Gilliam Gregory's birth
This is super long. I wanted to get as many details down as I could before the small things
started disappearing from memeory...
I had been having braxton-hicks contractions for quite a long while and feeling generally
ready to drop a baby for about a month before he actually arrived.
On August 30, I woke a few times through the night to noticable contractions. Maybe once or
twice. I had that date in my head for a long while so I thought that for sure he would come
that day, as things picked up. Alas, that wasn't to be.
August 31 I had timable contractions probably every 20-30 minutes but only during the night. I
think I lost a bit of my mucous plug that night. I was generally unrested after that night of
unrest, which had me worried incase I should have the baby that day...which I was sure of
considering I had already had some labor on previous occasions. Alas..not yet. :-)
On September 1(Saturday), I had contractions starting around 2am. They were really short in
duration and were never closer than 20 minutes apart. When my husband got home from his night
shift at 7am, I told him. They seemed to peter out though and I was able to go about my day
pretty much. I cleaned/nested. My mom came abd picked up the other 3 girls and took them to
the farmers' market for the morning. I think she really thought I would have the baby while
they were gone. I was figureing out, however, that this baby really liked to labor at night.
The girls came home and then we just hung out for the rest of the day. dh had to go to work
nightshift again that night. He was sure I would be calling him home. He works about 5 minutes
from our house so, he could get there quickly if he needed to.
I was pretty upfront with everyone that I was going to wait until the last moment possible to
alert everyone becasue I was staring to feel like a circus show or something. I didn't want
everyonestaring and constantly asking if I was ok or what was going on.
So, Daddy left for work. At around 2am I woke to a contraction and I tried to stay awake to
see if any others would happen. They weren't unbearable. Some I had to breathe through. None
lasted longer then 30 seconds. I turned on episodes of White Collar on Netflix to hopefully
distract me and also put me back to sleep. So, I remember waking up to a contraction a couple
times and realizing I had missed about 12-15 monutes of the show. So, I would have the
contraction, rewind, watch, fall asleep..and repeat. I was keeping track of the times on the
computer. They were coming about 15-20 minutes apart, sometimes longer but not my much. At 3am
I decided I was going to get in the shower..evern if that ment that I would slow things down.
I needed some rest because these nights of labor and then stalling were taking a lot out of
me. I was in the shower for about an hour and had about 6 or so contractions. The water was
not as comfortable as you would think. I was feeling the pain mostly in my hips and lower back
which made me think that He was malpositioned, even though I could feel his back in the
correct spot. When I would contract and the water would hit my back it made me want to yell
because it did not feel good at all. So, I spent the contractions avoiding the water. I spent
some time squatting and circling my hips in the shower. I was trying to change the babys
position to hopefully get these contractions longer and closer because I really thought they
weren't doing everything they needed to do yet. ha. So, Now it was about 4:15am. Out of the
shower, back to the White Collar cycle. I finished 2 episodes while having contractions. Dh
comes home at 7, I remember looking at the clock thinking he would be home in 45 minutes and
really wishing he was there to rub my back because it hurt. I didn't want him to get in
trouble for leaving early though so I thought..they still weren't any closer or longer, so I
could at least make it until he gets home.
7am, He comes in and eats some breakfast, we chat in the kitchen for a bit. I had probably 2
or 3 contractions during this. Ate half a banana. Then we tried to go to sleep a little. I
kept getting up and going to the bathroom. Everytime I would, I would have a contraction on
the toilet and then one when I got up.
At this point, My sister in law popped by. She was sitting in the bedroom and we were just
talking and hanging out. I would go to the bathroom and come back to bed. I guess by this
point the contractions were probably 8-10 minutes apart, but still pretty short..maybe 30-35
seconds long. Finally, SIL insisted on going to get me a yoga ball to help my back not hurt.
She took my 13 year old and they wernt to the store. I guess this was probably 10:45am on
Septmeber 2. I swayed a little standing in the bedroom, spent some time on my hands and knees.
I still really wasn't too concerned because they were still pretty far apart.maybe 8 minutes.
Not the golden 5 minutes and certainly not very long. I remember thinking to myself when the
contraction would stop short..hey..come on..we have work to do!
I went to the bathroom had my contractions and stood up to await the requisite "getting off
the toilet" contraction. Dh got up and came to use the bathroom and found me standing against
the wall. Asked how I was doing, etc. He tried to help me back to the bedroom and in one step
I had another contraction. Finished that contraction and then we very
slowly..step/contraction/step, made it the 3 steps to the bed. I could tell he was getting
worried about making it to the hospital but, at this point just thinking about leaving the
house made me want to cry. He held me up while I cried though the next 2 short contractions
which in hindsight I think I was crying becasue my body was already pushing and I just didn't
realize it. I got down on all fours and had another contraction. I remember at this moment
thinking how tired I was and if I had to go to the hospital and do this for many more hours I
was not gonna be able to. I should have realized and alarm bells should have been going off in
my head what was happening. I had one contraction and my body grunted a little and I said oh
no. Then another contraction and his head was born. I still had my pants on so I pulled them
down and said to dh, "catch the baby!" He told me to wait..lol. He reached down and my water
broke and splashed his arms. Gilliam Gregory was born in 2 pushes at 11:32am on September 2,
2012.
After this, he didn't make noise right away but he appeared to be doing okay. I grabbed a
receiving blanket and wrapped him up. We sat there for a few minutes and Dh started saying
that we needed to move because the placenta was going to come.
At this point, I was having crazy back pains. It almost felt like all the weight had been
lifted and now it was sore because of all the relief, if that makes sense. I really didn't
want to move, but I knew what the carpet would look like if I didn't so I resigned myself to
moving. So, dh had the absolutely spectacular idea of me getting in the bathtub, sans water,
to delliver the placenta.
My 13 year old and sister in law finally came back from the store with the yoga ball, lol. The
2 little ones relished the job of telling them the baby was here. dd1 was sad she missed it
and decided that she needed coffee? I have no idea why. By the time they walked in, we were in
the tub and Gilly was nursing. I passed a pretty good sized clot and my sister in law dialed
911. Dh was talking to the dispatcher and relayed that everything looked good, etc. I
delivered the placenta in the tub, and felt instantly great. At this point the ambulance was
here. I could hear them outside. I said to sil, that I wanted to put pants on before they came
in the bathroom. She said ok and then the emts pretty much busted in the bathroom, so needless
to say, no pants yet. One of the guys said they would throw a sheet over me. I kindly told
them they would not be wheeling me out of my house on a busy street with no clothes and only a
sheet on, thank you very much.
They noticed that he was nursing and that I felt good and everything looked under control.
They kept making comments like, well you seem like you have it all under control. Why did you
call us? jokingly of course. They asked dh if it was a planned homebirth and dh looked at him
and said sir, isn't that illegal? With half a smirk on his face..and then smiled. They were
remarking how great we looked, etc. I had a thought at that moment, that I wondered if I could
just refuse to go. But, I know it would make everyone feel alot better if I went so I did. I
made them leave so I could put pants on.
A few minutes earlier the two emts were talking about transporting the baby and asked if I had
a carseat yet..Thank goodness the wonderful lady paramedic came in and looked at them
dumbfounded and said no, baby stays with mom, skin to skin. I thanked her.
I walked the few steps into the dining room and got on the stretcher. They strapped us in and
off we went. It waited until that moment to start down pouring outside. Gilly's first outring
in the rain was pretty soon after he was born!
So, out we went. Nothing could have prepared me for the scene outside my house. They had the
whole street infront of my house blocked off. There was an EMT truck, ambulance, a fire
truck?!, and I'm pretty sure there was a police car. It looked like a major operation!
We got going and they took our vitals and we went to the hospital. It was funny because even
at the hospital they were trying to look for things to do. I guess because I had done the hard
part. Sil lovingly cleaned up the scene that was my bathroom and watched the kids until dh
could get back there.
I had to laugh because one of the doctors who refused to take me on when I was trying to find
an OB, was the doctor on call. I was laughing on the inside, I don't think she remembered me
though.
Because Gilliam was 9lbs 5ozs they were testing his blood sugar before every feeding. After 4
heel sticks I told them that was enough. All the readings had been good. They said they were
going to do it for 24 hours and I kindly declined. Eventually, we were discharged, 24 hours
later. I was very happy to be home. We went to the ped on Tuesday and he was down to 8lbs
12ozs, but my milk came in that afternoon so I think he is making up for it now, hes a very
good nurser..although my nipples are really sore. He eats a lot. I'll take it though. His
sisters are crazy about him. Daddy and I are as well.
Over all, I am pretty happy with the way things turned out. I wish I had stood up for myself a
little bit more, but I was trying to find a balance between what I wanted and not making any
waves at the hospital.
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