Baby Annie's birth story...
I guess i'll start at the beginning.. even though i didn't know it was the beginning.. I started losing my mucus plug on the night before my due date (9-14-10), just a little and no blood so i assumed it would still be another week or so before labor began. Thursday night, the day after my due date, I started having irregular contractions, similar to the prodromal labor I'd experienced with my other pregnancies but had less of this time.. figured this was a sign I’d be pregnant forever.. I went to bed and slept fine until 3am when i woke up to pee. As i was waddling to the bathroom, i said to myself (in my head) 'come on grandma, do something about this!' meaning, it was my late-grandma's birthday and i was uncomfortable and wanted labor to start.. annnnd as soon as i sat on the toilet there was a gush of fluid! (not pee!) my water broke! I think? (either way - thanks Grandma) The fluid was brownish (meconium stained, though i was in denial about that at the time, it wasn’t that dark, and I was hoping it was brown for some other reason..) I tried to go back to bed all I did was stare at the clock realizing I was having mild contractions every 7 mins.. yay! it was actually starting!.. of course part of me was saying.. ‘you know, never mind, let’s not have a baby today’ … At 4am I went out and sat on my birth ball and played games on my phone and timed contractions, at 5:45 J woke up and noticed I was up and asked me what was going on.. I told him something along the lines of “Labor… I think.. yeah, pretty sure.. ” and at 6:10 I called my midwife.. (who scolded me for not calling her sooner due to the meconium stained fluid - oops) My midwife lives about an hour away (and had to get ready), so she arrived at about 7:40am .. Right about the time she arrived things started to get intense feeling and my contractions got closer together (from about 5min apart to 3-4min) She checked me and I was 3-4cm and 100% effaced - but my cervix was still high and posterior. Here is where I stopped watching the clock so some of my details are a little off.. I moved around and labored for a while.. no idea how long but long enough.. my midwife said I tried every position known to homebirth.. I sat on the toilet, the birth stool, the ball, the floor.. etc. when i was on the toilet, my midwife checked the baby with the doppler and she was not happy.. i had to switch positions a lot to keep her cord from compressing due to the lack of fluid.. then came more meconium and some heart tone issues.. she checked again and I was about the same... she said they (midwife and her assistant) would have to hold my cervix to help it stay in a better position so that baby's head could apply pressure so i could dilate – they said they would hold it for a few contractions and it should move into place .. but turns out it would not stay in place and they took turns holding my cervix to keep it in place until I was almost done pushing (until baby’s head was in the cervix to hold it..) This was not pleasant, but it was MUCH better than being in labor forever and not getting past 4cm..(or “stalling” as they called it in my other labors, when the exact same thing happened and they turned up the pitocin and told me I needed to get an epidural to ‘relax’) I progressed fairly quickly once they started this – shortly after, at around 6cm, i was involuntarily pushing and my birth team became concerned.. obviously this was not good, I needed to relax .. so they moved me to the bathtub and told me to blow through contractions.. (don't forget, still someone's hand in me nearly all the time, and another person holding a doppler on my belly) the bathtub was nice, they poured water over my belly because my tub is not very deep and it did take a bit of the edge off the contractions.. I don’t know how long I was in the tub, but I was starting to push again (could not stop it this time) and at 9-10 with more not-so-good fetal heart tones when I was rather suddenly pulled from the tub and back in the other room on the birth stool.. heart tones got better, but not great so out came the oxygen tank I pushed with the oxygen and on the birth stool for a while? (its around 11:30am) my cervix was still slipping around and not quite staying in the right position for baby to come through – My midwife did comment at one point that I was not one of those people who would ever have a baby just slip out of me, I would always have to work for it and work HARD..(probably due to my babies’ big heads). So not what i wanted to hear at that point, but obvious and true. She also mentioned that I was one of the lucky ones who really needed to dilate to a 11-12 to get a baby out, not just the usual 10.. again, awesome. I didn’t even know that was possible.. After a bit, baby was doing better so we turned off the very annoying oxygen - So I continued my position changing while pushing I was just trying to get comfortable .. (haha yeah.. right) .. contractions were still horrible, my hips felt like they were breaking in several places, and I just could NOT get my legs/hips far enough apart.. I was also hurting so bad through my pelvis that I could barely tell what was a contractions and I felt the urge to push constantly, not just during contractions.. I needed to rest because I was getting really worn out but resting was not great either.. so, I pushed leaning on the edge of the bed, push on my side on the floor (they acted like I was crazy but this was way more comfortable) 12:18 moved to hands and knees/kneeling upright supported by DH (not enough room between my bottom and the ground for baby to come out so i had to lean over when it got closer) All this time baby was 'cork screwing' turning and turning trying to find the best way out. (i kind of wish she could have just asked for directions.. would have been faster) which was also very uncomfortable. Again, at this point there was still someone in there holding my cervix… at about 12:30, 1 hour into pushing, Baby FINALLY moved past the cervix and she was 'right there' (My midwife showed me her hand saying she could feel the baby between her first & 2nd knuckles) ok.. so i'm close.. right? sure felt close.. but of course – I heard my midwife quietly tell her assistant she thought it would be another hour. I was NOT going to have that.. I did not want to do this for another minute so I started pushing like a madwoman.. no more of this letting tissues stretch or whatever they were telling me was happening.. it was still another 1/2 hour or so-. i did not care if i tore or if i was having a contraction (couldn’t really tell the difference anyway), Sometime near the end they could not find baby’s heartbeat.. at all.. My midwife said (not to me, but I overheard) that it didn’t matter now anyway, she was coming out) I just pushed as much as I could push to get her OUT..eventually, she was crowning, which lasted about 3 contractions, then her head was out to tell there no cord around the neck, great keep pushing, oh wait, I guess time was up and it was time for baby to come out - suddenly my midwife’s arm was inside me (up to her elbow according to innocent bystanders such as my mother in law who is likely forever traumatized) and she pulled out baby while i screamed .. a lot. thankfully that part was FAST and could have been much worse.. Baby’s cord was around her shoulders, that is how it was being compressed through labor.. but she was out and boy was that a relief. finally out..As you may remember, I was on my hands and knees (and have the rug burns to show for it) so when they got her out they placed her on my back and rubbed her down and got her crying and all that... on my back.. which was kind of funny to me for some reason, once she was crying they handed her between my legs and to the side and i was able to lay down on the floor and get a good look at her.. adorable. totally worth it. and still a girl! then we hung out while my midwife did a lot more suctioning to get out the meconium goop baby was coughing up.. We waited til the cord stopped pulsing, which was not long, less than 10 mins, and then Daddy clamped and cut the cord. After about 20 mins the placenta came out in one push, with no additional help needed that was also the moment when Baby latched on for the first time.. At that point it was time for a bath for baby and I.. i didn't bleed more than a few drops until sometime after we'd been in the bathtub, so no issues with hemorrhaging or any of that thankfully.. I was able to get up and WALK to the bathroom and get in the tub about 30mins after giving birth (which i just have to mention, this being my first non-epidural birth and all) .. I washed up first, then they brought baby in and she nursed in the tub while we washed her up.. and that is where my big kids met their baby sister for the first time!
I tore in 2 places (possibly because of that part at the end with the adult arm in me) and I’m pretty sore now.. (2 days later) .. baby is nursing great (as in constantly, having to work with her on latch, but she is getting better all the time) and my milk came in at about 36 hours..
7lbs 6oz, 21.5in long, 13 7/8 in head.. born at 1:03pm in our bedroom after 10 hours of labor..
I guess i'll start at the beginning.. even though i didn't know it was the beginning.. I started losing my mucus plug on the night before my due date (9-14-10), just a little and no blood so i assumed it would still be another week or so before labor began. Thursday night, the day after my due date, I started having irregular contractions, similar to the prodromal labor I'd experienced with my other pregnancies but had less of this time.. figured this was a sign I’d be pregnant forever.. I went to bed and slept fine until 3am when i woke up to pee. As i was waddling to the bathroom, i said to myself (in my head) 'come on grandma, do something about this!' meaning, it was my late-grandma's birthday and i was uncomfortable and wanted labor to start.. annnnd as soon as i sat on the toilet there was a gush of fluid! (not pee!) my water broke! I think? (either way - thanks Grandma) The fluid was brownish (meconium stained, though i was in denial about that at the time, it wasn’t that dark, and I was hoping it was brown for some other reason..) I tried to go back to bed all I did was stare at the clock realizing I was having mild contractions every 7 mins.. yay! it was actually starting!.. of course part of me was saying.. ‘you know, never mind, let’s not have a baby today’ … At 4am I went out and sat on my birth ball and played games on my phone and timed contractions, at 5:45 J woke up and noticed I was up and asked me what was going on.. I told him something along the lines of “Labor… I think.. yeah, pretty sure.. ” and at 6:10 I called my midwife.. (who scolded me for not calling her sooner due to the meconium stained fluid - oops) My midwife lives about an hour away (and had to get ready), so she arrived at about 7:40am .. Right about the time she arrived things started to get intense feeling and my contractions got closer together (from about 5min apart to 3-4min) She checked me and I was 3-4cm and 100% effaced - but my cervix was still high and posterior. Here is where I stopped watching the clock so some of my details are a little off.. I moved around and labored for a while.. no idea how long but long enough.. my midwife said I tried every position known to homebirth.. I sat on the toilet, the birth stool, the ball, the floor.. etc. when i was on the toilet, my midwife checked the baby with the doppler and she was not happy.. i had to switch positions a lot to keep her cord from compressing due to the lack of fluid.. then came more meconium and some heart tone issues.. she checked again and I was about the same... she said they (midwife and her assistant) would have to hold my cervix to help it stay in a better position so that baby's head could apply pressure so i could dilate – they said they would hold it for a few contractions and it should move into place .. but turns out it would not stay in place and they took turns holding my cervix to keep it in place until I was almost done pushing (until baby’s head was in the cervix to hold it..) This was not pleasant, but it was MUCH better than being in labor forever and not getting past 4cm..(or “stalling” as they called it in my other labors, when the exact same thing happened and they turned up the pitocin and told me I needed to get an epidural to ‘relax’) I progressed fairly quickly once they started this – shortly after, at around 6cm, i was involuntarily pushing and my birth team became concerned.. obviously this was not good, I needed to relax .. so they moved me to the bathtub and told me to blow through contractions.. (don't forget, still someone's hand in me nearly all the time, and another person holding a doppler on my belly) the bathtub was nice, they poured water over my belly because my tub is not very deep and it did take a bit of the edge off the contractions.. I don’t know how long I was in the tub, but I was starting to push again (could not stop it this time) and at 9-10 with more not-so-good fetal heart tones when I was rather suddenly pulled from the tub and back in the other room on the birth stool.. heart tones got better, but not great so out came the oxygen tank I pushed with the oxygen and on the birth stool for a while? (its around 11:30am) my cervix was still slipping around and not quite staying in the right position for baby to come through – My midwife did comment at one point that I was not one of those people who would ever have a baby just slip out of me, I would always have to work for it and work HARD..(probably due to my babies’ big heads). So not what i wanted to hear at that point, but obvious and true. She also mentioned that I was one of the lucky ones who really needed to dilate to a 11-12 to get a baby out, not just the usual 10.. again, awesome. I didn’t even know that was possible.. After a bit, baby was doing better so we turned off the very annoying oxygen - So I continued my position changing while pushing I was just trying to get comfortable .. (haha yeah.. right) .. contractions were still horrible, my hips felt like they were breaking in several places, and I just could NOT get my legs/hips far enough apart.. I was also hurting so bad through my pelvis that I could barely tell what was a contractions and I felt the urge to push constantly, not just during contractions.. I needed to rest because I was getting really worn out but resting was not great either.. so, I pushed leaning on the edge of the bed, push on my side on the floor (they acted like I was crazy but this was way more comfortable) 12:18 moved to hands and knees/kneeling upright supported by DH (not enough room between my bottom and the ground for baby to come out so i had to lean over when it got closer) All this time baby was 'cork screwing' turning and turning trying to find the best way out. (i kind of wish she could have just asked for directions.. would have been faster) which was also very uncomfortable. Again, at this point there was still someone in there holding my cervix… at about 12:30, 1 hour into pushing, Baby FINALLY moved past the cervix and she was 'right there' (My midwife showed me her hand saying she could feel the baby between her first & 2nd knuckles) ok.. so i'm close.. right? sure felt close.. but of course – I heard my midwife quietly tell her assistant she thought it would be another hour. I was NOT going to have that.. I did not want to do this for another minute so I started pushing like a madwoman.. no more of this letting tissues stretch or whatever they were telling me was happening.. it was still another 1/2 hour or so-. i did not care if i tore or if i was having a contraction (couldn’t really tell the difference anyway), Sometime near the end they could not find baby’s heartbeat.. at all.. My midwife said (not to me, but I overheard) that it didn’t matter now anyway, she was coming out) I just pushed as much as I could push to get her OUT..eventually, she was crowning, which lasted about 3 contractions, then her head was out to tell there no cord around the neck, great keep pushing, oh wait, I guess time was up and it was time for baby to come out - suddenly my midwife’s arm was inside me (up to her elbow according to innocent bystanders such as my mother in law who is likely forever traumatized) and she pulled out baby while i screamed .. a lot. thankfully that part was FAST and could have been much worse.. Baby’s cord was around her shoulders, that is how it was being compressed through labor.. but she was out and boy was that a relief. finally out..As you may remember, I was on my hands and knees (and have the rug burns to show for it) so when they got her out they placed her on my back and rubbed her down and got her crying and all that... on my back.. which was kind of funny to me for some reason, once she was crying they handed her between my legs and to the side and i was able to lay down on the floor and get a good look at her.. adorable. totally worth it. and still a girl! then we hung out while my midwife did a lot more suctioning to get out the meconium goop baby was coughing up.. We waited til the cord stopped pulsing, which was not long, less than 10 mins, and then Daddy clamped and cut the cord. After about 20 mins the placenta came out in one push, with no additional help needed that was also the moment when Baby latched on for the first time.. At that point it was time for a bath for baby and I.. i didn't bleed more than a few drops until sometime after we'd been in the bathtub, so no issues with hemorrhaging or any of that thankfully.. I was able to get up and WALK to the bathroom and get in the tub about 30mins after giving birth (which i just have to mention, this being my first non-epidural birth and all) .. I washed up first, then they brought baby in and she nursed in the tub while we washed her up.. and that is where my big kids met their baby sister for the first time!
I tore in 2 places (possibly because of that part at the end with the adult arm in me) and I’m pretty sore now.. (2 days later) .. baby is nursing great (as in constantly, having to work with her on latch, but she is getting better all the time) and my milk came in at about 36 hours..
7lbs 6oz, 21.5in long, 13 7/8 in head.. born at 1:03pm in our bedroom after 10 hours of labor..
