Quote:
Originally Posted by
HardCoreMom 
oh, erika- i'm SO HAPPY for you! what a journey it's been for you! was labor ok? just 3 hours sounds awesome- i hope they weren't all of that nerve pain you've been having for so long. welcome, fritz! you have an awesome name! and i'm sure you're just beautiful. :)
It really went extremely well. It was the absolute definition of a "butter birth." I felt kinda off all day, was one of the first people to leave the meeting that I went to because I just felt uncomfortable. I started contracting lots in the car, but that is pretty typical for me and so I really paid very little attention (other than noting that they were 5-7 minutes apart). I just felt off and weird. Anyhow, once my water broke, I went pretty much straight into active labor. It felt pretty overwhelming because there was no gradual build up and in my head I kept thinking that I had many, many, many hours in front of me yet. My other labors were: 5 day induction, 24 hours, and 6 hours. I figured this one would probably be in the 6ish hour range again.
My water broke at about 3:50, my husband called our midwife at 4ish to let her know that my water had broken but that we didn't need her yet. I stayed laying down for quite some time because he had not been super low in my pelvis and there was so much amniotic fluid pouring out that I didn't want to move and risk a cord prolapse. I just laid there and listened to my baby until the flood started to calm and I HAD to get up to deal with the contractions. At 4:40 he called her again to say to head our way because I couldn't decide if she should come or not :) I think she got to our house at close to 6ish (she is about an hour from me), I started feeling really pushy at 6:20ish or so, but figured that it MUST be malpositioning rather than labor actually going that fast. I complained quite a bit that this was much harder than I remembered and that I wasn't having any fun.... you know, the typical stuff of transition (and yet, there is a picture of me laughing only 13 minutes before his birth). With a few of those contractions there was that horrible nerve pain, but then he must have moved down past that area. Baby out at 6:50 :) No dizziness, no significant bleeding, no tears, baby had 9/10 apgars and nursed right away, etc. I mean, like it was really simply a butter birth. I am very thankful for that.
During labor I felt that it was my hardest labor to date. However, looking back I can see that it only felt that way because I was nearly done and convinced that I had hours and hours to go yet. I still can't believe that it went as fast as it did. I feel very lucky also that my husband turned down a call and overtime that he was supposed to run last night at the last minute. I asked him not to go because I just felt so off and so he told his boss that we already had plans. Had he run that call, by the time I realized that he needed to come home, he would have been too late and would have missed the birth. And I would have likely done it without a midwife as well because it was my husband who insisted on calling while I still felt unsure if I wanted to "bother" her.
I am rooting for all of you who are waiting for babies and hoping you have safe, wonderful, easy, buttery births :)
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