Our baby girl arrived safely at home!! - Page 2 « Back to Group Discussions

[mama.nesta]

Wow... congrats!  A beautiful name!  

[BaMo]

I <3 you, Amanda! Congrats again.

[lovelylittle]

Congratulations!! I can't wait to hear more about your birth!

[MaybeJ]

Here's the story! 

Friday morning I woke up feeling crampy.  Nothing unusual and it went away.  Then DH, DD and I headed downtown to have an ultrasound (long story that I didn't have a chance to share here but we decided to have an extra look at baby before home birth since I was diagnosed impaired glucose tolerance).  Baby looked fine but the ultrasound was annoying and painful for my back.  We walked around the mall a bit afterward and then came home.  No contractions at all during the day, not even BH's.  After supper I did the dishes, we put DD to bed and then I watched a movie with BIL and SIL.  I did have consistent BH's during the movie but that's nothing unusual for evening time.

The movie ended at 10:30 but I was feeling restless and didn't go to bed until midnight.  I was not contracting at all then.  DD was unsettled at some point so DH got up with her for a bit.  When he came back to bed at 2:30 AM, I had woken and realized I was having a contraction.  I waited until I had 2 or 3 before getting out of bed to see what was up with them.  I took a Tylenol, an Advil and a Gravol to see if things would stop and contemplated having a bath.  Contractions were coming every 2-4 minutes but they were only lasting 30-45 seconds.  I finally paged my midwife at 3:15 AM because I was having some spotting and was sure this was labour but just wasn't sure how far along I was but my midwives wanted me to page right away due to my quick birth with DD.  I spoke to my midwife at 3:30 AM and she said she'd be on her way and that she'd be about a half hour.  I continued to pace while contracting.  At 4:00 AM things started to get really intense and I had made my way to the bedroom.  I told DH that I hoped the midwife would be there very soon as things were getting strong.  The contractions started to come really close together and I was feeling a lot of pressure in my bum and labia.  I should have realized I was feeling "pushy" but I honestly thought that I needed to go to the washroom but luckily I didn't want to move from where I was.  After 3 really intense back to back contractions, I finally had a minute or two of what felt like calm while the midwife was coming in with her things.  This was probably about 4:15 AM.  As soon as she came into the bedroom another contraction started and I groaned "I think I need to take a big poop" while my water broke on the floor (I was holding onto the bed footrest) and she said "get in the bed please!" and said it again as I didn't respond the first time.  I laid down and said "ow, ow, ow, this hurts!" and she took off my pants and exclaimed, "there's the head!".  She had me slow right down at that point and said I didn't need to push.  We waited for the next contraction and I gave a very gentle push and then the head was born and then another gentle push and the body slid right out.  I'm very glad for the coaching at the end.  I had one tiny tear that didn't require stitching and from a physical perspective I'm feeling great.  No swelling or pain in the nether regions today!

This picture was taken when Isla was about 7 hours old.

[buko]

What a great story, and what a cutie!!!

[lovebeingamomma]

Congrats!  Great birth story, short and sweet!
 

[Brambleberry]

Wonderful story!  Wow!  And Isla is a beautiful little girl!  Lovely name, too, by the way.

[HouseofPeace]

so beautiful!  thank you for sharing!!!

[Gillmoro]

Beautiful story and beautiful girl!! Thanks for sharing!! I hope I get a short sweet labor like yours!

[Sunshine_Amy]

Congratulations!  Welcome to your girl!

[Cat77]

Wow... Love the story, thanks for sharing. Congratulations mama!

[josie423]

What an awesome birth!!! I hope mine is so smooth. Your little girl is beautiful! :)

[molive]

Fantastic story!

[waywornwanderer]

What an awesome story! Congrats, mama. My childbirth instructor (who is also an experienced doula) JUST told us- somewhat laughingly- that usually when a woman says "I need to poop!" it's a good sign that baby is near. 

[etsdtm99]

awww!! adorable baby and great story!!
 

[MaybeJ]

Thanks everyone!!  Looking forward to reading all about your upcoming births as well!

Originally Posted by waywornwanderer 

What an awesome story! Congrats, mama. My childbirth instructor (who is also an experienced doula) JUST told us- somewhat laughingly- that usually when a woman says "I need to poop!" it's a good sign that baby is near. 

I believe it!  And I knew this, too.  In the moment though, I honestly thought I was about to have a very large BM (sorry, so not pretty).  It's a very confusing sensation in the moment!