Friday April 17th
3:30 AM Woke up with extreme menstrual-type cramps. Knew something would happen soon. I was 1 week past my latest due date-so it HAD to be soon right?
7:00 AM Finally got out of bed cause the kids woke up, and I hadn't ever gone back to sleep anyway. Fixed breakfast, got ready, normal morning, except I felt terrible. Sort of like I had the flu and the worst period cramps ever (this was new from my other 2 labors)
11:30 I dropped DD off at school and then went to pick up my mom. DS, my mom and I went to a park and walked 1 mile (DS rode his scooter). I'd been walking almost every day of my pregnancy so I couldn't quit now. We grabbed a sandwich from Arby's after our walk. Hung out at my mom's until 2:15 when I had to go pick up DD.
3:00 the cramps sort of stopped and contractions started. They were coming every 8-10 minutes or so and lasted 45 seconds or so. I called DH to see what time he'd be home and he told me 5:30.
5:00 DH got home a bit early at 5:00, maybe he was speeding? My parents came over at 6:00 and brought dinner. My mom knew I was in labor of some kind and didn't want me to have to get dinner. They all ate and I nibbled on some chicken and baked potato. I did drink a ton of water and Red Raspberry Leaf Tea though. My contractions were stronger and coming every 5 minutes. My parents took the kids home to spend the night with my dad, and my mom went to get PJ's and then she was coming back to be with us for the birth. I also called our friend who would be helping with the birth. I call her my midwife, but she isn't really one. She is a knowledgeable woman who has attended and helped with many births and studied birth on her own. She told us she could get to our house in about 2 hours.
8:00 Eva arrived and contractions were 50-60 seconds long and 2-3 minutes apart. I was checked for dilation and was 4+ cm. I was pretty discouraged because I had been 3 cm for weeks so the 1 cm progress wasn't as much as I was hoping for and I really was already in quite a bit of pain. I got in the tub for awhile and the warm water felt wonderful.
9:00 I moved to the living room, bounced on the birth ball and visited between contractions, paced around the house, laid on my left side to try and rest but I was way too uncomfortable to rest. Nibbled on fruit, drank water and RRL tea, and used the bathroom over and over. I was really uncomfortable, but the breaks were really nice.
11:00 Dilated to 7 cm. Now I was really in pain. The contractions were sharp and coming 1-2 min apart for a min or so each. I walked around, swayed my hips and "AWWED' through the contractions. I tried the tub again, but I was shivering and the water didn't feel warm enough to me (It was 100-101 degrees, so it wasn't really safe to have it warmer) I was really thinking this would be over soon. With my other kids I went from 7-10 in 20-30 minutes. Not this time.
Midnight So my baby would be born on the April 18th instead. I really thought I'd have at least been pushing by now…
1:00 Dilated to 9 cm. I was seriously starting to wonder what was taking so long. I was hurting and was feeling really weak and tiered. I had continued drinking tea and water the whole time, and was peeing often; I was just running out of energy.
1:30 Started to feel like pushing during contractions. Was 9 ½ cm and still not quite effaced 100%. I went ahead and let myself push just a bit when I was contracting and I stood up and did some swats. Finally at 1:45 I was 10 cm and 100% and could push! Now I had no desire to push. WHAT?? My other labors, when I was complete, there was no stopping the pushing-it was an uncontrollable urge, like throwing up. And, this time, I didn't feel that urge. So I stated to push with all the energy that I had during contractions and I felt like nothing was happening. I stood up and pushed through a couple of contractions and then lay down and pushed again and the head was crowning! YAY-it was working! Now I really had burst of energy and pushed and the water broke and splashed all over the room and everyone in it. I was a little big amused! The head came out then and we checked for a cord around the neck. No cord. DH caught the baby on the next push and put the baby on my chest.
1:50 AM. April 18th
I rubbed the baby's back and said "hi baby" and "thank you for coming out" and "I love you" and other random statements and we heard little cries and the baby pinked right up and pooped all over me. Then I was like "oh what is it??" and DH kind of started laughing because it took so long for us to even realize we still hadn't looked! He peaked and said "it's a boy!!" I was so excited but had felt it was a boy. I continued to hold my baby boy and they placed warm towels from the dryer on us and we waited about 15 to cut the cord, so it could stop pulsating. I delivered the placenta about 5 minutes after that and bled more than we'd have liked. I was given mistletoe and some other herbal tinctures. The baby latched on about 3 minutes after he was born and sucked for about 10 minutes on each side. We got cleaned up and I was given some oxygen as I was feeling light headed when I tried to get up to go to the bathroom. My mom brought me some noodle soup and juice because I was STARVING and then we changed the bedding. We weighed our baby boy and he was 8 lbs 5 oz and 20.5 inches long. His head and chest were both 14.5 inches.
4:30 AM Eva left and my mom went to bed and our new baby and DH and I cuddled up in bed and slept for a few hours. Or DH and the baby did. I was having an adrenalin high so I mostly just stared at my beautiful baby and listened to him breathe
7:00 AM My dad brought the kids home to meet the new member of our family. They LOVED him and were so excited! We all ate breakfast together. I was starving.
3:30 AM Woke up with extreme menstrual-type cramps. Knew something would happen soon. I was 1 week past my latest due date-so it HAD to be soon right?
7:00 AM Finally got out of bed cause the kids woke up, and I hadn't ever gone back to sleep anyway. Fixed breakfast, got ready, normal morning, except I felt terrible. Sort of like I had the flu and the worst period cramps ever (this was new from my other 2 labors)
11:30 I dropped DD off at school and then went to pick up my mom. DS, my mom and I went to a park and walked 1 mile (DS rode his scooter). I'd been walking almost every day of my pregnancy so I couldn't quit now. We grabbed a sandwich from Arby's after our walk. Hung out at my mom's until 2:15 when I had to go pick up DD.
3:00 the cramps sort of stopped and contractions started. They were coming every 8-10 minutes or so and lasted 45 seconds or so. I called DH to see what time he'd be home and he told me 5:30.
5:00 DH got home a bit early at 5:00, maybe he was speeding? My parents came over at 6:00 and brought dinner. My mom knew I was in labor of some kind and didn't want me to have to get dinner. They all ate and I nibbled on some chicken and baked potato. I did drink a ton of water and Red Raspberry Leaf Tea though. My contractions were stronger and coming every 5 minutes. My parents took the kids home to spend the night with my dad, and my mom went to get PJ's and then she was coming back to be with us for the birth. I also called our friend who would be helping with the birth. I call her my midwife, but she isn't really one. She is a knowledgeable woman who has attended and helped with many births and studied birth on her own. She told us she could get to our house in about 2 hours.
8:00 Eva arrived and contractions were 50-60 seconds long and 2-3 minutes apart. I was checked for dilation and was 4+ cm. I was pretty discouraged because I had been 3 cm for weeks so the 1 cm progress wasn't as much as I was hoping for and I really was already in quite a bit of pain. I got in the tub for awhile and the warm water felt wonderful.
9:00 I moved to the living room, bounced on the birth ball and visited between contractions, paced around the house, laid on my left side to try and rest but I was way too uncomfortable to rest. Nibbled on fruit, drank water and RRL tea, and used the bathroom over and over. I was really uncomfortable, but the breaks were really nice.
11:00 Dilated to 7 cm. Now I was really in pain. The contractions were sharp and coming 1-2 min apart for a min or so each. I walked around, swayed my hips and "AWWED' through the contractions. I tried the tub again, but I was shivering and the water didn't feel warm enough to me (It was 100-101 degrees, so it wasn't really safe to have it warmer) I was really thinking this would be over soon. With my other kids I went from 7-10 in 20-30 minutes. Not this time.
Midnight So my baby would be born on the April 18th instead. I really thought I'd have at least been pushing by now…
1:00 Dilated to 9 cm. I was seriously starting to wonder what was taking so long. I was hurting and was feeling really weak and tiered. I had continued drinking tea and water the whole time, and was peeing often; I was just running out of energy.
1:30 Started to feel like pushing during contractions. Was 9 ½ cm and still not quite effaced 100%. I went ahead and let myself push just a bit when I was contracting and I stood up and did some swats. Finally at 1:45 I was 10 cm and 100% and could push! Now I had no desire to push. WHAT?? My other labors, when I was complete, there was no stopping the pushing-it was an uncontrollable urge, like throwing up. And, this time, I didn't feel that urge. So I stated to push with all the energy that I had during contractions and I felt like nothing was happening. I stood up and pushed through a couple of contractions and then lay down and pushed again and the head was crowning! YAY-it was working! Now I really had burst of energy and pushed and the water broke and splashed all over the room and everyone in it. I was a little big amused! The head came out then and we checked for a cord around the neck. No cord. DH caught the baby on the next push and put the baby on my chest.
1:50 AM. April 18th
I rubbed the baby's back and said "hi baby" and "thank you for coming out" and "I love you" and other random statements and we heard little cries and the baby pinked right up and pooped all over me. Then I was like "oh what is it??" and DH kind of started laughing because it took so long for us to even realize we still hadn't looked! He peaked and said "it's a boy!!" I was so excited but had felt it was a boy. I continued to hold my baby boy and they placed warm towels from the dryer on us and we waited about 15 to cut the cord, so it could stop pulsating. I delivered the placenta about 5 minutes after that and bled more than we'd have liked. I was given mistletoe and some other herbal tinctures. The baby latched on about 3 minutes after he was born and sucked for about 10 minutes on each side. We got cleaned up and I was given some oxygen as I was feeling light headed when I tried to get up to go to the bathroom. My mom brought me some noodle soup and juice because I was STARVING and then we changed the bedding. We weighed our baby boy and he was 8 lbs 5 oz and 20.5 inches long. His head and chest were both 14.5 inches.
4:30 AM Eva left and my mom went to bed and our new baby and DH and I cuddled up in bed and slept for a few hours. Or DH and the baby did. I was having an adrenalin high so I mostly just stared at my beautiful baby and listened to him breathe
7:00 AM My dad brought the kids home to meet the new member of our family. They LOVED him and were so excited! We all ate breakfast together. I was starving.
