this may be a long story, but that's because it was a FRICKIN LONG LABOR!!!
things kicked off on Sunday (9/18) when my water broke around 2am. we thought, alright! things will get moving and we'll have a baby soon! but the story goes on...
we spend all day Sunday being active, walking in malls, eating good foods, walking around the neighborhood. but nothing happened. cx were like always, 10 min or more apart and putzy.
Monday we went in for an appt and started an herbal induction. i got checked and i was about 70% effaced and 1 cm dialated, so that was partial good news! the herbal induction was a remedy of castor oil, an herbal liquid and two different kinds of pills. i was nervous about the castor oil, but everyone kept telling me it did the trick for them, so i thought alright at this point. buuuuuuuuuuuuut nothing even after two rounds of the induction. Monday night we had a home visit from our doula and mw. the mw was getting plans in place for a hospital visit since it was over 24 hours since my water broke and no baby. DH was pretty scared. he did NOT want to go to a hospital since we worked so hard to have a VBAC all natural.
well, that night we did go into labor!!
woke up around 2 because i couldn't sleep anymore thru the cx. we called the doula over and labored all night. we thought we were making good progress, but the cx were just not picking up and getting stronger. there were about 5 min apart, but not lasting long enough and not getting terribly strong. sooo 10am came and they even tickered off a bit. the mw decided she wanted us to check in the hospital. reluctantly we did, but it was pretty obvious that my body was just not going into labor on it's own.
so we checked into the hospital around 11 and by 12 my AMAZING birthing team had assembled (doula, sister, hubby, and mw from the birth center and mw from the hospital) and i got started on pitocin. things progressed still fairly slowly but it was definitely happening. we labored all day and into the night. i was getting pretty discouraged to see midnight arrive and STILL no baby. around 1 or 2am things were pretty intense and i got checked. i was only about a 5. that was it for me. i was so distraught and discouraged, i kept thinking "i can't keep doing this i can't keep doing this" luckily my birth team was SO SUPPORTIVE and encouraging, we tried a couple more positions and used the robozo to move the baby around. then we decided to get in the water. still by this point i kept thinking "i can't do this i can't do this." now i realize it was just me in transition and it was happening soon. cx were SO INTENSE by the time i got in the water it wasn't even relaxing. i started getting the feeling i needed to push soon after getting in. i remember FEELING HIM descend through my pelvis. because i was on pitocin the whole time i remember E.V.E.R.Y.T.H.I.N.G. every feeling, every conversation around me, every everything. pretty intense. as soon as i could start feeling his head i forgot about "i can't do it" and thought "i am doing this!" and after less than 2 hours of pushing, he came out!! i got to catch him and everything, it was AMAZING!!!!! i literally thought as he was on my chest "totally worth it!"
so, after the longest labor i've ever know, John Gabriel was born!! 8 lb, 10 oz. he is a dark, handsome lad! We call him Baby Jack and big sister Cate couldn't be more excited!!
things kicked off on Sunday (9/18) when my water broke around 2am. we thought, alright! things will get moving and we'll have a baby soon! but the story goes on...
we spend all day Sunday being active, walking in malls, eating good foods, walking around the neighborhood. but nothing happened. cx were like always, 10 min or more apart and putzy.
Monday we went in for an appt and started an herbal induction. i got checked and i was about 70% effaced and 1 cm dialated, so that was partial good news! the herbal induction was a remedy of castor oil, an herbal liquid and two different kinds of pills. i was nervous about the castor oil, but everyone kept telling me it did the trick for them, so i thought alright at this point. buuuuuuuuuuuuut nothing even after two rounds of the induction. Monday night we had a home visit from our doula and mw. the mw was getting plans in place for a hospital visit since it was over 24 hours since my water broke and no baby. DH was pretty scared. he did NOT want to go to a hospital since we worked so hard to have a VBAC all natural.
well, that night we did go into labor!!
so we checked into the hospital around 11 and by 12 my AMAZING birthing team had assembled (doula, sister, hubby, and mw from the birth center and mw from the hospital) and i got started on pitocin. things progressed still fairly slowly but it was definitely happening. we labored all day and into the night. i was getting pretty discouraged to see midnight arrive and STILL no baby. around 1 or 2am things were pretty intense and i got checked. i was only about a 5. that was it for me. i was so distraught and discouraged, i kept thinking "i can't keep doing this i can't keep doing this" luckily my birth team was SO SUPPORTIVE and encouraging, we tried a couple more positions and used the robozo to move the baby around. then we decided to get in the water. still by this point i kept thinking "i can't do this i can't do this." now i realize it was just me in transition and it was happening soon. cx were SO INTENSE by the time i got in the water it wasn't even relaxing. i started getting the feeling i needed to push soon after getting in. i remember FEELING HIM descend through my pelvis. because i was on pitocin the whole time i remember E.V.E.R.Y.T.H.I.N.G. every feeling, every conversation around me, every everything. pretty intense. as soon as i could start feeling his head i forgot about "i can't do it" and thought "i am doing this!" and after less than 2 hours of pushing, he came out!! i got to catch him and everything, it was AMAZING!!!!! i literally thought as he was on my chest "totally worth it!"
so, after the longest labor i've ever know, John Gabriel was born!! 8 lb, 10 oz. he is a dark, handsome lad! We call him Baby Jack and big sister Cate couldn't be more excited!!