Worldshakerz
06-18-2003, 12:02 AM
The last few weeks of my pregnancy, I was telling myself, hey, I really wouldn't mind if the baby came a few days early. I kept rubbing my belly and telling little Jake, "Hey, there's a lot more room out here!"As my due date approached, I was more and more eager to try anything to help things along.
February 12th 2003, Wednesday, 10am I took a walk on the beach with my sister in law Kim. We walked for about an hour. It was soooo cold outside, but it was nice. Kim dropped me off at home. At about noon, my hubbie and I headed across the street to do some grocery shopping. When our cart was half way full, my dh realized he had left the checkbook at home. He left to go get it, I continued shopping. Five minutes after he left, I bent over (at the waist like I shouldnt have) to get some yogurt off the shelf and felt the most God awful twinge of pain in my lower back. A nice man next to me asked if I was okay. I held back the tears, and told him I had just hurt my back, thanks. I slowly pushed the cart along the isle, stopping occasionally because the pain in my back was making it hard to walk. Tears starting coming out, I kept wiping them away and trying to pretend nothing was wrong as I made my way to the front of the store where there was a nice bench to sit on.
When I finally got there, an older gentleman was just sitting down on one side of the bench. I didn't care, I wheeled my cart next to it, and sat on the other side, facing the other way so he wouldn't see me crying. Not that it really mattered...after a few minutes I was softly sobbing to myself. OUCH! MY BACK HURT LIKE HELL!!!!!It started to cross my mind that this could be that wonderful back labor that I had heard about. I quickly put it out of my mind. That thought didnt help things. I was in a lot of pain, and feeling extremely emotional.
After sitting there for about 10 minutes, my dh walked in the front door of the store, and saw me sitting there. The man had left the bench, so my dh sat next to me and I started crying to him. AWWW, he said. What happended? I told him I twisted my back...he gave me the keys to the car. He brought the cart to the check-out and I went and waited in the car. At this point I just began thinking I had hurt my back pretty bad..gosh, why did i bend at the waist! I needed to go to the chiropractor.!
We got home, my dh told me to go and lie down while he put the food away. I layed in bed and brought the phone with me so I wouldnt have to get up if it rang. I napped for a while. THen I laid and read a magazine, and my back started feeling a little better. I decided to call my friend Michelle, who's twin boys had just turned a year. She told me she had a feeling I was going to have the baby soon. "I think you're going to have the baby tomorrow,"she said"On the 13th, that's my uncle's birthday". Sounded okay to me, I said. It was now about 3pm.
After we chatted for about 10 minutes, I hung up the phone. I got up to go to the bathroom, and as I swung my legs over the side of the bed, I felt a warm gush of fluid. I got up and there was a huge wet spot on the bed. Did my water just break? "Jamie! I think my water broke!" He asked me if I was sure. I had been leaking urine lately, and had thought the same thing a few days earlier. But this was a lot different. I called the midwife for her opinion. She said some woman can have a lot of discharge at the end of the pregnancy, and to test and see if it was the waters, take off my undies and walk around the house to see if it trickled down my leg. When she said that I was a little angry...it just sounded so wrong! Discharge? But I humored her, and did what she said. Called her 10 minutes later and told her I would really like to come in and be checked, because it was gushing down my leg, not constantly, but intermittently. It just didnt feel like pee, or anything else I knew, warm and kind of squishy, and a unique smell I couldn't describe.
Before I got there, I put on a pad, and put a towel on the seat of the car under me. Fluid kept coming out at intervals the whole way there. It took about an hour to get out the door...we decided to bring everything we needed just in case this was it. The birthing center was a half hour drive.
Got there, got up on the table dripping everywhere. The midwife put in this special stick to see if it was amniotic fluid...it turned the right color and she told me what I already knew...yes, the water had broken. She asked me if I was feeling any contractions...and at that point I wasn't really. I was feeling kind of crampy, but that's how I'd been feeling for a few weeks now. She checked me and "stirred me up"(OUCH!), and told me to go home, eat something, rest a little, and then come back.
Going back home was the biggest mistake I made! On the car ride home recognizable contractions started. They weren't too bad in the car. We weren't timing at that point, they were maybe five minutes apart though, not too painful.
Got home around 4pm. I laid down, but couldn't get comfortable. I told dh I thought I was having contractions, but it was hard for me to tell when they started and stopped. My back pain was still very intense. Jamie rushed around to find a timer, watch ,something. I was getting hysterical, and so he was a little too. We were both getting very frustrated trying to time the contractions....it seemed like they were one continuous contraction. It didnt seem right, but they were 2 minutes from start to start...lasting about 45 seconds. At this point I started to really freak out!I thought contractions started like 20mintues apart or something! And gradually got more intense, right? I had been waiting impatiently for this, and now I wanted it to stop!
After about 15 minutes of contractions, they were getting closer to about 1 minute apart... a contraction would start, last about a minute, there would be a 30 second rest and it would start again. I had jamie call the midwife. He gave the phone to me. and the midwife Jamin asked me what was happening. I told her I thought I needed to come back already, although I had only been home for less than 20 minutes. She asked me if I had rested and eaten dinner...I told her no, and cried. She asked me what was wrong...I couldn't talk, cried and gave the phone to Jamie.
We went back to the car, our bag already in it. I was horrified when we got on the highway and saw traffic for miles ahead of us. I was in pain! I couldn't get comfortable, I kept putting my feet up on the dash, back down, curling up in a ball. Nothing helped. We pretty much gave up on timing contractions, it was so hard for me to tell when it was starting and stopping...the back pain was the worst. BACK LABOR, like I had thought earlier, it had to be. Jamie told me to breathe, I told him I couldn't. He told me I needed to and I yelled at him. It was the worst car ride of my life! Screaming and crying all the way there.
When I got there, the midwife let us in, I was crying and doubling over. I put on a nite gown. I was pacing and crying, and yelling. She told me this was just the beginning....NOT what i wanted to hear...she asked me how many kids I wanted to have...maybe she was trying to calm me down, but her tactics were not working.
About 10 minutes afer I got there, it must have been about 5:30pm, she checked me and i was 3 centimeters. I told my dh to take me to the hospital because I wanted an epidural. I told the same thing to the midwife. I was BEGGING. I told my dh to call my mom, and he convinced me to stay at the birthing center until she got there at least. While I waited, I was pacing some more, tried laying down, that didn't work. I ended up getting in the birthing pool. I was only in it for a few minutes. I kept getting in and out, and the midwife asked me why I was so angry. I told her to shut up. I WANT angry I was in pain, and scared! The midwife gave me something homeopathic (to calm me down I think).
Finally, my mother got there....i begged her to take me to the hospital...she asked me what my goal was. She forced me to remember what I knew I really wanted: a happy healthy baby, no drugs! My mother is sooo amazing, just as soon as she arrived, everything and everyone calmed down. It must have been around 7pm, I dont know I lost track. I was checked and was 5 centimeters. From this point on I was very focused, kept breathing in and out slowly, most of the time I had my eyes closed. my husband right there breathing with me. I didnt let him touch me though, not even for massage. The midwife had me sit on the toilet, it was more comfortable to me than lying down or walking. BUT MY BACK JUST WOULDNT STOP HURTING! I spent a lot of the labor on the toilet, flailing my arms around even though I was told to keep them on my knees. Once in a while I would go lie on the bed to rest, but no rest was to be had. I barely uttered a word as the hours passed, and when I tried to eat, I felt like puking. I managed to eat a few bites of a protien bar. I drank a lot of water and ate some ice chips. Most of the time my mom and midwife would leave the room and let us be alone, but would check periodically.
Suddenly it was sometime after 9pm and I was fully dialated. Where had the time gone? I started to shiver. My mom put a blanket on me, but I still shivered. Suddenly I started grunting involuntarily, and there was tremendous pressure. The midwife had me feel the baby's head. She had me breath through the urge to push...she wanted the contractions to bring baby down just a little more so I wouldnt have to do as much pushing.
It's hard to not push...I succeeded some of the time, and then didnt other times. After about an hour I was very very tired. They all left the room and I rested alone. At the time it only seemed like 5 minutes, but later I was told it was for like 30 minutes....a lull in the contractions but not the back pain.
Then the uncontrollable urge to push again along with the grunts. Laying on the bed wasn't working. The midwife had me stand at the foot of the bed, and with each contraction i held on to the head board and went into a full squat. So, this is why they compared birth to running a marathon. I was fully naked by this time, and honestly i dont remember when this happened. I was doing squats for about a half hour, and the midwife wanted to try something to speed things up. We were approaching the 2 hour mark of pushing. She gave me some oxygen as I was panting heavily.She decided on nipple stimulation to make the contractions even stronger...her and my dh each took a nipple and kind of twisted and squeezed at the same time...colostrum was coming out, and my contractions immediately got stronger.
Not 10 minutes later, Jakob was finally was born. Jamie was in a chair behind me, I was leaning on his legs for support in a full squat....I thought I couldn't push any harder! So I pushed a little more. After feeling his head in my pelvis for the last few hours, what a relief....i felt him slip out and all the pressure was gone.
He was grey at first, and relatively still. There wasn't any blood though, not even vernix. An arm wiggled here, a leg there. I sat down on the underpad, in a pile of warm liquid. Jakob was in my arms, and it all seemed unreal. Here he was in my arms! The heaviness in my belly was now in my arms.The umbilical cord was warm and pulsing. Jakob's eyes were wide in wonder and bewilderment...mine probably looked a lot like that too. I saw and felt him taking his first quick little breaths, and daddy cut the chord. Withing minutes he was a healthy pink, and giving out a few lusty cries. Mostly though he was amazingly calm and alert. His eyes were open so wide...he was mostly quiet but would look around and give an occasional cry.Things get a little hazy at this point, I was just so overwhelmed with tiredness and relief.
My mom held Jakob while the midwife helped me up from the floor and onto the bed. There was quite a tear, 3 layers, but she said it looked like an incision it was so clean. She numbed me and stitched me....please, can't we just leave my vagina alone..it's been through enough already! After about 10 minutes, Jakob was brought to me to nurse. I was still naked. He latched right on, and I was in heaven. Mom went and cooked my the required high protien meal I had to eat before I left. And the required pee you have to take before leaving didnt really happen....that took until a few hours after I got home.
We were home within 4 hours, and dh stayed home and waited on me hand and foot while I recooped and nursed. I was glowing for days! (despite feeling like I got ran over by a semi)
Little Jakob was 7lb, 6oz 20in born at 11:57pm that day, afer 9 hours of labor. He is now 4 months old, 26in long, and 19lb 4oz!
February 12th 2003, Wednesday, 10am I took a walk on the beach with my sister in law Kim. We walked for about an hour. It was soooo cold outside, but it was nice. Kim dropped me off at home. At about noon, my hubbie and I headed across the street to do some grocery shopping. When our cart was half way full, my dh realized he had left the checkbook at home. He left to go get it, I continued shopping. Five minutes after he left, I bent over (at the waist like I shouldnt have) to get some yogurt off the shelf and felt the most God awful twinge of pain in my lower back. A nice man next to me asked if I was okay. I held back the tears, and told him I had just hurt my back, thanks. I slowly pushed the cart along the isle, stopping occasionally because the pain in my back was making it hard to walk. Tears starting coming out, I kept wiping them away and trying to pretend nothing was wrong as I made my way to the front of the store where there was a nice bench to sit on.
When I finally got there, an older gentleman was just sitting down on one side of the bench. I didn't care, I wheeled my cart next to it, and sat on the other side, facing the other way so he wouldn't see me crying. Not that it really mattered...after a few minutes I was softly sobbing to myself. OUCH! MY BACK HURT LIKE HELL!!!!!It started to cross my mind that this could be that wonderful back labor that I had heard about. I quickly put it out of my mind. That thought didnt help things. I was in a lot of pain, and feeling extremely emotional.
After sitting there for about 10 minutes, my dh walked in the front door of the store, and saw me sitting there. The man had left the bench, so my dh sat next to me and I started crying to him. AWWW, he said. What happended? I told him I twisted my back...he gave me the keys to the car. He brought the cart to the check-out and I went and waited in the car. At this point I just began thinking I had hurt my back pretty bad..gosh, why did i bend at the waist! I needed to go to the chiropractor.!
We got home, my dh told me to go and lie down while he put the food away. I layed in bed and brought the phone with me so I wouldnt have to get up if it rang. I napped for a while. THen I laid and read a magazine, and my back started feeling a little better. I decided to call my friend Michelle, who's twin boys had just turned a year. She told me she had a feeling I was going to have the baby soon. "I think you're going to have the baby tomorrow,"she said"On the 13th, that's my uncle's birthday". Sounded okay to me, I said. It was now about 3pm.
After we chatted for about 10 minutes, I hung up the phone. I got up to go to the bathroom, and as I swung my legs over the side of the bed, I felt a warm gush of fluid. I got up and there was a huge wet spot on the bed. Did my water just break? "Jamie! I think my water broke!" He asked me if I was sure. I had been leaking urine lately, and had thought the same thing a few days earlier. But this was a lot different. I called the midwife for her opinion. She said some woman can have a lot of discharge at the end of the pregnancy, and to test and see if it was the waters, take off my undies and walk around the house to see if it trickled down my leg. When she said that I was a little angry...it just sounded so wrong! Discharge? But I humored her, and did what she said. Called her 10 minutes later and told her I would really like to come in and be checked, because it was gushing down my leg, not constantly, but intermittently. It just didnt feel like pee, or anything else I knew, warm and kind of squishy, and a unique smell I couldn't describe.
Before I got there, I put on a pad, and put a towel on the seat of the car under me. Fluid kept coming out at intervals the whole way there. It took about an hour to get out the door...we decided to bring everything we needed just in case this was it. The birthing center was a half hour drive.
Got there, got up on the table dripping everywhere. The midwife put in this special stick to see if it was amniotic fluid...it turned the right color and she told me what I already knew...yes, the water had broken. She asked me if I was feeling any contractions...and at that point I wasn't really. I was feeling kind of crampy, but that's how I'd been feeling for a few weeks now. She checked me and "stirred me up"(OUCH!), and told me to go home, eat something, rest a little, and then come back.
Going back home was the biggest mistake I made! On the car ride home recognizable contractions started. They weren't too bad in the car. We weren't timing at that point, they were maybe five minutes apart though, not too painful.
Got home around 4pm. I laid down, but couldn't get comfortable. I told dh I thought I was having contractions, but it was hard for me to tell when they started and stopped. My back pain was still very intense. Jamie rushed around to find a timer, watch ,something. I was getting hysterical, and so he was a little too. We were both getting very frustrated trying to time the contractions....it seemed like they were one continuous contraction. It didnt seem right, but they were 2 minutes from start to start...lasting about 45 seconds. At this point I started to really freak out!I thought contractions started like 20mintues apart or something! And gradually got more intense, right? I had been waiting impatiently for this, and now I wanted it to stop!
After about 15 minutes of contractions, they were getting closer to about 1 minute apart... a contraction would start, last about a minute, there would be a 30 second rest and it would start again. I had jamie call the midwife. He gave the phone to me. and the midwife Jamin asked me what was happening. I told her I thought I needed to come back already, although I had only been home for less than 20 minutes. She asked me if I had rested and eaten dinner...I told her no, and cried. She asked me what was wrong...I couldn't talk, cried and gave the phone to Jamie.
We went back to the car, our bag already in it. I was horrified when we got on the highway and saw traffic for miles ahead of us. I was in pain! I couldn't get comfortable, I kept putting my feet up on the dash, back down, curling up in a ball. Nothing helped. We pretty much gave up on timing contractions, it was so hard for me to tell when it was starting and stopping...the back pain was the worst. BACK LABOR, like I had thought earlier, it had to be. Jamie told me to breathe, I told him I couldn't. He told me I needed to and I yelled at him. It was the worst car ride of my life! Screaming and crying all the way there.
When I got there, the midwife let us in, I was crying and doubling over. I put on a nite gown. I was pacing and crying, and yelling. She told me this was just the beginning....NOT what i wanted to hear...she asked me how many kids I wanted to have...maybe she was trying to calm me down, but her tactics were not working.
About 10 minutes afer I got there, it must have been about 5:30pm, she checked me and i was 3 centimeters. I told my dh to take me to the hospital because I wanted an epidural. I told the same thing to the midwife. I was BEGGING. I told my dh to call my mom, and he convinced me to stay at the birthing center until she got there at least. While I waited, I was pacing some more, tried laying down, that didn't work. I ended up getting in the birthing pool. I was only in it for a few minutes. I kept getting in and out, and the midwife asked me why I was so angry. I told her to shut up. I WANT angry I was in pain, and scared! The midwife gave me something homeopathic (to calm me down I think).
Finally, my mother got there....i begged her to take me to the hospital...she asked me what my goal was. She forced me to remember what I knew I really wanted: a happy healthy baby, no drugs! My mother is sooo amazing, just as soon as she arrived, everything and everyone calmed down. It must have been around 7pm, I dont know I lost track. I was checked and was 5 centimeters. From this point on I was very focused, kept breathing in and out slowly, most of the time I had my eyes closed. my husband right there breathing with me. I didnt let him touch me though, not even for massage. The midwife had me sit on the toilet, it was more comfortable to me than lying down or walking. BUT MY BACK JUST WOULDNT STOP HURTING! I spent a lot of the labor on the toilet, flailing my arms around even though I was told to keep them on my knees. Once in a while I would go lie on the bed to rest, but no rest was to be had. I barely uttered a word as the hours passed, and when I tried to eat, I felt like puking. I managed to eat a few bites of a protien bar. I drank a lot of water and ate some ice chips. Most of the time my mom and midwife would leave the room and let us be alone, but would check periodically.
Suddenly it was sometime after 9pm and I was fully dialated. Where had the time gone? I started to shiver. My mom put a blanket on me, but I still shivered. Suddenly I started grunting involuntarily, and there was tremendous pressure. The midwife had me feel the baby's head. She had me breath through the urge to push...she wanted the contractions to bring baby down just a little more so I wouldnt have to do as much pushing.
It's hard to not push...I succeeded some of the time, and then didnt other times. After about an hour I was very very tired. They all left the room and I rested alone. At the time it only seemed like 5 minutes, but later I was told it was for like 30 minutes....a lull in the contractions but not the back pain.
Then the uncontrollable urge to push again along with the grunts. Laying on the bed wasn't working. The midwife had me stand at the foot of the bed, and with each contraction i held on to the head board and went into a full squat. So, this is why they compared birth to running a marathon. I was fully naked by this time, and honestly i dont remember when this happened. I was doing squats for about a half hour, and the midwife wanted to try something to speed things up. We were approaching the 2 hour mark of pushing. She gave me some oxygen as I was panting heavily.She decided on nipple stimulation to make the contractions even stronger...her and my dh each took a nipple and kind of twisted and squeezed at the same time...colostrum was coming out, and my contractions immediately got stronger.
Not 10 minutes later, Jakob was finally was born. Jamie was in a chair behind me, I was leaning on his legs for support in a full squat....I thought I couldn't push any harder! So I pushed a little more. After feeling his head in my pelvis for the last few hours, what a relief....i felt him slip out and all the pressure was gone.
He was grey at first, and relatively still. There wasn't any blood though, not even vernix. An arm wiggled here, a leg there. I sat down on the underpad, in a pile of warm liquid. Jakob was in my arms, and it all seemed unreal. Here he was in my arms! The heaviness in my belly was now in my arms.The umbilical cord was warm and pulsing. Jakob's eyes were wide in wonder and bewilderment...mine probably looked a lot like that too. I saw and felt him taking his first quick little breaths, and daddy cut the chord. Withing minutes he was a healthy pink, and giving out a few lusty cries. Mostly though he was amazingly calm and alert. His eyes were open so wide...he was mostly quiet but would look around and give an occasional cry.Things get a little hazy at this point, I was just so overwhelmed with tiredness and relief.
My mom held Jakob while the midwife helped me up from the floor and onto the bed. There was quite a tear, 3 layers, but she said it looked like an incision it was so clean. She numbed me and stitched me....please, can't we just leave my vagina alone..it's been through enough already! After about 10 minutes, Jakob was brought to me to nurse. I was still naked. He latched right on, and I was in heaven. Mom went and cooked my the required high protien meal I had to eat before I left. And the required pee you have to take before leaving didnt really happen....that took until a few hours after I got home.
We were home within 4 hours, and dh stayed home and waited on me hand and foot while I recooped and nursed. I was glowing for days! (despite feeling like I got ran over by a semi)
Little Jakob was 7lb, 6oz 20in born at 11:57pm that day, afer 9 hours of labor. He is now 4 months old, 26in long, and 19lb 4oz!