Hi! (and way late birth story)

CheriCO · February 2012

Hi ladies! I've been pretty much MIA since I had Tyler and went on maternity leave. I just read the two awesome birth stories on here and it reminded me that I never posted mine, so here it is.

Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";} It went perfectly! I woke up around 1am on Thursday 11/17 thinking my water may have broken, but not quite sure. I timed contractions off & on from 1-5am. They were fairly short and far apart (30-60 sec long, 8-10 min apart) so I was sleeping between them and just hitting the app on my phone when they started & stopped. At 5am I showered to see if they would go away or get worse. They pretty much stayed the same and were gradually getting a bit longer and closer together. I was group B strep positive (meaning I would need antibiotics before delivery) so I called the midwife at 7am to see if she wanted me to come in. She said to wait until either contractions got longer & closer together or it was blatantly obvious that my water had broken. We hung out at home until 11am, at which point contractions were 1min long, 4-5 min apart. I was having to breathe through them, but I was talking and joking between them, so it still seemed too early to go to the birth center compared to Jack's birth. When we got to the birth center, they confirmed that my water had broken, so they gave me the first dose of antibiotics around 1pm. Then Brian and I walked to a Thai restaurant down the street to pick up some lunch. I ate a tiny bit but then just wanted to lie on the bed on my left side. They checked me sometime around then and I was 3cm dilated with a bulging bag of water (the previous water had been from a high leak so the amniotic sac was still intact in front of Tyler's head). Around 3pm, my water broke for real and wow, was it crazy! Brian had been standing behind me and I honestly thought he punched me in the back! Then the fluid gushed out and contractions went from painful, but easy to visualize and breathe through to OMG-intense. I HAD to vocalize through them at that point. At 5pm I had my second dose of antibiotics and in hindsight, I think this was during transition. Around 6pm, I got in the birthing tub and shortly after that, felt a slight urge to push at the end of a contraction. The MW checked me and I was 8cm at this point. She said if I felt an overwhelming urge to push, to go ahead and push...my body had done it before, so it would know what to do, even though I wasn't 10cm yet. Not long after that, the urge to push was undeniable and I started pushing. Tyler's heart rate decelerated, but came back up with scalp massage, but they still wanted me to get him out as quickly as possible. I pushed for about 50min on my knees in the tub, bracing myself on Brian's shoulders. Tyler was born in the water at 7:16pm. I brought him up to my chest and turned around so Brian could help support me under my arms. Tyler wasn't really breathing at first, so they gave him a few puffs of air (he only scored a 4 on his 1 minute APGAR but improved quickly and scored 8 on his 5 minute). When he was looking better, we moved to the bed to deliver the placenta. I gushed blood when I got on the bed, so they gave me a shot of pitocin in the leg to help my uterus contract and close off the blood vessels. I delivered the placenta and then we all just snuggled on the bed for about an hour. I only had a tiny tear so they gave me the option of stitch or no stitch but I'd have to keep my legs together for 7-10 days, so I chose a stitch (very wise choice as I plopped down on the bed in indian style without even thinking about it a couple hours later!) Then they did Tyler's newborn exam and I took a relaxing herbal bath while Brian and Tyler snuggled. We left the birth center at 11:30pm, just about 4 hours after birth. It was such an amazing experience! I got my placenta capsules the following Monday and I swear they totally made a difference in my mood! That Monday was my worst day. I was a crying, emotional mess. Then I took the capsules before bed and when I woke up Tuesday, I was a new woman. It's kind of icky if you think about what you're ingesting, but totally worth it, in my opinion. I'm a believer!

RyanandManda · February 2012

Beautiful! Congrats!!

chelbell326 · February 2012

Congratulations!

mtngirl2007 · February 2012

What a beautiful birth!! So glad u shared it! I am a believer in placenta capsules, as well! I am saving some just in case, as my doula said they can help thru stressful situations. Congrats again on Tyler!