Our beautiful Luna Blue was born Friday, August 18th at 8:03 in the morning via emergency C-section. She weighed in at 8 pounds 14 ounces and 20.5" long.
I woke up Thursday morning and labor was starting. As the day progressed, so did the strength and intensity of the contractions.
The labor process was a beautiful, wonderful experience to have here at home. I labored all of Thursday and into Friday morning with the solid support of J, my midwives two apprentices and our doula. It was hard, no doubt, but I will always remember J bringing hot water to the birthing pool as we all sat outdoors, listening to the song of the night next to the fire in the hearth... Just as I imagined it.
4:30 Friday morning, my water broke and that is when things took a turn for the worse. When Luna's heart rate was checked during contractions, it was dipping dangerously low. Afraid that there was a bit of cord compression, I was asked to try a few contractions with my head down and my rump in the air. I did that and for the first few contractions afterwards it seemed like the problem was solved. I took the chance between contractions to go to the bathroom and lost a bunch more fluid. When I got back to the birthing room, we checked the heart rate again. Everything sounded good until about 30 seconds into the contraction when we heard thump, thump, thump, slower and slower....then silence. The midwife just about threw my butt into the air and the heart rate resumed. A silent panic swept over all of us. It was one of the scariest moments of my life. The midwife told J he should call the neighbors to come and watch the girls and get some things together. My body instictively spaced out the contractions and when the next one came over me, I was still inverted and the same thing happened. The heartrate slowed and seemed to skip a beat or two during the peak.
I'm getting tears in my eyes typing this, but those moments were absoltely terrifying. We immediately knew we had to get to the hospital, and fast. The drive there was intense and I was lost somewhere between despair, shock, panic, and insanity. I thought we were going to lose our girl. My body luckily reacted and contractions spaced out even more. I was riding with my head in J's lap and my butt as high up as I could get it. As dawn spread over the land, we raced down the road. The normally 25 minute ride took 15, the longest 15 minutes of my life. We finally got the hospital and bolted to L&D, luckily they got us into a room and got me hooked up to the monitors quickly. I was still head down and rump up and about 15 seconds into a contraction.
Silence.
I had an out of body experience and what was in reality only 2-3 seconds stretched on and on. The room was silent.
Then, miraculously as the contraction went on, the room was filled with a thump, thump, thump. J and I burst into tears. I said, "Let's get her out, NOW!" and the room burst into activity. I was prepped for surgery pretty quickly and wheeled into the OR.
At 8:03 in the morning, our beautiful and screaming baby girl was pulled from my womb and was so pissed off that she got apgars of 9 and 9. The doctor said that the cord was stuck pretty good against her head and she actually had a noticeable U-shaped indentation in the side of her head for a few hours. J stayed right by her side the whole time, while I was put back together.
Obviously Luna's actual arrival into the world was incredibly different from what I had imagined, I am so thankful that she is here and healthy. There were a few points where I was sure she was going to be lost, so I feel a lot differently about this C-section that I did about Kaya's. And my laboring at home was so peaceful and beautiful... I will never forget the feeling of being surrounded by love and support.
I feel blessed, so blessed to have this beautiful new little girlie!
http://www.amitymama.com/vb/attachme...g?d=1156103606
Best of luck to those of you still waiting for your little bundles!
ETA: Some labor pics can be seen here: http://www.amitymama.com/vb/amity-ma...luna-blue.html
I woke up Thursday morning and labor was starting. As the day progressed, so did the strength and intensity of the contractions.
The labor process was a beautiful, wonderful experience to have here at home. I labored all of Thursday and into Friday morning with the solid support of J, my midwives two apprentices and our doula. It was hard, no doubt, but I will always remember J bringing hot water to the birthing pool as we all sat outdoors, listening to the song of the night next to the fire in the hearth... Just as I imagined it.
4:30 Friday morning, my water broke and that is when things took a turn for the worse. When Luna's heart rate was checked during contractions, it was dipping dangerously low. Afraid that there was a bit of cord compression, I was asked to try a few contractions with my head down and my rump in the air. I did that and for the first few contractions afterwards it seemed like the problem was solved. I took the chance between contractions to go to the bathroom and lost a bunch more fluid. When I got back to the birthing room, we checked the heart rate again. Everything sounded good until about 30 seconds into the contraction when we heard thump, thump, thump, slower and slower....then silence. The midwife just about threw my butt into the air and the heart rate resumed. A silent panic swept over all of us. It was one of the scariest moments of my life. The midwife told J he should call the neighbors to come and watch the girls and get some things together. My body instictively spaced out the contractions and when the next one came over me, I was still inverted and the same thing happened. The heartrate slowed and seemed to skip a beat or two during the peak.
I'm getting tears in my eyes typing this, but those moments were absoltely terrifying. We immediately knew we had to get to the hospital, and fast. The drive there was intense and I was lost somewhere between despair, shock, panic, and insanity. I thought we were going to lose our girl. My body luckily reacted and contractions spaced out even more. I was riding with my head in J's lap and my butt as high up as I could get it. As dawn spread over the land, we raced down the road. The normally 25 minute ride took 15, the longest 15 minutes of my life. We finally got the hospital and bolted to L&D, luckily they got us into a room and got me hooked up to the monitors quickly. I was still head down and rump up and about 15 seconds into a contraction.
Silence.
I had an out of body experience and what was in reality only 2-3 seconds stretched on and on. The room was silent.
Then, miraculously as the contraction went on, the room was filled with a thump, thump, thump. J and I burst into tears. I said, "Let's get her out, NOW!" and the room burst into activity. I was prepped for surgery pretty quickly and wheeled into the OR.
At 8:03 in the morning, our beautiful and screaming baby girl was pulled from my womb and was so pissed off that she got apgars of 9 and 9. The doctor said that the cord was stuck pretty good against her head and she actually had a noticeable U-shaped indentation in the side of her head for a few hours. J stayed right by her side the whole time, while I was put back together.
Obviously Luna's actual arrival into the world was incredibly different from what I had imagined, I am so thankful that she is here and healthy. There were a few points where I was sure she was going to be lost, so I feel a lot differently about this C-section that I did about Kaya's. And my laboring at home was so peaceful and beautiful... I will never forget the feeling of being surrounded by love and support.
I feel blessed, so blessed to have this beautiful new little girlie!
http://www.amitymama.com/vb/attachme...g?d=1156103606
Best of luck to those of you still waiting for your little bundles!
ETA: Some labor pics can be seen here: http://www.amitymama.com/vb/amity-ma...luna-blue.html
: I'm so glad that little Luna made it out safely and that you're all doing well. Thank goodness for the medical technology we have, as well as the awesome action of your body spacing those contractions out!
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