We were very happy to welcome our BOY into the world this morning April 23 at 1:53 am. I had about 14 hours of labor, 4 of that being active labor and it went very well. He was born at home in the birth tub. The birth went much as we planned, but we did have to go to the hospital this morning (for me not him). I will add the birth story and pics in a couple days. So excited to finally meet our baby!
Our Birth Story
On Thursday I had lots of BMs, a stomach ache, and had to take a nap (I'm not a napper). All that night I kept waking up to period cramp style lower back pain and I would lay and wait for it to turn into a contraction, but it never did. On Friday morning I had a prenatal scheduled with the back up midwives and they checked me out. They said it seemed like I could go anytime over the weekend and to keep in touch. After they left we DTD and I got in the shower. When I got out I found blood tinged discharge running down my legs and lost my mucus plug. I never saw the plug with my girls so I had to call the midwife and make sure that's what it was. About an hour later, around noon, I started having contractions that were aprox. 20 min apart. We decided to go out and run some errands since we still needed a couple things for the birth and Easter stuff for the kids. We went out for lunch and to a few stores. The contractions kept coming and I arranged for a friend to pick up my girls from school. We got home around 3 and DP went to get his son from school and bring him to our friend's house (he goes to a different school than my girls). Before he left we made the RRL infusion and let it steep until he got back. I was afraid it might make me puke since I started throwing up early in the game with DDs, but I got it down and it really wasn't that bad.
Around 4 pm the contrax were about 10 min apart and lasting 20 seconds-ish. We decided to go for a long walk around the neighborhood. Fortunately it was a nice sunny day and we really enjoyed the walk. We stopped and got sandwiches for dinner (I also had a Spirutien shake before the walk. I wanted to get in as much protein as I could since I was unable to eat during my previous labors) and made it back home about 2 hours later. We decided to watch a show and I bounced on the birth ball. I felt like my contractions had petered out and was starting to get a little disappointed. Around 7 pm they came back and closer, now they were about 5 min apart and lasting 30 seconds. The back up midwife (our MW was still away until Monday) came over around 8 and gave me a nice back rub. DP had already started filling the tub and boiling water on the stove. We hung out in the living room and I got on my knees and leaned forward on the ball for what seemed like a couple hours. The assistant midwife got there around 9ish. They told me I should try getting up and moving around or squatting to put the baby's weight more on my cervix and get things moving (the contractions weren't very intense at this point). So I grudgingly got up and walked into the kitchen at 10pm where I immediately had a contraction that made me cling to the counter and drop to my knees. DP came in and held me up through another one and I decided it was time to go upstairs to our room where the tub was.
Once upstairs it got a lot more intense and that is when active labor really started. I squatted next to my bed and had a few more contrax while DP put on some music and they all got the tub filled up for me. I wanted to get in the tub so bad but when I tried to it was way too hot and I was bummed. I needed to be in the water! They got it to a more reasonable temp and I was able to get in. The water felt so good. I felt immediate relief from the back pain and was really happy to be in there. I lost track of time at this point and it all seemed to be going much faster than it really was. Apparently we were upstairs for about 2 hours before I got in the tub, but to me it felt like 30 minutes! So I think I got in the tub around midnight. I was moving in circles around the tub and DP followed me around with cold washcloths (I was sweating like crazy and really really hot). He would put a cloth on the side of the tub and I would put my forehead against it and he would put another cloth on my neck. He was very sweet and so supportive and amazing through the whole process. At some point I checked myself and could feel the bag of waters bulging out through the cervix. On the next contraction the bag broke and I could feel the baby moving down more now. A little while later I checked again and I could feel a little bit of the cervix still just in the very front. The assistant must have thought I wasn't progressing well or something and wanted to do an internal exam, but I had never had one with my previous births and really did not want one now. Fortunately the back up midwife was right there with me and didn't think I needed to be checked. They told DP to try and check at some point and he got a loud "DON"T DO THAT!!" when he tried. I was not having it! I threw up a bit and started getting the urge to push.
Now the contrax were coming about 30 seconds apart and lasting around 2 mins. I pushed for about 30 mins, through around 6 contrax. The assistant midwife got right in my face and really helped me focus on panting and not just popping the baby right out. I tore with my DDs b/c I sort of freaked out at the end and wouldn't listen about not pushing, so I'm really glad she was sort of aggressive about it. This time I got one little skid mark where I tore before, but no new tears at all! At 1:52 am DP helped guide the head out. The midwife found the cord was around the baby's neck and very short, so she got it over his head and guided the body out. They put him on my chest and the first thing I noticed was the little penis flopping around between his legs-- OH MY GOD!! A BOY!! He was sort of blue and needed and little mouth to mouth. Because his cord was so short the midwife coulldn't get at a good angle to do it, so she had me breathe into his mouth a few times. I got out of the tub and into my bed and we started rubbing the baby and tickling him trying to get him to pink up. They needed to give him oxagen, but he was fine.
Through all this I was still throwing up and started having hot flashes. I would get super hot and then need to puke... over and over again. I couldn't eat or drink anything. I got him to nurse a bit, but it was really hard for me to hold him or really do anything because I was so hot and puking. Meanwhile the midwives cleaned everything up and DP and I alternated holding the baby so I could puke. Around 6 am I fell asleep so the midwives left. But around 8 am I woke up and was still throwing up. I still couldn't hold anything down, even the tiniest sip of water would lead to puking/ dry heaves. DP called the back up midwife to come back and she brought another midwife to give me an IV. This was around 9 am. After the IV I felt better for around 15 minutes, but I went right back to hot flashes and puking. Now the assistant, the back up and the extra midwife were all there and none of them had ever seen this happen before. We tried homeopathic vomiting remedies, accupressure, etc. but none of it was working. I was getting really out of it and couldn't carry on a conversation or hold the baby. We decided the best thing to do was to go to the hospital.
The midwife called haead to tell them we were coming and the charge nurse offered to come down to the garage and meet us with a wheelchair to bring me directly to the Mama Baby ward so we wouldn't have to deal with checking in at the ER. Everyone at the hospital was really great and nice to us. They gave me another IV with anti-naussea meds and pain killers (I requested for the after pains since I was unable to hold down any of the Black Haw and Ibuprofen I had taken orally). The first IV did not help I still was having hot flashes and throwing up. My labs came back and I had super low potassium levels. The Dr told us the vomiting reflex in our brain is controlled by potassium and no meds would help with the puking until I had more potassium in my system. So they gave me another IV with potassium and dextrose. This one helped somewhat but I still got sick a couple more times. Finally they gave me ANOTHER IV with a stronger anti-naussea med and I started feeling better. They also gave me some benadryl to make me sleep. I passed out for a few hours and woke up feeling much much better. We had been at the hospital for nearly 10 hours and the midwives stayed with us the whole time. I drank some broth and it stayed down (finally!) so we were able to leave.
I felt like crap on Sunday and the after pains- woah! They are not kidding when they say the third child is the worst. My stomach is just starting to feel normal again at day 5 PP and I have had a headache since the birth from pushing my head into the side of the tub during contractions. I actually have a pretty big, but not very visible, bruise on my forehead. Overall the birth went really well. I had a pretty short active labor and am really happy I didn't tear. My regular midwife came by to check up with me and told me she has never seen the puking thing happen to anyone else in her nearly 30 years of midwifery work. I'm so glad they were able to stop it at the hospital and that baby and I are both okay.
On Thursday I had lots of BMs, a stomach ache, and had to take a nap (I'm not a napper). All that night I kept waking up to period cramp style lower back pain and I would lay and wait for it to turn into a contraction, but it never did. On Friday morning I had a prenatal scheduled with the back up midwives and they checked me out. They said it seemed like I could go anytime over the weekend and to keep in touch. After they left we DTD and I got in the shower. When I got out I found blood tinged discharge running down my legs and lost my mucus plug. I never saw the plug with my girls so I had to call the midwife and make sure that's what it was. About an hour later, around noon, I started having contractions that were aprox. 20 min apart. We decided to go out and run some errands since we still needed a couple things for the birth and Easter stuff for the kids. We went out for lunch and to a few stores. The contractions kept coming and I arranged for a friend to pick up my girls from school. We got home around 3 and DP went to get his son from school and bring him to our friend's house (he goes to a different school than my girls). Before he left we made the RRL infusion and let it steep until he got back. I was afraid it might make me puke since I started throwing up early in the game with DDs, but I got it down and it really wasn't that bad.
Around 4 pm the contrax were about 10 min apart and lasting 20 seconds-ish. We decided to go for a long walk around the neighborhood. Fortunately it was a nice sunny day and we really enjoyed the walk. We stopped and got sandwiches for dinner (I also had a Spirutien shake before the walk. I wanted to get in as much protein as I could since I was unable to eat during my previous labors) and made it back home about 2 hours later. We decided to watch a show and I bounced on the birth ball. I felt like my contractions had petered out and was starting to get a little disappointed. Around 7 pm they came back and closer, now they were about 5 min apart and lasting 30 seconds. The back up midwife (our MW was still away until Monday) came over around 8 and gave me a nice back rub. DP had already started filling the tub and boiling water on the stove. We hung out in the living room and I got on my knees and leaned forward on the ball for what seemed like a couple hours. The assistant midwife got there around 9ish. They told me I should try getting up and moving around or squatting to put the baby's weight more on my cervix and get things moving (the contractions weren't very intense at this point). So I grudgingly got up and walked into the kitchen at 10pm where I immediately had a contraction that made me cling to the counter and drop to my knees. DP came in and held me up through another one and I decided it was time to go upstairs to our room where the tub was.
Once upstairs it got a lot more intense and that is when active labor really started. I squatted next to my bed and had a few more contrax while DP put on some music and they all got the tub filled up for me. I wanted to get in the tub so bad but when I tried to it was way too hot and I was bummed. I needed to be in the water! They got it to a more reasonable temp and I was able to get in. The water felt so good. I felt immediate relief from the back pain and was really happy to be in there. I lost track of time at this point and it all seemed to be going much faster than it really was. Apparently we were upstairs for about 2 hours before I got in the tub, but to me it felt like 30 minutes! So I think I got in the tub around midnight. I was moving in circles around the tub and DP followed me around with cold washcloths (I was sweating like crazy and really really hot). He would put a cloth on the side of the tub and I would put my forehead against it and he would put another cloth on my neck. He was very sweet and so supportive and amazing through the whole process. At some point I checked myself and could feel the bag of waters bulging out through the cervix. On the next contraction the bag broke and I could feel the baby moving down more now. A little while later I checked again and I could feel a little bit of the cervix still just in the very front. The assistant must have thought I wasn't progressing well or something and wanted to do an internal exam, but I had never had one with my previous births and really did not want one now. Fortunately the back up midwife was right there with me and didn't think I needed to be checked. They told DP to try and check at some point and he got a loud "DON"T DO THAT!!" when he tried. I was not having it! I threw up a bit and started getting the urge to push.
Now the contrax were coming about 30 seconds apart and lasting around 2 mins. I pushed for about 30 mins, through around 6 contrax. The assistant midwife got right in my face and really helped me focus on panting and not just popping the baby right out. I tore with my DDs b/c I sort of freaked out at the end and wouldn't listen about not pushing, so I'm really glad she was sort of aggressive about it. This time I got one little skid mark where I tore before, but no new tears at all! At 1:52 am DP helped guide the head out. The midwife found the cord was around the baby's neck and very short, so she got it over his head and guided the body out. They put him on my chest and the first thing I noticed was the little penis flopping around between his legs-- OH MY GOD!! A BOY!! He was sort of blue and needed and little mouth to mouth. Because his cord was so short the midwife coulldn't get at a good angle to do it, so she had me breathe into his mouth a few times. I got out of the tub and into my bed and we started rubbing the baby and tickling him trying to get him to pink up. They needed to give him oxagen, but he was fine.
Through all this I was still throwing up and started having hot flashes. I would get super hot and then need to puke... over and over again. I couldn't eat or drink anything. I got him to nurse a bit, but it was really hard for me to hold him or really do anything because I was so hot and puking. Meanwhile the midwives cleaned everything up and DP and I alternated holding the baby so I could puke. Around 6 am I fell asleep so the midwives left. But around 8 am I woke up and was still throwing up. I still couldn't hold anything down, even the tiniest sip of water would lead to puking/ dry heaves. DP called the back up midwife to come back and she brought another midwife to give me an IV. This was around 9 am. After the IV I felt better for around 15 minutes, but I went right back to hot flashes and puking. Now the assistant, the back up and the extra midwife were all there and none of them had ever seen this happen before. We tried homeopathic vomiting remedies, accupressure, etc. but none of it was working. I was getting really out of it and couldn't carry on a conversation or hold the baby. We decided the best thing to do was to go to the hospital.
The midwife called haead to tell them we were coming and the charge nurse offered to come down to the garage and meet us with a wheelchair to bring me directly to the Mama Baby ward so we wouldn't have to deal with checking in at the ER. Everyone at the hospital was really great and nice to us. They gave me another IV with anti-naussea meds and pain killers (I requested for the after pains since I was unable to hold down any of the Black Haw and Ibuprofen I had taken orally). The first IV did not help I still was having hot flashes and throwing up. My labs came back and I had super low potassium levels. The Dr told us the vomiting reflex in our brain is controlled by potassium and no meds would help with the puking until I had more potassium in my system. So they gave me another IV with potassium and dextrose. This one helped somewhat but I still got sick a couple more times. Finally they gave me ANOTHER IV with a stronger anti-naussea med and I started feeling better. They also gave me some benadryl to make me sleep. I passed out for a few hours and woke up feeling much much better. We had been at the hospital for nearly 10 hours and the midwives stayed with us the whole time. I drank some broth and it stayed down (finally!) so we were able to leave.
I felt like crap on Sunday and the after pains- woah! They are not kidding when they say the third child is the worst. My stomach is just starting to feel normal again at day 5 PP and I have had a headache since the birth from pushing my head into the side of the tub during contractions. I actually have a pretty big, but not very visible, bruise on my forehead. Overall the birth went really well. I had a pretty short active labor and am really happy I didn't tear. My regular midwife came by to check up with me and told me she has never seen the puking thing happen to anyone else in her nearly 30 years of midwifery work. I'm so glad they were able to stop it at the hospital and that baby and I are both okay.