***pics in post #15***
Sorry, haven't updated here.
Our Team Green baby arrived on November 9th.
Short story...
7lbs 5.8oz
20 inches
born at 6:14am at the hospital, no drugs
...and....it's a girl!
Loooooooonger story...
The entire pg I had looked at Nov. 7 as my "delivery day." The 5th was my due date according to O and the 7th was my due date according to early u/s.
Two other babies in our family were born on the 7th this year, so I thought it would be cool to go on that day, plus if baby came after DH was done with work today, his FMLA leave would take him through Thanksgiving weekend.
Anyway - On Monday (the 5th), I had lots of BH, some a bit uncomfortable. The next day, Tuesday (the 6th) I had an appt with my OB in the afternoon. At that appt I was 3cm, 70%, and baby was at -1 station which was a good change from the weeks before were I was only 1cm, still long, and baby was "high."
Encouraged, I hoped that the 7th would actually be the day. On the 7th, I still had more BH - some decent ones, but nothing even discomforting. The 7th came and went and still no baby.
On the 8th, more BH throughout the day, but no pattern and no discomfort. Still, I was hoping to deliver soon. Got DH's "help" that day just as I did the day before. That evening more BH, some pretty good ones, but none felt uncomfortable. I was hoping that they were doing "something" in there...can't complain if there's change going on without much discomfort right.
Anyway - before I went to sleep, there were some cntrx that made me take notice more, but nothing more than I'd had before in the pg. I figured it could very well just be the "after effects" of dtd.
About 3:15am on the 9th I woke up with an uncomfortable BH. I had to go to the bathroom so I went and there was quite a bit of mucous on the tp when I wiped. That encouraged me because I figured "something" was happening - so even if it wasn't "real labor" yet, hopefully it was doing a little more of the work on my cervix.
I decided that though I had a couple of decent cntrx - they still felt like not much more than "strong" BH. So I figured I'd get more sleep and if these cntrx happened to be the start of the "real thing" I'd certainly be awake again when things got more intense.
Well, not much later I woke up to a cntrx that was definitely different. My legs and body got warm and as I woke up I felt the cntrx and thought "ooh, that's a good one." So I got up again and walked around for a bit in the patio. Had a couple more cntrx and had to use the bathroom again. This time when I wiped there was some pink tinge on the toilet paper. That and the fact that I had a couple more of those cntrx that made me say "oh, that's a good one" was enough to convince me to wake up my DH and tell him it was time to go to the hospital. The cntrx were still pretty manageable, but we live about 40 minutes away from the hospital without traffic and I wanted to try to get there a little early so that if I wanted drugs, it would be an option.
We left the house at about 4:15am (with my DS, age 2, in tow). My oldest DD had wanted to be at the birth, but she went with her grandma somewhere and when we called her to tell her we were going in she asked if we could pick her up. I had just had a few more of those "good" cntrx so I told DH that we probably didn't have time. Plus if we made that detour, there was a chance we'd start catching the morning traffic, so we headed straight to the hospital.
On the way I remembered that we were supposed to have my ob paged as we were going in so we made that call. The operator was telling me that my dr would be called once I got to the hospital, but DH told her that the dr asked us to have him paged. Next thing we know he's on the phone line with us. He asked me how often I was contracting and I told him probably about every 4-5 minutes (that was just judging by how many I'd had while in the car and about how long we'd been in the car...didn't really time anything).
We got to the hospital just before 5:00am and I guess my dr had told them I was coming in because when I told the lady my name, she said "Oh yeah, they just called." Apparently L&D was quite busy that night (plus one of our local hospitals that did births stopped delivering babies so I think that's just increasing deliveries at all remaining hospitals). I had about 4 cntrx while waiting to be put in a triage room. As soon as a nurse came in I asked about drugs. She had just checked me and said I was at 7cm and that I was past the half way point so I couldn't get an epi, plus they still had to take blood and whatever before they could do an epi.
They ended up bringing in an u/s machine to make sure baby was head down because during the check the nurse couldn't feel baby's head and they said usually by then, they can feel baby's head in the pelvis and she couldn't. u/s did confirm that baby was head down though.
Not much later, they moved me out of a triage room and into a delivery room. My dr showed up and talked about breaking my water and I told him I didn't really want him to.
At that point my cntrx were strong but not too close together. I remember laying there waiting for one to come and they were taking longer than I expected. The dr even commented on how they were kind of far apart. Each time I had one though, one of the things that relaxed me was just imagining baby and I working together. I'd often say "Hi Baby" in my mind and just try to think of finally meeting her. It's funny because we didn't know gender and although the whole time I thought it was a boy, during labor all of my imagery and thoughts of baby...I saw and imagined a girl.
Anyway - my dr said he wanted to check me during a cntrx to see where I was really at because the nurse checked me between cntrx. When he checked I was at 8cm and about 80% - he broke my water.
I was not too happy about that, but not really in a mood to grumble. I was just trying to stay calm because I knew the cntrx were going to get much more intense very soon since my water was broken. Baby was still kind of high so the dr said the next few cntrx would probably bring baby down.
I had about 3 more cntrx that were strong, but not quite as intense as I was expecting. After the first 2, dr wanted to check me again, but I didn't think I was complete yet and I didn't want him checking me because I knew it would hurt like crazy and probably make me want to push and I would have gone nuts if he said it wasn't time yet. So I stayed on my side and said no don't check yet.
About the 4th and 5th cntrx after my water being broken, the cntrx were very strong. With the next one, I knew baby had moved down and I felt pushy.
At this point the nurse and the dr were basically just talking story in the room waiting for me.
I told them that I was pushing and of course they said no wait, let me check to see if you're complete.
I just said "pushing" and they got me onto my back so that dr could check...of course at this point I'm already pushing and baby is on the way out so they said okay it's time.
I thought I was going to be able to be all calm and relaxed like my last two deliveries. With my 2nd, 3rd, and 4th child - once they said I could push and I moved from my side to my back, things got less intense. Most of the time the major urge to push really eased up.
Not this time. When I turned on my back I expected the same lull in the urge to push, but it didn't happen. My body was just still trying to push and I couldn't control it. I could feel my whole back, butt, and hamstrings just tightening up as well. I knew it would be better if I relaxed, but I just couldn't do it. And worse than that, with all that pushing my body was doing, I wasn't feeling baby move down.
With my others, one involuntary push go their head crowning and two more purposeful pushes by me had baby out (one for head, one for the rest of the body).
This time I couldn't even make myself hold my legs and tuck my chin or anything. And even though I know screaming is a waste of energy and meant I wasn't calm, I couldn't stop. My DH was trying to get me to relax and breathe and it wasn't happening.
Next thing you know I'm feeling that ring of fire. Like I said, with my last 3 kids...that didn't last too long...I felt it but during that same push it ended, baby's head was out. Not this time. I don't know how many pushes it took, but it was more than two, but finally baby was out at 6:14am and they announced that it was a girl. She was screaming! What a set of lungs she had from birth.
They put her on my chest and left her there for a while. I put my hands under the blanket and she screamed the whole time. I believe her apgar scores were 9 and 9. They wrapped her up and DH and DS got to hold her and check her out for a bit.
Me....I was sore....all those muscles that were tense (back, butt, hams) were all still tense. I could relax them because the stupid bed was so uncomfortable. My bottom was so sore that I could just sit on it so the rest of me was trying to sort of hold myself up so all the weight wasn't on my bottom.
Thankfully no tears and no stitches. DH was standing by me with baby and I think he was surprised I wasn't trying to take her from him, but I was just too sore. After a bit I was able to get more comfy and got to nurse my baby girl.
After they took her to the nursery DH came back and said, "Guess how heavy."
My other kids were 5lbs 8oz, 6 lbs 2.8oz, 6lbs 3.2 oz, and my heaviest was my son at 6lbs 8.3 oz. I never thought my body was capable of growing a 7lb baby so I started my guess out at 6lbs 10oz and DH said heavier. After 2 more guesses and DH still saying "heavier" I finally asked how much she weighed. I couldn't believe this girl was 7lbs 5.8oz - no wonder I had a harder time getting her out. Aside from my son, she's over a full pound heavier than my others. My dr and the nurse said I did well and the nurse said I had been the easiest delivery she had all shift. I told them that she was HARD! And I had done all that screaming and yelling...the nurse would have been much more impressed with my previous two deliveries, but oh well.
Anyway - we had our sweet baby girl and again, did it without drugs. DH told me in the delivery room that he was kind of hoping it was a girl. I still don't know why, but one day I'll ask him about that. Our son was interested in her from the start and is adjusting well to being a big brother. DH said that when I was doing all my yelling, my son sort of just sit down in his stroller, but once she was out and he heard her crying, he stood back up and tried to see what was going on again.
Kind of long, but that's my story....and of course...just like after all the others, I'm saying "I don't think I can do that again." She was tough, but worth it of course.
Sorry, haven't updated here.
Our Team Green baby arrived on November 9th.
Short story...
7lbs 5.8oz
20 inches
born at 6:14am at the hospital, no drugs
...and....it's a girl!
Loooooooonger story...
The entire pg I had looked at Nov. 7 as my "delivery day." The 5th was my due date according to O and the 7th was my due date according to early u/s.
Two other babies in our family were born on the 7th this year, so I thought it would be cool to go on that day, plus if baby came after DH was done with work today, his FMLA leave would take him through Thanksgiving weekend.
Anyway - On Monday (the 5th), I had lots of BH, some a bit uncomfortable. The next day, Tuesday (the 6th) I had an appt with my OB in the afternoon. At that appt I was 3cm, 70%, and baby was at -1 station which was a good change from the weeks before were I was only 1cm, still long, and baby was "high."
Encouraged, I hoped that the 7th would actually be the day. On the 7th, I still had more BH - some decent ones, but nothing even discomforting. The 7th came and went and still no baby.
On the 8th, more BH throughout the day, but no pattern and no discomfort. Still, I was hoping to deliver soon. Got DH's "help" that day just as I did the day before. That evening more BH, some pretty good ones, but none felt uncomfortable. I was hoping that they were doing "something" in there...can't complain if there's change going on without much discomfort right.
Anyway - before I went to sleep, there were some cntrx that made me take notice more, but nothing more than I'd had before in the pg. I figured it could very well just be the "after effects" of dtd.
About 3:15am on the 9th I woke up with an uncomfortable BH. I had to go to the bathroom so I went and there was quite a bit of mucous on the tp when I wiped. That encouraged me because I figured "something" was happening - so even if it wasn't "real labor" yet, hopefully it was doing a little more of the work on my cervix.
I decided that though I had a couple of decent cntrx - they still felt like not much more than "strong" BH. So I figured I'd get more sleep and if these cntrx happened to be the start of the "real thing" I'd certainly be awake again when things got more intense.
Well, not much later I woke up to a cntrx that was definitely different. My legs and body got warm and as I woke up I felt the cntrx and thought "ooh, that's a good one." So I got up again and walked around for a bit in the patio. Had a couple more cntrx and had to use the bathroom again. This time when I wiped there was some pink tinge on the toilet paper. That and the fact that I had a couple more of those cntrx that made me say "oh, that's a good one" was enough to convince me to wake up my DH and tell him it was time to go to the hospital. The cntrx were still pretty manageable, but we live about 40 minutes away from the hospital without traffic and I wanted to try to get there a little early so that if I wanted drugs, it would be an option.
We left the house at about 4:15am (with my DS, age 2, in tow). My oldest DD had wanted to be at the birth, but she went with her grandma somewhere and when we called her to tell her we were going in she asked if we could pick her up. I had just had a few more of those "good" cntrx so I told DH that we probably didn't have time. Plus if we made that detour, there was a chance we'd start catching the morning traffic, so we headed straight to the hospital.
On the way I remembered that we were supposed to have my ob paged as we were going in so we made that call. The operator was telling me that my dr would be called once I got to the hospital, but DH told her that the dr asked us to have him paged. Next thing we know he's on the phone line with us. He asked me how often I was contracting and I told him probably about every 4-5 minutes (that was just judging by how many I'd had while in the car and about how long we'd been in the car...didn't really time anything).
We got to the hospital just before 5:00am and I guess my dr had told them I was coming in because when I told the lady my name, she said "Oh yeah, they just called." Apparently L&D was quite busy that night (plus one of our local hospitals that did births stopped delivering babies so I think that's just increasing deliveries at all remaining hospitals). I had about 4 cntrx while waiting to be put in a triage room. As soon as a nurse came in I asked about drugs. She had just checked me and said I was at 7cm and that I was past the half way point so I couldn't get an epi, plus they still had to take blood and whatever before they could do an epi.
They ended up bringing in an u/s machine to make sure baby was head down because during the check the nurse couldn't feel baby's head and they said usually by then, they can feel baby's head in the pelvis and she couldn't. u/s did confirm that baby was head down though.
Not much later, they moved me out of a triage room and into a delivery room. My dr showed up and talked about breaking my water and I told him I didn't really want him to.
At that point my cntrx were strong but not too close together. I remember laying there waiting for one to come and they were taking longer than I expected. The dr even commented on how they were kind of far apart. Each time I had one though, one of the things that relaxed me was just imagining baby and I working together. I'd often say "Hi Baby" in my mind and just try to think of finally meeting her. It's funny because we didn't know gender and although the whole time I thought it was a boy, during labor all of my imagery and thoughts of baby...I saw and imagined a girl.
Anyway - my dr said he wanted to check me during a cntrx to see where I was really at because the nurse checked me between cntrx. When he checked I was at 8cm and about 80% - he broke my water.
I was not too happy about that, but not really in a mood to grumble. I was just trying to stay calm because I knew the cntrx were going to get much more intense very soon since my water was broken. Baby was still kind of high so the dr said the next few cntrx would probably bring baby down.
I had about 3 more cntrx that were strong, but not quite as intense as I was expecting. After the first 2, dr wanted to check me again, but I didn't think I was complete yet and I didn't want him checking me because I knew it would hurt like crazy and probably make me want to push and I would have gone nuts if he said it wasn't time yet. So I stayed on my side and said no don't check yet.
About the 4th and 5th cntrx after my water being broken, the cntrx were very strong. With the next one, I knew baby had moved down and I felt pushy.
At this point the nurse and the dr were basically just talking story in the room waiting for me.
I told them that I was pushing and of course they said no wait, let me check to see if you're complete.
I just said "pushing" and they got me onto my back so that dr could check...of course at this point I'm already pushing and baby is on the way out so they said okay it's time.
I thought I was going to be able to be all calm and relaxed like my last two deliveries. With my 2nd, 3rd, and 4th child - once they said I could push and I moved from my side to my back, things got less intense. Most of the time the major urge to push really eased up.
Not this time. When I turned on my back I expected the same lull in the urge to push, but it didn't happen. My body was just still trying to push and I couldn't control it. I could feel my whole back, butt, and hamstrings just tightening up as well. I knew it would be better if I relaxed, but I just couldn't do it. And worse than that, with all that pushing my body was doing, I wasn't feeling baby move down.
With my others, one involuntary push go their head crowning and two more purposeful pushes by me had baby out (one for head, one for the rest of the body).
This time I couldn't even make myself hold my legs and tuck my chin or anything. And even though I know screaming is a waste of energy and meant I wasn't calm, I couldn't stop. My DH was trying to get me to relax and breathe and it wasn't happening.
Next thing you know I'm feeling that ring of fire. Like I said, with my last 3 kids...that didn't last too long...I felt it but during that same push it ended, baby's head was out. Not this time. I don't know how many pushes it took, but it was more than two, but finally baby was out at 6:14am and they announced that it was a girl. She was screaming! What a set of lungs she had from birth.
They put her on my chest and left her there for a while. I put my hands under the blanket and she screamed the whole time. I believe her apgar scores were 9 and 9. They wrapped her up and DH and DS got to hold her and check her out for a bit.
Me....I was sore....all those muscles that were tense (back, butt, hams) were all still tense. I could relax them because the stupid bed was so uncomfortable. My bottom was so sore that I could just sit on it so the rest of me was trying to sort of hold myself up so all the weight wasn't on my bottom.
Thankfully no tears and no stitches. DH was standing by me with baby and I think he was surprised I wasn't trying to take her from him, but I was just too sore. After a bit I was able to get more comfy and got to nurse my baby girl.
After they took her to the nursery DH came back and said, "Guess how heavy."
My other kids were 5lbs 8oz, 6 lbs 2.8oz, 6lbs 3.2 oz, and my heaviest was my son at 6lbs 8.3 oz. I never thought my body was capable of growing a 7lb baby so I started my guess out at 6lbs 10oz and DH said heavier. After 2 more guesses and DH still saying "heavier" I finally asked how much she weighed. I couldn't believe this girl was 7lbs 5.8oz - no wonder I had a harder time getting her out. Aside from my son, she's over a full pound heavier than my others. My dr and the nurse said I did well and the nurse said I had been the easiest delivery she had all shift. I told them that she was HARD! And I had done all that screaming and yelling...the nurse would have been much more impressed with my previous two deliveries, but oh well.
Anyway - we had our sweet baby girl and again, did it without drugs. DH told me in the delivery room that he was kind of hoping it was a girl. I still don't know why, but one day I'll ask him about that. Our son was interested in her from the start and is adjusting well to being a big brother. DH said that when I was doing all my yelling, my son sort of just sit down in his stroller, but once she was out and he heard her crying, he stood back up and tried to see what was going on again.
Kind of long, but that's my story....and of course...just like after all the others, I'm saying "I don't think I can do that again." She was tough, but worth it of course.
, Stacallen! Congratulations, Stacie!
