A little background:
DH (we are off grid) built this really cool water pumping system that brings the water from the spring down the hill to our house UP the hill without using electricity or batteries (cool 'cause it's working uphill to the house) then he designed a heater system for the hot water that brings it through my woodstove to heat it...again without electricity or batteries or anything.
The day Brennen was born Jan. 11, 2010 it was 3 degrees here in the NorthEast and as this is our first winter with the new system we learned the day before that the pipes coming into the house can freeze....when that happened it took out the water system, since there was no water we couldn't run the woodstove with the empty pipes or they would burst.
We had no water, no hot water and only our backup wood stove for heat in 3 degrees.....of COURSE this was the day he would come LOL. We moved a mattress downstairs into the room next our bathroom and in front of the backup woodstove to keep me as comfortable as possible.
At 10:30a I called DH on the cell while he was at the well. I was becoming annoyed that Holden (2) was jumping on me and it was becoming very irritating. I should have known something was up because I was irritated but since I had no contractions I didn't think anything of it. I asked DH to come up and help just for a while.
DH made it up the hill about 10:45ish and asked me a couple times (I was lightly contracting by then) if this "was it" I told him I thought we *might* have a baby within the day but I wasn't sure. I needed to pee about 10 times in a row although I really have no idea why...I was still having contractions that I thought *might* lead to something. DH asked a few times if it was increasing and I wasn't sure they were even real.....let alone getting worse.
I asked Tyler (9) at 11:22 to make me coffee and a bagel and I went for another trip to the bathroom, felt the head engage while in there and realized this was IT. I had another contraction leaving the bathroom and felt hot, I had the urge to take my hooded sweatshirt off and while taking it off had 2 thoughts at the same time "WOW this is starting to hurt" and "might as well take everything off with the sweatshirt and save the extra effort" DH was sitting there and as soon as the clothes came off he knew it was the real deal. I made it another 2 steps or so and half knelt down in front of a chair, I felt the head come out - I wouldn't really call it crowning as I was repeating "slow, slow, slow" but it still sort of popped out all at once. DH said "I have a head"; he had been breech for a while so we weren't 100% sure what would be the presenting part....(no crowning around here....it's head AND body or head THEN body LOL) and then the body come out a second later. Immediately I heard him cry and knew he was breathing. He was born at 11:26 and the only child of the 4 to be in the room was Holden (2). Tyler (9) heard the cry and came around the corner saying "oh no...that's the second time I've missed a birth!!!) all of the other kids were on the other side of the wall in the living room and we didn't even realize how close the birth was until it was too late to call them in (again).
Brennen was my 3rd baby to come in less than 1 hour from my first inkling of labor. All 3 of my quick labors had less than 5 real contractions. As with the other 3 the only painful contractions were within a 4 minute window and very close together.
He was 6 - 12, my others were:
Tyler 9 - 7lbs, posterior 5 hour labor
Morgan 7 - 6lb 8oz, born on basement stairs less than 5 min. after calling midwife
Riley 6 - 8lb 12oz, 7 hour non-fun labor LOL
Holden 2 - 6lb 12oz, born 15 minutes after the call to the midwife.
I had a 2nd/borderline 3rd degree tear which I ALWAYS get but this was the first time we chose not to stitch, I decided not to transfer to the ER just for stitching at that point. Not really surprising with the speed of the labor but no fun.
An update on the tear: at 8 weeks we realized that the tear is healing open. I do not really have a comfortable option for repair at this time. I wish now (hindsight 20/20) that we had repaired it ourselves instead of allowing it to heal on it's own. We are supergluing it every 2 days to keep it together but I'm feeling at this point that we waited to long and it will continue to heal open now.
DH (we are off grid) built this really cool water pumping system that brings the water from the spring down the hill to our house UP the hill without using electricity or batteries (cool 'cause it's working uphill to the house) then he designed a heater system for the hot water that brings it through my woodstove to heat it...again without electricity or batteries or anything.
The day Brennen was born Jan. 11, 2010 it was 3 degrees here in the NorthEast and as this is our first winter with the new system we learned the day before that the pipes coming into the house can freeze....when that happened it took out the water system, since there was no water we couldn't run the woodstove with the empty pipes or they would burst.
We had no water, no hot water and only our backup wood stove for heat in 3 degrees.....of COURSE this was the day he would come LOL. We moved a mattress downstairs into the room next our bathroom and in front of the backup woodstove to keep me as comfortable as possible.
At 10:30a I called DH on the cell while he was at the well. I was becoming annoyed that Holden (2) was jumping on me and it was becoming very irritating. I should have known something was up because I was irritated but since I had no contractions I didn't think anything of it. I asked DH to come up and help just for a while.
DH made it up the hill about 10:45ish and asked me a couple times (I was lightly contracting by then) if this "was it" I told him I thought we *might* have a baby within the day but I wasn't sure. I needed to pee about 10 times in a row although I really have no idea why...I was still having contractions that I thought *might* lead to something. DH asked a few times if it was increasing and I wasn't sure they were even real.....let alone getting worse.
I asked Tyler (9) at 11:22 to make me coffee and a bagel and I went for another trip to the bathroom, felt the head engage while in there and realized this was IT. I had another contraction leaving the bathroom and felt hot, I had the urge to take my hooded sweatshirt off and while taking it off had 2 thoughts at the same time "WOW this is starting to hurt" and "might as well take everything off with the sweatshirt and save the extra effort" DH was sitting there and as soon as the clothes came off he knew it was the real deal. I made it another 2 steps or so and half knelt down in front of a chair, I felt the head come out - I wouldn't really call it crowning as I was repeating "slow, slow, slow" but it still sort of popped out all at once. DH said "I have a head"; he had been breech for a while so we weren't 100% sure what would be the presenting part....(no crowning around here....it's head AND body or head THEN body LOL) and then the body come out a second later. Immediately I heard him cry and knew he was breathing. He was born at 11:26 and the only child of the 4 to be in the room was Holden (2). Tyler (9) heard the cry and came around the corner saying "oh no...that's the second time I've missed a birth!!!) all of the other kids were on the other side of the wall in the living room and we didn't even realize how close the birth was until it was too late to call them in (again).
Brennen was my 3rd baby to come in less than 1 hour from my first inkling of labor. All 3 of my quick labors had less than 5 real contractions. As with the other 3 the only painful contractions were within a 4 minute window and very close together.
He was 6 - 12, my others were:
Tyler 9 - 7lbs, posterior 5 hour labor
Morgan 7 - 6lb 8oz, born on basement stairs less than 5 min. after calling midwife
Riley 6 - 8lb 12oz, 7 hour non-fun labor LOL
Holden 2 - 6lb 12oz, born 15 minutes after the call to the midwife.
I had a 2nd/borderline 3rd degree tear which I ALWAYS get but this was the first time we chose not to stitch, I decided not to transfer to the ER just for stitching at that point. Not really surprising with the speed of the labor but no fun.
An update on the tear: at 8 weeks we realized that the tear is healing open. I do not really have a comfortable option for repair at this time. I wish now (hindsight 20/20) that we had repaired it ourselves instead of allowing it to heal on it's own. We are supergluing it every 2 days to keep it together but I'm feeling at this point that we waited to long and it will continue to heal open now.
Thanks in advance for any wisdom you can share.
