Sorry if it's long and full of run-ons. 
Friday morning I lost my mucus plug around 8am. I knew that pretty much meant that we would meet baby in the next 24hrs so hubby and I started to prepare ourselves mentally for having to go to the hospital.
It was really emotional and tough at first and he asked me to go to the midwife for one last finger poke to see if my blood levels had possibly risen at all. I called the midwife and she said," of course I'll give you the finger poke, but your levels would have to be really, really high on it for me to even consider it." I knew that basically meant no and for some reason I was okay with that. I was just ready to meet my baby and really finally felt a sense of peace with it. I think part of it was that in the past week I had started to get the feeling that she just wasn't comfortable with delivering me and that she was kinda more concerned about covering herself liability wise than anything. Anyway, the reading on the meter said 9.8 which meant that I was definitely atleast a 10 because her meter had read 1-2 points lower than my labs had been throughout my pregnancy. I felt like atleast I had a good number going into labor.
She asked if I wanted her to accompany us to the hospital and I told her that we were going to labor at home as long as possible and that I didn't really think I needed her in the doula role. So she told me that I could call her anytime just in case and she let me know that another OB was on call so that it would probably be someone I didn't know. I told her that wasn't a big deal to me, the OB is there for like 10min and as long as I was happy with my L&D nurse that was more important to me. She told me if I called before we were going in I could request a L&D nurse that wouldn't push medication and was experienced with unmedicated/intervention free births and that the hospital was really good about fulfilling those requests.
I picked DS up from school a few hours later and when we got home DD and I took a little nap. It was about 4pm when I felt a contraction that I thought might be real so I started timing them and sure enough they were coming every 15min. So I let hubby know and we started doing some final cleaning stuff and packing for the hospital. I had called my parents earlier in the day to let them know to go ahead and start driving since they are about 4.5hrs away and wanted to be there to see him right away. They called and let us know that they would be in around 6 or 7 and I told them if I was still handling the contractions well I wanted to go to dinner for one last big yummy meal.
I decided on Outback Steakhouse and we got there around 8:15pm, of course as soon as we got there the contractions started coming every 10min, but they still weren't bad and we all enjoyed dinner and had a really good time. We got home around 10pm and I packed the last few things, made a list of "do not allows" for DH for baby things and told him to make sure and stay with the baby at all times if he has to leave the room.
I had fallen asleep on the couch around 11pm and woke around 1:30 with stronger contractions. They were coming every 5-7min now and I had to walk or rock through them but they still weren't horrible. I was so thankful that so far labor had been peaceful and enjoyable and that I had been able to spend it with my family. After about 5 or 6 of these contractions I felt the slight sensation of pressure and told hubby that even though we had planned to wait just a little longer before going in I thought it might be a good idea to go ahead and go now. We woke my mom since she was coming to the hospital with us and they started to pack the car.
When everything was ready I was about due for another contraction, so I told them, "let me get through this next one and then we'll go" It took a little longer to come than I was expecting, but finally hit, I stood up against the wall to rock through it and felt a POP and huge gush. I was totally shocked and just stood there for a second, we all started cracking up laughing because for some reason it just felt so unexpected and we were all thankful that it didn't happen in the car. I changed clothes and we left for the hospital.
It was about 3:00am when we left and I was pretty fearful that the contractions would come fast and hard since my water had broken, but they stayed about the same. I called ahead and let them know we were coming in and planning an unmedicated birth. We arrived about 3:20 and they asked all their questions and got me settled in. They were really great and asked permission before doing pretty much everything.
The on call OB came in and was kinda freaking out because of my history and not knowing my case well. She scurried out of the room and then came back in with a portable U/S to see how big baby was, DD had a slight shoulder dystocia, so that was her concern. I gave her the okay and she said he was measuring long but not too big. I got checked and was about 8cm and the OB left and we hung out a little bit.
I could feel them get more intense so I was moving around in the bed a lot and DH was providing counter-pressure for me. My mom went to the waiting room as I thought pushing was going to be soon. About 30min later the contractions started to get really hard to deal with and right on top of each other. After only 2 or 3 of these I was talking to DH about an epidural, he was reminding me that it was soo not what we wanted, that it would only slow things down and cause problems like with our first. The nurse stepped out of the room so we could talk. I had 3 more and then while we were talking was all of a sudden pushing without even realizing it. DH asks, "Are you pushing?!"
I told him, "shut up, I have to!"
The nurse came back into the room and DH told her I was pushing. She wanted to check me and I told her no, she said she needed to so that she would know whether or not to call the doctor. I told her, "just call the doctor, I can feel his head, I know he is right there." She says, "okay just don't have this baby before she gets here."
The OB was in the room about 2 min later and we got all situated for pushing and she looks and says, "oh yeah, we're ready!" 2 more pushes and his little head was out, and I got one of those wait don't push statements. He had his cord wrapped twice around his neck and with the next push we discovered it wrapped around his arm as well. Didn't really surprise me with all the wiggling and moving around he had been doing, not to mention all the extra fluid and space he had.
He swallowed a lot of fluid and a little bit of meconium coming out so they had to work on him for a few min, but then I go to hold him and nurse him and he was beautiful and perfect of course.
Caius Samuel was born at 5:21am 7lbs 10oz 21 1/2in long.
I did pass a lot of huge clots and they started a bag of pitocin, followed by a methergine injection, another bag of pitocin and methergine orally every 4hrs for the next 24hrs. But I felt good and didn't have any of the woozy, high feelings of blood loss and they were okay with us leaving after the 24hrs.
Everyone at the hospital was great, I felt like we had a wonderful experience, a huge difference from our first hospital experience. I feel so blessed and feel like it really did work out for the best.
Thanks so very much to all you mamas who kept me in your thoughts and prayers, who encouraged me the whole way through and who helped me see that I could have a great birthing experience no matter the setting. I love this DDC!!!
I'll try to figure out how to add pics later.
Friday morning I lost my mucus plug around 8am. I knew that pretty much meant that we would meet baby in the next 24hrs so hubby and I started to prepare ourselves mentally for having to go to the hospital.
It was really emotional and tough at first and he asked me to go to the midwife for one last finger poke to see if my blood levels had possibly risen at all. I called the midwife and she said," of course I'll give you the finger poke, but your levels would have to be really, really high on it for me to even consider it." I knew that basically meant no and for some reason I was okay with that. I was just ready to meet my baby and really finally felt a sense of peace with it. I think part of it was that in the past week I had started to get the feeling that she just wasn't comfortable with delivering me and that she was kinda more concerned about covering herself liability wise than anything. Anyway, the reading on the meter said 9.8 which meant that I was definitely atleast a 10 because her meter had read 1-2 points lower than my labs had been throughout my pregnancy. I felt like atleast I had a good number going into labor.
She asked if I wanted her to accompany us to the hospital and I told her that we were going to labor at home as long as possible and that I didn't really think I needed her in the doula role. So she told me that I could call her anytime just in case and she let me know that another OB was on call so that it would probably be someone I didn't know. I told her that wasn't a big deal to me, the OB is there for like 10min and as long as I was happy with my L&D nurse that was more important to me. She told me if I called before we were going in I could request a L&D nurse that wouldn't push medication and was experienced with unmedicated/intervention free births and that the hospital was really good about fulfilling those requests.
I picked DS up from school a few hours later and when we got home DD and I took a little nap. It was about 4pm when I felt a contraction that I thought might be real so I started timing them and sure enough they were coming every 15min. So I let hubby know and we started doing some final cleaning stuff and packing for the hospital. I had called my parents earlier in the day to let them know to go ahead and start driving since they are about 4.5hrs away and wanted to be there to see him right away. They called and let us know that they would be in around 6 or 7 and I told them if I was still handling the contractions well I wanted to go to dinner for one last big yummy meal.
I decided on Outback Steakhouse and we got there around 8:15pm, of course as soon as we got there the contractions started coming every 10min, but they still weren't bad and we all enjoyed dinner and had a really good time. We got home around 10pm and I packed the last few things, made a list of "do not allows" for DH for baby things and told him to make sure and stay with the baby at all times if he has to leave the room.
I had fallen asleep on the couch around 11pm and woke around 1:30 with stronger contractions. They were coming every 5-7min now and I had to walk or rock through them but they still weren't horrible. I was so thankful that so far labor had been peaceful and enjoyable and that I had been able to spend it with my family. After about 5 or 6 of these contractions I felt the slight sensation of pressure and told hubby that even though we had planned to wait just a little longer before going in I thought it might be a good idea to go ahead and go now. We woke my mom since she was coming to the hospital with us and they started to pack the car.
When everything was ready I was about due for another contraction, so I told them, "let me get through this next one and then we'll go" It took a little longer to come than I was expecting, but finally hit, I stood up against the wall to rock through it and felt a POP and huge gush. I was totally shocked and just stood there for a second, we all started cracking up laughing because for some reason it just felt so unexpected and we were all thankful that it didn't happen in the car. I changed clothes and we left for the hospital.
It was about 3:00am when we left and I was pretty fearful that the contractions would come fast and hard since my water had broken, but they stayed about the same. I called ahead and let them know we were coming in and planning an unmedicated birth. We arrived about 3:20 and they asked all their questions and got me settled in. They were really great and asked permission before doing pretty much everything.
The on call OB came in and was kinda freaking out because of my history and not knowing my case well. She scurried out of the room and then came back in with a portable U/S to see how big baby was, DD had a slight shoulder dystocia, so that was her concern. I gave her the okay and she said he was measuring long but not too big. I got checked and was about 8cm and the OB left and we hung out a little bit.
I could feel them get more intense so I was moving around in the bed a lot and DH was providing counter-pressure for me. My mom went to the waiting room as I thought pushing was going to be soon. About 30min later the contractions started to get really hard to deal with and right on top of each other. After only 2 or 3 of these I was talking to DH about an epidural, he was reminding me that it was soo not what we wanted, that it would only slow things down and cause problems like with our first. The nurse stepped out of the room so we could talk. I had 3 more and then while we were talking was all of a sudden pushing without even realizing it. DH asks, "Are you pushing?!"
I told him, "shut up, I have to!"
The nurse came back into the room and DH told her I was pushing. She wanted to check me and I told her no, she said she needed to so that she would know whether or not to call the doctor. I told her, "just call the doctor, I can feel his head, I know he is right there." She says, "okay just don't have this baby before she gets here."
The OB was in the room about 2 min later and we got all situated for pushing and she looks and says, "oh yeah, we're ready!" 2 more pushes and his little head was out, and I got one of those wait don't push statements. He had his cord wrapped twice around his neck and with the next push we discovered it wrapped around his arm as well. Didn't really surprise me with all the wiggling and moving around he had been doing, not to mention all the extra fluid and space he had.
He swallowed a lot of fluid and a little bit of meconium coming out so they had to work on him for a few min, but then I go to hold him and nurse him and he was beautiful and perfect of course.
Caius Samuel was born at 5:21am 7lbs 10oz 21 1/2in long. I did pass a lot of huge clots and they started a bag of pitocin, followed by a methergine injection, another bag of pitocin and methergine orally every 4hrs for the next 24hrs. But I felt good and didn't have any of the woozy, high feelings of blood loss and they were okay with us leaving after the 24hrs.
Everyone at the hospital was great, I felt like we had a wonderful experience, a huge difference from our first hospital experience. I feel so blessed and feel like it really did work out for the best.
Thanks so very much to all you mamas who kept me in your thoughts and prayers, who encouraged me the whole way through and who helped me see that I could have a great birthing experience no matter the setting. I love this DDC!!!
I'll try to figure out how to add pics later.
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