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Birth story and a picture (TMI)
So it all started last Friday when I was at work. Around noon my water broke. I jumped up and was like "Is this my water or did I just really pee myself?" After about 2 seconds I realized that it was my water and definitely not pee. I was soaked from my crotch to my knees. That was
fun. I called DH and told him to come get me. Dude works about 20
minutes from my office but I swear he made it there in like 12 minutes
or something. I wanted to go home and change, grab my bag, etc. but DH
was like hell no. He thought I was minutes from delivering the kid and
he didn't want a roadside baby.
So I get to the hospital and I'm
soaked. I mean like my crotch to the middle of my thighs is completely
wet, just making a mess everywhere, and I was totally embarrassed. They put me in OB triage to confirm that my water had broken, and
then had the midwife come check me out. At this point, I was 5 cm
dilated and contracting but I wasn't feeling the contractions regularly
and was a happy camper.
About 3 pm and I was in a room. This is
why I loved the midwife...no IV. No restrictions. I could eat (and they
encouraged me to eat), I could drink, walk, do whatever. I was good
until about 7 pm and then it really started to hurt. They checked me and
I was about 7 1/2 cm dilated. After that, it HURT. I was begging to
have pain meds and every contraction I swore that I just could not do
it. DH was a champ. He knew that I'd do this and that my goal was to go
natural. So he'd tell me that I was doing great, remind me of why I
wanted to do this naturally, and tell me that I could in fact do it.
Every
so often they'd hook me up to the fetal monitors to check on the baby
and make sure I was contracting regularly. The nurse saw that my
contractions, while intense, were not regular so they had me use a
breast pump to stimulate my hormones to get me to contract regularly.
Holy hell that worked good.
By about 11 pm, I could feel the
urge to push. I had the nurse check me and she said I was about 9 cm
dilated and to just ride it out a little longer. I don't know how long
that lasted, but by midnight I made DH get the nurse because I had to
push.
Let me tell you what needing to push feels like. Imagine
you have not taken a crap in a month. You've got a pewp in there that
you know is massive and it's ready to come out. You want it out because
you know it will feel good, but you are in fear of how bad it will hurt.
That is pushing.
The midwife came and had me start pushing. I
was in all sorts of positions; squatting, on my hands and knees and
finally on my back grabbing my knees. At one point she was lubricating
my lady garden to help his head come out. I yelled at her. After she
stopped doing that I yelled again. That was not her hand, it was his
head. I remember a few things I said. I remember saying that I didn't
want to push his head out because after the head came the shoulders. I
also didn't want to push because I was going to end up with a wicked
hemorrhoid. At some point in the process they asked if I wanted to see
his head and I said HELL NO to that.
You will hear about the
ring of fire. It is not a ring but more of a tube of fire or something.
In between contractions and pushing...ouch.
I could feel him
move his head so that he could get out which was weird. And not
enjoyable. And then, he was out. Crying, and I saw him and it was
amazing. You forget that you're still contracting and you have the
placenta to deliver because OMG, you have a baby. It was indescribable
to go from being in intense pain, to having this perfect little baby in
your arms. The cleaned him up, and gave me a shot of pitocin to help me
get rid of the placenta.
I didn't see this but DH did.
Apparently, after a few contractions I delivered the placenta and it
literally shot out of me. I could hear the splash. I did see the blood
every where (like on the floor, the bed, on the midwife's gown).
I
ended up having a small tear which the midwife stitched up more to help
me heal faster and more comfortably.
So going natural. Was it worth it? Yes. I think I have
recovered so quickly because I was able (and encouraged) to get up and
move after I gave birth. I took a shower about 2 hours after I gave
birth. I was able to help feed and change him right away. Did it hurt?
Fvkc yeah. I wanted drugs. Sh!t, the anesthesia call room was right down
the hall and I was half tempted to bang on the door and make them give
me an epidural at one point. But the whole process was very empowering
and I wouldn't change anything for one second.
I was in
labor for a little over 13 hours, pushed for about 55 minutes. The
midwife said this was pretty good for a first baby.
He's now a week and a half old, and everything is going pretty good. He had jaundice for a few days after he was born so we were feeding him constantly, and I was having some problems breastfeeding. But all of that is resolved and he's chunking up nicely, and they yellow is gone.
If anyone has any questions about natural birth in the hospital or St. Joe's, feel free to ask. I look back on the whole experience and just absolutely love it.
Re: Birth story and a picture (TMI)
LOL, I was honestly worried about that. While I was pregnant I'd ask DH what we'd do if he was an ugly baby. Like would we pretend we didn't know he was sort of funky looking and just let people say nice things, or acknowledge the weird baby look.
That said, I do think he's pretty cute. And he keeps getting cuter IMO. But this whole mom thing makes you pretty blind to faults.
You are amazing. I dont know if I could handle that. And he is a cutie
Click Me
Aww... He is adorable! Congratulations!
And if I were to ever have number 5, which i WONT be, but if I did, I'd go to St. Joes as well.... Will was born at a St. Joes in NH and that hospital is right next to my husbands office soooo... it would work out wonderfully, haha!
Love your story!!! It's very empowering and beautiful. And your little man is SO cute!!!
Congrats!!!
Wow, that is an amazing story, thank you for sharing! Your baby is absolutely beautiful. After hearing a couple of these stories and experiences, I am very inspired and honestly contemplating going natural.
What on earth is the ring/tube of fire??? It sounds gross. I am utterly clueless when it come to pregnancy.
Can't wait to meet my baby boy!
Oh geez, why would anyone ever want to see that?! That sounds terrible, lol.
Can't wait to meet my baby boy!
awwwwwwwwwwe he is a total cutie!!!
Thanks for sharing your story!!!! I was born at St. Joes many moons ago
Hooray for your story! He's sooo super cah-ute! I want to see more pics!
Aw, congrats!! He is totally adorable. I'm using the midwives at St. Joe's, too, so I'm so glad to hear that you had a positive experience. I want to go natural, but I'm not sure I'll be able to do it. I give you tons of kudos for that -- I hope I'm as strong as you!
So that's what I have to look forward to in August, huh? Wow! That was a very informative story (but, I am not going natural - no way! Props to you for doing that!).
He's very cute!
You are AWESOME! Go you Meg! He is beautiful and I loved your story
It reminded me of what my Mum always told me about natural childbirth - "The worst pain you could ever imagine, but it's over the second that baby is out and you have him to be in awe over."
thanks for sharing your story. It honestly had me lol a few times. It's very empowering and i appreciate the "realness" of it all. I hope one day soon i'll be as strong to go au natural but i'm not obposed to drugs either.
he's super precious, congradulations