anniegirl
12-04-2005, 04:56 PM
I hope it's okay if I share the birth of my son. I've lurked on the December since late summer but only posted a few times, so I know I'm not familiar.
My EDD was 12/17. I started having crampy contractions early Thursday morning, but did my best to ignore them. I laid down to take a nap with ds1 (22 months) and woke up an hour later with another crampy contraction. I started to get up and whoosh! my water broke! I was so excited! I called my midwife and then called dh to tell him to come home. My sweet mother was planning on flying up here on the 7th, dh called her right away and bless her heart she threw some clothes in a bag and hopped on the next flight.
My water broke around 2pm but labor didn't real intense until about 1am. Up til then it was really fun; dh, my close friend/doula J and I sat around talking and laughing, pausing when I had a contraction. My mom arrived at midnight, I was so happy she made it in time!
I got in the tub for a while then got out to poop. After that I started hanging off the back of the bed during contractions and sitting in a rocking chair in between. Up til then I'd been very quiet, just breathing slow and deep. But then I started making low sounds and even sort of growled a few times. In the back of my mind I thought "Whoa! That sound came from ME?!" LOL! I never got the 'I can't do this' feeling, but I definately got the 'I don't want to do this anymore' feeling. I really wanted a break and let everyone know! My midwife was so fantastic, she quietly encouraged me but never checked my dilation, which I really appreciate. Everyone there was great, I was comforted by their presence but didn't want to be touched or talked to.
I got back in the tub, which in retrospect was transition. It was getting really painful and I desperately wanted to feel the urge to push, but never really did. At some point I could feel him descending so decided to push a little to see how it felt. It wasn't the relief that I was hoping it would be but at least it was a different type of pain so I went with it. I started getting some blessedly long breaks between contractions and was slowly working him out. I felt inside me and could feel his wrinkly head. Finally I decided enough was enough and gave a mighty push and he crowned. Whoa! That ring of fire! I pushed his head the rest the way out. It looked so small! With the next contraction I pushed out the rest of him. It was such a relief! He was very floppy and blue/gray and the cord was wrapped around his body. The midwives started roughing him up and he began crying and pinked right up. He was born at 4:09am.
The water was drained and the placenta came out. I got into bed and he started nursing right away like an old pro, so much easier than ds1! I couldn't get over how tiny he looked, but it turned out little Henry weighed 8lbs4oz! Not too bad for one day shy of 38 weeks!
I did not tear and didn't even have any swelling to speak of. I can't believe how great I feel, especially compared to how I felt after ds1's birth (hospital birth with pitocin and epidural). Now I know what women mean when they say "birth high".
Thanks for reading!
My EDD was 12/17. I started having crampy contractions early Thursday morning, but did my best to ignore them. I laid down to take a nap with ds1 (22 months) and woke up an hour later with another crampy contraction. I started to get up and whoosh! my water broke! I was so excited! I called my midwife and then called dh to tell him to come home. My sweet mother was planning on flying up here on the 7th, dh called her right away and bless her heart she threw some clothes in a bag and hopped on the next flight.
My water broke around 2pm but labor didn't real intense until about 1am. Up til then it was really fun; dh, my close friend/doula J and I sat around talking and laughing, pausing when I had a contraction. My mom arrived at midnight, I was so happy she made it in time!
I got in the tub for a while then got out to poop. After that I started hanging off the back of the bed during contractions and sitting in a rocking chair in between. Up til then I'd been very quiet, just breathing slow and deep. But then I started making low sounds and even sort of growled a few times. In the back of my mind I thought "Whoa! That sound came from ME?!" LOL! I never got the 'I can't do this' feeling, but I definately got the 'I don't want to do this anymore' feeling. I really wanted a break and let everyone know! My midwife was so fantastic, she quietly encouraged me but never checked my dilation, which I really appreciate. Everyone there was great, I was comforted by their presence but didn't want to be touched or talked to.
I got back in the tub, which in retrospect was transition. It was getting really painful and I desperately wanted to feel the urge to push, but never really did. At some point I could feel him descending so decided to push a little to see how it felt. It wasn't the relief that I was hoping it would be but at least it was a different type of pain so I went with it. I started getting some blessedly long breaks between contractions and was slowly working him out. I felt inside me and could feel his wrinkly head. Finally I decided enough was enough and gave a mighty push and he crowned. Whoa! That ring of fire! I pushed his head the rest the way out. It looked so small! With the next contraction I pushed out the rest of him. It was such a relief! He was very floppy and blue/gray and the cord was wrapped around his body. The midwives started roughing him up and he began crying and pinked right up. He was born at 4:09am.
The water was drained and the placenta came out. I got into bed and he started nursing right away like an old pro, so much easier than ds1! I couldn't get over how tiny he looked, but it turned out little Henry weighed 8lbs4oz! Not too bad for one day shy of 38 weeks!
I did not tear and didn't even have any swelling to speak of. I can't believe how great I feel, especially compared to how I felt after ds1's birth (hospital birth with pitocin and epidural). Now I know what women mean when they say "birth high".
Thanks for reading!