I am finally getting around to writing little Mia's birth story - just a little over a week later!
On Friday, January 28, I went to work as usual. I started having contractions late morning but since I've had BH contractions throughout the later weeks of this pregnancy, I didn't think much of it. I DID, however, feel like I had to really get my things in order so I worked and worked and worked. I even stayed late, contractions and all.
At dinner that night, I started timing the contractions since they weren't going away. At that point, they were 6-7 minutes apart. I relaxed all evening, took a shower, watched a movie with dh and periodically timed the contractions. We tried to go to sleep about 10:30 but the contractions were keeping me awake. So, while dh slept peacefully, I meandered around the house and logged onto mothering for some reading
. Periodically, I timed the contractions and when they got to four minutes apart, dh woke up and I told him I thought these contractions were leading to something. I was pacing the apartment during contractions by this point (with our two dogs trailing close behind - that was kind of strange). dh called his mother and told her she probably ought to try to get a flight down here if she wanted to see this baby as a newborn. then he got our ds up and started getting him ready for a hospital trip. we hadn't packed anything so dh started packing and packing and packing. when the contractions got to three minutes, i told dh that we needed to get going NOW.
so we packed up the car and headed into the hospital. i was in transition at this point (and i don't have a terrific sense of humor at the best of times!) so check in was kind of a challenge. we got into the birth room and they called my ob (who is really terrific and supportive of natural birthing). when i got in the room, i was 4 cms dilated. when the ob got there about 30 minutes later, i was 7 cms dilated. the doc and the nurse figured i'd be going quickly, so everybody just hung out waiting for the water to break and mia to come. i kept pacing around (they didn't hook me up to the machines more than a bit which was great 'cause i don't deal very well with being tied up while laboring!
).
i had just over two hours of labor (that darn water bag would NOT break!). i didn't yell like i did with my first but i did climb all over the bed and the furniture again -- i love the monkey-bar-like thingy that can attach to the birthing beds. i whined that i couldn't do it and everybody assured me i could. my ob told me to push if i had the urge. well, i didn't really have the urge, but i did have the urge not to keep having these painful contractions for the next several hours so i just started pushing. my water broke and a few really hard pushes later, mia started to crown. then the ob suddenly said, "stop pushing, wait. push gently!" i was so freaked out that something was going wrong that i grabbed dh ("what the f? push push push and now stop pushing!!"), but it was just that i was tearing and if mia came out a little more slowly, i probably wouldn't tear as badly. i can't remember if i pushed more gently or not, but out she came! i forgot to reach down to pull her out (oops!!) so the ob caught her and handed her to me. after a little bit, dh cut the cord (i honestly can't remember if we waited for it to stop pulsing...).
she was long and skinny and adorable. 6 lbs 12 oz and 20 3/4 inches. (pics here: http://www.loyno.edu/~jmguill/Journal/index.php -- just hit previous to get back to her immediately post-birth photos). we brought her home just a few hours later (they let you leave after a few hours if you have an unmedicated birth, yay!). she's had an exciting week now and been to her first two mardi gras parades. she seems to be smiling already too!
thank you all for letting me share with you!
On Friday, January 28, I went to work as usual. I started having contractions late morning but since I've had BH contractions throughout the later weeks of this pregnancy, I didn't think much of it. I DID, however, feel like I had to really get my things in order so I worked and worked and worked. I even stayed late, contractions and all.
At dinner that night, I started timing the contractions since they weren't going away. At that point, they were 6-7 minutes apart. I relaxed all evening, took a shower, watched a movie with dh and periodically timed the contractions. We tried to go to sleep about 10:30 but the contractions were keeping me awake. So, while dh slept peacefully, I meandered around the house and logged onto mothering for some reading
. Periodically, I timed the contractions and when they got to four minutes apart, dh woke up and I told him I thought these contractions were leading to something. I was pacing the apartment during contractions by this point (with our two dogs trailing close behind - that was kind of strange). dh called his mother and told her she probably ought to try to get a flight down here if she wanted to see this baby as a newborn. then he got our ds up and started getting him ready for a hospital trip. we hadn't packed anything so dh started packing and packing and packing. when the contractions got to three minutes, i told dh that we needed to get going NOW.so we packed up the car and headed into the hospital. i was in transition at this point (and i don't have a terrific sense of humor at the best of times!) so check in was kind of a challenge. we got into the birth room and they called my ob (who is really terrific and supportive of natural birthing). when i got in the room, i was 4 cms dilated. when the ob got there about 30 minutes later, i was 7 cms dilated. the doc and the nurse figured i'd be going quickly, so everybody just hung out waiting for the water to break and mia to come. i kept pacing around (they didn't hook me up to the machines more than a bit which was great 'cause i don't deal very well with being tied up while laboring!
).i had just over two hours of labor (that darn water bag would NOT break!). i didn't yell like i did with my first but i did climb all over the bed and the furniture again -- i love the monkey-bar-like thingy that can attach to the birthing beds. i whined that i couldn't do it and everybody assured me i could. my ob told me to push if i had the urge. well, i didn't really have the urge, but i did have the urge not to keep having these painful contractions for the next several hours so i just started pushing. my water broke and a few really hard pushes later, mia started to crown. then the ob suddenly said, "stop pushing, wait. push gently!" i was so freaked out that something was going wrong that i grabbed dh ("what the f? push push push and now stop pushing!!"), but it was just that i was tearing and if mia came out a little more slowly, i probably wouldn't tear as badly. i can't remember if i pushed more gently or not, but out she came! i forgot to reach down to pull her out (oops!!) so the ob caught her and handed her to me. after a little bit, dh cut the cord (i honestly can't remember if we waited for it to stop pulsing...).
she was long and skinny and adorable. 6 lbs 12 oz and 20 3/4 inches. (pics here: http://www.loyno.edu/~jmguill/Journal/index.php -- just hit previous to get back to her immediately post-birth photos). we brought her home just a few hours later (they let you leave after a few hours if you have an unmedicated birth, yay!). she's had an exciting week now and been to her first two mardi gras parades. she seems to be smiling already too!
thank you all for letting me share with you!
