I might be in labor (updated below)

[Snowdrift]

Woke up feeling terrible this morning, just tired-ish and not wanting to get out of bed, disorganized abdominal pain. Got up anyway to go to church, but by the time I'd been up for half an hour it was starting to turn into regular contraction 6-7 minutes apart.

By the time church was over it was 5-6 minutes aparts and hard to ignore. We ran some errands til I started getting really sweaty and having to pay attention to each one and didn't like being in public. Came home and tried to nap but they are too strong and regular to sleep through.

So, after seven hours of regular, progressively strong contractions, we're thinking this might be it. Talked to the midwives an hour or so ago and she agrees that we might be in for a long night tonight.

DH is so excited bc tomorrow is his b-day. It would be so kewl if he and the babe can share a birthday! Incidentally, tomorrow is also my "offical" EDD.

[Lucky Charm]

How exciting! I am excited for you.

Hang out with us and pass the time

[guestmama9906]

Sounds like it to me! Tomorrow is our anniversary, sounds like a good day for a baby!

[luckylady]

Sounds like it!!! So excited for you!!!

[KatSG]

Sending you good labor vibes! I hope this is it!

[Peppamint]

Sending labor vibes!

[Snowdrift]

Well, nearly 12 hours later and I'm still having regular contrax every 4-5 minutes and lost a bit more mucous plug, but that's it so far.

If this peters out I'm gonna be *so* upset.

So signs of letup though...but no signs of significant progress. I always figured I'd have a long labor. Guess I was right...

[Smithie]

Good luck, mama!

[eco_mama]

[Keeta]

Sending good labor vibes your way! Thinking of you, mama...

[nova22]

Good luck!!!

[Hollysmom]

Sending good labor vibes you way!!!

[*andiflipping*]

Happy labor vibes to coming at you!!!!!!!!!

[~*max*~]

How are you today tie-dyed? I hope you are snuggling that new babe right now!

[KatSG]

Thinking about you! Hope all is well.

[Snowdrift]

Elanor Rose was born at 5.15 pm today. 5:15 on 5/15, her EDD and her daddy's b-day, in the middle of a thunderstorm. Difficult labor. Ellie is only 7 pounds and I've got a pretty long torso, so her position was not optimal. Moved from oblique angles to posterior and millions of other creative approaches befor my midwife finally manually rotated her head. Postioning for labor just wasn't working--and the optimal position were incredibly painful.

I was ready to throw in the towel and go to the hospital and beg for an epidural about three minutes before my midwife did a quick internal and I started pushing sponatenously. Ellie was born pretty shortly therefore--probably about half and hour, but I'm not sure.

a day of modrately productive early labor, a night and most of a day of unproductive incredibly painful labor, and an hour or two of fast, productive labor, pushing, birth. Not bad, and it has given a new appreciation for situation where certain interventions are warranted. And with my homebirth, all the interventions that were helpfulwere administered in a caring, informed way. All told, she pulled my cervix forward twice, manually rotated the head, and I asked for AROM to avoid the head floating out of position again after that tortuous procedure, and a couple of internals --the pain was just too much to not get reassurance that things were progressing, and mostly they helped with figuring out positions. I suspect if I had been in a hospital it would've been an instrumental or c-sec birth, and my midwives concurred.

Ellie is 7 pds, 4 oz, 19-1/4 inches long, and has the weirdest head molding you've ever seen in your life as a result of those long hours of malpositionede labor.

And, yes, I know I shouldn't be on the computer three and a half hours after giving birth, but my MIL is blow-drying my hair. After laboring in and out of the tub for two days I'm tired of being soggy!

She is very sleepy after having her head squashed all day, but still managed to latch on and get a couple swallow in before she drifted off. We're hoping wakes in a bit and we work on the nursing thing again.

Meanwhile, I've got the post-homebirth energy surge. I feel great other than a urethral skid mark and a tiny perineal one as well (I pushed *very quickly. I was ready for the end at that point.) and a sore butt. After spending my between contractions time in an alternative state of consciousness for a day and a night, the last thin I want to do is go to bed, but I'll be a good girl and sleep while Ellie takes her first nap.

[Smithie]

Congratulations! You are one tough mama, good for you for staying home! Good for your mw for intervening appropriately!

[nova22]

Elanor Rose, that's such a sweet name. I bet she's beautiful.

I love your birth story. It sounds like you had a great midwife who knew when and when not to help things along. There's something very energetic and intriguing about birthing during a thunderstorm, it seems like such an ideal birth to me, with the sounds of nature crashing all around. Congratulations!

[eco_mama]

Welcome Elanor!

:

Very Sweet Name! Congrats Mama!!!

[KatSG]

You are amazing, mama! I'm so impressed with your MW, too. Many would have panicked and transfered.

And I love the name! We considered Eleanor for this baby (it was actually #2 and lost out to a family name) and Rose is my dd1's middle name, and we actually call her Clara Rose.

Do rest up! I floated on that post-birth high for a few days before I crashed hard. Just take it really easy and know that there is nothing going on in the world--really! nothing!--that warrants taking any attention away from your new babe.