mostly lurked but posted a bit here and wanted to share Samuel's birth story
I wanted to type up a nice birth story complete with pictures etc like I did for my last ds but I haven't had much time online..
copied and pasted from an email sent out to family:
typed while nursing, refereeing Josh and David and all out loosing my mind, excuse the typos and ramblings if something doesn't make sense.
I was schedualed for an induction on May 15th...but thankfully didn't need it. I was very resistant to an induction for many reasons including the serious dangers of cytotec (the FDA has actually issued warnings about using cytotec to induce labor as it has been known to cause uterine rupture and death to both mother and child) Also having had Josh's labor "augmented" with pitocin and suffering uterine hyperstimulation- i just couldn't see going through again!
Well on May 13th, I was contracting throughout the day, they were strong enough that I had to stop what I was doing and breathe through them, but they weren't "regular" in timing. Then between 315-330am on may 14th I sat straight up in bed in horrible horrible pain! I quite literaly dropped to my knees in pain several times just trying to get to the bathroom and back, i quietly woke Steve and said we had to go! He called our doula, the hospital and my aunt to come sit with the boys. By this time I was getting sick. But figured that was a good sign.
By the time we got to the hospital i thoughti was dying-this was a far cry from the experience I had with David's unmdicated birth-this felt so wrong, and it was. I just didn't know it yet.
We got up to our room and I was in too much pain to even change clothes! I was checked and was 6 cm already, not long after i was 8! Things seemed to be progressing fast, so while it was so incredibly painful, i was feeling optimistic at this point. My back was hurting so incredibly bad- it was definately the most pain i'd ever felt in my life- again everything felt so wrong.
Finally I had the urge to push...I pushed and pushed and pushed, but he wasn't coming down. We switched positions and tried just about every thing my doula, dr and labor nurse could think of but he wasn't decending. Meanwhile my strength disintegrated and I cried like a baby- It was so hard for me to lose my composure- I didn't shed a tear while I birthed David and now I was crying like a baby. I remember asking the Dr several times why he couldn't just pull the baby out- he was still too high, and what I didn't realize- he was also stuck!
After nearly 1 hour 45 minutes of pushing, I managed to find myself and asked what are my options? My Dr suggested he consult with another Dr and see if we could get another opinion...he came back in with another Dr and she checked baby's position and confirmed what my Dr thought...Samuel was not only posterior ( facing upward instead of facing my back)- which was causing the horrible back labor, but he was a malpresentation called Asynclitism (Asynclitism is a term to describe a tilt of the baby's head. The asynclitic baby has their head tilted as if listening? "Huh, Mom? What am I supposed to do?" Instead of the crown coming first, the parietal bone aims first. The diameter of the head is bigger this way. The vertebrae in the neck aren't lined up well with the head and the baby can't help to get born as well as the synclitic baby). The second Dr suggested we use a position that is generally used for a shoulder dystocia( when the baby's shoulder is stuck) so they moved me yet again- it hurt for me to even think about moving much less do it on my own. Within a few pushes or what seemed like a few pushes he was moving! When his head was born, he was looking straight up ( instead of down or to the side like the typical baby) and his "cone head" instead of being at the top/ back of his head was the side of his head! I haven't seen the photos yet, but my doula took some for me, she said it was amazing and out of all the births she's attended she's never seen a baby born this way! She also said that all her experience with several different Drs and hospitals around this area of the state, any other Dr would have insisted on a c section an hour or more earlier! I was so fortunate to have a Dr who knew how important it was for me to not go through a csection / epidural unless ABSOLUTLY necessary ( as a survivor of childhood rape, the "restrained" feeling of epidural/spinal is just more than I can cope with), ofcourse if Sam would have been having trouble tolerating labor, I'm sure it would have been different but thankfully he handled labor well! Steve was amazing the whole time- my back was hurting so bad Steve continued to put conterpressure, it was the only thing to make things close to tolerable. He really was wonderful support!
They placed Samuel up on my chest and within minutes he was nursing like a champ and nursed for an hour 45 minutes before he could be weighed! and then we were all shocked when we were told he was 9lbs 3.7 oz! I'll never forget my doula telling me "wow you pushed out a 9 lb 4 oz asynclitic occiput posterior baby without any drugs, amazing" at the time I didn't really know what that meant but as it was explained to me I was shocked I really didn't think I had it in me. The next day my Dr called me "supermom" I'm trying to accept these compliments but to be honest I'm still terribly embarassed how I lost my composure and started crying like a litte girl- I mean really cried.
After such a difficult birth I decided to take Samuel to the chiropractor to have him checked and he's doing remarkably well there was a little tightness in his neck just where they would expect it to be from the type of birth he had but nothing bad at all. He's nursing like a pro- though we are having minor latch issues because I get so engorged. He's a very content baby it's so amazing how easy going he is! I pray he stays this way. I'm healing well, for the first day, my face was extremely puffy and I had lots of red dots where I had broken several blood vessles in my face during pushing. Can you believe I didn't need an episiotmy and didn't tear just a small "abrasion". My bottom is still quite sore but I'll take that over recovering from a c sec any day. The kids are adjusting well to the new baby, although their constant bickering with one another ( which is nothing new) is really wearing me down.
SO there you have it, thanks to a wonderful Dr, a supportive labor nurse, my doula Maggie, who not only offered the physical and emotional suppot we needed but prayed with me throughout labor, and my amazing husband and ofcourse a generous God I was able to give birth to my third son, Samuel Edward! It wasn't the birth I planned, but it was the birth I had and it was a good birth!
a little update at his 2 week check up Sam already weighed 2 lbs more than his birth weight, all on mommy milk!
I wanted to type up a nice birth story complete with pictures etc like I did for my last ds but I haven't had much time online..
copied and pasted from an email sent out to family:
typed while nursing, refereeing Josh and David and all out loosing my mind, excuse the typos and ramblings if something doesn't make sense.
I was schedualed for an induction on May 15th...but thankfully didn't need it. I was very resistant to an induction for many reasons including the serious dangers of cytotec (the FDA has actually issued warnings about using cytotec to induce labor as it has been known to cause uterine rupture and death to both mother and child) Also having had Josh's labor "augmented" with pitocin and suffering uterine hyperstimulation- i just couldn't see going through again!
Well on May 13th, I was contracting throughout the day, they were strong enough that I had to stop what I was doing and breathe through them, but they weren't "regular" in timing. Then between 315-330am on may 14th I sat straight up in bed in horrible horrible pain! I quite literaly dropped to my knees in pain several times just trying to get to the bathroom and back, i quietly woke Steve and said we had to go! He called our doula, the hospital and my aunt to come sit with the boys. By this time I was getting sick. But figured that was a good sign.
By the time we got to the hospital i thoughti was dying-this was a far cry from the experience I had with David's unmdicated birth-this felt so wrong, and it was. I just didn't know it yet.
We got up to our room and I was in too much pain to even change clothes! I was checked and was 6 cm already, not long after i was 8! Things seemed to be progressing fast, so while it was so incredibly painful, i was feeling optimistic at this point. My back was hurting so incredibly bad- it was definately the most pain i'd ever felt in my life- again everything felt so wrong.
Finally I had the urge to push...I pushed and pushed and pushed, but he wasn't coming down. We switched positions and tried just about every thing my doula, dr and labor nurse could think of but he wasn't decending. Meanwhile my strength disintegrated and I cried like a baby- It was so hard for me to lose my composure- I didn't shed a tear while I birthed David and now I was crying like a baby. I remember asking the Dr several times why he couldn't just pull the baby out- he was still too high, and what I didn't realize- he was also stuck!
After nearly 1 hour 45 minutes of pushing, I managed to find myself and asked what are my options? My Dr suggested he consult with another Dr and see if we could get another opinion...he came back in with another Dr and she checked baby's position and confirmed what my Dr thought...Samuel was not only posterior ( facing upward instead of facing my back)- which was causing the horrible back labor, but he was a malpresentation called Asynclitism (Asynclitism is a term to describe a tilt of the baby's head. The asynclitic baby has their head tilted as if listening? "Huh, Mom? What am I supposed to do?" Instead of the crown coming first, the parietal bone aims first. The diameter of the head is bigger this way. The vertebrae in the neck aren't lined up well with the head and the baby can't help to get born as well as the synclitic baby). The second Dr suggested we use a position that is generally used for a shoulder dystocia( when the baby's shoulder is stuck) so they moved me yet again- it hurt for me to even think about moving much less do it on my own. Within a few pushes or what seemed like a few pushes he was moving! When his head was born, he was looking straight up ( instead of down or to the side like the typical baby) and his "cone head" instead of being at the top/ back of his head was the side of his head! I haven't seen the photos yet, but my doula took some for me, she said it was amazing and out of all the births she's attended she's never seen a baby born this way! She also said that all her experience with several different Drs and hospitals around this area of the state, any other Dr would have insisted on a c section an hour or more earlier! I was so fortunate to have a Dr who knew how important it was for me to not go through a csection / epidural unless ABSOLUTLY necessary ( as a survivor of childhood rape, the "restrained" feeling of epidural/spinal is just more than I can cope with), ofcourse if Sam would have been having trouble tolerating labor, I'm sure it would have been different but thankfully he handled labor well! Steve was amazing the whole time- my back was hurting so bad Steve continued to put conterpressure, it was the only thing to make things close to tolerable. He really was wonderful support!
They placed Samuel up on my chest and within minutes he was nursing like a champ and nursed for an hour 45 minutes before he could be weighed! and then we were all shocked when we were told he was 9lbs 3.7 oz! I'll never forget my doula telling me "wow you pushed out a 9 lb 4 oz asynclitic occiput posterior baby without any drugs, amazing" at the time I didn't really know what that meant but as it was explained to me I was shocked I really didn't think I had it in me. The next day my Dr called me "supermom" I'm trying to accept these compliments but to be honest I'm still terribly embarassed how I lost my composure and started crying like a litte girl- I mean really cried.
After such a difficult birth I decided to take Samuel to the chiropractor to have him checked and he's doing remarkably well there was a little tightness in his neck just where they would expect it to be from the type of birth he had but nothing bad at all. He's nursing like a pro- though we are having minor latch issues because I get so engorged. He's a very content baby it's so amazing how easy going he is! I pray he stays this way. I'm healing well, for the first day, my face was extremely puffy and I had lots of red dots where I had broken several blood vessles in my face during pushing. Can you believe I didn't need an episiotmy and didn't tear just a small "abrasion". My bottom is still quite sore but I'll take that over recovering from a c sec any day. The kids are adjusting well to the new baby, although their constant bickering with one another ( which is nothing new) is really wearing me down.
SO there you have it, thanks to a wonderful Dr, a supportive labor nurse, my doula Maggie, who not only offered the physical and emotional suppot we needed but prayed with me throughout labor, and my amazing husband and ofcourse a generous God I was able to give birth to my third son, Samuel Edward! It wasn't the birth I planned, but it was the birth I had and it was a good birth!
a little update at his 2 week check up Sam already weighed 2 lbs more than his birth weight, all on mommy milk!
Welcome baby Samuel! 
I had a huge baby and asynclitic baby too (though anterior) and know exactly what you mean. I screamed, swore, cried, BEGGED for an epidural and/or c-section. The pain was unreal. I really did NOT think I could do it.
.
).
little samuel!
