So most of you knew that I had gone a week overdue and SO was uncomfortable with waiting any longer, and wanted me to be induced. I, obviously, didn't, since I had been planning and hoping for a home birth. We left for the hospital on Wednesday the 21st, exactly 41 weeks, to get a "profile" done of the baby and hopefully ease SO's mind about waiting a little longer. As it turned out they "strongly" recommended induction, with pitocin.
It was a lot of pressure and I was already stressed out for a number of reasons, but I was terrified of the induction experience, particulrly pitocin. Finally I agreed to let them break my water first, and see if that did anything. They also wanted me to stop eating and drinking, be on an IV for fluids (do we see something wron with THAT logic????) and have continuous monitoring.
I managed to talk them into only 20 minutes per hour of monitoring, and only to be hooked up to the IV for that same time. The rest of the time it was just a heploc in my arm. Of course I continued to eat and drink whenever the nurses weren't paying attention
Around 4 PM the doctor broke my water and stripped my membranes, and within 15 minutes I started having contractions about 5-7 minutes apart. At this point it was just me, SO and ds in the room. We had called my mom earlier to see if she could meet us there and take ds to her house, but she ended up not arriving until about 5:30. It was pretty calm at that point....SO was calling all his friends/family back home to tell them I was *finally* in labor, and ds was sitting in the hospital bed with me, reading books and snacking. the contractions made me catch my breath but were still manageable (to me, according to the monitors they were pretty hard).
Around 5:30 my mom finally arrived. When she got there SO and ds were out of the room having gone to the vending machine or something. She insisted that I walk with her (I was waiting for SO to come back, to walk with him, expcting that by then ds would be gone with my mom.) It turned out that my mom was just there to be there, did not plan on leaving right away, and had summoned my dad from work to get ds and take him home.
I guessshe felt that since she was prsent for ds' brth sh should be for this one too, but it felt like overkill because with ds the father was not there, whereas this time I had someone with me already. My mom kept telling me to listen to the nurses and stop eating, how to walk, saying "jokingly" that I was a rebel, etc. She also got irritated because she wanted me to announce every time I had a contraction so she could keep track. Me, I'm like a cat or something. I would prefer to crawl into a hole somewhere away from everyone, and emerge hors later with a baby. Announcing every contaction is NOT my style. I don't like an audience.
Anyway after a couple rounds of walking/getting monitored they got strong enough that I NEEDED to rock back and forth thrugh them. I started moaning with each contraction. Thy hurt, bad, but so far they were familiar and I felt in control of them. Mentally, though I was not in the best place, partly because my mom was there, which made me feel inhibited, and partly because it was a totally unplanned hospital birth, which made me tense, nervous and anxious. Around 8:30 PM they started to feel different than any contractions I'd had with ds. They were suddenly MUCH stronger and so close together that I arely had time to catch my breath between. SO timed a few and told me that they were 2 minutes from start to start and lasted 90-100 seconds. I got really grumpy and yelled at my mom to go home
(she didn't, anyway) I mostly didn't want to be touched at this point but SO brought me warm/cool washcloths, and he let me hang on to him with my arms around his neck, and pull really hard. I must have really been pulling because he's pretty strong, and he almost fell into me a couple times. 
Around 9 she checked and said I was dilated to 5, and told me i was great progress. I was encouraged because the labor was getting intense, and I felt sure that the baby was going to come relatively soon. about 9:30 SO commented to the nurse about how much blood was dripping out of me, and was a little concerned as well. I felt that it was a sure sign I was dilating and in fact I could *feel* dd's head pressing against my cervix. It was a really weird feling and I was sure that's what it was. They put me back on the monitors and I was on my hands ad knees, rocking through the contractions and holding the stupid belt in place at the same time. Being confined to the bed made the contractions so much more difficult to get through.
I felt instictively that I had hit transition. I was going from hot to cold and back again so fast that I couldn't even keep up with whether I wanted the blanket off or on, etc. When I got off the monitor I felt like I needed to poop, and went into the bathroom. I did, and the contractions got even more intense after that. I could feel the baby's head and with each contraction I felt a slight urge to puch, but then er head would go back up a little ad I knew I wasn't ready to push, but I felt that I was very close to it. I guessed that I was at a 7 or 8.
At 10:30 she agreed to check me again, andtold me that I was wrong, sorry, only to a 5 and the baby's head hadn't moved. This made me totally lose cnfidence in myself, because I had been SURE of what I felt. In addition the contrctions were coming harder and faster than ever. Our home birth midwife was on her way and got there shortl after. By the time she got there my morale was totally gone. I was so discouraged that I had been laboring so hard and hadn't dlated. I guess I looked pretty bad, lol, because she asked me if I had cnsidered pain medicine. I didn't want it, but faced with te thought of hours more like this with no progress, I was thinking about it. I think I even said, "I think Iwant something for pain now," during one of the contractions. At this point I was getting through every contraction by half standing, half squatting, with my legs apart and my hands on my thighs. I had already stripped off my shirt half n hour ago, and never put my pants back on after the last check. My mom kept rying to pu hospital gwns nd blankets o me, teling me to be modest, and I kept resisting the urge to yell obscenities. I did yell at her though. By then I was past the poin of modesty and really did not care.
Right when I said "I canNOT take this pain," and really meant it, I was stil getting the urge to push, and a rather large turd came gliding out of my butt. I didn't see it, but apparently SO did, and he thinks it's hilarious I felt it though, and I kept thinking to myself, "I have all the signs of transition. I feel he baby's head. I need to push!" I kep saying I needed to push but until the poop thing n one believed me.When they saw that, thy told me to get on the bed quick so they could check me. I was "complete" ad she could see the baby's head, prtty much coming out. they anted m to lie on m back and I kept saying, "I can't." The physical need to push was overwhelming, just as i had been with ds. ut because of the last hour of laboring thinking I had misread all my bdy's signals, I had los confidence in myself. I kept saying "I can't do it, I cn't do it," over and over again. My midwife, bless her heart, got really "tough" and was like, "uh, yes you can, you did it before,you can do it again. You have no choice. Calm down. CALM DOWN." That was exactly what I needed to hear. I had reached a point where I felt panicky and out of control and I knew she was right. With ds birth I fet lots of pain but I never got hysterical. This time I felt out of control, and I didn't like it. I felt like I was being a baby (ok, I guess i WAS being a baby lol).
I calmed down, tried to pant (that does NOT work, btw!) and then they pulled the mirror close and tol me to push. One push and she crowned. Another push and I said, "THAT is a ring of fire." lol That was her head. Another good, but insanely long, push and she came slithering out at 11:37PM. I think as long as I live will never forget seeing her daddy cry as he watched her emerge. I had never seen hat before, and it made every second worth it. She weighed just an ounce shy of 7 lbs and was 19 inches long. Of course, she was covered in vernix so clearly not a dangerously postdate baby. She did have a ton of hair and ridiculously long nails though.
t wasn't the calm, peaceful birth I'd envisioned. I would not choose to do it that way for a subsequent baby. They kept us in the hospital for 2 days and shooed me out of the nursery when I brough her down for vitals and so forth. The whole pp experience was a major PITA. I felt fine by about 6 am and wanted to go home, and the doc agreed to discharge me, but they woldn'rt let dd leave. So I decided not to be discharged so that I would have a place to stay whle we waited out the 48 hour thing (they let her go finally around 4 on Friday).
However I feel blessed because dd is healthy and beautful, we got through labor and delivery medication-free if not intervention free, and I have had no recovery to make. I didn't tear, had no hemorrhoids and the bleeding is so minimal I'm thrilled. I came home Friday afternoon and cleaned the house from top to bottom. Saturday I ran to target with dd in the wrap, and Sunday we were at our place of worship. She has already suurpassed her birth weight and nurses lilke a champ. ds thinks she is cute and likes to "pet" her lol. So we are very fortunate and I feel so blessed. I didn't feel the instant connection that I did with ds, but a couple days later it really did just hit me and now I totally get how your heart just gets bigger to love that scond baby.
It was a lot of pressure and I was already stressed out for a number of reasons, but I was terrified of the induction experience, particulrly pitocin. Finally I agreed to let them break my water first, and see if that did anything. They also wanted me to stop eating and drinking, be on an IV for fluids (do we see something wron with THAT logic????) and have continuous monitoring.
I managed to talk them into only 20 minutes per hour of monitoring, and only to be hooked up to the IV for that same time. The rest of the time it was just a heploc in my arm. Of course I continued to eat and drink whenever the nurses weren't paying attention
Around 4 PM the doctor broke my water and stripped my membranes, and within 15 minutes I started having contractions about 5-7 minutes apart. At this point it was just me, SO and ds in the room. We had called my mom earlier to see if she could meet us there and take ds to her house, but she ended up not arriving until about 5:30. It was pretty calm at that point....SO was calling all his friends/family back home to tell them I was *finally* in labor, and ds was sitting in the hospital bed with me, reading books and snacking. the contractions made me catch my breath but were still manageable (to me, according to the monitors they were pretty hard).
Around 5:30 my mom finally arrived. When she got there SO and ds were out of the room having gone to the vending machine or something. She insisted that I walk with her (I was waiting for SO to come back, to walk with him, expcting that by then ds would be gone with my mom.) It turned out that my mom was just there to be there, did not plan on leaving right away, and had summoned my dad from work to get ds and take him home.
I guessshe felt that since she was prsent for ds' brth sh should be for this one too, but it felt like overkill because with ds the father was not there, whereas this time I had someone with me already. My mom kept telling me to listen to the nurses and stop eating, how to walk, saying "jokingly" that I was a rebel, etc. She also got irritated because she wanted me to announce every time I had a contraction so she could keep track. Me, I'm like a cat or something. I would prefer to crawl into a hole somewhere away from everyone, and emerge hors later with a baby. Announcing every contaction is NOT my style. I don't like an audience.Anyway after a couple rounds of walking/getting monitored they got strong enough that I NEEDED to rock back and forth thrugh them. I started moaning with each contraction. Thy hurt, bad, but so far they were familiar and I felt in control of them. Mentally, though I was not in the best place, partly because my mom was there, which made me feel inhibited, and partly because it was a totally unplanned hospital birth, which made me tense, nervous and anxious. Around 8:30 PM they started to feel different than any contractions I'd had with ds. They were suddenly MUCH stronger and so close together that I arely had time to catch my breath between. SO timed a few and told me that they were 2 minutes from start to start and lasted 90-100 seconds. I got really grumpy and yelled at my mom to go home
(she didn't, anyway) I mostly didn't want to be touched at this point but SO brought me warm/cool washcloths, and he let me hang on to him with my arms around his neck, and pull really hard. I must have really been pulling because he's pretty strong, and he almost fell into me a couple times. Around 9 she checked and said I was dilated to 5, and told me i was great progress. I was encouraged because the labor was getting intense, and I felt sure that the baby was going to come relatively soon. about 9:30 SO commented to the nurse about how much blood was dripping out of me, and was a little concerned as well. I felt that it was a sure sign I was dilating and in fact I could *feel* dd's head pressing against my cervix. It was a really weird feling and I was sure that's what it was. They put me back on the monitors and I was on my hands ad knees, rocking through the contractions and holding the stupid belt in place at the same time. Being confined to the bed made the contractions so much more difficult to get through.
I felt instictively that I had hit transition. I was going from hot to cold and back again so fast that I couldn't even keep up with whether I wanted the blanket off or on, etc. When I got off the monitor I felt like I needed to poop, and went into the bathroom. I did, and the contractions got even more intense after that. I could feel the baby's head and with each contraction I felt a slight urge to puch, but then er head would go back up a little ad I knew I wasn't ready to push, but I felt that I was very close to it. I guessed that I was at a 7 or 8.
At 10:30 she agreed to check me again, andtold me that I was wrong, sorry, only to a 5 and the baby's head hadn't moved. This made me totally lose cnfidence in myself, because I had been SURE of what I felt. In addition the contrctions were coming harder and faster than ever. Our home birth midwife was on her way and got there shortl after. By the time she got there my morale was totally gone. I was so discouraged that I had been laboring so hard and hadn't dlated. I guess I looked pretty bad, lol, because she asked me if I had cnsidered pain medicine. I didn't want it, but faced with te thought of hours more like this with no progress, I was thinking about it. I think I even said, "I think Iwant something for pain now," during one of the contractions. At this point I was getting through every contraction by half standing, half squatting, with my legs apart and my hands on my thighs. I had already stripped off my shirt half n hour ago, and never put my pants back on after the last check. My mom kept rying to pu hospital gwns nd blankets o me, teling me to be modest, and I kept resisting the urge to yell obscenities.
I did yell at her though. By then I was past the poin of modesty and really did not care.Right when I said "I canNOT take this pain," and really meant it, I was stil getting the urge to push, and a rather large turd came gliding out of my butt. I didn't see it, but apparently SO did, and he thinks it's hilarious
I felt it though, and I kept thinking to myself, "I have all the signs of transition. I feel he baby's head. I need to push!" I kep saying I needed to push but until the poop thing n one believed me.When they saw that, thy told me to get on the bed quick so they could check me. I was "complete" ad she could see the baby's head, prtty much coming out. they anted m to lie on m back and I kept saying, "I can't." The physical need to push was overwhelming, just as i had been with ds. ut because of the last hour of laboring thinking I had misread all my bdy's signals, I had los confidence in myself. I kept saying "I can't do it, I cn't do it," over and over again. My midwife, bless her heart, got really "tough" and was like, "uh, yes you can, you did it before,you can do it again. You have no choice. Calm down. CALM DOWN." That was exactly what I needed to hear. I had reached a point where I felt panicky and out of control and I knew she was right. With ds birth I fet lots of pain but I never got hysterical. This time I felt out of control, and I didn't like it. I felt like I was being a baby (ok, I guess i WAS being a baby lol). I calmed down, tried to pant (that does NOT work, btw!) and then they pulled the mirror close and tol me to push. One push and she crowned. Another push and I said, "THAT is a ring of fire." lol That was her head. Another good, but insanely long, push and she came slithering out at 11:37PM. I think as long as I live will never forget seeing her daddy cry as he watched her emerge. I had never seen hat before, and it made every second worth it. She weighed just an ounce shy of 7 lbs and was 19 inches long. Of course, she was covered in vernix so clearly not a dangerously postdate baby
. She did have a ton of hair and ridiculously long nails though.t wasn't the calm, peaceful birth I'd envisioned. I would not choose to do it that way for a subsequent baby. They kept us in the hospital for 2 days and shooed me out of the nursery when I brough her down for vitals and so forth. The whole pp experience was a major PITA. I felt fine by about 6 am and wanted to go home, and the doc agreed to discharge me, but they woldn'rt let dd leave. So I decided not to be discharged so that I would have a place to stay whle we waited out the 48 hour thing (they let her go finally around 4 on Friday).
However I feel blessed because dd is healthy and beautful, we got through labor and delivery medication-free if not intervention free, and I have had no recovery to make. I didn't tear, had no hemorrhoids and the bleeding is so minimal I'm thrilled. I came home Friday afternoon and cleaned the house from top to bottom. Saturday I ran to target with dd in the wrap, and Sunday we were at our place of worship. She has already suurpassed her birth weight and nurses lilke a champ. ds thinks she is cute and likes to "pet" her lol. So we are very fortunate and I feel so blessed. I didn't feel the instant connection that I did with ds, but a couple days later it really did just hit me and now I totally get how your heart just gets bigger to love that scond baby.
