He arrived on Sunday, August 27, at 7:05 PM. He was 8 lbs 10 oz, 21 inches long, and has a head full of black hair 
:
I woke up at 4:30 AM with strong contractions in my belly only, about 11 minutes apart. Too strong to sleep through, so I puttered around the house for a few hours. Bloody show arrived when they changed to 8 minutes apart, around 8:30, which is when I woke up my hubby. I figured I'd let him sleep a while longer because he needed to be in top form! Around 1, the contrax were around 3-4 minutes apart and were starting to really hurt, so we took off for the hospital. I was 6 cm when I got there, and the car ride was pretty miserable so I'm glad I went when I did.
I progressed pretty normally up until the end, and I did really well. I had a wonderful natural birth-supportive nurse, who was practically a doula--she was in the room almost the whole time, gave suggestions for alternate positions, brought me a birth ball and showed me how to use it...she was awesome. The only position that worked for me was standing, so the really bad contractions were done hanging off my DH (he held me under the arms) and I started off pushing holding on to the side of the bed. After a while, my OB said it looked like the baby was sunny side up, and that he could try to turn him. I got into bed, the OB tried to turn baby, baby was stubborn, and I was screaming. I pushed for another hour and a half before finally the OB said the baby wasn't going anywhere until he was turned, I couldn't take another session of trying to turn him, and I was no longer pushing effectively anyway--too tired. SO I got an epidural, dozed for 45 minutes, OB turned the baby, and he was born after another 10-15 minutes of pushing.
The OB is guessing baby's elbow was caught on my sacral bone, because of the way he was stuck and the fact that his arm was wrapped around his neck when he came out. Ouch! I have a small second degree tear and normal soreness, I feel like I'm healing really well.
Total score--early labor from 4:30 AM until 3 PM or so, hard labor until 4 PM, 2 hours of pushing, 45 minutes of rest, another 15 minutes of pushing. 14 and a half hours total. I am fully convinced that I would have had a natural birth if he hadn't been turned the wrong way, and if I was at home I think I would have opted to transport and get the epi around when I did. So I'm still really proud of myself, I feel like I mostly got my natural birth, and I'm not upset about having opted for the epidural. I was really spent at that point.
Oh, and unexpectedly, my 10 year old DD decided to watch the birth, and was there the whole time: She was a trouper and didn't even freak out when I was screaming.
We are home and resting, he actually lets me sleep a good 3 hours at a stretch at night, so I almost feel human!
:I woke up at 4:30 AM with strong contractions in my belly only, about 11 minutes apart. Too strong to sleep through, so I puttered around the house for a few hours. Bloody show arrived when they changed to 8 minutes apart, around 8:30, which is when I woke up my hubby. I figured I'd let him sleep a while longer because he needed to be in top form! Around 1, the contrax were around 3-4 minutes apart and were starting to really hurt, so we took off for the hospital. I was 6 cm when I got there, and the car ride was pretty miserable so I'm glad I went when I did.
I progressed pretty normally up until the end, and I did really well. I had a wonderful natural birth-supportive nurse, who was practically a doula--she was in the room almost the whole time, gave suggestions for alternate positions, brought me a birth ball and showed me how to use it...she was awesome. The only position that worked for me was standing, so the really bad contractions were done hanging off my DH (he held me under the arms) and I started off pushing holding on to the side of the bed. After a while, my OB said it looked like the baby was sunny side up, and that he could try to turn him. I got into bed, the OB tried to turn baby, baby was stubborn, and I was screaming. I pushed for another hour and a half before finally the OB said the baby wasn't going anywhere until he was turned, I couldn't take another session of trying to turn him, and I was no longer pushing effectively anyway--too tired. SO I got an epidural, dozed for 45 minutes, OB turned the baby, and he was born after another 10-15 minutes of pushing.
The OB is guessing baby's elbow was caught on my sacral bone, because of the way he was stuck and the fact that his arm was wrapped around his neck when he came out. Ouch! I have a small second degree tear and normal soreness, I feel like I'm healing really well.
Total score--early labor from 4:30 AM until 3 PM or so, hard labor until 4 PM, 2 hours of pushing, 45 minutes of rest, another 15 minutes of pushing. 14 and a half hours total. I am fully convinced that I would have had a natural birth if he hadn't been turned the wrong way, and if I was at home I think I would have opted to transport and get the epi around when I did. So I'm still really proud of myself, I feel like I mostly got my natural birth, and I'm not upset about having opted for the epidural. I was really spent at that point.
Oh, and unexpectedly, my 10 year old DD decided to watch the birth, and was there the whole time
: She was a trouper and didn't even freak out when I was screaming.We are home and resting, he actually lets me sleep a good 3 hours at a stretch at night, so I almost feel human!
