My son was born sunday night (May 30th) at 11:48pm, 8lbs 14oz, by a med free natural birth. It was AMAZING, and I never want to do it again. 
He was 9 days past due.
Labor started off at home, where I have been having on/off contractions for easily 2 weeks. A NST and membrane sweep on friday kick started a LOT of discomfort over the weekend, and I went into what I knew was "something different" at around 5:00 on friday night. So I put everyone on alert (just incase) and went to bed to try to sleep, and by 7 I knew this was it. By 8:00 my midwife and both my doulas were at my house. I was already dilated to 7 (with a surprisingly small amount of pain) so it was decided that I should go to the hospital. I wanted to try for a homebirth, but with all the complications I had with my daughter, I felt more safe at the hospital. And I'm glad I went because I got the midwife room, complete with a water tub!! YAY!
I did most of my laboring in the water (aka heaven), but my bag of water never broke and labor was not progressing, even though I reached 10cm quickly. It was decided that breaking them would speed things up and help him decend, so I got out of the water and agreed to manually do that. He dropped immediately, so I got back into the water to push. As it turned out, gravity (or lack there of) was working against me so I got out to hang over the squat bar, and one hour later, he was born.
I have SUCH a strong respect for you women who have long med free births. I was calm and controlled until the real pushing started, and then I turned into the biggest wimp ever. I was tired, and completely out of resources. I pushed, I screamed, I tore (3rd degree), and then, a baby was delivered to my chest.
I didn't get the waterbirth I had dreamed of since my first birth, but I got my VBAC. The whole thing happened really fast. I pushed for almost exactly an hour, and although 5 hours went pretty quickly, an hour of pushing was about all I could do without passing out right there on the table. Even with the threats of another c/s, I was finding it hard to keep going.
AND HUGE THANK YOUS to everyone who gave me advice and support throughout this whole ordeal. It's been a horrible pregnancy (morning sickness, extreme dizziness, anemia/low thyroid, multiple colds/flus, pmeunonia, septicemia, stomach flu, SPD, the list goes on), and I was beginning to think that my dream of a natural childbirth might not happen. I'm in a LOT of pain between the stitches and rectal swelling (things they don't tell you!), but this is a breeze in comparisson to what I've been through over the last nine months. Especially with having to take care of my daughter (she's 20 months old).
I've truly been blessed with a beautiful healthy boy (which was of course my biggest concern during this pregnancy), and now all I can hope for is a speedy recovery so I can enjoy him a little more.
He was 9 days past due.
Labor started off at home, where I have been having on/off contractions for easily 2 weeks. A NST and membrane sweep on friday kick started a LOT of discomfort over the weekend, and I went into what I knew was "something different" at around 5:00 on friday night. So I put everyone on alert (just incase) and went to bed to try to sleep, and by 7 I knew this was it. By 8:00 my midwife and both my doulas were at my house. I was already dilated to 7 (with a surprisingly small amount of pain) so it was decided that I should go to the hospital. I wanted to try for a homebirth, but with all the complications I had with my daughter, I felt more safe at the hospital. And I'm glad I went because I got the midwife room, complete with a water tub!! YAY!
I did most of my laboring in the water (aka heaven), but my bag of water never broke and labor was not progressing, even though I reached 10cm quickly. It was decided that breaking them would speed things up and help him decend, so I got out of the water and agreed to manually do that. He dropped immediately, so I got back into the water to push. As it turned out, gravity (or lack there of) was working against me so I got out to hang over the squat bar, and one hour later, he was born.
I have SUCH a strong respect for you women who have long med free births. I was calm and controlled until the real pushing started, and then I turned into the biggest wimp ever. I was tired, and completely out of resources. I pushed, I screamed, I tore (3rd degree), and then, a baby was delivered to my chest.
I didn't get the waterbirth I had dreamed of since my first birth, but I got my VBAC. The whole thing happened really fast. I pushed for almost exactly an hour, and although 5 hours went pretty quickly, an hour of pushing was about all I could do without passing out right there on the table. Even with the threats of another c/s, I was finding it hard to keep going.
AND HUGE THANK YOUS to everyone who gave me advice and support throughout this whole ordeal. It's been a horrible pregnancy (morning sickness, extreme dizziness, anemia/low thyroid, multiple colds/flus, pmeunonia, septicemia, stomach flu, SPD, the list goes on), and I was beginning to think that my dream of a natural childbirth might not happen. I'm in a LOT of pain between the stitches and rectal swelling (things they don't tell you!), but this is a breeze in comparisson to what I've been through over the last nine months. Especially with having to take care of my daughter (she's 20 months old).
I've truly been blessed with a beautiful healthy boy (which was of course my biggest concern during this pregnancy), and now all I can hope for is a speedy recovery so I can enjoy him a little more.
