6 months overdue
I have been postponing posting this birth story for long enough. I have debated editing this, and making it "nicer" for the online community, especially for those who know me in real life. But I finally decided that I should just leave the honesty from the first draft. For those who know me as a natural-birth advocate... By comparison, on the pain scale, my first two births were heaven, and my third birth was uncomfortable, and the fourth (the twins) was difficult. This one was HELL. I still totally endorse natural birth, and will most likely continue to plan homebirths assuming we have more children... but I totally understand if you decide to go the hospital/epidural route.
As an intro, this is the birth story that was typed the day Marie was born. She was due on October 3rd, a Monday, which is exactly when she ended up coming.
_______________________
I had hoped that she would make her appearance a few days early, so I was pretty disappointed when I was still pregnant over the weekend. While sitting at home on Sunday afternoon I started feeling some light crampy contractions around 3:15pm. They came about every 10 minutes or so, but not very strong. Around 6:15pm I went to move laundry and got into a deep squat so I could reach to move everything from the washer to dryer (front-loaders), and I had a GOOD contraction. But then I didn't feel any more after that, so that was kind of discouraging.
6:45pm - I was sitting at the kitchen table for dinner when I felt another contraction coming. Remembering the good one I felt while moving laundry, I got down in a deep squat again, and sure enough I had a GOOD contraction. After that, they were still coming every 10 minutes or so, but much stronger. But then nothing changed. I was up and moving around a lot, helping get the kids ready for bed, and they didn't seem to get any closer together, or any stronger. Between contractions I kept second guessing myself. It just took SO long for the next contraction to show up, and I didn't feel anything in between. But during each contraction, I KNEW this was it. I just didn't think I could be feeling something so strong that wouldn't actually do anything. Just after 8pm I had DH move our bedroom around and inflate the birth tub. Around 8:45 I called my midwife and let her know what I was feeling. I really wanted her to come tell me I was actually dilating. While I waited for her and her apprentice to arrive, I lay down to see if the contractions would keep coming. I did have two more while lying down, but they were 20 minutes apart.
10pm - Midwife & apprentice showed up. I asked for an internal. 4cm, 25% effaced. Baby sounded great, and I was doing fine. I also had called my mom to come help with the kids since they didn't seem to be falling asleep. (I think they could sense that something was happening.) Around 10:30pm Midwives suggested that I lie down and try to get some sleep between contractions. They figured I was in early labor, which, given my history, could pick up at any time, and they wanted me well-rested. I tried to sleep for about an hour. Contractions kept coming around 10 minutes apart.
11:30pm - I got up to go to the bathroom soon after a contraction, and had another one on the toilet. That seemed a bit faster than before. I went out to see the midwives, and found that my mom had gone back home. The kids were asleep, and she only lives 3 minutes away. She figured that if it was early labor, she should get some sleep too. Anyway, while I was out talking with the midwives I had two more contractions only 5 minutes apart. Since things seemed to be picking up if I was up moving around, they gave me two options. I could go try to sleep more and stay rested, but let things move slower. Or we could go for a walk and try to get them to pick up more. I was really feeling like I just wanted baby out sooner, so I chose the walk.
12:30am - by the time we got back from our walk, contractions had gone from 8-10 minutes apart to only 3-4 minutes apart. I asked to be checked again to make sure these were doing something before I committed to having the tub filled. Still 4cm, and now 50% effaced. I was pretty bummed, but two contractions later I decided I really wanted to get in the tub anyway. While waiting for the tub to fill, I went to the bathroom a couple of times and let my body clean itself out. This was another sign to me that this was really *real.* I also started feeling a bit dizzy, lightheaded, and kind of flu-like, and I started shaking a bit between contractions. I honestly believe I was starting transition at this point.
1:15am - I got in the tub which was WONDERFUL, and tried to get some more rest. Contractions spaced out to 6-8 minutes or so for a while, with a couple gaps of 10-12 minutes, but they got much longer and much stronger, so I didn't worry too much about them. I started dozing on the edge of the pool between contractions, but they were getting super strong and honestly quite painful. I kept thinking that I probably couldn't take much more of this.
2:19am - I asked for another internal and was now 6cm and 75% effaced. But, my midwife said I was super soft and stretchy, and since I was starting to grunt and groan during contractions and she suspected I was feeling pushy, she told me to just go with it. The contractions by this point were TERRIBLE! I felt like they were at least 2 minutes long, but they had a horrible peak that lasted at least 30 seconds and felt pushy, but a painful pushy. Now I think this is because my body wanted to push before it was really ready to. After a few more of these contractions I started trying to guess how far I was. I guessed/hoped that 3 of these nasty contractions = 1cm dilated. I decided to wait for three more contractions and then ask to be checked again. During the next contraction, I completely forgot about that decision as my mind was totally occupied with just surviving the contraction. I was moaning, groaning, grunting, almost screaming, and clinging to Dave. I was holding his hands and pulling back away from him so I could recline a bit in the pool. I hoped this position would help my cervix line up with the birth canal a bit better and allow baby to help dilate things faster.
After this contraction, I tried to remember what I had been thinking about before it, but couldn't... instead, I started thinking about my mom and figured someone should call her so she could come. I had decided earlier that if she wasn't busy with the kids, I wanted her to come witness the birth. I felt it was probably close to time to call her. But the next contraction started before I thought this through enough to say anything. I was practically writhing in pain for this one, and started sobbing, and it seemed to never end. Then I felt quite a bit of movement, almost a pop, and lots of pressure. When the contraction ended, I reached down to see if I could feel anything, and found a bulging bag of waters blocking the birth canal. I exclaimed that she was crowning, Dave said "Oh good! I should probably turn on the video camera now." My midwife took the hand that Dave had been holding so he could go deal with the camera, and when he finished that I told him to call my mom. He picked up my phone and started to walk out of the room to call her, when I felt the next contraction coming. I told him to stop and come back NOW. I knew she would be born with this contraction and I didn't want him to miss it. Sure enough, as the contraction started, I felt a huge urge to push and pushed as hard as I could. Her head slowly emerged and finally cleared the birth canal with a small pop, as the amniotic sac finally broke. My big surprise came next, when I actually had to wait for the next contraction for the rest of her (my last four babies practically shot out after their head was born). When I found I couldn't push her out on my own, I waited for the next contraction, which came quickly, and then pushed to clear her shoulders, and then the rest of her slowly slid out.
She was born at 2:53am, only 35 minutes after I was checked at 6cm. At 8lbs1oz, she's our biggest baby by far. Our previous biggest was 7lbs4oz, and the others were all under 7lbs. She was also 20 1/4inches, not quite our longest, but close. And yes, she was born ON her due date... which I did not expect.
We drained some of the water in the tub so that I could sit and nurse a bit, and we waited for the placenta. My mom arrived shortly after 3am (Dave called her about 2 minutes after the birth), and got to see her. Also, Dave woke up each of the girls, one at a time, and brought them in to see their new baby sister. They were all pretty groggy, though happy to see a new baby, and then happy to go right back to bed. After the placenta, Dave cut the cord, and I got up to shower while the midwives did the newborn exam. I got cleaned up and in bed by around 4:30am, and the midwives got everything cleaned up & packed up and left around 5am.
I've spent most of the day resting, napping, checking out facebook & such, and just enjoying baby. She's beautiful and we're SO in LOVE! She nurses nearly constantly anytime she's awake, and part of the time she's asleep also. The kids all adore her and we've had to figure out a holding rotation so that everyone gets a turn with her. I didn't have my camera nearby when the girls had their turns today, but I did get some cute pics of the boys and their turns.
_________________
So... there's our story. Though now M is 6 months old, sitting up, beginning to crawl, and a super happy, though sometimes clingy baby.
Since everyone loves pictures, and I haven't posted any in this post yet... here's a few of our newest from the past few months:
As an intro, this is the birth story that was typed the day Marie was born. She was due on October 3rd, a Monday, which is exactly when she ended up coming.
_______________________
I had hoped that she would make her appearance a few days early, so I was pretty disappointed when I was still pregnant over the weekend. While sitting at home on Sunday afternoon I started feeling some light crampy contractions around 3:15pm. They came about every 10 minutes or so, but not very strong. Around 6:15pm I went to move laundry and got into a deep squat so I could reach to move everything from the washer to dryer (front-loaders), and I had a GOOD contraction. But then I didn't feel any more after that, so that was kind of discouraging.
6:45pm - I was sitting at the kitchen table for dinner when I felt another contraction coming. Remembering the good one I felt while moving laundry, I got down in a deep squat again, and sure enough I had a GOOD contraction. After that, they were still coming every 10 minutes or so, but much stronger. But then nothing changed. I was up and moving around a lot, helping get the kids ready for bed, and they didn't seem to get any closer together, or any stronger. Between contractions I kept second guessing myself. It just took SO long for the next contraction to show up, and I didn't feel anything in between. But during each contraction, I KNEW this was it. I just didn't think I could be feeling something so strong that wouldn't actually do anything. Just after 8pm I had DH move our bedroom around and inflate the birth tub. Around 8:45 I called my midwife and let her know what I was feeling. I really wanted her to come tell me I was actually dilating. While I waited for her and her apprentice to arrive, I lay down to see if the contractions would keep coming. I did have two more while lying down, but they were 20 minutes apart.
10pm - Midwife & apprentice showed up. I asked for an internal. 4cm, 25% effaced. Baby sounded great, and I was doing fine. I also had called my mom to come help with the kids since they didn't seem to be falling asleep. (I think they could sense that something was happening.) Around 10:30pm Midwives suggested that I lie down and try to get some sleep between contractions. They figured I was in early labor, which, given my history, could pick up at any time, and they wanted me well-rested. I tried to sleep for about an hour. Contractions kept coming around 10 minutes apart.
11:30pm - I got up to go to the bathroom soon after a contraction, and had another one on the toilet. That seemed a bit faster than before. I went out to see the midwives, and found that my mom had gone back home. The kids were asleep, and she only lives 3 minutes away. She figured that if it was early labor, she should get some sleep too. Anyway, while I was out talking with the midwives I had two more contractions only 5 minutes apart. Since things seemed to be picking up if I was up moving around, they gave me two options. I could go try to sleep more and stay rested, but let things move slower. Or we could go for a walk and try to get them to pick up more. I was really feeling like I just wanted baby out sooner, so I chose the walk.
12:30am - by the time we got back from our walk, contractions had gone from 8-10 minutes apart to only 3-4 minutes apart. I asked to be checked again to make sure these were doing something before I committed to having the tub filled. Still 4cm, and now 50% effaced. I was pretty bummed, but two contractions later I decided I really wanted to get in the tub anyway. While waiting for the tub to fill, I went to the bathroom a couple of times and let my body clean itself out. This was another sign to me that this was really *real.* I also started feeling a bit dizzy, lightheaded, and kind of flu-like, and I started shaking a bit between contractions. I honestly believe I was starting transition at this point.
1:15am - I got in the tub which was WONDERFUL, and tried to get some more rest. Contractions spaced out to 6-8 minutes or so for a while, with a couple gaps of 10-12 minutes, but they got much longer and much stronger, so I didn't worry too much about them. I started dozing on the edge of the pool between contractions, but they were getting super strong and honestly quite painful. I kept thinking that I probably couldn't take much more of this.
2:19am - I asked for another internal and was now 6cm and 75% effaced. But, my midwife said I was super soft and stretchy, and since I was starting to grunt and groan during contractions and she suspected I was feeling pushy, she told me to just go with it. The contractions by this point were TERRIBLE! I felt like they were at least 2 minutes long, but they had a horrible peak that lasted at least 30 seconds and felt pushy, but a painful pushy. Now I think this is because my body wanted to push before it was really ready to. After a few more of these contractions I started trying to guess how far I was. I guessed/hoped that 3 of these nasty contractions = 1cm dilated. I decided to wait for three more contractions and then ask to be checked again. During the next contraction, I completely forgot about that decision as my mind was totally occupied with just surviving the contraction. I was moaning, groaning, grunting, almost screaming, and clinging to Dave. I was holding his hands and pulling back away from him so I could recline a bit in the pool. I hoped this position would help my cervix line up with the birth canal a bit better and allow baby to help dilate things faster.
After this contraction, I tried to remember what I had been thinking about before it, but couldn't... instead, I started thinking about my mom and figured someone should call her so she could come. I had decided earlier that if she wasn't busy with the kids, I wanted her to come witness the birth. I felt it was probably close to time to call her. But the next contraction started before I thought this through enough to say anything. I was practically writhing in pain for this one, and started sobbing, and it seemed to never end. Then I felt quite a bit of movement, almost a pop, and lots of pressure. When the contraction ended, I reached down to see if I could feel anything, and found a bulging bag of waters blocking the birth canal. I exclaimed that she was crowning, Dave said "Oh good! I should probably turn on the video camera now." My midwife took the hand that Dave had been holding so he could go deal with the camera, and when he finished that I told him to call my mom. He picked up my phone and started to walk out of the room to call her, when I felt the next contraction coming. I told him to stop and come back NOW. I knew she would be born with this contraction and I didn't want him to miss it. Sure enough, as the contraction started, I felt a huge urge to push and pushed as hard as I could. Her head slowly emerged and finally cleared the birth canal with a small pop, as the amniotic sac finally broke. My big surprise came next, when I actually had to wait for the next contraction for the rest of her (my last four babies practically shot out after their head was born). When I found I couldn't push her out on my own, I waited for the next contraction, which came quickly, and then pushed to clear her shoulders, and then the rest of her slowly slid out.
She was born at 2:53am, only 35 minutes after I was checked at 6cm. At 8lbs1oz, she's our biggest baby by far. Our previous biggest was 7lbs4oz, and the others were all under 7lbs. She was also 20 1/4inches, not quite our longest, but close. And yes, she was born ON her due date... which I did not expect.
We drained some of the water in the tub so that I could sit and nurse a bit, and we waited for the placenta. My mom arrived shortly after 3am (Dave called her about 2 minutes after the birth), and got to see her. Also, Dave woke up each of the girls, one at a time, and brought them in to see their new baby sister. They were all pretty groggy, though happy to see a new baby, and then happy to go right back to bed. After the placenta, Dave cut the cord, and I got up to shower while the midwives did the newborn exam. I got cleaned up and in bed by around 4:30am, and the midwives got everything cleaned up & packed up and left around 5am.
I've spent most of the day resting, napping, checking out facebook & such, and just enjoying baby. She's beautiful and we're SO in LOVE! She nurses nearly constantly anytime she's awake, and part of the time she's asleep also. The kids all adore her and we've had to figure out a holding rotation so that everyone gets a turn with her. I didn't have my camera nearby when the girls had their turns today, but I did get some cute pics of the boys and their turns.
_________________
So... there's our story. Though now M is 6 months old, sitting up, beginning to crawl, and a super happy, though sometimes clingy baby.
Since everyone loves pictures, and I haven't posted any in this post yet... here's a few of our newest from the past few months:
Watching TV with K
Falling asleep in C's arms
Santa!
Enjoying a late-night snack with Daddy
3 months!
Napping with C
Playing in the car
6 months!
K's silliness & M's adorable cheeks
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