Our eldest (first born) son had named his baby brother "Rice Krispy Ben" an homage I suppose to his favourite things, rice krispies and Ben 10. Lol. The name stuck, and by the end of the pregnancy everyone was calling the baby RKB. This is RKB's birth story
Saturday 18th September 2010
RKB was due on the 8th of September 2010. But that date came and went with no sign of the baby. I’d been having Braxton hicks contractions on and off for a few weeks. My sister (T) was leaving for the UK two days after RKB’s due date, so on Monday 6th September, I went to see X (X) so we could do a stretch and sweep and hopefully kickstart labour into happening in time for T to attend the birth. The S&S was painful, uncomfortable and unsuccessful . At my Wednesday 40 week appointment with X , we did another S&S in the hopes that it would work this time. It didn’t, despite the fact that I was 3cm dilated. T left for the UK on the 10th and RKB still hadn’t arrived.
X has a 10 day overdue limit, after that point she induces. I went in for my 41 week appointment and we agreed that Saturday 18th September would be the date we induce. I wanted that date because Luka’s (our eldest) sports day was in the morning and I wanted to give him a ‘last hurrah’, something that was his before his life changed with the arrival of his baby brother.
We arrived at Genesis Clinic at about 11h30 and settled into our room – the first one on the left, the one I wanted! Ntombi came in and chatted to us and we basically milled about waiting for X . My mom was there with Luka, which wasn’t really conducive to having a conversation. We monitored RKB’s heart rate for about 20 minutes. My mom and Luka left at that point.
X arrived and we chatted a bit. She did an internal (sore!) and I was still at 3cm, she then put in half the dose of the gel (prandin) at 12h30 – it was a burny odd sensation. The plan was that she’d insert the gel, I’d lie still for an hour then we’d go for a walk and some lunch at a restaurant then be back in 4 to 5 hours to see if any contractions had started.
That plan went straight out of the window as I began having contractions as soon as the gel was inserted. I was glad to have read the induction birth stories on BN because I wasn’t surprised when the contractions hit so quickly and by how intense they were. I was lying on my side on the bed trying to concentrate on breathing through the pain. X came in and said we needed to monitor baby’s reaction and then I could get off the bed and walk around (I wanted to get on the birthing ball – at home, bouncing on the ball had felt comfortable during Braxton hicks contractions). She put the monitor on and RKB was responding fine and before the hour was up, I was allowed to get onto the ball. I immediately felt better and more in control of myself as I sat on the ball and bounced. I started practicing the breathing, making sure I inhaled red and exhaled blue. It helped to make a noise as I exhaled – it was part of my loosening my jaw as Ina May Gaskin suggested in her books.
X stayed in the room and we chatted about arb things, as if all was normal. It was quite weird, laughing and chatting about normal things whilst knowing that we’d started the process of bringing RKB into the world. X thought I may break one of her patients record, she had been given the gel and 56 minutes later had given birth, I hoped to NOT break this record! I remember lying on the bed thinking, “what have I gotten myself into. I thought I was prepared for the pain, but I’m not. Maybe I should just have a c-section, why did I want to experience pain again” lol. I was very much in an analytical frame of mind for most of the labour. As if I was reading this happen to someone else.
But the ball made me feel better. X suggested that Dh go and get food and I went into the toilet – I asked him not to leave and X said she would arrange some food for him from the kitchen and left the room. It was strange, on the one hand I’d wonder where she was as I’d want her there and on the other hand I liked it being just T and I.
One of the ladies from Genesis came in with a plate of food – a butternut and feta quiche and some salad. I hadn’t thought I was hungry, but boy it smelled good. During my labour with Luka I hadn’t wanted to eat anything at all and thought it would be the same this time round. Poor T had to share his lunch with me whilst I bounced on the birthing ball. He fed me while I breathed through the contractions. I remember thinking to myself: this isn’t going fast enough, it’s not as intense as it should be. X at some point said I could get into the bath or go for a walk. The bath sounded like a lovely idea (of course!), the walk – not so much.
I got into the bath and it was heaven. I was like, “why didn’t I do this earlier” lol. X and I continued to chat about arb things, I told her how I wanted to be a doula and that I was going to insert myself into her and N’s practice and be their doula lol. She laughed and left the room. When she came back, she introduced me to Ingeborg, one of the doulas at Genesis. It’s funny, I hadn’t said I wanted a doula and we hadn’t really discussed me having one before, but X was so right to ask Ingeborg to join us. She added another element to the labour and really really helped me deal with the pressure/pain. She knew just how to massage, how hard to press, when to be softer – where to massage and when to stfu! Lol!
Now that I was in the water and so relaxed, the contractions tapered off. They weren’t painful at all, and I didn’t really have to pay any attention to them. It was all lovely and chatty, but I was still in analysis mode and I was concerned that there would be a need to break my waters if the contractions did not speed up. I hadn’t felt baby move down into my pelvis and was sure that he wasn’t putting enough pressure on my cervix. I said to Ingeborg that I thought I would go for a walk – she said she thought that was a good idea and I thought to myself (she’s probably thinking what I’m thinking about the contractions tapering off). What I really liked about her was that she didn’t try and put her thoughts or beliefs onto you – she just agreed with you and if she was disagreeing, you couldn’t tell but you agreed with her disagreement lol! No wonder X liked her!
I got out of the bath and tried to put on pants – but everything was super uncomfy, so I found a black top that was like a mini dress and wore that. Put on my slippers and was ready for my walk. My mother and dh accompanied me as I walked around Genesis’ grounds. Beautiful grounds they are too. We only made it round once before the contractions became much closer together and required more focus on my part. We then went back to the room.
X did an internal (I HATE internals, I can’t tell you how much I hate them). And I was at 5cm. Some progress yay! I sat on the birthing ball and listened to my labour CD, but I found my mind wandering and focusing on my worry that I wasn’t progressing fast enough and that my waters would have to be broken and that the pain would be unbearable etc etc – I was far too much in my own head, nowhere near labourland. I got my headphones on in the hopes that it would help me focus inwards and not on time and contractions etc etc – and Ingeborg massaged or did something equally wonderful to my back whilst I bounced. I then got up and did some spiraling – but got back on the ball as that worked much better in helping me cope with the pain. And when I say pain, I mean the strangest pressure and discomfort that is more than discomfort. It wasn’t something that I was trying to run away from, so I think that helped in how I perceived it. I didn’t exactly welcome the contractions, but I did not wish them away – when they came, I focused on breathing through them and reminded myself that they couldn’t be more than me because they WERE me. That helped tremendously.
After bouncing for a long while – I don’t know how long because I deliberately did not want to know what time it was or how long my contrax were or how far apart they were etc. I was already too analytical and knowing such details would just make me focus on non important things. Anyhoo, X asked that I get onto the bed so we could monitor baby using the NST machine (or whatever it’s called). So I lay on the bed with the belts strapped to me. I’d been really worried that I would have to ‘keep still’ at some point in the labour (not sure why I worried about this *sigh*), but I found that I could still cope with the contractions even though I wasn’t mobile and I wasn’t bouncing. It was whilst lying on the bed that I experienced the endorphin haze that people talk about.
I’d read that endorphins were much stronger than morphine (like 100x stronger or something) and that they were released during labour. Well, now I was experiencing it. I was high – in the most awesome way possible. I floated along, the contractions were there, but they weren’t hard to deal with, my mind drifted and the analytical me was gone. I couldn’t keep track of conversations. It was bliss lol! Finally, I was in labourland.
X then did another internal and I was still at 5cm. She said the baby’s heartbeat was still good, but was at the point where it would soon become stressed (or something along those lines), I was still high on the endorphins when she explained it to me. She said she wanted to break my waters. I think she was concerned that there was meconium in the waters (it’s not something she shared with me/us, but I got that feeling). There wasn’t any meconium. And the internal was fucking sore! I think I knew all along that this is what would happen, that’s why it had been at the forefront of my mind – I braced myself for the contractions that would come next.
His head was still not any closer to my cervix, and X suggested that I get up, go for a walk and when I had a contraction, that I should squat to encourage him to move into a more favourable position. I agreed to this on condition that I could get into the water asap lol. We went outside, or tried to, but the contractions were coming too close together for me to even think I would manage another walk around the grounds. So, we stayed in the garden instead. The first contraction, I ended up on all fours – not an ideal position. But holding on to T and squatting was do-able eventually. I think I did 5 or 6 of those squats and then was told I could get into the water.
This time the water was not as blissful as the first time, I couldn’t find a comfortable position to be in. I was irritable and not focusing on breathing through the pain. I was also irritated because by then X and Ingeborg were trying to direct my breathing – they said they were worried about me becoming dehydrated because I was blowing out through my mouth and vocalizing whilst I did so. I tried their version of breathing and it did nothing for me. I couldn’t say that in words, so went back to my own way of breathing and making noise (I remember thinking, “I don’t give a fuck who hears me” and “can these two just leave me alone to breathe how I want to Grrr!”) and contended with glasses of water/energade/vitamin water being shoved at me. Lol. Shame, they were just being helpful.
My memory becomes a bit hazy here – it feels as if this part went really slowly and that I was in labour for hours and hours more, but I wasn’t. I tried out various positions in the bath, lying back, on my knees, squatting etc – nothing was comfortable (duh!). Then X wanted to do another internal – I was not happy about this. I hadn’t wanted lots of internals and had said so in my birth plan, but her reasons for doing them were sensical so I agreed to them. I was at 7cm.
Hearing those words sent me to “I cannot do this” land. I was convinced that I would never get to 10cm, but I would try and get there. I spiraled in the water, I spoke to the baby, begging him to help his mother out and come down the canal and be born. I kept checking to see if I could feel his head – nothing. I lost it then, I said: “I’d ask for a c-section, but I know you’d have to call Dr M and he’d still have to drive here and set up theatre and stuff and I’d be in labour all that time, so I might as well just do this” Everyone found that amusing, lots of jokes were being made too. I’d been quite jovial during the labour, smiling and chatting to everyone, but at that point I told them that I’d lost my sense of humour. That amused them too! I wanted to laugh with them but was angry too that they were laughing (lol!)
The hazy part: at some point I began moaning and saying that I couldn’t do this (in my head I knew this meant I was in transition – but logic and the rest of me weren’t talking). My mother, dh, Ingeborg, X etc all disagreed with me and said, “you CAN do this” blah blah blah. I yelled at them to “Stop telling me THINGS!!” which X correctly translated to mean, “stop telling me shit lies” lol. I was offered laughing gas, which I accepted but that did nothing (coz I was breathing it in wrong). I was offered it again and told them that it was “rubbish!” and didn’t work. That was funny too. Grr, I was beginning to think about smacking people, except that I found my own behavior funny too. I just couldn’t help but behave that way.
Then there was another internal during which I told X to “TAKE YOUR FINGERS OUT OF THERE!!!” She tried to reason with me and explained that the reason she was doing the internal was to help move the last remaining lip of cervix out of the way to help baby come down and out. When she put it that way instead of just sticking her fingers there, I was more compliant :P
I braced myself against dh (who at some point at got into the bath with me – dunno when that happened), and mentally told myself that baby was nearly here and I had to get it together. That was the worst internal as her fingers had to remain there during a contraction. My contractions felt different to the ones with Luka (which had radiated around my entire belly and back), these ones were only in the front lower part of my belly – I could FEEL them doing ‘things’ to my cervix. Odd sensation. But I knew they were working at least.
I was told to push I think – and I pushed and pushed and pushed and pushed. This was the hardest part for me of the whole labour. I’d been asked if I had the sensation to push, and I couldn’t really answer , all I had was the sensation to get this over and done with … NOW! Lol. I was in a squatting position and was pushing with all my might. Then X said, “you’ll feel a burning” – yoh, what a fcking understatement!!! It burnt like hell – ring of fire is the most appropriate term in this case. I could feel my body move apart in order to let him out. Then I was asked to pant, and not push, somehow I listened and did the panting thing. I thought once his head was out that I’d feel immediate relief – wrong! It was still sore, and I was still feeling stretched – at least the burning was gone, once his shoulders were out the relief came. I was vaguely aware of other things going on in the room, more people had come in, there was something going on next to the cot, and then it went dim in the room and very quiet.
My eyes were closed during this time and I heard i whisper in my ear, “Open your eyes and look at your baby” I opened them and watched as a little person came up and out of the water and onto my chest. It was his head first, then the rest of him and soon he was lying on me – not crying, just content. It was the most amazing feeling ever. I can’t describe it.
We lay in each others arms (the three of us) and I sang “happy birthday” to my little man. The most awesome thing was that as he was being born his song was playing and N (apparently said), “what a perfect song to be born to” – it was “here comes the sun” followed quickly by “may the long time sun shine upon you” I love that it worked out that way – those were the two songs I loved the most on my labour CD. And to think that they had tried to change the music whilst I was in the bath (I quickly rectified that situation in not so kind words lol)
Once the cord had pulsated for a while, it was clamped and dh cut it with a trembling hand.
In the movies that would be the end of the story, but I have to add that a womans work is never done. I had to deliver the placenta after that, and got an injection to help that happen more quickly. Tso was being seen to and dh was still sitting with me in the now water less bath. Everyone was commenting on how huge he was, and that he must be at least 4.2kg. That didn’t register with me. Lol!
Turns out the little monster weighed in at 4.16kg, 56cm long and with a 37cm head circumference. If I type anything more it’ll be a 6 page birth story, so I’ll stop here.
Saturday 18th September 2010
RKB was due on the 8th of September 2010. But that date came and went with no sign of the baby. I’d been having Braxton hicks contractions on and off for a few weeks. My sister (T) was leaving for the UK two days after RKB’s due date, so on Monday 6th September, I went to see X (X) so we could do a stretch and sweep and hopefully kickstart labour into happening in time for T to attend the birth. The S&S was painful, uncomfortable and unsuccessful . At my Wednesday 40 week appointment with X , we did another S&S in the hopes that it would work this time. It didn’t, despite the fact that I was 3cm dilated. T left for the UK on the 10th and RKB still hadn’t arrived.
X has a 10 day overdue limit, after that point she induces. I went in for my 41 week appointment and we agreed that Saturday 18th September would be the date we induce. I wanted that date because Luka’s (our eldest) sports day was in the morning and I wanted to give him a ‘last hurrah’, something that was his before his life changed with the arrival of his baby brother.
We arrived at Genesis Clinic at about 11h30 and settled into our room – the first one on the left, the one I wanted! Ntombi came in and chatted to us and we basically milled about waiting for X . My mom was there with Luka, which wasn’t really conducive to having a conversation. We monitored RKB’s heart rate for about 20 minutes. My mom and Luka left at that point.
X arrived and we chatted a bit. She did an internal (sore!) and I was still at 3cm, she then put in half the dose of the gel (prandin) at 12h30 – it was a burny odd sensation. The plan was that she’d insert the gel, I’d lie still for an hour then we’d go for a walk and some lunch at a restaurant then be back in 4 to 5 hours to see if any contractions had started.
That plan went straight out of the window as I began having contractions as soon as the gel was inserted. I was glad to have read the induction birth stories on BN because I wasn’t surprised when the contractions hit so quickly and by how intense they were. I was lying on my side on the bed trying to concentrate on breathing through the pain. X came in and said we needed to monitor baby’s reaction and then I could get off the bed and walk around (I wanted to get on the birthing ball – at home, bouncing on the ball had felt comfortable during Braxton hicks contractions). She put the monitor on and RKB was responding fine and before the hour was up, I was allowed to get onto the ball. I immediately felt better and more in control of myself as I sat on the ball and bounced. I started practicing the breathing, making sure I inhaled red and exhaled blue. It helped to make a noise as I exhaled – it was part of my loosening my jaw as Ina May Gaskin suggested in her books.
X stayed in the room and we chatted about arb things, as if all was normal. It was quite weird, laughing and chatting about normal things whilst knowing that we’d started the process of bringing RKB into the world. X thought I may break one of her patients record, she had been given the gel and 56 minutes later had given birth, I hoped to NOT break this record! I remember lying on the bed thinking, “what have I gotten myself into. I thought I was prepared for the pain, but I’m not. Maybe I should just have a c-section, why did I want to experience pain again” lol. I was very much in an analytical frame of mind for most of the labour. As if I was reading this happen to someone else.
But the ball made me feel better. X suggested that Dh go and get food and I went into the toilet – I asked him not to leave and X said she would arrange some food for him from the kitchen and left the room. It was strange, on the one hand I’d wonder where she was as I’d want her there and on the other hand I liked it being just T and I.
One of the ladies from Genesis came in with a plate of food – a butternut and feta quiche and some salad. I hadn’t thought I was hungry, but boy it smelled good. During my labour with Luka I hadn’t wanted to eat anything at all and thought it would be the same this time round. Poor T had to share his lunch with me whilst I bounced on the birthing ball. He fed me while I breathed through the contractions. I remember thinking to myself: this isn’t going fast enough, it’s not as intense as it should be. X at some point said I could get into the bath or go for a walk. The bath sounded like a lovely idea (of course!), the walk – not so much.
I got into the bath and it was heaven. I was like, “why didn’t I do this earlier” lol. X and I continued to chat about arb things, I told her how I wanted to be a doula and that I was going to insert myself into her and N’s practice and be their doula lol. She laughed and left the room. When she came back, she introduced me to Ingeborg, one of the doulas at Genesis. It’s funny, I hadn’t said I wanted a doula and we hadn’t really discussed me having one before, but X was so right to ask Ingeborg to join us. She added another element to the labour and really really helped me deal with the pressure/pain. She knew just how to massage, how hard to press, when to be softer – where to massage and when to stfu! Lol!
Now that I was in the water and so relaxed, the contractions tapered off. They weren’t painful at all, and I didn’t really have to pay any attention to them. It was all lovely and chatty, but I was still in analysis mode and I was concerned that there would be a need to break my waters if the contractions did not speed up. I hadn’t felt baby move down into my pelvis and was sure that he wasn’t putting enough pressure on my cervix. I said to Ingeborg that I thought I would go for a walk – she said she thought that was a good idea and I thought to myself (she’s probably thinking what I’m thinking about the contractions tapering off). What I really liked about her was that she didn’t try and put her thoughts or beliefs onto you – she just agreed with you and if she was disagreeing, you couldn’t tell but you agreed with her disagreement lol! No wonder X liked her!
I got out of the bath and tried to put on pants – but everything was super uncomfy, so I found a black top that was like a mini dress and wore that. Put on my slippers and was ready for my walk. My mother and dh accompanied me as I walked around Genesis’ grounds. Beautiful grounds they are too. We only made it round once before the contractions became much closer together and required more focus on my part. We then went back to the room.
X did an internal (I HATE internals, I can’t tell you how much I hate them). And I was at 5cm. Some progress yay! I sat on the birthing ball and listened to my labour CD, but I found my mind wandering and focusing on my worry that I wasn’t progressing fast enough and that my waters would have to be broken and that the pain would be unbearable etc etc – I was far too much in my own head, nowhere near labourland. I got my headphones on in the hopes that it would help me focus inwards and not on time and contractions etc etc – and Ingeborg massaged or did something equally wonderful to my back whilst I bounced. I then got up and did some spiraling – but got back on the ball as that worked much better in helping me cope with the pain. And when I say pain, I mean the strangest pressure and discomfort that is more than discomfort. It wasn’t something that I was trying to run away from, so I think that helped in how I perceived it. I didn’t exactly welcome the contractions, but I did not wish them away – when they came, I focused on breathing through them and reminded myself that they couldn’t be more than me because they WERE me. That helped tremendously.
After bouncing for a long while – I don’t know how long because I deliberately did not want to know what time it was or how long my contrax were or how far apart they were etc. I was already too analytical and knowing such details would just make me focus on non important things. Anyhoo, X asked that I get onto the bed so we could monitor baby using the NST machine (or whatever it’s called). So I lay on the bed with the belts strapped to me. I’d been really worried that I would have to ‘keep still’ at some point in the labour (not sure why I worried about this *sigh*), but I found that I could still cope with the contractions even though I wasn’t mobile and I wasn’t bouncing. It was whilst lying on the bed that I experienced the endorphin haze that people talk about.
I’d read that endorphins were much stronger than morphine (like 100x stronger or something) and that they were released during labour. Well, now I was experiencing it. I was high – in the most awesome way possible. I floated along, the contractions were there, but they weren’t hard to deal with, my mind drifted and the analytical me was gone. I couldn’t keep track of conversations. It was bliss lol! Finally, I was in labourland.
X then did another internal and I was still at 5cm. She said the baby’s heartbeat was still good, but was at the point where it would soon become stressed (or something along those lines), I was still high on the endorphins when she explained it to me. She said she wanted to break my waters. I think she was concerned that there was meconium in the waters (it’s not something she shared with me/us, but I got that feeling). There wasn’t any meconium. And the internal was fucking sore! I think I knew all along that this is what would happen, that’s why it had been at the forefront of my mind – I braced myself for the contractions that would come next.
His head was still not any closer to my cervix, and X suggested that I get up, go for a walk and when I had a contraction, that I should squat to encourage him to move into a more favourable position. I agreed to this on condition that I could get into the water asap lol. We went outside, or tried to, but the contractions were coming too close together for me to even think I would manage another walk around the grounds. So, we stayed in the garden instead. The first contraction, I ended up on all fours – not an ideal position. But holding on to T and squatting was do-able eventually. I think I did 5 or 6 of those squats and then was told I could get into the water.
This time the water was not as blissful as the first time, I couldn’t find a comfortable position to be in. I was irritable and not focusing on breathing through the pain. I was also irritated because by then X and Ingeborg were trying to direct my breathing – they said they were worried about me becoming dehydrated because I was blowing out through my mouth and vocalizing whilst I did so. I tried their version of breathing and it did nothing for me. I couldn’t say that in words, so went back to my own way of breathing and making noise (I remember thinking, “I don’t give a fuck who hears me” and “can these two just leave me alone to breathe how I want to Grrr!”) and contended with glasses of water/energade/vitamin water being shoved at me. Lol. Shame, they were just being helpful.
My memory becomes a bit hazy here – it feels as if this part went really slowly and that I was in labour for hours and hours more, but I wasn’t. I tried out various positions in the bath, lying back, on my knees, squatting etc – nothing was comfortable (duh!). Then X wanted to do another internal – I was not happy about this. I hadn’t wanted lots of internals and had said so in my birth plan, but her reasons for doing them were sensical so I agreed to them. I was at 7cm.
Hearing those words sent me to “I cannot do this” land. I was convinced that I would never get to 10cm, but I would try and get there. I spiraled in the water, I spoke to the baby, begging him to help his mother out and come down the canal and be born. I kept checking to see if I could feel his head – nothing. I lost it then, I said: “I’d ask for a c-section, but I know you’d have to call Dr M and he’d still have to drive here and set up theatre and stuff and I’d be in labour all that time, so I might as well just do this” Everyone found that amusing, lots of jokes were being made too. I’d been quite jovial during the labour, smiling and chatting to everyone, but at that point I told them that I’d lost my sense of humour. That amused them too! I wanted to laugh with them but was angry too that they were laughing (lol!)
The hazy part: at some point I began moaning and saying that I couldn’t do this (in my head I knew this meant I was in transition – but logic and the rest of me weren’t talking). My mother, dh, Ingeborg, X etc all disagreed with me and said, “you CAN do this” blah blah blah. I yelled at them to “Stop telling me THINGS!!” which X correctly translated to mean, “stop telling me shit lies” lol. I was offered laughing gas, which I accepted but that did nothing (coz I was breathing it in wrong). I was offered it again and told them that it was “rubbish!” and didn’t work. That was funny too. Grr, I was beginning to think about smacking people, except that I found my own behavior funny too. I just couldn’t help but behave that way.
Then there was another internal during which I told X to “TAKE YOUR FINGERS OUT OF THERE!!!” She tried to reason with me and explained that the reason she was doing the internal was to help move the last remaining lip of cervix out of the way to help baby come down and out. When she put it that way instead of just sticking her fingers there, I was more compliant :P
I braced myself against dh (who at some point at got into the bath with me – dunno when that happened), and mentally told myself that baby was nearly here and I had to get it together. That was the worst internal as her fingers had to remain there during a contraction. My contractions felt different to the ones with Luka (which had radiated around my entire belly and back), these ones were only in the front lower part of my belly – I could FEEL them doing ‘things’ to my cervix. Odd sensation. But I knew they were working at least.
I was told to push I think – and I pushed and pushed and pushed and pushed. This was the hardest part for me of the whole labour. I’d been asked if I had the sensation to push, and I couldn’t really answer , all I had was the sensation to get this over and done with … NOW! Lol. I was in a squatting position and was pushing with all my might. Then X said, “you’ll feel a burning” – yoh, what a fcking understatement!!! It burnt like hell – ring of fire is the most appropriate term in this case. I could feel my body move apart in order to let him out. Then I was asked to pant, and not push, somehow I listened and did the panting thing. I thought once his head was out that I’d feel immediate relief – wrong! It was still sore, and I was still feeling stretched – at least the burning was gone, once his shoulders were out the relief came. I was vaguely aware of other things going on in the room, more people had come in, there was something going on next to the cot, and then it went dim in the room and very quiet.
My eyes were closed during this time and I heard i whisper in my ear, “Open your eyes and look at your baby” I opened them and watched as a little person came up and out of the water and onto my chest. It was his head first, then the rest of him and soon he was lying on me – not crying, just content. It was the most amazing feeling ever. I can’t describe it.
We lay in each others arms (the three of us) and I sang “happy birthday” to my little man. The most awesome thing was that as he was being born his song was playing and N (apparently said), “what a perfect song to be born to” – it was “here comes the sun” followed quickly by “may the long time sun shine upon you” I love that it worked out that way – those were the two songs I loved the most on my labour CD. And to think that they had tried to change the music whilst I was in the bath (I quickly rectified that situation in not so kind words lol)
Once the cord had pulsated for a while, it was clamped and dh cut it with a trembling hand.
In the movies that would be the end of the story, but I have to add that a womans work is never done. I had to deliver the placenta after that, and got an injection to help that happen more quickly. Tso was being seen to and dh was still sitting with me in the now water less bath. Everyone was commenting on how huge he was, and that he must be at least 4.2kg. That didn’t register with me. Lol!
Turns out the little monster weighed in at 4.16kg, 56cm long and with a 37cm head circumference. If I type anything more it’ll be a 6 page birth story, so I’ll stop here.
