MinnieMouse
12-05-2005, 09:13 PM
(I wrote this up for my local mom's group...hope you aren't offended that it isn't "original")
Thanks for all the well wishes :-). We've been home since yesterday afternoon and I've been doing a lot of sleeping...at least trying to!
So as with Bethany...I had NO prelabor signs. I was a teeny bit crampy in my lower back when I woke up on Friday..but nothing that was unusual for this late in my pregnancy. Thankfully we all slept late on Saturday morning and took it easy during the day. I also ate a pretty good dinner which I'm sure helped as well !
I woke up at 1:48am with some pressure/pain in my lower back/butt. With Bethany I only had the pressure...this time there was pain as well. I got up went to the bathroom, got back into bed and had another few...paid attention to the timing and figured them at about 5min intervals. I woke dh up at 2:30am told him I thought I was in labor and getting into the shower and for him to stay in bed until I was out. 15min later the contrax were less than 5min/apart. They were a bit more managable in the shower. Dh got up, we called TBC waited for their call back then called my best friend so her dh could meet us to pick up Bethany.
We originally were going to have Bethany hang out in the LR of TBC and come in just after the birth, but she's had a pretty bad cough/cold since Friday and I didn't want to bring her into TBC w/ it. So we brought her sleeping bag for her to sleep over our friend's house.
By this time the contrax were coming closer and stronger. The best place for me was on the toilet ...the same spot I labored w/ Beth...but it made it difficult to get dressed! Dh gathered last minute stuff and packed the car...reporting on the carpet of snow outside just to make everything a bit more fun! He had to help me get dressed...otherwise I would have been mostly naked for the car ride down.
He roused Bethany and transferred her to the car. She wanted to know what was going on and he told her it was "time" for the baby to come...and she got excited...THEN she saw the snow outside and that tipped the scales...and was way more interesting than any thoughts of the baby! She was awake talking about the snow the entire ride to TBC.
I have to say transitioning in the car pretty much sucks. Dh said later that I was pretty quiet though. I really tried to keep calm and relax...especially w/ Beth in the car. The roads were awful and there were an amazing amout of people out on them at 3:30am in the morning...of course none of them knew how to drive and dh was a bit tense about them... which bothered me at the time but I didn't have the energy to deal w/ the contrax AND tell him to be quiet.
The last few contrax before we got off the highway at the TBC exit I actually pushed through... which scared the *&%# out of me...cause I did NOT want to give birth in the car in the snow! But it felt so much better to push through them than to not. Once we got off the highway and were just a few miles from TBC... the contrax stopped... which scared me even more. I had read enough about the lull before the baby comes to know we were close. As we were approaching red lights I was telling dh to just drive right through them. Again...not having enough energy to explain WHY he should just drive through them. I think he had been planning to, but was just slowing down so noone would hit us.
Finally we pulled into TBC's parking lot. Dh got Beth out of the car and I managed somehow to get out of the car on my own (he wanted me to wait for him...but I couldn't just sit there) and start shuffling inside. We rang the bell and right as the midwife and our friend came to the door the next contrax hit so when the door opened I was squatting... our friend Pete was a bit freaked poor guy and the midwife suggested it would be better if we had the baby INSIDE instead of in the doorway in the snow!
We made our way to the yellow room (the one closest to the kitchen/LR area) by default because we were the third family to arrive that night! As soon as we hit the door way another contrax hit and all I wanted to do was get on the bed on all fours (again..the same way I labored w/ Beth). Dh and the midwife were on either side of me tearing off my sneakers while I dragged my pants off. All fours was definitely better than sitting seat belted into a seat in my car!
The midwife tried to check my dialation but couldn't get a good idea of it in the position I was in... all I caught of her comment was I was either 1 or 10... of course immediately thinking 1!! OMG...I hope to hell I'm not only 1cm dialated! I rolled over on my side and she was able to check...10cm and she said I could push all I wanted.
Back on all fours I started pushing. My water wasn't broken yet so Betsy broke it (at 4:05 according to my records). The midwife and dh were really helpful. She kept giving me updates as to how far down Ben was and how well I was pushing and Mario kept rubbing my back. I think I was hugging every pillow on the bed by this point.
Ben's head crowned pretty quickly... but w/ my luck only HALF his head emerged during one contraction! I had to hang out and wait until the next contrax before I could continue pushing him out. OMG.. I think that was the longest ...minute or two?? in my life. I thought that I had already pushed out the head and that it was his body...and kept telling the midwife to just "PULL IT OUT" She had to calm me down and explain that the head wasn't all the way out yet...and to NOT push until I had a contrax. I think that was the part that hurt the worst.
I was able to finish pushing out his head and his body w/ the next contraction...and was SOOO relieved. Unfortunately he wasn't breathing right away so they needed to give him oxygen right away...and cut the cord pretty quickly. But he perked up after that. His APGARs were 5 and 9.
The placenta came pretty quickly after that...which felt really good surpisingly. There was a lot of pressure that I didn't realize..and after the placenta came out it was gone.
When I had Bethany... her quick, forceps assisted birth... I tore a ton (up, down and inside...both sides) and have a slightly damaged pelvic floor because of it. This was a HUGE fear of mine for this birth. I ended up with a very small external tear up (which hurts a TON whenever I pee now...no stitches for it) and a small internal tear right where I have the pelvic floor damage. The midwife stitched up the internal one, along w/ doing some repair to the pelvic floor. We discovered that Lidocane doesn't really numb very much for me.
The poor midwife kept apologizing for the stitching...but I told her it was okay since compared to Beth's birth this was a walk in the park!
So tiny little Benjamin Tyler was only 6lbs, 10.5oz. He was one of three births early Sunday morning at TBC... the other two were also boys...and also younger siblings of older sisters. The difference being that the other two boys were 10lbs, 10oz and 10lbs, 11oz!! I was happy I had the 6lb one!!
I can't tell you how awesome it was to be at TBC after the birth rather than the hospital. Dh made me some macaroni and cheese after the birth and we rested for a bit. Ben nursed for over an hour. The midwife and nurse on duty ended up going home and a new pair took over. Everything was so relaxed and peaceful. One of the nurses came in a few times to check on us, then the a midwife for the newborn screening. Then we slept for two hours straight...heaven (and dh got to sleep WITH us instead of the upright chair he had at the hospital w/ Bethany). We took our time for the rest of the day...ate lunch, took showers, did our exit stuff and then gave Ben a bath before leaving at 3pm.
After leaving TBC we went to pick up Beth...who had an excellent day playing in the snow/ice and helping out with our friend's now 4mo baby..Jake. She was VERY excited to see Ben and is quite the helpful big sister...barring the meltdown at noon today about picking up some toys.
Ben has been a champion nurser...nursing about 10min every hour...and every 2nd or 3rd hour nursing for 20-30min. I'm just starting to leak now..literally as I type this...so I'm guessing my milk is starting to come in. Ben was born w/ some meconium...and hasn't had a bowel movement yet...just lots of gas. He's also only had one wet diaper...so hopefully now that my milk is coming in that will change.
I think that's it. I'm tired..but doing okay. Also pretty sore but not even close to how it was after Beth's birth.
Hugs to everyone!!
Christine
Mom to Big Sister Bethany, 4.5yo and Little Brother Ben, less than 48hrs old!
Thanks for all the well wishes :-). We've been home since yesterday afternoon and I've been doing a lot of sleeping...at least trying to!
So as with Bethany...I had NO prelabor signs. I was a teeny bit crampy in my lower back when I woke up on Friday..but nothing that was unusual for this late in my pregnancy. Thankfully we all slept late on Saturday morning and took it easy during the day. I also ate a pretty good dinner which I'm sure helped as well !
I woke up at 1:48am with some pressure/pain in my lower back/butt. With Bethany I only had the pressure...this time there was pain as well. I got up went to the bathroom, got back into bed and had another few...paid attention to the timing and figured them at about 5min intervals. I woke dh up at 2:30am told him I thought I was in labor and getting into the shower and for him to stay in bed until I was out. 15min later the contrax were less than 5min/apart. They were a bit more managable in the shower. Dh got up, we called TBC waited for their call back then called my best friend so her dh could meet us to pick up Bethany.
We originally were going to have Bethany hang out in the LR of TBC and come in just after the birth, but she's had a pretty bad cough/cold since Friday and I didn't want to bring her into TBC w/ it. So we brought her sleeping bag for her to sleep over our friend's house.
By this time the contrax were coming closer and stronger. The best place for me was on the toilet ...the same spot I labored w/ Beth...but it made it difficult to get dressed! Dh gathered last minute stuff and packed the car...reporting on the carpet of snow outside just to make everything a bit more fun! He had to help me get dressed...otherwise I would have been mostly naked for the car ride down.
He roused Bethany and transferred her to the car. She wanted to know what was going on and he told her it was "time" for the baby to come...and she got excited...THEN she saw the snow outside and that tipped the scales...and was way more interesting than any thoughts of the baby! She was awake talking about the snow the entire ride to TBC.
I have to say transitioning in the car pretty much sucks. Dh said later that I was pretty quiet though. I really tried to keep calm and relax...especially w/ Beth in the car. The roads were awful and there were an amazing amout of people out on them at 3:30am in the morning...of course none of them knew how to drive and dh was a bit tense about them... which bothered me at the time but I didn't have the energy to deal w/ the contrax AND tell him to be quiet.
The last few contrax before we got off the highway at the TBC exit I actually pushed through... which scared the *&%# out of me...cause I did NOT want to give birth in the car in the snow! But it felt so much better to push through them than to not. Once we got off the highway and were just a few miles from TBC... the contrax stopped... which scared me even more. I had read enough about the lull before the baby comes to know we were close. As we were approaching red lights I was telling dh to just drive right through them. Again...not having enough energy to explain WHY he should just drive through them. I think he had been planning to, but was just slowing down so noone would hit us.
Finally we pulled into TBC's parking lot. Dh got Beth out of the car and I managed somehow to get out of the car on my own (he wanted me to wait for him...but I couldn't just sit there) and start shuffling inside. We rang the bell and right as the midwife and our friend came to the door the next contrax hit so when the door opened I was squatting... our friend Pete was a bit freaked poor guy and the midwife suggested it would be better if we had the baby INSIDE instead of in the doorway in the snow!
We made our way to the yellow room (the one closest to the kitchen/LR area) by default because we were the third family to arrive that night! As soon as we hit the door way another contrax hit and all I wanted to do was get on the bed on all fours (again..the same way I labored w/ Beth). Dh and the midwife were on either side of me tearing off my sneakers while I dragged my pants off. All fours was definitely better than sitting seat belted into a seat in my car!
The midwife tried to check my dialation but couldn't get a good idea of it in the position I was in... all I caught of her comment was I was either 1 or 10... of course immediately thinking 1!! OMG...I hope to hell I'm not only 1cm dialated! I rolled over on my side and she was able to check...10cm and she said I could push all I wanted.
Back on all fours I started pushing. My water wasn't broken yet so Betsy broke it (at 4:05 according to my records). The midwife and dh were really helpful. She kept giving me updates as to how far down Ben was and how well I was pushing and Mario kept rubbing my back. I think I was hugging every pillow on the bed by this point.
Ben's head crowned pretty quickly... but w/ my luck only HALF his head emerged during one contraction! I had to hang out and wait until the next contrax before I could continue pushing him out. OMG.. I think that was the longest ...minute or two?? in my life. I thought that I had already pushed out the head and that it was his body...and kept telling the midwife to just "PULL IT OUT" She had to calm me down and explain that the head wasn't all the way out yet...and to NOT push until I had a contrax. I think that was the part that hurt the worst.
I was able to finish pushing out his head and his body w/ the next contraction...and was SOOO relieved. Unfortunately he wasn't breathing right away so they needed to give him oxygen right away...and cut the cord pretty quickly. But he perked up after that. His APGARs were 5 and 9.
The placenta came pretty quickly after that...which felt really good surpisingly. There was a lot of pressure that I didn't realize..and after the placenta came out it was gone.
When I had Bethany... her quick, forceps assisted birth... I tore a ton (up, down and inside...both sides) and have a slightly damaged pelvic floor because of it. This was a HUGE fear of mine for this birth. I ended up with a very small external tear up (which hurts a TON whenever I pee now...no stitches for it) and a small internal tear right where I have the pelvic floor damage. The midwife stitched up the internal one, along w/ doing some repair to the pelvic floor. We discovered that Lidocane doesn't really numb very much for me.
The poor midwife kept apologizing for the stitching...but I told her it was okay since compared to Beth's birth this was a walk in the park!
So tiny little Benjamin Tyler was only 6lbs, 10.5oz. He was one of three births early Sunday morning at TBC... the other two were also boys...and also younger siblings of older sisters. The difference being that the other two boys were 10lbs, 10oz and 10lbs, 11oz!! I was happy I had the 6lb one!!
I can't tell you how awesome it was to be at TBC after the birth rather than the hospital. Dh made me some macaroni and cheese after the birth and we rested for a bit. Ben nursed for over an hour. The midwife and nurse on duty ended up going home and a new pair took over. Everything was so relaxed and peaceful. One of the nurses came in a few times to check on us, then the a midwife for the newborn screening. Then we slept for two hours straight...heaven (and dh got to sleep WITH us instead of the upright chair he had at the hospital w/ Bethany). We took our time for the rest of the day...ate lunch, took showers, did our exit stuff and then gave Ben a bath before leaving at 3pm.
After leaving TBC we went to pick up Beth...who had an excellent day playing in the snow/ice and helping out with our friend's now 4mo baby..Jake. She was VERY excited to see Ben and is quite the helpful big sister...barring the meltdown at noon today about picking up some toys.
Ben has been a champion nurser...nursing about 10min every hour...and every 2nd or 3rd hour nursing for 20-30min. I'm just starting to leak now..literally as I type this...so I'm guessing my milk is starting to come in. Ben was born w/ some meconium...and hasn't had a bowel movement yet...just lots of gas. He's also only had one wet diaper...so hopefully now that my milk is coming in that will change.
I think that's it. I'm tired..but doing okay. Also pretty sore but not even close to how it was after Beth's birth.
Hugs to everyone!!
Christine
Mom to Big Sister Bethany, 4.5yo and Little Brother Ben, less than 48hrs old!