I woke up at 2:45am Saturday with the first contraction. I was using hypnobabies for the birth, so I listened to the appropriate CD track. That allowed me to get some deep rest for an hour. I vaguely kept track of how many contractions and realized that I was averaging less than five minutes between. I got this feeling that it was time to go, so I woke DH, we showered, got some last minute things together, woke DS (8yo - who was going with us) and headed out.
We got to the hospital birth center at 4:45am. I was 7cm dilated (I was 4cm at my Wednesday appointment), so they admitted us. We were settled into the room (a huge suite with a nice daybed for family to sleep on) by about 5:30am. Contractions were around 3 minutes or so apart at this point and I could feel myself dialating. I had been walking around, but started feeling out of control. I could feel that I would be loosing focus and panicking soon, so I put on my hypnobabies track again and lay down in the bed on my left side. This felt SO much better!
I told my DH that I was starting to feel "pushy" and then I started shivering alot, so I knew I was in transition. The midwife on duty was wonderful, very hands-off, just do what you feel you need to do. As the need to push came on, my DH asked her if I needed to move into another position. She said - no, if I was confortable in that position, then I could stay that way until the baby came out. I was definately more comfortable, so I started pushing - breathing her out, really. Up to this point my water was still intact. They asked if I wanted it broken, and initially I said yes. DH reminded me that I had said I did not want them to break it and I realized things were moving plenty fast without any help. So they did not break my water.
After just a few pushes, my water broke on its own. DH said he could hear it pop, I just felt it pop. I could feel her move down as I breathed her out. In between, I could feel her move back up a few times, and remember thinking "that's not the right way to go, baby!" I don't remember how long I pushed, but she came out at 6:54am. I opened my eyes as they passed her through my legs to lay skin-to-skin on my chest. They started to clamp her cord, but I asked them to wait until it had stopped pulsing. So we just lay there comfortably for a while waiting for it to stop. Once it did, DH cut the cord.
She never once left the room. when they gave her a bath and did the eye drops, they had DS come over and help. He was in the room the whole time, just over on the daybed watching a movie on his DVD player. Everything about the experience made me feel comfortable and supported, and they truly were family friendly.
We are home now, resting comfortably. She is a great nurser (although my nipple are a bit sore). Here are the basic stats:
McKenna Elise
7lbs 12oz
20 inches long
4 hours of labor - natural and unmedicated (not even an IV)
We got to the hospital birth center at 4:45am. I was 7cm dilated (I was 4cm at my Wednesday appointment), so they admitted us. We were settled into the room (a huge suite with a nice daybed for family to sleep on) by about 5:30am. Contractions were around 3 minutes or so apart at this point and I could feel myself dialating. I had been walking around, but started feeling out of control. I could feel that I would be loosing focus and panicking soon, so I put on my hypnobabies track again and lay down in the bed on my left side. This felt SO much better!
I told my DH that I was starting to feel "pushy" and then I started shivering alot, so I knew I was in transition. The midwife on duty was wonderful, very hands-off, just do what you feel you need to do. As the need to push came on, my DH asked her if I needed to move into another position. She said - no, if I was confortable in that position, then I could stay that way until the baby came out. I was definately more comfortable, so I started pushing - breathing her out, really. Up to this point my water was still intact. They asked if I wanted it broken, and initially I said yes. DH reminded me that I had said I did not want them to break it and I realized things were moving plenty fast without any help. So they did not break my water.
After just a few pushes, my water broke on its own. DH said he could hear it pop, I just felt it pop. I could feel her move down as I breathed her out. In between, I could feel her move back up a few times, and remember thinking "that's not the right way to go, baby!" I don't remember how long I pushed, but she came out at 6:54am. I opened my eyes as they passed her through my legs to lay skin-to-skin on my chest. They started to clamp her cord, but I asked them to wait until it had stopped pulsing. So we just lay there comfortably for a while waiting for it to stop. Once it did, DH cut the cord.
She never once left the room. when they gave her a bath and did the eye drops, they had DS come over and help. He was in the room the whole time, just over on the daybed watching a movie on his DVD player. Everything about the experience made me feel comfortable and supported, and they truly were family friendly.
We are home now, resting comfortably. She is a great nurser (although my nipple are a bit sore). Here are the basic stats:
McKenna Elise
7lbs 12oz
20 inches long
4 hours of labor - natural and unmedicated (not even an IV)
:
:
