I sort of blanked out, due to sheer exaustion, through alot of my 1st son's birth & don't remember too much of it, so this time since I do remember everything I wanted to write it all out, every detail just about. Anyone who gets all the way through it deserves a metal 
I woke up to go to the bathroom, when I got back in bed I had a fairly strong contraction. So I looked at the clock, it was 12:14am. I fell asleep & was awoken by another strong contraction, which seemed to go on & on so I wiggled my body a little to relax. Then I felt a gush, my water had broken. It was 12:30am. I got up & woke Daniel. We got up to start getting things ready. I moved Gavin into the bed in his room, but he woke up. I laid with him for a while but he wasn’t staying asleep. Daniel started changing the sheets on the bed. Then we started filling the Aqua Doula tub. I kept having to go back to lay down with Gavin & couldn’t manage to time any contractions, but I knew they were pretty strong. Every time I walked by the tub I stuck my hand in to see if the water was getting warm yet & it wasn’t. Finally by the time the tub was about half full we realized that the water was still coming out ice cold & was not going to warm up even though we had turned the water heater up all the way. We had set up the tub almost 3 weeks earlier & had also hooked the hose up to the shower in the master bath. Unfortunately we haven’t used the shower in the master bath since I was pregnant with Gavin, about 3 years earlier. So we have no idea what the problem was there.
At this point we checked to make sure we had hot water at all in the house, which we did. So I again went to lay down with Gavin & Daniel started pumping out some of the cold water in the tub & move the hose to the shower in his bathroom. Finally hot water started pumping into the tub. At this point it was about 1:30am & Gavin was still not staying asleep so I said forget it he can stay up & watch TV, thinking he’d fall asleep on the couch. WRONG!!! He stayed up ALL night! Plus I still had not called Karen (the midwife). I figured my contracts had been about 10 min apart & 1 min long so I thought I’d call Karen with that. I was able to time 1 contraction before calling Karen. It was 5 min apart & 1 ½ min long. I didn’t think much of it as I knew there would be some longer than others. So I told her what was going on & she said she’d wait an hour & call me back. Suddenly I had another contraction…again only 5 min since the last one & a little stronger, I was starting to have to breath through them. I started to panic a bit & so she said she’d come now. I called my mom & Daniel called his mom to come help care for Gavin. Then I called my Doula/friend & got her machine. I again panicked thinking I had the wrong number, even though I‘ve called her home before. I tried her cell, left a message there too. I went back to the bedroom thinking I was going to lay down for a bit, but I never did. I just kept running around getting things ready. Finally the tub was full, but it didn’t feel very warm. I asked Daniel to find the thermometer. Fortunately my mother in law got here quickly, about 2:15am I believe. She made comment that she couldn’t believe I was up & doing so much, she had expected to find me on the bed in a pool of sweat. I just felt like I was doing what I needed to & hadn’t thought much about it. Soon after she got here I told Daniel that I was starting to feel pressure, but I felt like it was too soon, so it must have been in my head.
About 2:25am I tried calling my doula again, still got the machine. I went back into the bedroom. Daniel turned on the cd I made of songs from my prenatal yoga class. I was standing next to the bed & had a very strong contraction & the urge to push was uncontrollable. I put my arms around Daniel & leaned on him sort of squatting a bit & slow dancing at the same time. I told Daniel to get a towel to put under me since I couldn’t really move even between the contractions. I think I had 2 or 3 contractions like this. I couldn’t tell because they were starting to feeling like one big never ending contraction. I do remember that even though I was pushing, I still had my underwear on. Suddenly I had the urge to go to the bathroom. We waddled into the bathroom so I could go. In the middle of going I had another contraction. Just then my mom got there to find me in the bathroom squatting over the toilet pushing. I reached down & put my hand on my perineum & could feel everything bulging. I Thought I could feel hair, but really wasn‘t sure what I was feeling. I remember thinking I was going to push this baby out & I needed to support my perineum, though I never thought about putting down any towel or chux pads. Finally Karen got here & as soon as I heard her voice I looked at Daniel & said “Oh thank god”. She asked why I wasn’t in the tub. I asked her if the temperature was ok. (I started pushing right after the thermometer was put in, so we never got a chance to check it) She said it was & so I hobbled around baby’s bulging head to the tub & with help got in. As I was getting in Karen’s assistant Karen D arrived.
I immediately had a contraction & baby crowned. I had another contraction & his head was out. I had another at 2:41am & his body was out. Karen (having been here just long enough to get her gloves out & on her hands), Daniel & I all put our hands down into the water to catch him. Daniel’s favorite part was feeling the rush & pressure of the water in the tub as his body was born. We all three helped bring his body up out of the water, as I sat back to be able out him on my chest. The cord was short & I was feeling awkward trying to keep his body in the water & his face out of the water. We relaxed for a moment in the tub enjoying our new baby & double checking that he was indeed a boy. My mother in law brought Gavin in to greet his baby brother. He said hi, but was eager to get back to playing & watching TV. Thank goodness Karen had disposable cameras to catch a few pictures right after the birth since we had not even had a moment to think about grabbing our camera.
Then I started to bleed. Karen pointed it out saying that the placenta was coming soon. Then she asked if we wanted to cut the cord since it had stopped pulsing. Daniel got the honors of course. Then Karen’s other assistant Olivia arrived. (I felt bad that she missed the birth, especially after I learned that she missed the birth they attended the night before too.) I kept bleeding so Karen encouraged me to start pushing to deliver the placenta. The bleeding continued so I had to push harder. Finally it came out & Karen said that there was a lot of blood & would like me to get out of the tub so they could better monitor it. I got out & was helped over to the bed. Once I was able to get comfy on the bed we tried to nurse. He wasn’t too interested, but I kept trying to help stop my bleeding. Finally the bleeding became normal & I never did feel weak or dizzy from the loss of blood. Karen had been very concerned though. Looking at the tub I can see why, it was pretty much black from all the blood. She said she had never seen a tub get so dark. (Keep in mind we were minutes from doing this in the bathroom without any towels or anything to catch the mess. That is the part about almost having an unassisted birth that scares me now. (All that blood would have freaked me out & would have been a horrid mess to clean up.)
I did have a tear so it was time to stitch me up. My mom & mother in law were sent out to make phone calls to the family. Daniel held baby while I was stitched. I kept laughing because even though it didn’t hurt I kept jumping & saying ouch. When they were done they left Daniel & I to bond with our baby. I tried nursing again with better success this time. We also decided that he looked just like Gavin when he was born.
After awhile Karen came in to check & see if it was ok to start weighing, measuring etc…baby. We said yes so she invited our moms back in along with her assistants & we got lots of pictures of Dad weighing baby & Karen measuring him & just generally checking him out. It was at this point we discovered he had a bit of a tongue tie. But he was very healthy weighing in at 7 pounds & 13 ounces, almost a full pound heavier than Gavin & 21 inches long, 2 inches longer than Gavin. We declined the vitamin K shot as well as the eye ointment. While filling out the paperwork Karen asked if baby had a name yet…nope we had decided we would wait until everyone left to determine his name, so she left the first name part of his paperwork blank. Soon after, about 6 am Karen & her assistants left to go have breakfast & go home to nap. My mother in law left not long after that so she could go home & sleep as she had just gotten home from work when we called her to come to the house. My mom stayed for awhile to help with Gavin.
Gavin had been a little overwhelmed by all the people & excitement up until this point & would not come into the bedroom to see us. He would peek his head in & then it was back to the living room. So I decided to come out to the living room & spend some time with him. I was starting to really miss my Gavin. It was very sweet. Gavin kept saying he loved his baby & wanting to hug him. We sat around & took more pictures. Just before 8am I decide it was time for baby & I to go take a nap. By 8:30am Gavin was ready for a nap, so my mom went home & Daniel & Gavin took a nap too. We stayed home all afternoon being lazy & taking pictures of the newest member of our family. Daniel ran to Del Taco for lunch which is funny since we had Del Taco right after Gavin was born too.
That afternoon we finally decided that while baby looked too much like Gavin to see which name he “looked” like, but we both seemed to like one name best, so we decided that Rhys Mateo would be our new baby boy’s name. Later that afternoon my Father in law came over & he was the 1st to hear Rhys’ name. He couldn’t quite get it right. I also talked to my Doula/friend, Cristina, that afternoon. It turns out that her daughter had not put the phone back where it was supposed to be, so Cristina never heard it ring. She felt awful about missing the birth, but with the way things went she probably would not have made it here in time anyway. Having only taken a 2 hour nap Gavin went to bed very early at 5pm that night. Amazingly he slept through the visit from his tias, tios & cousins that evening. They too were not real sure about the name as was obvious by the silence & blank stares that followed us saying Rhys’ name. It was very cute to see all of the cousins taking pictures of Rhys with their camera phones.
The next day after being called away from a home visit to go to a birth that ended up being a false alarm, Karen & her assistant Olivia came back to do her 24 hr check up. When she got here 2 of my friends who also know Karen were here to visit & help me with some breastfeeding things. One of these friend was my Doula who still felt horrible about missing the birth, but we determined that for various odd reasons it was just not meant for her to be there cosmically (for lack of a better word) We all had good time talking & sharing stories. And I knew that I would not have to worry about post partum depression quite like I did after Gavin’s birth because I had so much all around love & support this time. Life is good.
Theres the closest I could come to your medal
I woke up to go to the bathroom, when I got back in bed I had a fairly strong contraction. So I looked at the clock, it was 12:14am. I fell asleep & was awoken by another strong contraction, which seemed to go on & on so I wiggled my body a little to relax. Then I felt a gush, my water had broken. It was 12:30am. I got up & woke Daniel. We got up to start getting things ready. I moved Gavin into the bed in his room, but he woke up. I laid with him for a while but he wasn’t staying asleep. Daniel started changing the sheets on the bed. Then we started filling the Aqua Doula tub. I kept having to go back to lay down with Gavin & couldn’t manage to time any contractions, but I knew they were pretty strong. Every time I walked by the tub I stuck my hand in to see if the water was getting warm yet & it wasn’t. Finally by the time the tub was about half full we realized that the water was still coming out ice cold & was not going to warm up even though we had turned the water heater up all the way. We had set up the tub almost 3 weeks earlier & had also hooked the hose up to the shower in the master bath. Unfortunately we haven’t used the shower in the master bath since I was pregnant with Gavin, about 3 years earlier. So we have no idea what the problem was there.
At this point we checked to make sure we had hot water at all in the house, which we did. So I again went to lay down with Gavin & Daniel started pumping out some of the cold water in the tub & move the hose to the shower in his bathroom. Finally hot water started pumping into the tub. At this point it was about 1:30am & Gavin was still not staying asleep so I said forget it he can stay up & watch TV, thinking he’d fall asleep on the couch. WRONG!!! He stayed up ALL night! Plus I still had not called Karen (the midwife). I figured my contracts had been about 10 min apart & 1 min long so I thought I’d call Karen with that. I was able to time 1 contraction before calling Karen. It was 5 min apart & 1 ½ min long. I didn’t think much of it as I knew there would be some longer than others. So I told her what was going on & she said she’d wait an hour & call me back. Suddenly I had another contraction…again only 5 min since the last one & a little stronger, I was starting to have to breath through them. I started to panic a bit & so she said she’d come now. I called my mom & Daniel called his mom to come help care for Gavin. Then I called my Doula/friend & got her machine. I again panicked thinking I had the wrong number, even though I‘ve called her home before. I tried her cell, left a message there too. I went back to the bedroom thinking I was going to lay down for a bit, but I never did. I just kept running around getting things ready. Finally the tub was full, but it didn’t feel very warm. I asked Daniel to find the thermometer. Fortunately my mother in law got here quickly, about 2:15am I believe. She made comment that she couldn’t believe I was up & doing so much, she had expected to find me on the bed in a pool of sweat. I just felt like I was doing what I needed to & hadn’t thought much about it. Soon after she got here I told Daniel that I was starting to feel pressure, but I felt like it was too soon, so it must have been in my head.
About 2:25am I tried calling my doula again, still got the machine. I went back into the bedroom. Daniel turned on the cd I made of songs from my prenatal yoga class. I was standing next to the bed & had a very strong contraction & the urge to push was uncontrollable. I put my arms around Daniel & leaned on him sort of squatting a bit & slow dancing at the same time. I told Daniel to get a towel to put under me since I couldn’t really move even between the contractions. I think I had 2 or 3 contractions like this. I couldn’t tell because they were starting to feeling like one big never ending contraction. I do remember that even though I was pushing, I still had my underwear on. Suddenly I had the urge to go to the bathroom. We waddled into the bathroom so I could go. In the middle of going I had another contraction. Just then my mom got there to find me in the bathroom squatting over the toilet pushing. I reached down & put my hand on my perineum & could feel everything bulging. I Thought I could feel hair, but really wasn‘t sure what I was feeling. I remember thinking I was going to push this baby out & I needed to support my perineum, though I never thought about putting down any towel or chux pads. Finally Karen got here & as soon as I heard her voice I looked at Daniel & said “Oh thank god”. She asked why I wasn’t in the tub. I asked her if the temperature was ok. (I started pushing right after the thermometer was put in, so we never got a chance to check it) She said it was & so I hobbled around baby’s bulging head to the tub & with help got in. As I was getting in Karen’s assistant Karen D arrived.
I immediately had a contraction & baby crowned. I had another contraction & his head was out. I had another at 2:41am & his body was out. Karen (having been here just long enough to get her gloves out & on her hands), Daniel & I all put our hands down into the water to catch him. Daniel’s favorite part was feeling the rush & pressure of the water in the tub as his body was born. We all three helped bring his body up out of the water, as I sat back to be able out him on my chest. The cord was short & I was feeling awkward trying to keep his body in the water & his face out of the water. We relaxed for a moment in the tub enjoying our new baby & double checking that he was indeed a boy. My mother in law brought Gavin in to greet his baby brother. He said hi, but was eager to get back to playing & watching TV. Thank goodness Karen had disposable cameras to catch a few pictures right after the birth since we had not even had a moment to think about grabbing our camera.
Then I started to bleed. Karen pointed it out saying that the placenta was coming soon. Then she asked if we wanted to cut the cord since it had stopped pulsing. Daniel got the honors of course. Then Karen’s other assistant Olivia arrived. (I felt bad that she missed the birth, especially after I learned that she missed the birth they attended the night before too.) I kept bleeding so Karen encouraged me to start pushing to deliver the placenta. The bleeding continued so I had to push harder. Finally it came out & Karen said that there was a lot of blood & would like me to get out of the tub so they could better monitor it. I got out & was helped over to the bed. Once I was able to get comfy on the bed we tried to nurse. He wasn’t too interested, but I kept trying to help stop my bleeding. Finally the bleeding became normal & I never did feel weak or dizzy from the loss of blood. Karen had been very concerned though. Looking at the tub I can see why, it was pretty much black from all the blood. She said she had never seen a tub get so dark. (Keep in mind we were minutes from doing this in the bathroom without any towels or anything to catch the mess. That is the part about almost having an unassisted birth that scares me now. (All that blood would have freaked me out & would have been a horrid mess to clean up.)
I did have a tear so it was time to stitch me up. My mom & mother in law were sent out to make phone calls to the family. Daniel held baby while I was stitched. I kept laughing because even though it didn’t hurt I kept jumping & saying ouch. When they were done they left Daniel & I to bond with our baby. I tried nursing again with better success this time. We also decided that he looked just like Gavin when he was born.
After awhile Karen came in to check & see if it was ok to start weighing, measuring etc…baby. We said yes so she invited our moms back in along with her assistants & we got lots of pictures of Dad weighing baby & Karen measuring him & just generally checking him out. It was at this point we discovered he had a bit of a tongue tie. But he was very healthy weighing in at 7 pounds & 13 ounces, almost a full pound heavier than Gavin & 21 inches long, 2 inches longer than Gavin. We declined the vitamin K shot as well as the eye ointment. While filling out the paperwork Karen asked if baby had a name yet…nope we had decided we would wait until everyone left to determine his name, so she left the first name part of his paperwork blank. Soon after, about 6 am Karen & her assistants left to go have breakfast & go home to nap. My mother in law left not long after that so she could go home & sleep as she had just gotten home from work when we called her to come to the house. My mom stayed for awhile to help with Gavin.
Gavin had been a little overwhelmed by all the people & excitement up until this point & would not come into the bedroom to see us. He would peek his head in & then it was back to the living room. So I decided to come out to the living room & spend some time with him. I was starting to really miss my Gavin. It was very sweet. Gavin kept saying he loved his baby & wanting to hug him. We sat around & took more pictures. Just before 8am I decide it was time for baby & I to go take a nap. By 8:30am Gavin was ready for a nap, so my mom went home & Daniel & Gavin took a nap too. We stayed home all afternoon being lazy & taking pictures of the newest member of our family. Daniel ran to Del Taco for lunch which is funny since we had Del Taco right after Gavin was born too.
That afternoon we finally decided that while baby looked too much like Gavin to see which name he “looked” like, but we both seemed to like one name best, so we decided that Rhys Mateo would be our new baby boy’s name. Later that afternoon my Father in law came over & he was the 1st to hear Rhys’ name. He couldn’t quite get it right. I also talked to my Doula/friend, Cristina, that afternoon. It turns out that her daughter had not put the phone back where it was supposed to be, so Cristina never heard it ring. She felt awful about missing the birth, but with the way things went she probably would not have made it here in time anyway. Having only taken a 2 hour nap Gavin went to bed very early at 5pm that night. Amazingly he slept through the visit from his tias, tios & cousins that evening. They too were not real sure about the name as was obvious by the silence & blank stares that followed us saying Rhys’ name. It was very cute to see all of the cousins taking pictures of Rhys with their camera phones.
The next day after being called away from a home visit to go to a birth that ended up being a false alarm, Karen & her assistant Olivia came back to do her 24 hr check up. When she got here 2 of my friends who also know Karen were here to visit & help me with some breastfeeding things. One of these friend was my Doula who still felt horrible about missing the birth, but we determined that for various odd reasons it was just not meant for her to be there cosmically (for lack of a better word) We all had good time talking & sharing stories. And I knew that I would not have to worry about post partum depression quite like I did after Gavin’s birth because I had so much all around love & support this time. Life is good.
Theres the closest I could come to your medal 
