My son, Yogi, was born on 3/23 and I am now just getting down to post it. Here's how it went-- I have a few mixed feelings but it really actually went very well. The mixed feelings have to do with me rushing him out (had a stretch and sweep when labor was waning) and that I foolishly thought I was farther along intially and that labor was going to be precipitous.
My EDD was 3/16, but my 1st son was almost 42 weeks and I had to be induced so I expected this baby to also go past 40 weeks. I had a presentation at work that kept getting extended-- it finally got delivered on the 17th and I cleaned out my desk on the 18th and told my boss I'd be working from home until I went into labor. My mind was free and I was closer to being ready. In the evenings I started having prodromal labor that would dissipate by morning. Sunday the 21st I started to lose my plug. But I never had real labor contractions.
Monday night/Tuesday morning i woke up at 1am with "real" ctx, and had some bloody show. The ctx were regular so I called the midwife and her assistant. We sent my 33 month old to our neighbors. I rested and sort of fell in and out of sleep by 4am, but then woke at 7am realizing the ctx had decreased again. i was bummed. i wanted to have the baby and felt silly for calling everyone in the middle of the night. husband stayed home from work and I had a good breakfast and shower and tried to rest. Luckily ctx picked up again at lunchtime and were starting to feel quite intense. I was afraid i was going to have a very quick labor and wanted to get to the birth center before hitting rush hour traffic. the midwife was cool with this so we got to the birth center at 4pm. Ctx again slowed down and I had a feeling I was not very dilated, so I didn't let them check me. I walked around a bit and things picked up some again. I got checked at 6pm and was only 2cm! I was so bummed and was afraid they would send me home. The midwife however offered to do a stretch and sweep. It worked-- and things got intense fast. I was in the jacuzzi around 9pm, hit transition when my body got all prickly feeling and I just *had* to get out.
Made my way back to the bed and I felt I had to push (in retrospect I am now wondering if it was me more *wanting* to push at that point). The baby was still high up and my bag of waters was bulging. Pushing wasn't doing much, so the midwife checked and I had a bit of cervical lip that was in the way. then the worst part of the entire labor-- I was told to not push with the contractions. I really really like pushing and was eager to birth the baby, so this was really difficult for me both mentally and physically. They also had to give me oxygen.
After a few contractions I got the green light to push. The water broke with the first push and there was light meconium. My baby's head came out in the next push and the midwife suctioned him for the meconium. Then his body came out in the next contraction at 11:15pm. I only pushed for 5 minutes which stunned me. And the bext part is that I didn't tear!
My husband checked the sex (another boy!) and the little guy tried to crawl up towards my breast. He nursed really well right away. The next morning we decided on his name-- Yogi. He was 20.5 in and 8 lbs 5 oz, born almost the same time as and was of a similar size to his brother.
Recovery has been much easier this time. No stitches and no breastfeeding issues! My main challenges are how to handle both boys on my own. My mom is still here, but Friday will be my first day on my own with both boys.
My EDD was 3/16, but my 1st son was almost 42 weeks and I had to be induced so I expected this baby to also go past 40 weeks. I had a presentation at work that kept getting extended-- it finally got delivered on the 17th and I cleaned out my desk on the 18th and told my boss I'd be working from home until I went into labor. My mind was free and I was closer to being ready. In the evenings I started having prodromal labor that would dissipate by morning. Sunday the 21st I started to lose my plug. But I never had real labor contractions.
Monday night/Tuesday morning i woke up at 1am with "real" ctx, and had some bloody show. The ctx were regular so I called the midwife and her assistant. We sent my 33 month old to our neighbors. I rested and sort of fell in and out of sleep by 4am, but then woke at 7am realizing the ctx had decreased again. i was bummed. i wanted to have the baby and felt silly for calling everyone in the middle of the night. husband stayed home from work and I had a good breakfast and shower and tried to rest. Luckily ctx picked up again at lunchtime and were starting to feel quite intense. I was afraid i was going to have a very quick labor and wanted to get to the birth center before hitting rush hour traffic. the midwife was cool with this so we got to the birth center at 4pm. Ctx again slowed down and I had a feeling I was not very dilated, so I didn't let them check me. I walked around a bit and things picked up some again. I got checked at 6pm and was only 2cm! I was so bummed and was afraid they would send me home. The midwife however offered to do a stretch and sweep. It worked-- and things got intense fast. I was in the jacuzzi around 9pm, hit transition when my body got all prickly feeling and I just *had* to get out.
Made my way back to the bed and I felt I had to push (in retrospect I am now wondering if it was me more *wanting* to push at that point). The baby was still high up and my bag of waters was bulging. Pushing wasn't doing much, so the midwife checked and I had a bit of cervical lip that was in the way. then the worst part of the entire labor-- I was told to not push with the contractions. I really really like pushing and was eager to birth the baby, so this was really difficult for me both mentally and physically. They also had to give me oxygen.
After a few contractions I got the green light to push. The water broke with the first push and there was light meconium. My baby's head came out in the next push and the midwife suctioned him for the meconium. Then his body came out in the next contraction at 11:15pm. I only pushed for 5 minutes which stunned me. And the bext part is that I didn't tear!
My husband checked the sex (another boy!) and the little guy tried to crawl up towards my breast. He nursed really well right away. The next morning we decided on his name-- Yogi. He was 20.5 in and 8 lbs 5 oz, born almost the same time as and was of a similar size to his brother.
Recovery has been much easier this time. No stitches and no breastfeeding issues! My main challenges are how to handle both boys on my own. My mom is still here, but Friday will be my first day on my own with both boys.
