Firstly, Picture time!
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...a/DSCF0551.jpg
Ok... so here's the (very difficult!) birth of baby Evelynn:
So, I had contractions all night on the 18th when I was laying down but would go away as soon as I got up. So that was early labor! When I woke up at 8:15am on the 19th they would not go away.
Around 11 I started timing them and called the midwife. They were 3 minutes apart and getting pretty intense. I stopped timing contractions after that, because it was getting annoying.
I labored pretty much on my hands and knees, laying down to rest in between contractions. The hardest part was going from I guess around 4-7cm. Those contractions were really intense. DH says I was making "Tarzan noises." That was my "I don't want to do this anymore!" phase. When the MW checked me and said I was 7cm I was thinking that transition was really going to suck... but those contractions were surprisingly much easier.
I started feeling pushy around 6:30. I still had a cervical lip but the urge to push was too much, MW checked me during a contraction and the cervix was going away when I pushed so it was OK.
Pushing was pretty strange. The MWs were getting worried because I was bleeding a lot... apparently they were ready to go to the hospital but I had no idea that was going on. I didn't feel like anything was wrong. Pretty soon birth became imminent, though, so it didn't matter.
Pushing was very difficult. I tried every position you can think of and guess which was the only one to work? Lithotomy! Craziness. Turns out her cord was only 11 inches long! She wasn't wrapped up, but she was kind of like.. bungee jumping in there because of the cord.
Water broke when she crowned, and there was a lot of meconium. So there was hospital talk again. I was not aware of it, I just kept doing my thing. LOL
After her head came out, her shoulders got stuck. Not real serious, just pretty sticky. So the MWs had to pull her out a little bit, which was incredibly painful. One of the MWs was pushing on my belly, and the other one had her hands all over the place down there. This was truley traumatic. They were yelling at me to push and push but I didn't have an urge and I just kept screaming "NO! STOP! Don't touch me there!" I don't know how but she came out eventually at 7:48pm (labor was a total of 12 hours- not too bad!).
Apgars were 8 and 10. She did not aspirate any meconium.
The placenta came out 10 minutes later and I had a moderate hemorrhage. The curious bleeding I had during pushing was from a vaginal varicose vein. I didn't tear at all.
So that was the birth. It pretty much sucked. It felt very violent, but of course it was worth it and I'd do it all over again. I'm so glad I wasn't in the hospital, I'm sure that they would have pulled out the forceps as soon as they saw the mec, and would have taken her to the NICU even though she didn't need it. And etc. y'know.
: She's here! I still can't believe it.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...a/DSCF0551.jpg
Ok... so here's the (very difficult!) birth of baby Evelynn:
So, I had contractions all night on the 18th when I was laying down but would go away as soon as I got up. So that was early labor! When I woke up at 8:15am on the 19th they would not go away.
Around 11 I started timing them and called the midwife. They were 3 minutes apart and getting pretty intense. I stopped timing contractions after that, because it was getting annoying.
I labored pretty much on my hands and knees, laying down to rest in between contractions. The hardest part was going from I guess around 4-7cm. Those contractions were really intense. DH says I was making "Tarzan noises." That was my "I don't want to do this anymore!" phase. When the MW checked me and said I was 7cm I was thinking that transition was really going to suck... but those contractions were surprisingly much easier.
I started feeling pushy around 6:30. I still had a cervical lip but the urge to push was too much, MW checked me during a contraction and the cervix was going away when I pushed so it was OK.
Pushing was pretty strange. The MWs were getting worried because I was bleeding a lot... apparently they were ready to go to the hospital but I had no idea that was going on. I didn't feel like anything was wrong. Pretty soon birth became imminent, though, so it didn't matter.
Pushing was very difficult. I tried every position you can think of and guess which was the only one to work? Lithotomy! Craziness. Turns out her cord was only 11 inches long! She wasn't wrapped up, but she was kind of like.. bungee jumping in there because of the cord.
Water broke when she crowned, and there was a lot of meconium. So there was hospital talk again. I was not aware of it, I just kept doing my thing. LOL
After her head came out, her shoulders got stuck. Not real serious, just pretty sticky. So the MWs had to pull her out a little bit, which was incredibly painful. One of the MWs was pushing on my belly, and the other one had her hands all over the place down there. This was truley traumatic. They were yelling at me to push and push but I didn't have an urge and I just kept screaming "NO! STOP! Don't touch me there!" I don't know how but she came out eventually at 7:48pm (labor was a total of 12 hours- not too bad!).
Apgars were 8 and 10. She did not aspirate any meconium.
The placenta came out 10 minutes later and I had a moderate hemorrhage. The curious bleeding I had during pushing was from a vaginal varicose vein. I didn't tear at all.
So that was the birth. It pretty much sucked. It felt very violent, but of course it was worth it and I'd do it all over again. I'm so glad I wasn't in the hospital, I'm sure that they would have pulled out the forceps as soon as they saw the mec, and would have taken her to the NICU even though she didn't need it. And etc. y'know.
: She's here! I still can't believe it.
I'm sorry you feel your birth was a violent experience. It's totally right that you feel that way, don't feel guilty or like you have to justify it.
:
!!
