Update
Thanks all! Here's a quick birth story - an excerpt from an email I sent a friend. I'll ETA pics shortly.As you all know I had been having prelabour and prodromal labour for about 2 weeks before his birth and it was driving me up the wall! So when I started getting ctxns at 4:45 a.m. on Tuesday, I waited a bit to see if they'd intensify or peter out... but since I had a fast 3 hr labour with dd2, the MWs wanted me to contact them right away. At 6 a.m. I paged the MW because while the ctxns were short, they were regular and kept getting closer together. In an hour they went from 6 min apart to 4 min to 3 to 2 to 3 to 5 again... The calvalry arrived at about 7 a.m. The MW checked me and I was 4-5 cm, 80% effaced.
My dad picked up the kids at 8 a.m. and yeah, I was reaaaallly glad he did when things got rolling because I really let myself surrender and made quite a lot of rukus.
My baby had been ROA/ROT, I did lunges and stuff during labour to try to get him OA. Instead he went ROP! I had only had about 3 hrs of sleep when labour started so I was tired. After lunges I went to bed for a bit... then hated lying down through the surges, felt restless, got up and spent a lot of time on the toilet. Things started to get more difficult and intense, I was breathing through ctxns with my eyes closed and really working through them. My lower back was really starting to hurt so I had my doula bring a hot water bottle which helped.Again I got really restless and overheard the MWs whispering that this baby would come soon. Would I like to lay on the birthing bed? Yes. Then things really got rolling.
I then had terrible back labour because he was OP. OMG, I had some back labour before with the girls but nothing like this. If my doula and dh and MWs weren't there to press on my lower back and do hip squeezes, I would NOT have been able to cope. I was shocked by the intensity of the pain. I thought of another mama here in our DDC who birthed her baby OP and hats off to her for coping. I know we all have different experiences, but man...
I got to a good roaring 8 c.m. and my MW kept dangling the AROM carrot. Finally I felt like I had had enough waiting and trying to let my body do it alone. I just wanted this baby to be born! The MW broke my water at 10:55 a.m., about 6 hrs from the time I had my first ctx, about 5 hrs from when active labour started.
When she broke my water, baby finally came all the way down, pushed the last bit of cervix out of the way... everything just went super intense, super fast. Dh said I scared him with my intensity.
Once I got the urge to push I flipped from my side up on to hands and knees. I pushed like an animal, roaring through it all. I just wanted to get this baby out ASAP!!! I felt like I was going to rip in half at the ring of fire, and while I'm screaming that and shouting HELP ME! my MW calmly says, "Yes it feels like that, and you just have to push into that feeling." I knew it was true, but I had to get a psychological foothold to do it, you know? "Okay," I said, and then roared him down. "Where is he?" "His head is starting to come out, feel for yourself." OMG that was the coolest thing, once I felt his little head sticking out of my vagina, I pushed the rest of him out - head, neck - relief, shoulders, he just slid all out in one push while I was on my hands and knees at 11:00 a.m.I flipped onto my back. He was quite blue for awhile after he had been born because of how quickly he came into the world. They placed him right on my belly. He did a little crying and squaking but the MWs wanted more so they gave him some good rubs and heel flicks. I was sooo happy to see him and sooo relieved it was over. He pinked up nicely after they took him, did some stuff, and then placed him back skin-to-skin with me. I birthed the placenta at 11:05 a.m. with no fuss.
Today I have such soreness in my muscles (arms, sides, legs, neck) from labour. Advil is my friend! Also for the afterpains too... which I didn't have that much of with the girls. This time? Holy cow.
I only had a one degree tear and a couple of little lacerations around my clitoris... I opted to just close my legs for a week and get lots of rest rather than have them stitch it.
The girls are thrilled - well, esp. dd1. She is over the moon for her little brother and won't stop loving on him. Dd2 is taking the transition with some difficulty. She had been regressing back to wetting herself frequently even though she's potty trained for eons now. She had been crying a lot and very clingy. She's also 2.5 so she's going through all the 2/3 year old stuff being independent, argumentative, etc. Poor little munchkin. Dh and I are doing our best to give her lots of TLC. She'll be okay.
I thank the Lord my mother is here to take the kids during the day, and dh is off work until Aug 9 to mother me while I nurse and take care of ds. He nurses a lot so I've been very sleep deprived in the first 24 hrs, also due to the fact that I only slept 3 hrs before he was born.
I'm really loving on him and dh and I are quite amazed at how ds looks sooo much like dh's late father, who died a month before dd2 was born. It's eerie. We feel so blessed.
Off to figure out uploading pics...
ETA- hope this works
http://s808.photobucket.com/home/wis...view=slideshow
Maybe I'll wait and see what my MW says on Fri when she checks me and if I need some extra support, I'll take it. Anyway, hope the arnica is helping you!
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