It wasn't all a "piece of cake", but home is really the way to go, IMO. It was so nice to labor here, deliver here, and then, most of all, recover here!!
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First, here are brief descriptions of my 3 surgical births:
1 - went to hospital dilated to 3 cm and water already broken, had to stay in bed (hospital policy if water is broken), epidural, pitocin, dilated only to 6 after 27 hrs., meconium in fluid, c-section, baby in Level II nursery with aspirated meconium
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2 - attempted VBAC, induced labor with no previous dilation, pitocin entire labor, epidural, dilated to 10, pushed for 20 min. intervals 3 times, exhaustion after so much pitocin labor, asked for c-section, baby fine but meconium-filled fluid came out after she was delivered
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3 - scheduled c-section for twin birth
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I started laboring approx. 8 p.m. on Monday night. Contractions were about 10 min. apart all through the evening and night, but I was able to sleep in between. I woke up Tuesday morning and decided to finish all the laundry and get things more ready for birth in case it was the real thing. Contractions eased up a bit as I moved around, so I thought maybe it was prodromal labor or just very early "real" labor.Â
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By evening on Tuesday, they were back and getting stronger. By about 11 p.m. I was pretty sure this was "it", so I asked DH to set up the birth pool. He was unsure about calling the midwife because I'd been "sure" in past deliveries and it was only false labor. When he said that, I almost went down his throat! lol We were timing contractions and right then they got down to 5 min. apart, so he called. She lives 2 hrs. from us. He also called a friend of ours who is very interested in becoming a midwife. She came right over.
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I got in the pool and was able to relax quite well there. Contractions picked up speed and intensity quickly. At some point, I wanted to know if it was OK if my water broke while I was in the pool, so I asked DH to call the midwife again. She described what we would be seeing if my water broke and while DH was on the phone with her, I had some contractions nearly right on top of each other. She thought I might have the baby even before she got there. We started seeing the white flecks in the pool that she said would be there if my water broke.
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I got out because I was getting too hot and started laboring in a kneeling position. She arrived about 2:30 a.m. and said I could start pushing. We worked on that in several different positions for about 2 hours. Finally, she asked if I was feeling the need to push and I said no. We decided to let me get back in the water and relax and wait for the urge to push. Pretty soon it was there and I started to work with it.
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Then I had another 2 hours of pushing in different positions. We were all getting tired and wondering, silently, if it was not going to happen at home. We were also wondering, DH and I each separately, how we were going to get to the hospital in the state that I was in, baby engaged in the birth canal but not moving down. We suspected that something was pulling him back up each time I pushed.
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Finally, our friend prayed aloud that whatever was holding him back would release. On the next push, his head was delivered! The midwife could see the cord around his neck and shoulder, but it had never caused his heart rate to slow, so it wasn't in a dangerous position.Â
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I could still feel baby "bumps" like feet and knees up very high on my belly. In a terrifying moment, I thought maybe it was another baby and I'd have to push another one out. I asked, "What's all this?" and pushed on the bumps a little. When I did that, it jostled his head a tiny bit, so I could tell it was all one baby. I decided, without telling anyone, that on the next contraction I would push "inside" and push with my hands on the bumps and literally push him out. I was thankful, later, that the midwife was ready with her hands in the right place and fingers under the cord. She told us that what I did was an emergency procedure that is only done in rare cases. Thankfully, it didn't cause any harm to the baby or to me.
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Baby was born at 8:31 a.m. He was gasping a bit after being delivered, so the midwife suctioned his airway and gave him a puff of oxygen. His Apgars were 6 and 9, so after that brief moment of gasping, he was fine.Â
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Edited to add:Â He was 9 lb. 13 oz and 22.5 inches
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I was so relieved that he was out that I was "done", even though I knew the placenta had to be delivered. We waited a bit and the midwife massaged my uterus to get it to come loose. It did, but wasn't coming out. She tugged gently on the cord and it snapped off inside! That made her very upset. I was so exhausted, I didn't even care. She decided to go in and get the placenta out herself because she could see that my cervix was already beginning to close. It was very painful for her to do that, but I was so glad, so very glad that I didn't have to push it out myself. It had been at least five hours of pushing to get the baby out and I didn't have any "push" left in me.
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She got me cleaned up and nursing while DH cleaned up all the equipment and towels. We were settled in bed and resting by 11:30 a.m. It was so nice to be in our own bed with all our own pillows and comforts! Our other children had come in very briefly to see us immediately after delivery and then went to the neighbor's house to play. I was glad to have them so close and wasn't worried about them a bit.
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I'm so thankful the Lord allowed me to have a vaginal birth and avoid all the pain of recovering from a surgical birth. My recovery has still included some pain -- significant muscle stress from so much pushing, hemorroids, small tear in my perenium -- but overall the recovery can't even compare to the pain of a surgical birth. After just 5 days, I'm able to get around like normal, do a little laundry, and care for our other children a bit. DH is still doing a lot of the meals, clean up, and child care, but I'm getting back to normal a lot sooner than I ever did with any of the other births.
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Home birth is really the way to do it, if possible! I'd recommend it to anyone as a serious consideration for where to give birth.
Edited by m&m.mom - 12/29/10 at 7:12pm
