Abby Kate's Birth Story
Born at home on Jan 30th, at 2:16am after 4hrs of labor.
Weight - 9lbs 2oz
Length - 22in
Early Monday morning I had a few crampy contractions that woke me up but were not regular at all. They definitely felt different than BH, but were just not regular enough to be the real deal. They went away once I got up and showered for the day, but I did notice some brownish tinged mucous plug after getting out of the shower. I was excited to see that but knew it didn't necessarily mean anything was imminent. Still it was at least something.
As the day wore on I had a contraction here and there but nothing regular at all. I was able to nap in the afternoon and read up on my hypnobirthing book as a way to psyche myself up for labor. I had really been dreading going through the hard work of labor all of a sudden and reading the book helped SO much. Monday night at supper I had NO appetite, so I should've known something was just around the corner.
At 10pm I started having more crampy contractions that were about every 5-8min. At 10:45pm as I was laying on the couch while my dear, dear sweet 9yo dd was rubbing my feet(don't ask me why but she loved pampering me like that the last few weeks) I felt a couple of tiny gushes at the peak of a contraction. My first thought was that my water was leaking, but when I went to check in the bathroom I found bright red blood. It freaked me out a little bit and made me wonder if something was wrong, but after a call to the mw and further examination we decided it was just normal bloody show. The mw said to call back when contractions were coming a little closer together or that if we wanted she would come on out to assess things. We decided to try a warm shower first and see if that would relax things or if it would speed things along. Dh put the birth ball in the shower for me and I sat on that with the warm water beating down on me. It felt heavenly and definitely took the edge off of the crampiness. Within an hour my contractions started coming every 3min regularly and were increasing in intensity. Dh called the mw and told her to head on out. I spent the next hour rocking in the glider rocker, sitting on the birth ball, and hanging on dh. I stayed up and walking around the entire labor, because every time I tried laying down the contractions felt harder to deal with. It was a very calm labor, with the lights all dim and the whole house very quiet with the kids all in bed. We just had a few lamps on here and there, and the atmosphere was very peaceful. I used my hypnobirthing techniques and was able to remain really calm and quiet throughout the entire labor. When the mw arrived I was dilated to a very soft & stretchy 7-8cm with a huge bulging bag of waters in front of the baby's head. She said the bag of waters was as big as the baby's head and that as soon as that broke the baby would probably come flying out. She was right. A short bit later I felt a little pushy at the peak of a contraction at which time my water burst with great force. I instantly felt my baby's head descend rapidly down to the opening. It was SO intense and sudden. I was standing when that happened and decided to remain standing for the birth. I tried to breathe through the pushes instead of forced pushing, but eventually my body was pushing without my permission and the next thing I knew my baby girl was coming out. I was able to reach down and feel her head and body as it emerged which was just so cool. She was born very peacefully and beautifully pink at 2:16am, just 12min after that first pushy feeling contraction when my water broke. I reached down and scooped her up to my chest and just stood there in awe snuggling her close. I felt so great and was so relieved to have her out and know she was healthy. See, we'd had a scare of Down's Syndrome midway through the pregnancy which was constantly in the back of our minds up till the very end. I can't begin to describe the feelings of joy, thankfulness, and relief that came with her birth. She weighed 9lbs 2oz and was 22" long and is perfectly healthy and beautiful. I felt great right afterwards and didn't have any tearing or any other complications. Nursing is also going so very well this time around. We're just basking in the glow of our little miracle and are so thankful to God for His blessings on us.
Here are a couple of pics.
This was just after she was born and I'd scooped her up standing at the side of the bed
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...e/Justborn.jpg
About an hour after birth
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...0Kate/Abby.jpg
A few hours after birth
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...Kate/Abby4.jpg
Born at home on Jan 30th, at 2:16am after 4hrs of labor.
Weight - 9lbs 2oz
Length - 22in
Early Monday morning I had a few crampy contractions that woke me up but were not regular at all. They definitely felt different than BH, but were just not regular enough to be the real deal. They went away once I got up and showered for the day, but I did notice some brownish tinged mucous plug after getting out of the shower. I was excited to see that but knew it didn't necessarily mean anything was imminent. Still it was at least something.
As the day wore on I had a contraction here and there but nothing regular at all. I was able to nap in the afternoon and read up on my hypnobirthing book as a way to psyche myself up for labor. I had really been dreading going through the hard work of labor all of a sudden and reading the book helped SO much. Monday night at supper I had NO appetite, so I should've known something was just around the corner.
At 10pm I started having more crampy contractions that were about every 5-8min. At 10:45pm as I was laying on the couch while my dear, dear sweet 9yo dd was rubbing my feet(don't ask me why but she loved pampering me like that the last few weeks) I felt a couple of tiny gushes at the peak of a contraction. My first thought was that my water was leaking, but when I went to check in the bathroom I found bright red blood. It freaked me out a little bit and made me wonder if something was wrong, but after a call to the mw and further examination we decided it was just normal bloody show. The mw said to call back when contractions were coming a little closer together or that if we wanted she would come on out to assess things. We decided to try a warm shower first and see if that would relax things or if it would speed things along. Dh put the birth ball in the shower for me and I sat on that with the warm water beating down on me. It felt heavenly and definitely took the edge off of the crampiness. Within an hour my contractions started coming every 3min regularly and were increasing in intensity. Dh called the mw and told her to head on out. I spent the next hour rocking in the glider rocker, sitting on the birth ball, and hanging on dh. I stayed up and walking around the entire labor, because every time I tried laying down the contractions felt harder to deal with. It was a very calm labor, with the lights all dim and the whole house very quiet with the kids all in bed. We just had a few lamps on here and there, and the atmosphere was very peaceful. I used my hypnobirthing techniques and was able to remain really calm and quiet throughout the entire labor. When the mw arrived I was dilated to a very soft & stretchy 7-8cm with a huge bulging bag of waters in front of the baby's head. She said the bag of waters was as big as the baby's head and that as soon as that broke the baby would probably come flying out. She was right. A short bit later I felt a little pushy at the peak of a contraction at which time my water burst with great force. I instantly felt my baby's head descend rapidly down to the opening. It was SO intense and sudden. I was standing when that happened and decided to remain standing for the birth. I tried to breathe through the pushes instead of forced pushing, but eventually my body was pushing without my permission and the next thing I knew my baby girl was coming out. I was able to reach down and feel her head and body as it emerged which was just so cool. She was born very peacefully and beautifully pink at 2:16am, just 12min after that first pushy feeling contraction when my water broke. I reached down and scooped her up to my chest and just stood there in awe snuggling her close. I felt so great and was so relieved to have her out and know she was healthy. See, we'd had a scare of Down's Syndrome midway through the pregnancy which was constantly in the back of our minds up till the very end. I can't begin to describe the feelings of joy, thankfulness, and relief that came with her birth. She weighed 9lbs 2oz and was 22" long and is perfectly healthy and beautiful. I felt great right afterwards and didn't have any tearing or any other complications. Nursing is also going so very well this time around. We're just basking in the glow of our little miracle and are so thankful to God for His blessings on us.
Here are a couple of pics.
This was just after she was born and I'd scooped her up standing at the side of the bed
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...e/Justborn.jpg
About an hour after birth
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...0Kate/Abby.jpg
A few hours after birth
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...Kate/Abby4.jpg
and she is too!! Thank you! 
Congrads!!!!
