Miles Louis was born Monday Sept. 12th at 6:52 a.m. after 2.5 hours of labor. Here's the story:
All day Sunday and during the evening I was having contractions very often, but was able to ignore them. Before bed, I found myself angrily ripping all my maternity clothes out of my closet, determined to not wear them anymore. I said to myself, "I do not want to be induced on Tuesday the 13th (bad luck in Spanish-speaking countries). I am going to go to bed, wake up, and have this baby." I told dh the same thing and he didn't believe me. I went to bed around 2 a.m. Poor dh must have believed me on some subconscious level, though, b/c every time I woke up to pee, he had sleepwalked somewhere else, including to the computer, where he insisted he was just checking something. At 4:20 I woke up and realized I was having a painful contraction and the urge to poop. I sat on the toilet for awhile in misery and then got the idea to look at the clock. I realized I was having contractions every 2-5 minutes for a minute each! I stood up to get the phone to call the midwife and had to sway and dance leaning over the bathroom counter through another contraction. I knew it was labor so I called her and she agreed that it was. I told her I wanted to go to the hospital b/c I really wanted an epidural and whatever other relief I could get. I said we'd be there between 6 and 6:30 (it was now 5:15 a.m.) Dh (who was very hard to wake up after his night adventures) called my mom to come down and watch ds. Mind you, she only lives 50 yards away, but it took her 15 minutes, and I was panicking. My labor had become very serious very quickly. Dh decided to iron his clothes and I told him he would go naked to the hospital if he weren't dressed when mom got there. Poor guy was so confused and tired from sleepwalking all night.
So mom got there and off we went. We were excited to speed through the local speed trap with *the* excuse, but we didn't see a single cop. We got to the hospital at exactly 6. For the last 10 minutes of the ride, I had one continuous contraction with peaks and valleys. I made dh park and I walked myself up to L&D. I got in a room and the midwife Nancy checked me - 5 cm, 75% effaced, and 0 station. I was very happy to know that all my pain was doing something. The nurse knew I wanted an epidural immediately, so she started my IV, but once it was in, the contractions became so unbearable that I began to panic. I begged the nurse to get Nancy and ask her for some narcotic. At this point, my preferred midwife, Kathy, came in for her day of call. She had said she really wanted to catch my baby when I spoke to her last and something had told her to come in 30 minutes early. She said, "I'm going to go change out of my dress," but then I said, "I have to push!" and she took one look at me and said, "I think I'll just throw a gown on." She checked me and I was complete (with a little lip) in just 20 minutes since I was 5 cm. I kept begging for something to stop the pain b/c the contractions were one on top of another, and she said, "Well, it's going to hurt a little more for a few minutes, and then it will be over." I was so out of my head with pain that all I could do was moan and cry and beg for it to be over. Finally she said that I should roll onto my side and that I had to actually push (and not just freak out) for it to be over. So I started pushing for real, instead of just fighting my body. The first push he crowned, the 2nd push his head came out, and the 3rd push the rest of his body - about 4 minutes total. Dh and I didn't even realize he was born yet until Kathy put him on my side. It was 2 1/2 hours since I woke up and about 40 minutes after getting into my room. The anesthesiologist arrived as I pushed the baby out.
Miles' placenta and cord were so little. He was 7 lbs 1 oz and 19.5 inches long. B/c his birth was so precipitous, he didn't get his lungs squeezed enough and he had some retractions when he breathed, but by the time the NICU nurse came up to see him, he was fine. We were still in shock that he was born already.
So I got both what I wanted and what I didn't want. I wanted him to be born the morning after I decided, and he was. I wanted the scheduled induction to psychologically relax me into labor, and it worked. But I really wanted the painless, parking-lot epidural sort of birth, and I got continuous unbearable contractions and a precipitous drug-free labor. On the upside, it is sort of cool
: to say I had such a labor, and the recovery was so much quicker than with the epidural I had with Maddox. I was able to get up and pee and walk immediately. I had no time to get swollen or tear or anything. However, I enjoyed Maddox's labor more, especially the slow progression of pushing him out. I don't wish that this labor had taken longer, though, since it was so painful. This birth was really a learning experience for me in many ways. I can say, though, that it hurt so much more than I ever imagined it could hurt.
I spent one night in the hospital so I could be alone with Miles, but of course I got no sleep with hospital routines. Miles has been a slow starter with nursing (as was Maddox), but this time we had an excellent LC who got him to latch and eat in about 5 minutes of instruction. I can already feel my breasts growing. Maddox adores his little brother and kisses him constantly. I have Miles in the sling now so Maddox cannot see him - out of sight, out of mind - and it seems to be working. Miles is still so sleepy and I need to wake him to feed him now.
All day Sunday and during the evening I was having contractions very often, but was able to ignore them. Before bed, I found myself angrily ripping all my maternity clothes out of my closet, determined to not wear them anymore. I said to myself, "I do not want to be induced on Tuesday the 13th (bad luck in Spanish-speaking countries). I am going to go to bed, wake up, and have this baby." I told dh the same thing and he didn't believe me. I went to bed around 2 a.m. Poor dh must have believed me on some subconscious level, though, b/c every time I woke up to pee, he had sleepwalked somewhere else, including to the computer, where he insisted he was just checking something. At 4:20 I woke up and realized I was having a painful contraction and the urge to poop. I sat on the toilet for awhile in misery and then got the idea to look at the clock. I realized I was having contractions every 2-5 minutes for a minute each! I stood up to get the phone to call the midwife and had to sway and dance leaning over the bathroom counter through another contraction. I knew it was labor so I called her and she agreed that it was. I told her I wanted to go to the hospital b/c I really wanted an epidural and whatever other relief I could get. I said we'd be there between 6 and 6:30 (it was now 5:15 a.m.) Dh (who was very hard to wake up after his night adventures) called my mom to come down and watch ds. Mind you, she only lives 50 yards away, but it took her 15 minutes, and I was panicking. My labor had become very serious very quickly. Dh decided to iron his clothes and I told him he would go naked to the hospital if he weren't dressed when mom got there. Poor guy was so confused and tired from sleepwalking all night.
So mom got there and off we went. We were excited to speed through the local speed trap with *the* excuse, but we didn't see a single cop. We got to the hospital at exactly 6. For the last 10 minutes of the ride, I had one continuous contraction with peaks and valleys. I made dh park and I walked myself up to L&D. I got in a room and the midwife Nancy checked me - 5 cm, 75% effaced, and 0 station. I was very happy to know that all my pain was doing something. The nurse knew I wanted an epidural immediately, so she started my IV, but once it was in, the contractions became so unbearable that I began to panic. I begged the nurse to get Nancy and ask her for some narcotic. At this point, my preferred midwife, Kathy, came in for her day of call. She had said she really wanted to catch my baby when I spoke to her last and something had told her to come in 30 minutes early. She said, "I'm going to go change out of my dress," but then I said, "I have to push!" and she took one look at me and said, "I think I'll just throw a gown on." She checked me and I was complete (with a little lip) in just 20 minutes since I was 5 cm. I kept begging for something to stop the pain b/c the contractions were one on top of another, and she said, "Well, it's going to hurt a little more for a few minutes, and then it will be over." I was so out of my head with pain that all I could do was moan and cry and beg for it to be over. Finally she said that I should roll onto my side and that I had to actually push (and not just freak out) for it to be over. So I started pushing for real, instead of just fighting my body. The first push he crowned, the 2nd push his head came out, and the 3rd push the rest of his body - about 4 minutes total. Dh and I didn't even realize he was born yet until Kathy put him on my side. It was 2 1/2 hours since I woke up and about 40 minutes after getting into my room. The anesthesiologist arrived as I pushed the baby out.
Miles' placenta and cord were so little. He was 7 lbs 1 oz and 19.5 inches long. B/c his birth was so precipitous, he didn't get his lungs squeezed enough and he had some retractions when he breathed, but by the time the NICU nurse came up to see him, he was fine. We were still in shock that he was born already.
So I got both what I wanted and what I didn't want. I wanted him to be born the morning after I decided, and he was. I wanted the scheduled induction to psychologically relax me into labor, and it worked. But I really wanted the painless, parking-lot epidural sort of birth, and I got continuous unbearable contractions and a precipitous drug-free labor. On the upside, it is sort of cool
: to say I had such a labor, and the recovery was so much quicker than with the epidural I had with Maddox. I was able to get up and pee and walk immediately. I had no time to get swollen or tear or anything. However, I enjoyed Maddox's labor more, especially the slow progression of pushing him out. I don't wish that this labor had taken longer, though, since it was so painful. This birth was really a learning experience for me in many ways. I can say, though, that it hurt so much more than I ever imagined it could hurt.I spent one night in the hospital so I could be alone with Miles, but of course I got no sleep with hospital routines. Miles has been a slow starter with nursing (as was Maddox), but this time we had an excellent LC who got him to latch and eat in about 5 minutes of instruction. I can already feel my breasts growing. Maddox adores his little brother and kisses him constantly. I have Miles in the sling now so Maddox cannot see him - out of sight, out of mind - and it seems to be working. Miles is still so sleepy and I need to wake him to feed him now.
to the world, Miles Louis!
) 
: You did it, Lilli! Enjoy getting to know Baby Miles!
Alex
