Ok, I had been an American Baby girl for a long time, but I just have gotten fed up with them. Everyone over there is pro-formula, pro-circumcision, pro-hospital, pro-induction, pro-vaxing, pro-disposables, and anti-everything I believe in! So, I found this site and I'll tell you, it's a godsend. I love it already. I thought I'd share my birth story of my baby. I've always had many problems with doctors (no trust) and I was raped many times when I was younger so I knew I didn't want to be in a hospital. Well, I had to convince my husband that a birthing center would be OK. He was an emergency c-section (4 weeks overdue) with mecoiniem asperation so he just thought that births had to be all scary and dangerous and be in hospitals. I really wanted to do it at home, but my husband was just too scared of me dying. So, we opted for a great birthing center (sooo nice). I had an ultrasound at 18 weeks to calm my husband down and make him realize that everything was going fine. We decided to find out the sex then. It was a girl!! Didn't need to have the icky circ fight (I changed his mind about it in the end anyway 
).
Well, anyway, the ultrasound guy got worried cause she was small (I'm no big gal and all the babes in my family have been under 6 pounds). He made us come back again and then wanted us to come back a third time (I made the appointment, but knew I wasn't going to go and I just didn't show up).
Everything was going great. I was showing signs of coming early, but I ended up going late. She was too comfy.
Anyway, here's the story of the labor and birth:
I got my membranes stripped on Tuesday the 15th (my due date) at 9 am (I was at 1 cm 80% effaced). I didn't get any cramping or spotting or anything. Wednesday the 16th I lost my mucus plug and got a lot of bloody show. Wednesday afternoon at 4 pm I started having contractions. They were about 4-7 minutes apart, but I could breathe through them just fine. However, they started getting much more painful Wednesday night. I tried to go to sleep and just couldn't. I would fall asleep and then I'd get a contraction and it'd wake me up. My husband went to work Thursday (the 17th) morning at 8 am. I was at home by myself trying to deal with the contractions and take a nap. I was getting contractions about every 4-5 minutes now and they were very hard to deal with (it was mostly cause I was tense and panicky). I decided to finish packing my bag (I'm a HUGE procrastinator) and I did a few last minute things around the house. I called the midwife at 9:00 am and told her everything and asked what I should do. She told me to be up at the birthing center to get checked at 12:15. I called my husband and let him know so he could come home. We went up there and she checked me and I was at 2 cm and completely effaced. Sooo, she sent us home. Labored the whole day crying through the peaks of my contractions (unless I could calm down enough to breathe through them). I eventually couldn't handle it anymore and my husband called the midwife at like 11:30 pm. We met up at the center at about midnight and she checked me again. She gave me a sad look and told me I was only at 3 cm. She gave me a shot of something (I forget the name) that is actually for people with nasuea, but the side effect to it is that it knocks you out (so I could get some sleep) and sent me home. By the way, the shot hurt worse than the contractions and now I have a big ass bruise on my hip where I got it. It's also still numb 4 months later! The stuff made me really drowsy, but it didn't really put me to sleep. I got maybe 30 minutes of sleep (at the most). My water broke during that 30 minutes of sleep I got at 2:30 am. DH called her again at about 5:30 am (it's now Friday the 18th) and let her know that my water broke and the contractions were now about 2-4 minutes apart. She said to be up at the center at 7:30 am. We got up there and she checked me and I was at 3 1/2 cm. I had to be at 4 cm to be admitted. So, she told me to walk around the center and squat real deeply with every contraction. Not to sit down or lay down at all. I did that for the next hour and she checked me again and I was at 4 cm (YAY!). Then I labored and labored and labored. She checked me every few hours just to make sure that I was actually making progress. My labor kept stalling out. I would have contractions every 1 to 2 minutes for like 2 hours and then all of a sudden they would just go to like every 10 to 12 minutes. My midwife was getting a little worried cause I had to have the baby within that 24 hour mark of when my water broke. So, I only had until 2:30 am to have her. She sat down with me and talked to me about the different tricks and stuff they could do to try to make my contractions stronger. I was still only at about 7 cm by this time (it was like 3 pm). She had already told me that the reason I was having such a long labor was because the baby was facing up. I was doing everything I could to try to turn her. I was going through all my contractions on all fours, doing pelvic rocks, doing external versions to push her in the right position, but she just didn't want to move.
I had a few options to speed up my labor so I was going through them one by one (the least intense first, of course). I was hooked up to a breast pump to bring the contractions on and make them stronger. That worked very well. I was taking a combo of herbs to stimulate labor (blue and black cohosh, cotton root, and a few other things I can't remember). That actually didn't work for me at all. So, I tried sniffing a bottle of peppermint extract between every contraction. That worked really well and it helped get my labor back on track for a little while. I had a few more options to help my labor get going. I could get an enema to help stir up contractions, I could get an IV to get sugar water to give me energy, or I could get an IV with nubain (the closest thing they have to a narcotic as possible) to completely relax me so the baby could work herself down. I went for the enema. That was icky. Well, it made me have some contractions, but they stalled out too. I knew that if I didn't have her soon, I'd be going to the hospital to be getting pitocin. I didn't want to do that AT ALL. So, my midwife decided that she would "help" my cervix open and make the baby come down. With every contraction she would push the cervix open and back around the baby's head with one hand and push on my stomach with the other to get the baby to come down. That was an extremely memorable experience that I'd like to never have again. We did that for about 1 hour and then I was officially ready to push. I did a few practice pushes with her fingers inside me before I started really pushing just so I could tell where I needed to focus my energy. After that I was ready and I pushed for about 30 minutes and out she popped! She came out with both her hands next to her face just like she was praying. I didn't tear or anything either! It was absolutely amazing and I wouldn?t have done it any different. I would take the pain that I went through all over again just to feel the amazing sensation of her being born. The whole process was just incredible and I'd do it again in a heartbeat. I talked to my midwife afterward about me being so happy I didn't have to transfer to the hospital and she told me that she was overjoyed she didn't have to send me because she knows I would have ended up with a c-section. I would take the pain I went through any day over a c-section. I ended up not having any kind of pain relief at all, not even herbs! It was great!
Well, anyway, her stats are this:
Born June 18th, 7:40 pm weighing 6 pounds 8 ounces and measuring 18 3/8th inches long
We had dimmed the lights, turned the AC off, and warmed up her blankets and clothes quite a bit earlier. She didn't cry at all when she came out or for the first 4 hours. She's a great baby. She was very alert (due to no drugs) and she went straight for the breast and latched on with no help from me at all.
We went home that night at 1:45 in the morning (6 hours after she was born)
--------------------------
After going through her birth, my husband has said that he wants to do it at home next time. YAY!! I'm not going to intervene next time as impatient as I may get. I'm the one who asked for the cervical massage to put me into labor. I wanted my baby now! I wasn't uncomfortable or anything, just impatient.
Next time I would rather not get the enema. It really emotionally scarred me for some reason. I'm still trying to get over it. My husband and I (sorry if TMI) used to really enjoy sex in that area and since her birth I won't let him touch me there. It's become completely off limits. I just feel so embarressed about it. We've been married for almost 2 years and I still won't pass gas when he's anywhere near me.
I'm not sure if I want a midwife this next time. I know I want a doula though, my husband is WAY to rough and he couldn't help me relax or hold me in the squatting positions without hurting my skin. How do you go about having an unassisted childbirth? How do you do all the paperwork and stuff?
I want to be pregnant again in March of 05, but I don't know how well that will work. I'm still going to be nursing and I've not gotten my period back.
I really want my babies close together. I want to tandem nurse too.
Jeez, sorry for the novel guys!
--Kathryn
A crunchy, CD'ing, BF'ing, No-vaxing, AP'ing, Mom to Dakota 6-18-04, and wife to Jeremy married 03-31-03
).Well, anyway, the ultrasound guy got worried cause she was small (I'm no big gal and all the babes in my family have been under 6 pounds). He made us come back again and then wanted us to come back a third time (I made the appointment, but knew I wasn't going to go and I just didn't show up).
Everything was going great. I was showing signs of coming early, but I ended up going late. She was too comfy.
Anyway, here's the story of the labor and birth:
I got my membranes stripped on Tuesday the 15th (my due date) at 9 am (I was at 1 cm 80% effaced). I didn't get any cramping or spotting or anything. Wednesday the 16th I lost my mucus plug and got a lot of bloody show. Wednesday afternoon at 4 pm I started having contractions. They were about 4-7 minutes apart, but I could breathe through them just fine. However, they started getting much more painful Wednesday night. I tried to go to sleep and just couldn't. I would fall asleep and then I'd get a contraction and it'd wake me up. My husband went to work Thursday (the 17th) morning at 8 am. I was at home by myself trying to deal with the contractions and take a nap. I was getting contractions about every 4-5 minutes now and they were very hard to deal with (it was mostly cause I was tense and panicky). I decided to finish packing my bag (I'm a HUGE procrastinator) and I did a few last minute things around the house. I called the midwife at 9:00 am and told her everything and asked what I should do. She told me to be up at the birthing center to get checked at 12:15. I called my husband and let him know so he could come home. We went up there and she checked me and I was at 2 cm and completely effaced. Sooo, she sent us home. Labored the whole day crying through the peaks of my contractions (unless I could calm down enough to breathe through them). I eventually couldn't handle it anymore and my husband called the midwife at like 11:30 pm. We met up at the center at about midnight and she checked me again. She gave me a sad look and told me I was only at 3 cm. She gave me a shot of something (I forget the name) that is actually for people with nasuea, but the side effect to it is that it knocks you out (so I could get some sleep) and sent me home. By the way, the shot hurt worse than the contractions and now I have a big ass bruise on my hip where I got it. It's also still numb 4 months later! The stuff made me really drowsy, but it didn't really put me to sleep. I got maybe 30 minutes of sleep (at the most). My water broke during that 30 minutes of sleep I got at 2:30 am. DH called her again at about 5:30 am (it's now Friday the 18th) and let her know that my water broke and the contractions were now about 2-4 minutes apart. She said to be up at the center at 7:30 am. We got up there and she checked me and I was at 3 1/2 cm. I had to be at 4 cm to be admitted. So, she told me to walk around the center and squat real deeply with every contraction. Not to sit down or lay down at all. I did that for the next hour and she checked me again and I was at 4 cm (YAY!). Then I labored and labored and labored. She checked me every few hours just to make sure that I was actually making progress. My labor kept stalling out. I would have contractions every 1 to 2 minutes for like 2 hours and then all of a sudden they would just go to like every 10 to 12 minutes. My midwife was getting a little worried cause I had to have the baby within that 24 hour mark of when my water broke. So, I only had until 2:30 am to have her. She sat down with me and talked to me about the different tricks and stuff they could do to try to make my contractions stronger. I was still only at about 7 cm by this time (it was like 3 pm). She had already told me that the reason I was having such a long labor was because the baby was facing up. I was doing everything I could to try to turn her. I was going through all my contractions on all fours, doing pelvic rocks, doing external versions to push her in the right position, but she just didn't want to move.
I had a few options to speed up my labor so I was going through them one by one (the least intense first, of course). I was hooked up to a breast pump to bring the contractions on and make them stronger. That worked very well. I was taking a combo of herbs to stimulate labor (blue and black cohosh, cotton root, and a few other things I can't remember). That actually didn't work for me at all. So, I tried sniffing a bottle of peppermint extract between every contraction. That worked really well and it helped get my labor back on track for a little while. I had a few more options to help my labor get going. I could get an enema to help stir up contractions, I could get an IV to get sugar water to give me energy, or I could get an IV with nubain (the closest thing they have to a narcotic as possible) to completely relax me so the baby could work herself down. I went for the enema. That was icky. Well, it made me have some contractions, but they stalled out too. I knew that if I didn't have her soon, I'd be going to the hospital to be getting pitocin. I didn't want to do that AT ALL. So, my midwife decided that she would "help" my cervix open and make the baby come down. With every contraction she would push the cervix open and back around the baby's head with one hand and push on my stomach with the other to get the baby to come down. That was an extremely memorable experience that I'd like to never have again. We did that for about 1 hour and then I was officially ready to push. I did a few practice pushes with her fingers inside me before I started really pushing just so I could tell where I needed to focus my energy. After that I was ready and I pushed for about 30 minutes and out she popped! She came out with both her hands next to her face just like she was praying. I didn't tear or anything either! It was absolutely amazing and I wouldn?t have done it any different. I would take the pain that I went through all over again just to feel the amazing sensation of her being born. The whole process was just incredible and I'd do it again in a heartbeat. I talked to my midwife afterward about me being so happy I didn't have to transfer to the hospital and she told me that she was overjoyed she didn't have to send me because she knows I would have ended up with a c-section. I would take the pain I went through any day over a c-section. I ended up not having any kind of pain relief at all, not even herbs! It was great!
Well, anyway, her stats are this:
Born June 18th, 7:40 pm weighing 6 pounds 8 ounces and measuring 18 3/8th inches long
We had dimmed the lights, turned the AC off, and warmed up her blankets and clothes quite a bit earlier. She didn't cry at all when she came out or for the first 4 hours. She's a great baby. She was very alert (due to no drugs) and she went straight for the breast and latched on with no help from me at all.
We went home that night at 1:45 in the morning (6 hours after she was born)
--------------------------
After going through her birth, my husband has said that he wants to do it at home next time. YAY!! I'm not going to intervene next time as impatient as I may get. I'm the one who asked for the cervical massage to put me into labor. I wanted my baby now! I wasn't uncomfortable or anything, just impatient.
Next time I would rather not get the enema. It really emotionally scarred me for some reason. I'm still trying to get over it. My husband and I (sorry if TMI) used to really enjoy sex in that area and since her birth I won't let him touch me there. It's become completely off limits. I just feel so embarressed about it. We've been married for almost 2 years and I still won't pass gas when he's anywhere near me.
I'm not sure if I want a midwife this next time. I know I want a doula though, my husband is WAY to rough and he couldn't help me relax or hold me in the squatting positions without hurting my skin. How do you go about having an unassisted childbirth? How do you do all the paperwork and stuff?
I want to be pregnant again in March of 05, but I don't know how well that will work. I'm still going to be nursing and I've not gotten my period back.
I really want my babies close together. I want to tandem nurse too.Jeez, sorry for the novel guys!
--Kathryn
A crunchy, CD'ing, BF'ing, No-vaxing, AP'ing, Mom to Dakota 6-18-04, and wife to Jeremy married 03-31-03
: )
