Levi was born at home Thursday morning, August 31 at 2:37 am. He was born 11 days past my due date.
Brief birth story... started losing my plug Wednesday afternoon and had been having prodromal labor for a few days. After seeing my midwife and talking to a good friend who is a midwife, we decided my uterus needed a jump start because my contractions were reluctant. I took a tincture of black and blue cohosh that night after dinner (at that point, my contractions were about 8-12 minutes apart).. that was around 9 pm. Contractions started picking up a lot more around 11, and dh called the midwife and my sister to come on (both lived about an hour away.) They got here around midnight and I labored for a little while on the couch (I was really tired at this point.) One of the midwives gave me some emergen-c that really seemed to give me some much needed energy. I was still in somewhat denial that this was actually labor! I was feeling really grumpy and apologized to everyone. I got up at one point and was at the foot of our dining room table, where I did a lot of the rest of labor. I was having horrible back labor and baby was posterior. Midwife got me a stool to lift my right leg up a bit while I leaned over the table, hoping to help baby to turn. Her assistant pressed on my lower back during contractions and heated a rice sock (which felt the best.) At some point, I started feelilng pushy and felt a lot of pressure. My water broke. It took me a few contractions to get moved into the bedroom where I found myself reclined on my back, hanging off the side of my bed. I knew I needed to push but pushing was different this time from in the past (because he was posterior.. still!) But little guy did start to rotate as I was pushing (everyone could actually see him fighting to turn, pushing his fists and wiggling around!) and I pushed for maybe 30 minutes and he was born. I was still in denial at this point because I never got any real "good" pushes that felt right but I made myself push, knowing that was the only way the pain was going to stop. It actually took me a second after the birth to realize wow, he is really here! DH caught and laid him on my belly. He latched on right away and hasn't wanted to stop nursing since! I am in love with this little guy. I did tear a good bit and am alittle sore, but I am bleeding soooo much less this time than ever before! My midwife attributes it to the red raspberry leaf tea that I drank a lot of this pregnancy. I am just so glad the birth is over, everything is going well and I am enjoying staying at home for a while.
Brief birth story... started losing my plug Wednesday afternoon and had been having prodromal labor for a few days. After seeing my midwife and talking to a good friend who is a midwife, we decided my uterus needed a jump start because my contractions were reluctant. I took a tincture of black and blue cohosh that night after dinner (at that point, my contractions were about 8-12 minutes apart).. that was around 9 pm. Contractions started picking up a lot more around 11, and dh called the midwife and my sister to come on (both lived about an hour away.) They got here around midnight and I labored for a little while on the couch (I was really tired at this point.) One of the midwives gave me some emergen-c that really seemed to give me some much needed energy. I was still in somewhat denial that this was actually labor! I was feeling really grumpy and apologized to everyone. I got up at one point and was at the foot of our dining room table, where I did a lot of the rest of labor. I was having horrible back labor and baby was posterior. Midwife got me a stool to lift my right leg up a bit while I leaned over the table, hoping to help baby to turn. Her assistant pressed on my lower back during contractions and heated a rice sock (which felt the best.) At some point, I started feelilng pushy and felt a lot of pressure. My water broke. It took me a few contractions to get moved into the bedroom where I found myself reclined on my back, hanging off the side of my bed. I knew I needed to push but pushing was different this time from in the past (because he was posterior.. still!) But little guy did start to rotate as I was pushing (everyone could actually see him fighting to turn, pushing his fists and wiggling around!) and I pushed for maybe 30 minutes and he was born. I was still in denial at this point because I never got any real "good" pushes that felt right but I made myself push, knowing that was the only way the pain was going to stop. It actually took me a second after the birth to realize wow, he is really here! DH caught and laid him on my belly. He latched on right away and hasn't wanted to stop nursing since! I am in love with this little guy. I did tear a good bit and am alittle sore, but I am bleeding soooo much less this time than ever before! My midwife attributes it to the red raspberry leaf tea that I drank a lot of this pregnancy. I am just so glad the birth is over, everything is going well and I am enjoying staying at home for a while.
