t be covered by our insurance and there was no way for us to come up with the money. So we went for the second option – the midwives at the University of Iowa. We signed up for care there.
In the meantime, I was sending out resumes to places looking for an associate position. Two different places looked promising and I went out for interviews. I ended up accepting a position that was 8 hours away from where we were at the time. Dh left his job and planned to be the SAH parent. We moved the last week of May to Missouri. And I started looking for a new care provider.
The job was great for the first several weeks then the hours started adding up and stress abounded. Within a month of starting the job, we realized that things were not what we had been promised. I was very quickly working 53-65 hours a week and not doing well health wise. About this point, I found a home birth midwife and made arrangements for care. Judith was and is fabulous. Shay – her assistant was great too.
As August started, I was showing signs of stress when we dipped my urine – I was throwing ketones, protein, glucose and leukocytes. My blood pressure was creeping up from 106/60 to 130/80. I started having swelling in my left leg and foot. The swelling turned into pitting edema. I started getting comments at work about doing “jumping Jacks to get that baby out sooner” and “belly size” contest, primarily for their scheduling convenience.
Finally, the first part of September my mw put me on chlorophyll because my hemoglobin was 10.5 and I still had edema. On the morning of September 14, I told my boss that my body wasn’t keeping up with the stress and I needed to be home resting. I finished working that morning and went home. My parents arrived that night to help out. On Tuesday I taught the health care class and Wednesday (my edd) I did an external marketing thing for an hour. By Tuesday night, my blood pressure was down almost to my normal.
Baby continued to just hang out. Text messages from work were causing stress and pressure to hurry things up. On Tuesday, September 22, my mw gave me directions for induction with EPO and herbal tinctures. I didn’t feel right about using them… so the wait continued.
Friday, September 25, I woke up in a better mood than I had been for a long time. I posted on another board I belong to the following entry:
Quote:
| “I just have to say that it is beautiful here this morning... somewhere in the mid-50s, lots of dew on the grass, sky is a beautiful mellow blue at the edges and intense cornflower blue at the apex. Kids got up and ready for school without complaints. And I actually got about 6 hours of sleep last night.” |
I spent most of the day playing on the computer, relaxing and trying to get comfortable. Send Dan and dad to the movie and Mom out shopping without me. Took a nice warm shower, talked to friends on the phone and enjoyed my little bit of time by myself. Had a little bit of blood but no mucus after peeing off and on throughout the day.
About 3pm, I walked down to the bus stop to get the kids. Mom caught up with me there. Kids got off the bus and we walked the block home. I noticed that I was contracting, but it didn’t hurt. About 5 or 5:30, the contractions started hurting – but only very low, around the cervix and they were very intense. Texted back and forth with my 4th sister and called the midwife to let her know what was going on. She was on her way to see another client about 1.5 hours away from me. Told her I thought we’d be ok for a bit. She said that she’d be back in town between 8 and 9. (*I know that I had several conversations with Judith, but right now I honestly can’t say what was talked about in which call.*)
We had supper – roast beef, carrots, onions, gravy and acorn squash around 6. I was dealing with the ctx ok on the ball and the toilet but otherwise was not. Tried to rock with Dan for a bit as that had worked with both of the other two but couldn’t find my zen. I seemed to do the best when I was in the bedroom by myself with the lights out. Sometime between 6 and 7 I lost my mucus plug all at once.
About 8:30, Dr. G (my co-worker and fellow chiropractor) came over and I got adjusted. I felt much better afterward but really was wishing that everyone would leave and the TV was off. Dr. G and his wife left a little after 9, and around 9:30 I told Dan to call Judith. The contractions were getting harder to handle and I was tensing through them.
Judith and Shay arrived around 10 and Judith talked me thru a couple of ctx and they were much better. At this point I was kneeling beside my bed on the red flannel backed tablecloth, still had on my black dress and green bra. I felt very warm and tired. I didn’t want to be touched – any sensory input just felt like too much. At some point I told mom to tell dad to turn off the TV (he was watching the news).
Sometime between 10:30 and 11 my water broke spontaneously – a first for me. It was a pop and a good gush; we turned on the light to check for staining and it was clear. I know that I was dripping bright red blood but Judith was rock steady. I know at one point she asked me what I was feeling and I told her that I feel like I needed to take a giant poo (used a much different word tho). Later, I told mom to tell Dad and Dan to STFU - they were talking and laughing in the next room. I remember feeling really angry that they could be having a good time when I was hurting so bad.
All this time, I was in the bedroom with Mom, Judith and Shay. Mom was to my left and between me and the door. Judith was forward and to my right, and Shay was behind me to the right. I had a lovely triangle of womanly support around me. I pushed and found that I needed to have one knee up. Moving from leaning against the bed to half kneeling was so hard to do, but once I was there I felt better. I reached down to touch and my hand came away very red with blood. I kept pushing. The ring of fire was incredibly intense (at this point I kept hearing "Ring of Fire" by Johnny Cash in my head
). Judith told me that once the baby’s head was out to just keep pushing the rest of the body out too. I could feel baby moving down and the burning… then in a gush of fluid the baby shot out and I reached for her. I registered her hair color (red) and sex at about the same time.Vivienne was born at 11:29pm, into my hands and the hands of Judith and Sharon. She was 8 pounds 7 ounces and 22.5 inches long.
After Vivienne was born, Sharon and Judith helped me get up to my bed. I had lost a lot of blood (between 4 and 6 cups) but not realized it yet. I don’t know how long it took for the placenta to come out, but I know that Sharon was the one who helped me to get it out – with trailing membranes. Judith gave me arnica and rescue remedy and told me to visualize my uterus clamping down. Mom said that I was almost as white as my walls and was going whiter when I was trying to push the placenta out. Once the placenta was out, I needed to pee. I had help to the bathroom and left the door open so I could get help if I passed out. It hurt like crazy to pee.
Judith checked and found that I had a 2nd degree tear that needed stitches. It took a long time to get stitched up, but Judith did a great job and my mom held Viv. I was fascinated to hear her talking with Sharon as she was doing the repair.
I opted to eat part of my placenta to help with the blood loss and to help my uterus clamp down. Sharon prepped the pieces for me. I had enough for about 3 days and I believe that it did help.
Judith, Sharon and my mom got the room cleaned up; Dan got the bed remade, and I snuggled with Vivienne. I think that Judith and Sharon left around 2:30am.
I woke up around 4:30 or 5am and needed to pee, but was having trouble rolling over to get out of bed due to the stitches and aches. I finally let my bladder go on the chux pads on the bed a little before I got up. I left a trail of blood from the bed to the bathroom and suspect that I lost at least another cup of blood.
I spent most of the next week curling up with my beautiful girl and not doing much else. I was blessed that my mom was able to stay with us for another three weeks.
All in all, I am so thankful for having Judith and Sharon there to take care of me. I am thrilled that my mom was there to see Vivienne born. I have no doubts that had I gone with an OB and had a hospital birth that I would have had a c-section.
Post Script: It took me better than two months to feel back to mostly normal. I dropped 20 lbs from the beginning of my pregnancy to the day I had Viv. In the two weeks after her birth I dropped another 30. I can afford the weight loss, but the speed of it wasn't good for me and I have rebounded about 10 lbs. Vivienne is happy, healthy, and growing quickly. I thank God every day for allowing me to have this beautiful child in my life and for the fact that my family is healthy and safe. While I am now unemployed, I am grateful for the time with my family.
