I woke up at 3am on Thursday morning to DD crying b/c a loud noise woke her so I brought her into bed with me until she calmed down and put her back into her cot at 3.30. DH was asleep in the spare room because he had a cold. I woke up again at 4.15am to a mild contraction but dozed back off. Ten minutes later another came so I grabbed my phone to time them. I lay there for an hour timing them and very soon they were five minutes apart. I went downstairs and sat on my birth ball and had some tea and toast while watching the news to see if they slowed down but they were still coming every 5-7 minutes after two hours so I woke DH at 6.15 to let him know I thought I was in early labour and phoned my friend Lisa who was acting as my doula so she could organise childcare for her daughter and come over later in the morning.
DH brought DD downstairs just before 7am and they had breakfast. Suddenly, the contractions went back down to only every 15 minutes and they weren't really getting stronger so I was afraid they were petering out and it was a false alarm. I told Lisa to hold off but still be on standby and arranged for my MIL to come pick up DD just in case things did kick off. While DH was getting DD ready to leave I put on a favorite cd and sat on my birth ball, singing along and looking at the glorious sunshine outside, the first I'd seen in weeks. I felt very calm and happy, sure I was going to meet my baby that day. The contractions picked back up to a consistent 8 minutes apart and were getting stronger so I told Lisa to go ahead and come over. DD left with her grandma and DH started getting things ready and having his shower. I closed the curtains and laid down in the dark listening to some instrumental music to conserve my energy and again, they slowed way down. I only had four in an hour at 11am when Lisa arrived. I was sure things were stopping again but they would pick back up when I stood up so Lisa encouraged me to go walk around the garden with DH after I had some more food.
At this point it was nearly noon and I was anxious to know if this was really labour or not so I didn't get too disappointed if it wasn't. I had another cup of tea, a pain au chocolat and a banana (yum!) and then DH and I went out to the garden and did laps around it, arm in arm, making jokes and talking excitedly about meeting our baby. Within minutes the contractions were much stronger and only 4 minutes apart. We decided to call the midwife at about 12.45 and she arrived 45 minutes later. Incredibly, it was the midwife I'd seen for the majority of my pregnancy! Considering there are 30-odd midwives on the home birth team and you just get whoever is on call at that time, I felt very lucky because it meant that I already knew her and was comfortable with her. She checked me and found me to be 5cm. I was so pleased as I was still handling the contractions very well and joking around and doing things in between them. She said I could get in the pool if I wanted but since things were progressing so well with me staying on my feet I decided to wait a bit longer.
It was nearly 2pm by this point and the birth team were hungry for lunch so since it was such a gorgeous day we went outside. They sat at the table eating sandwiches while I paced around the garden squeezing a stress ball and swaying and breathing through the contractions. We were having a great ol' time, laughing and listening to music and chatting. Suddenly I had a couple of really strong ones and said I was ready to get in the pool. The midwife checked me again and found me to be 7cm. I was so pleased that I'd gotten that far without even being too uncomfortable or in pain. The midwife asked if I wanted the gas and air from her car but I declined since it was going so well without pain relief and got in the birth pool in the dining room.
Within minutes things intensified ten-fold and I was having to really concentrate and breathe through the contractions. I requested cool washcloths on my forehead and had DH giving me sips of Lucozade and water between each one. Within an hour of getting in the pool I was nearly at 10cm but had just a lip of cervix stuck on baby's head. The midwife told me not to push quite yet but I was in serious pain at this point and it required all of my strength and energy not to. I was getting very loud by then with my vocalising and squeezing DH's and my doula's hands like crazy. I joked that the neighbours must be getting an earful. Turns out they did hear pretty much everything in the last hour but I really didn't care at that point. They actually seemed really happy that they got to hear the baby being born.
My water finally broke and that got the last bit of cervix out of the way so I could push freely. After less than an hour of pushing, little Evan was born into the water at 4.32pm, after four hours of active labour (12 total), and caught by DH who put him on my chest straight away and shouted "You did it! Look at our baby!" He was ecstatic, Lisa was in tears and I was exhausted. I rubbed Evan's chest to get him to cry and wrapped him in a towel. The midwife checked him over and said he seemed fine so after a few pictures and a couple of checks, DH cut the cord, I got out of the pool, delivered the placenta and we went and snuggled up together on the futon we'd laid out on the floor in the living room. I had to have a few stitches which hurt like hell but other than that I was absolutely fine and so was baby Evan. He weighed 8lbs 7oz and was 22.5" long.
We got everything cleaned up and then DH ran to the shops for the dinner I requested -- steak and spinach. I ate at 9pm and was tucked up in bed with the baby by 11.30. All in all it went even better than I expected and I'm so happy that I had a water birth at home.
:
http://www.new.facebook.com/album.ph...7&id=838020720
DH brought DD downstairs just before 7am and they had breakfast. Suddenly, the contractions went back down to only every 15 minutes and they weren't really getting stronger so I was afraid they were petering out and it was a false alarm. I told Lisa to hold off but still be on standby and arranged for my MIL to come pick up DD just in case things did kick off. While DH was getting DD ready to leave I put on a favorite cd and sat on my birth ball, singing along and looking at the glorious sunshine outside, the first I'd seen in weeks. I felt very calm and happy, sure I was going to meet my baby that day. The contractions picked back up to a consistent 8 minutes apart and were getting stronger so I told Lisa to go ahead and come over. DD left with her grandma and DH started getting things ready and having his shower. I closed the curtains and laid down in the dark listening to some instrumental music to conserve my energy and again, they slowed way down. I only had four in an hour at 11am when Lisa arrived. I was sure things were stopping again but they would pick back up when I stood up so Lisa encouraged me to go walk around the garden with DH after I had some more food.
At this point it was nearly noon and I was anxious to know if this was really labour or not so I didn't get too disappointed if it wasn't. I had another cup of tea, a pain au chocolat and a banana (yum!) and then DH and I went out to the garden and did laps around it, arm in arm, making jokes and talking excitedly about meeting our baby. Within minutes the contractions were much stronger and only 4 minutes apart. We decided to call the midwife at about 12.45 and she arrived 45 minutes later. Incredibly, it was the midwife I'd seen for the majority of my pregnancy! Considering there are 30-odd midwives on the home birth team and you just get whoever is on call at that time, I felt very lucky because it meant that I already knew her and was comfortable with her. She checked me and found me to be 5cm. I was so pleased as I was still handling the contractions very well and joking around and doing things in between them. She said I could get in the pool if I wanted but since things were progressing so well with me staying on my feet I decided to wait a bit longer.
It was nearly 2pm by this point and the birth team were hungry for lunch so since it was such a gorgeous day we went outside. They sat at the table eating sandwiches while I paced around the garden squeezing a stress ball and swaying and breathing through the contractions. We were having a great ol' time, laughing and listening to music and chatting. Suddenly I had a couple of really strong ones and said I was ready to get in the pool. The midwife checked me again and found me to be 7cm. I was so pleased that I'd gotten that far without even being too uncomfortable or in pain. The midwife asked if I wanted the gas and air from her car but I declined since it was going so well without pain relief and got in the birth pool in the dining room.
Within minutes things intensified ten-fold and I was having to really concentrate and breathe through the contractions. I requested cool washcloths on my forehead and had DH giving me sips of Lucozade and water between each one. Within an hour of getting in the pool I was nearly at 10cm but had just a lip of cervix stuck on baby's head. The midwife told me not to push quite yet but I was in serious pain at this point and it required all of my strength and energy not to. I was getting very loud by then with my vocalising and squeezing DH's and my doula's hands like crazy. I joked that the neighbours must be getting an earful. Turns out they did hear pretty much everything in the last hour but I really didn't care at that point. They actually seemed really happy that they got to hear the baby being born.
My water finally broke and that got the last bit of cervix out of the way so I could push freely. After less than an hour of pushing, little Evan was born into the water at 4.32pm, after four hours of active labour (12 total), and caught by DH who put him on my chest straight away and shouted "You did it! Look at our baby!" He was ecstatic, Lisa was in tears and I was exhausted. I rubbed Evan's chest to get him to cry and wrapped him in a towel. The midwife checked him over and said he seemed fine so after a few pictures and a couple of checks, DH cut the cord, I got out of the pool, delivered the placenta and we went and snuggled up together on the futon we'd laid out on the floor in the living room. I had to have a few stitches which hurt like hell but other than that I was absolutely fine and so was baby Evan. He weighed 8lbs 7oz and was 22.5" long.
We got everything cleaned up and then DH ran to the shops for the dinner I requested -- steak and spinach. I ate at 9pm and was tucked up in bed with the baby by 11.30. All in all it went even better than I expected and I'm so happy that I had a water birth at home.
:http://www.new.facebook.com/album.ph...7&id=838020720
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