hojobj
12-20-2005, 03:09 PM
This is long and graphic, so not for the queasy. I never planned on, nor thought I could ever do an unassisted childbirth, yet I did it!
We moved over Thanksgiving weekend and it was very very stressful for all of us, even though DH had help moving the stuff. My Taurus hating change thing combined with 8 months pregnant didn’t help matters and the plumbers took a lot longer than they told us they were. As a result, DH had to take extra time off and we are experiencing a little financial difficulties on top of this. Even though once we get through this month and get those bills paid, we will be much better off next year! No mortgage or car payments.
Wednesday Dec 14 was the accumulation of all the stress DH could take. He left for work in a huff and I cried uncontrollably. Then I got three surprise packages in the mail from friends. I cried more.
Thursday, Dec 15, I was on the computer telling a friend I hope I don’t have the baby with the storm system coming in that day. I went to the bathroom and low and behold, bloody show. I’m in panic mode. I know I have 12 hours if that, before the baby comes and we weren’t ready! The baby was due on Jan 13. I didn’t even have a birth kit yet! I call the midwife. She tells me to lie down and drink water. DH is 8 hours away in the middle of some nasty weather. I call his dispatcher and tell her to have him call me the baby is coming. My SIL actually came over to watch the boys so I could rest. So I drank water and stayed off my feet, hoping the baby would wait until DH was there and better weather because the midwife is 2 hours away and has to drive on some winding roads to get here. DH came home around 11 PM that night.
Friday Dec 16, SIL goes home because it’s too boring and the baby’s not coming. I told her I was having contractions and the baby was coming today. She missed out. After afternoon nap, I’m trying to get DH to get things together because I need to go to a store and get some things we need for the birth. He delays. I call midwife because I’m having 15 second contractions about 10 minutes apart. She tells me to call her when they are closer to the minute mark. We finally go to Kmart. I almost everything I need there but just after checkout, I get my first knock me on the floor contraction. DH was arguing with the boys a little ways away and I couldn’t speak. The poor checkout girl. We get into the car and go to Aldi’s, so DH could get me the orange juice I’m craving. I can hardly sit in the seat while we are waiting for him in the van.
We get home, I call the midwife to tell her to get down here, get my juice and go upstairs. DH comes up to make the bed. The boys are nearing bedtime after being up late the night before so they are fighting/whining. I’m trying to calm them down while going through some very painful contractions. Finally I get my 4 year old to come to me and rub my back and hold my hand. When DH is done with the bed and a couple of other things I needed ready, he takes the boys downstairs and at least I can handle the contractions a little better. But then I feel the need to push. I know the midwife isn’t going to make it.
So I make my way to the bathroom to go to the bathroom one more time and be sure I’m clean since I knew I’d had a BM earlier. While on the toilet, my water breaks. DH comes up to check on me, I tell him baby is coming now. He hears the boys crying so runs back down to see what’s up. I clean up between contractions and go back to the bedroom. I find the bulb syringe I had from one of the boy’s births and put it on the bed with some receiving blankets. I’m looking to see if I forgot anything, squat for a contraction and the baby’s head comes right out. So I hold the baby’s head and talk to it waiting for the next contraction, which comes very quickly. I start to push and reach down and grab it and bring it up to my chest. I’m calm up to this point but then I don’t know what to do. There’s a mess on the floor, I’m in a squat I can’t stand up from. So I call DH. I hear him say just a minute.
As he’s coming up the stairs I remember to look to see what sex the baby is. When he comes into the room I tell him we have Ian Zachary, which is the name he wanted a week before if a boy. He asks me if he’s breathing, because he’s not crying (none of our boys cried at birth), I say yes and he asks if everything came out alright. I tell him not the placenta and woosh out it came! He looks at me kind of panicked, Where do we put that? I tell him the little trash can I had beside the bed. He does that and I ask him for a couple of blankets to wrap Ian in and he grabs them and throws them on the floor to start cleaning up the mess. Our 2 year old comes in then and wants to kiss the baby.. I repeat the blanket request while our son kisses his brother and “cutes” him (family term for rubbing cheek with index finger). I finally get the blankets and speak to our 2 year old while DH runs down to get the four year old and phone the midwife. I’m still squatting BTW. Our 4 yr old sees the blood and wants nothing to do with him. I get DH to finally help me up, take my socks off and help me get to the bed. Since now most of the blood is hidden, the 4 yr old finally comes up to kiss and cute his brother. The midwife calls back and tells DH to keep us warm and let the baby nurse. I give the baby to DH to strip off my night shirt and lie down with the baby on my chest. DH continues to clean up the mess, I never realized how much mess it was when you don’t use Chux pads! Our 2 yr old went to help Daddy and our 4 yr old stayed to get me some fresh receiving blankets to put on Ian.
I called all my friends and family while waiting on the midwife who was driving in icy and snowy road conditions. Our 4 yr old told my Mom all about the baby. It was sweet. He was so excited! The midwife made it about an hour and a half later.
Ian Zachary weighed 8 pounds 12 ounces and was 19 inches long. He was born on Dec 16 at 8:45 PM and looks as though he was only a week or two early. I only had a small tear that didn’t need stitches.
Now that my milk is in, he’s a healthy eater! He wants to eat ALL the time!
I'll post a picture later. I'm not sure how to do it on the board here.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v602/hojobj/personal/P1010096.jpg
We moved over Thanksgiving weekend and it was very very stressful for all of us, even though DH had help moving the stuff. My Taurus hating change thing combined with 8 months pregnant didn’t help matters and the plumbers took a lot longer than they told us they were. As a result, DH had to take extra time off and we are experiencing a little financial difficulties on top of this. Even though once we get through this month and get those bills paid, we will be much better off next year! No mortgage or car payments.
Wednesday Dec 14 was the accumulation of all the stress DH could take. He left for work in a huff and I cried uncontrollably. Then I got three surprise packages in the mail from friends. I cried more.
Thursday, Dec 15, I was on the computer telling a friend I hope I don’t have the baby with the storm system coming in that day. I went to the bathroom and low and behold, bloody show. I’m in panic mode. I know I have 12 hours if that, before the baby comes and we weren’t ready! The baby was due on Jan 13. I didn’t even have a birth kit yet! I call the midwife. She tells me to lie down and drink water. DH is 8 hours away in the middle of some nasty weather. I call his dispatcher and tell her to have him call me the baby is coming. My SIL actually came over to watch the boys so I could rest. So I drank water and stayed off my feet, hoping the baby would wait until DH was there and better weather because the midwife is 2 hours away and has to drive on some winding roads to get here. DH came home around 11 PM that night.
Friday Dec 16, SIL goes home because it’s too boring and the baby’s not coming. I told her I was having contractions and the baby was coming today. She missed out. After afternoon nap, I’m trying to get DH to get things together because I need to go to a store and get some things we need for the birth. He delays. I call midwife because I’m having 15 second contractions about 10 minutes apart. She tells me to call her when they are closer to the minute mark. We finally go to Kmart. I almost everything I need there but just after checkout, I get my first knock me on the floor contraction. DH was arguing with the boys a little ways away and I couldn’t speak. The poor checkout girl. We get into the car and go to Aldi’s, so DH could get me the orange juice I’m craving. I can hardly sit in the seat while we are waiting for him in the van.
We get home, I call the midwife to tell her to get down here, get my juice and go upstairs. DH comes up to make the bed. The boys are nearing bedtime after being up late the night before so they are fighting/whining. I’m trying to calm them down while going through some very painful contractions. Finally I get my 4 year old to come to me and rub my back and hold my hand. When DH is done with the bed and a couple of other things I needed ready, he takes the boys downstairs and at least I can handle the contractions a little better. But then I feel the need to push. I know the midwife isn’t going to make it.
So I make my way to the bathroom to go to the bathroom one more time and be sure I’m clean since I knew I’d had a BM earlier. While on the toilet, my water breaks. DH comes up to check on me, I tell him baby is coming now. He hears the boys crying so runs back down to see what’s up. I clean up between contractions and go back to the bedroom. I find the bulb syringe I had from one of the boy’s births and put it on the bed with some receiving blankets. I’m looking to see if I forgot anything, squat for a contraction and the baby’s head comes right out. So I hold the baby’s head and talk to it waiting for the next contraction, which comes very quickly. I start to push and reach down and grab it and bring it up to my chest. I’m calm up to this point but then I don’t know what to do. There’s a mess on the floor, I’m in a squat I can’t stand up from. So I call DH. I hear him say just a minute.
As he’s coming up the stairs I remember to look to see what sex the baby is. When he comes into the room I tell him we have Ian Zachary, which is the name he wanted a week before if a boy. He asks me if he’s breathing, because he’s not crying (none of our boys cried at birth), I say yes and he asks if everything came out alright. I tell him not the placenta and woosh out it came! He looks at me kind of panicked, Where do we put that? I tell him the little trash can I had beside the bed. He does that and I ask him for a couple of blankets to wrap Ian in and he grabs them and throws them on the floor to start cleaning up the mess. Our 2 year old comes in then and wants to kiss the baby.. I repeat the blanket request while our son kisses his brother and “cutes” him (family term for rubbing cheek with index finger). I finally get the blankets and speak to our 2 year old while DH runs down to get the four year old and phone the midwife. I’m still squatting BTW. Our 4 yr old sees the blood and wants nothing to do with him. I get DH to finally help me up, take my socks off and help me get to the bed. Since now most of the blood is hidden, the 4 yr old finally comes up to kiss and cute his brother. The midwife calls back and tells DH to keep us warm and let the baby nurse. I give the baby to DH to strip off my night shirt and lie down with the baby on my chest. DH continues to clean up the mess, I never realized how much mess it was when you don’t use Chux pads! Our 2 yr old went to help Daddy and our 4 yr old stayed to get me some fresh receiving blankets to put on Ian.
I called all my friends and family while waiting on the midwife who was driving in icy and snowy road conditions. Our 4 yr old told my Mom all about the baby. It was sweet. He was so excited! The midwife made it about an hour and a half later.
Ian Zachary weighed 8 pounds 12 ounces and was 19 inches long. He was born on Dec 16 at 8:45 PM and looks as though he was only a week or two early. I only had a small tear that didn’t need stitches.
Now that my milk is in, he’s a healthy eater! He wants to eat ALL the time!
I'll post a picture later. I'm not sure how to do it on the board here.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v602/hojobj/personal/P1010096.jpg