my story
Lucca's Birth 5-21-04I went on the 20th (2:45pm) to my appointment with my midwife, Ann. I asked her to strip my membranes. the baby
had dropped down 2 cenimeters that morning. on my drive home i started feeling crampy. when i got home it was 4:30pm. i
picked up a few things around the house and got out my canvas and paints to paint a picture for my midwife. my back hurt
and i was cramping in what seemed to be a pretty regular pattern, though i wasnt timing because i was too busy trying to
keep the kids entertained so i could paint...dont ask me what i was thinking! LOL
I called Gabe at 5pm to ask him to come home because I thought labor was starting and I was having a tough time
dealing with the kids. He got home about an hour later and i asked him to feed the kids because i was leaving to go down
the street to a friend of mine's house so she could time my rushes for me. i walked down to her house, definantly
noticing the rushes, but they didnt really hurt, just were uncomfortable. i stayed at my friend's house till about 8pm
and she timed my rushes, they were about 15 sec long and about 1 1/2 minutes apart. i called my midwife and told her and
she told me to try and sleep.
i went home and took a bath which made almost unable to feel the rushes, although they were still happening. i
got out of the bath and laid down in my room trying to rest, but could not- i was too uncomfortable. at 10pm i asked Gabe to put the kids down so he could come time the rushes for me. He timed them from about 10:30 till 11:30, when he fell asleep... During his timing they were 2-3 minutes apart lasting 35-45 seconds. i was able to talk through them, but
preferred not to. after he fell asleep i started timing them myself-- i was obsessed with timing them because i was
afraid for some reason this wasnt really labor and i didnt want to call my midwife out to the house unless it was. i
timed from 12-1am and they were every 2 minutes for im not sure how long because i couldnt concentrated on timing
them!!!
Since Gabe was sleeping i started to get tense and i knew i needed some support and i knew he was going to keep
falling back asleep. so i called two of my girlfriends over to keep me company. they were so great! we were having tons
of fun, listening to music and cracking jokes in between contrations.my midwife and her assistant finally came at around
3 or 4 am , and Ann checked me. i was at 4 cm! i was very pleased that this was the real thing and i was progressing.
however Ann checked me during a rush (on purpose) and it hurt like hell!! it felt like buring hot pokers being shoved
into me..
Ann said "ok, time to start walking!" so around the nieghborhood we went at like 430am.. strange people are out
at such odd hours! im sure we were a group of the strangest, 4 woman one of them hugely pregnant and making all this
ruckus. at first i was still trying to walk through the rushes, but i definantly couldnt talk and i had to close my eyes
and hold hands with Ann and one of my friends so i wouldn't walk into anything, but by about halfway through i was
moaning and stopping during each rush to grab and lean on the nearest shoulder. we were still having alot of fun between
rushes and i was laughing so much my face hurt. we walked for a hour and them Ann finally let me go back inside to get
in my birth pool.
horray! it felt heavenly! i stayed in there for hours sighing and moaning through the rushes. the pool made it
so easy to shift positions, even during a rush. finally sometime after sunrise i asked Ann to check me . i hurt worse
than the first time! i was 7-8. i decided to labor for a while on the bed while everyone dozed, including me (during
rushes that is!) it was so strange because i totally fell asleep during the breaks, and it felt lke i still in the pool,
floating and that i was sleeping for 30 mins at a time. but when the next rush would come I'd be aware that the same
song was still playing.
i got back in to pool for a while and at this point my water still hadnt broken..Ann said if it didnt break by
10am she could break it. i agreed and at ten she broke it. immeadiatly i could feel the difference in the rushes. there
was a sharpness, an edge that wasnt there before. at the peak of each rush my vocalizations got high pitched and i felt
like i was losing the calm from the rest of the labor.
i got back in the pool but it was still very intese i was feeling like an insaine fish, thrashing around the
pool. An hour after my water broke i asked Ann to check me again, and she did. she said i was 10, but there was a
swollen cervical lip in front and it was from the forward leaning positions i kept gravitating too. she asked me to try
squatting outside the pool which i did. i tryed about 3 rushes like this and then she checked again, still there. she
she said i needed to lay on the bed flat on my bak so she could push the lip out of the way while i pushed.
this next part was tourture. while she had me pushing she had her hand inside me and it HURT SO BAD. i could
keep any measure of control. i was thrashing and screaming and cussing. i felt like a tornado. i remember screaming at
her to that her "f&%$ing hands were driving me nuts!" when the lip was gone i was told to really push, but i was
screaming to hard so Ann said , "stop screaming and push!" (nicely) so i took this opportunity to bite the hell out of
my upper arm and brear down. Ann said "good! i can see the head!" i felt the imeanse size and weight and pressure of the
head and was blown away. i said "this isnt going to work!" and she said "it is working!" so i pushed .
the head crowned on the same contration and i was screaming SO LOUD. i thought the walls would break from my
screams. they said "Stop pushing, are you even having a contration" i said " i dont f^%$ing care if i am!!!" and i
pushed her right out in the next breath! Ann put her on my tummy, i could hear Kiryn shouting "our baby, look our baby!"
she hardly cried just a little cry then she closed her eyes and took a little nap. she was very pink and COATED in tons
of vernix. she was so cheesy!!
Lucca was born at 11:45 am, and was 19 1/4 inches long and 6 pounds 4 oz. she has dark hair and the softest
skin. i am in love!!
my birth was different than i imagined it, but was great none the less, and afterwords i kept saying " i did it,
i had a homebith!!"
I'll be in and out fast if I have to go. But, I am planning on staying home...isn't that always the plan though? 
:
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