Baby Austin’s Birth Story
Born March 14, 7:03am
7lbs 15oz, 22in
2 weeks + 3 days overdue
2 weeks and three days after our February 25th due date I had pretty much resigned myself to thinking that I would be pregnant forever. Still, I’d decided to do one last homeopathic induction and had been taking a remedy for 24 hours every 3 hours and I had an appointment with my osteopath where he did a few adjustments to activate the uterus. By the time I got back home felt cramps – like steady menstral cramps and back ache but I’d had that many times in the last few weeks so I tried not to get to hopeful. The cramps turned into contractions and they were 6 minutes apart. I still shrugged and continued to sew and sit on my Swiss ball but I texted my midwife and husband.
Shortly after my husband got home we checked contractions and they’d jumped to every two minutes. Then it was real. I cried with happiness when I got to call the midwife and doula to get them to head over. The labour was pretty crampy and very much centred in my low belly so getting into the shower and birth pool was really great. I felt the labour went well. We did a lot of yoga and breathing and walking around. The urge to push came gradually and I started off in the tub but eventually switching to sitting on the toilet or squatting or standing. The water seemed to bring on weaker contractions though I did want to deliver in there so I kept going back.
After three hours my midwife looked a bit concerned and we decided to have her do an internal check. The cervix was totally open and she could feel the baby’s head but she said the head was presenting in a funny way and the pelvic bone was slightly inverted rather than arched making whatever the baby was doing pretty much impossible for me to push out. She encouraged me to try more positions but said if we don’t start to make some progress we’ll have to call it. Crestfallen I started racking my brain and trying things and pushing harder. The baby’s heart rate was great still and the next check an hour or so later showed that we were getting the baby through but we had a little ways to go yet. The position that seemed to be working was pushing on my side but it was slow going. The last tiny step of getting him to crown took an hour and the pushing was crazy. It went against everything I’d read about avoiding a tear but we all knew we had to get this guy out soon and I was not going to let us get transferred this close to the finish line. When his head finally came out I had it in my hands and the rest was not as hard. My husband and I caught him together and he was on my chest in seconds looked up at us with huge alert eyes. He’d been born with his hand by his face hence the 5-6 hours of pushing and tear.
Right after that the midwife asked me to cough a few times because she felt the placenta was right there ready to pop out. I did and pushed a little bit and out it came as well as a rush of fluid that gave me the shivers. I told them I felt something and all of a sudden everyone went into emergency mode. My husband massaged my belly to get my uterus to contract. My midwife said “you’re bleeding a lot” and took off to grab Oxytocin from the birth kit. I just clutched my baby and felt like I was seeing the whole scene in a movie. It was my very biggest birth fear and it was really happening.
Shortly after that someone announced that it had slowed and was under control but we needed to transfer to make sure I was OK and also to get the tear sutured. So with my 30 minute old baby I had to put a dress back on and be packed into a car and was driven to the hospital. My OBGYN gave me the option to check into the hospital after he did my sutures and given that I really could not move, I did. I stayed overnight and had my hemoglobin checked the next morning and it was at 7.5. I probably needed a blood transfusion but no one was really on-the-ball or paying much attention to me at all. The “nursing” staff were more hopeful that I was going to upgrade my room or buy baby photos and were constantly coming in to try to take the baby away to run tests or try to get him to feed. I finally realized I was only going to get really and truly cared for at home so we checked out with my Dr’s blessing.
I still can only walk just as far as the bathroom and am quite light headed. I stay in bed and my job is really just to try to feed my baby and eat and take my supplements. My parents and husband are buzzing around doing the carrying, the burping and skin-to-skin contact when I’m too weak to do that. I’m so very grateful for the support. We had a lot of trouble getting my milk going due to the body trauma but a lovely lactation consultant came in today and got me on a hospital pump and our little guy is starting to latch now though his jaw is very tight. He needs some osteopathic work to loosen that and help him get a bigger latch and some time to get his calories up so he’s got the energy to latch. He’s a calm baby and very un-demanding so far. He loves anyone who picks him up and he’s pretty chill about being put into his car seat or bassinette when people need breaks. I’m still processing my experience but what I can say right now is, I met my biggest fear a few days ago and I won. I don’t think I would have changed a thing. Much love to all of you who helped me on this journey to bring Austin into the world. I honestly felt this due date group was my rock through this from the very start. xoxox
Edited by typebug - 3/17/13 at 2:26am
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