J's birth story

[ilovebed]

I know I posted some details when she was first born but after my last follow up visit with my doula I thought it would be nice to write down all the details that she helped me to remember.

J came on her due date of 4/26. I had just had my regular OB appointment the day before and knew that my cervix was very ripe so I decided to try a castor oil concoction of 2 tlbs castor oil, 2 tbls almond butter and some pureed fruit. It tasted horrible and gave me a terrible stomach ache. However; I ate that at 12:30 and very very mild contractions started around 2:30--by OB said that was a coincidence but I think there is too much of a correlation. They were so mild and sporadic that I thought it was more false labor but I called my H nonetheless to come home on the 3 something ferry. I felt pretty certain it was just false labor because the contractors were barely noticeable, and short, and sporadic. Some would be 20 seconds long and one minutes apart. Then it would be 15 minutes before I felt anything again. I went about my normal day doing laundry, making dinner etc. H picked up E from school. We had dinner together and then around the time he was giving her a bath at like 7 or so I realized I was having to stop what I was doing and pay attention to the contractions. They weren't painful...they were just a little stronger. I called my doula at 7. She told me to take a hot bath. When I called her I said they were 3.5 minutes apart but not very intense and only lasted 30 seconds. It must have been around 8 when she arrived because I was in the tub and H was putting E to bed. She saw me work through one contraction and told me that it was the real deal. I was still thinking it was super early false labor! Haha. Denial! So I'm going to call all of that early labor. From like 2:30-8. Again, not painful at all...not even as uncomfortable as a bad period cramp.

The second I got out of the tub that's when things really got moving. That was around 8:30. By then I was having to employ all my techniques. Relaxing my face and body. Breathing deeply and deep moaning really helped me. The contractions never really followed a typical pattern for me. They were still like 2-3 minutes apart and lasting less than 1 minute. I got dressed and went downstairs where H and my doula had a yoga ball, water and some cool cloths set up for me. H very methodically started packing up the car and called my SIL to come over to stay with E. By the time she arrived at 9 I was really in the throws of active labor. I was throwing up a lot and violently. The next day I had burst blood vessels all over my skin on my face and in my eye ball. At 9:20 we decided to go to the hospital which is a 40 minutes drive. The car ride was rough. H was timing the contractions and they were only 90 seconds apart so I had a lot of them in that 40 minute drive which was not fun. It's really uncomfortable to be in a sitting position like that. But I just kept to my technique and did okay. I somehow managed to not throw up or break water in his new car! Lol. I noticed he had towels and a trash can readily available.

We arrived at the hospital around 10. It took me a while to walk in the doors b/c more throwing up in their pretty gardens. Oops! Even though I had already done a pre registration we still had to answer a bunch of questions which was annoying. Meanwhile I'm having some REALLY hard contractions. We finally get in the room...let's say 10:10. The nurses launched in to their normal protocol and procedure. My contractions were so strong that I could only do a task in between. They managed to get the monitors on my belly in between one contractions. Then a nurse checked me in between the next contraction and said I was between 6-7cm dilated. So I'm thinking I have several more hours of labor to go! My next contraction after standing up was so strong. I said the words I didn't want to say...I said I can't do this for another 3 hours. Since this was my first unmediated labor I didn't know what to expect and I thought maybe this level of pain was gong to go on for hours and I didn't think I could do it. At this time the nurses were still kind of rushing around trying to do their work and I was just standing by the side of the bed. The very next contraction after that bad one, my water broke and I started crowning and pushing involuntarily all at the same time which was a huge relief. I felt a burning around my vagina...I guess that was the "ring of fire" but it wasn't terrible. I built it up to be much worse in my head. I reached down and felt the top of her head coming. A nurse said "okay we're going to get your IV in." And I screamed "No you aren't! She's coming now! My water broke!." Then all hell broke loose b/c I think the nurses didn't realize how fast this was going to happen and they kind of started panicking b/c there was no doctor there yet.

I hopped up on the bed on all fours with my arms up on the elevated headboard--like a farm animal! Haha. On the next contraction I delivered her head. My doula caught the head and I heard some commotion behind me about where the doctor was but I was in the zone. I heard her say "take your time on the next one. Let her get into position." I tried really hard not to push which feels impossible. Then on the next contraction I delivered her body. I heard my H laughing just out of astonishment. The doctor did get there in time to catch the body. But then there I was on all fours and I hadn't delivered the placenta yet so I was all tangled up in the umbilical cord trying to turn around. Haha. Later H said "You know those cartoons where a little guy is on the toilet and then something knocks the house down and the guy is just left sitting on the toilet with a look on his face like WTF just happened? That's what J looked like when she was laying on the bed." Haha.

She was very alert right away and nursed right away. My OB finally showed up to do the clean up. I needed some repair work. J was 9.1 pounds and came so fast so I expected there to be some tearing. He was really funny. He was actually the on call doctor that night but he said the nurses called him saying that I was 7 CM dilated and he said in the same phone call he could hear me in the background screaming that her head was coming and knew he wouldn't make it. The hospitalist (a client of mine) is the doctor who was there to deliver her body. But honestly, any one of the nurses could have done it.

All the nurses were great the entire stay. I never did end up having to get an IV (yay!). Every new shift came in and wanted to rehash what had happened. They were like "are you the one who delivered 20 minutes after you got here!?"

The only negative experience is that the nurse who was on call right after I delivered her did some extremely aggressive massage on my abdomen every 15 minutes for 2 hours. It was like torture. My doula and H were horrified by how aggressive she was. I would scream and cry each time she did it. It was by far..and without exaggeration more painful than any part of the labor. I was nursing so I was already having uterine contractions...very strong ones actually. There was no reason for her to do that other than she was uncomfortable with the fact that I didn't have pitocin to stimulate those contractions so she was being overly cautions about me bleeding out. Even though I really liked her and I felt like she thought she was doing the right thing, I did complain to the lead nurse about her practices because it was so painful. For about a week afterwards it felt like my abdomen had been beat with a baseball bat.

Recovery took longer than it did with E surprisingly. I'm 4 weeks PP now and my pelvis and hips still feel kind of loosey goosey. It feels better when I wear jeans or something tight to holds me together. My lady bits healed up fast at least. I didn't have the swelling that I had from pushing so long with E so it didn't feel too bad. Nursing was rough at first but I worked with a lactation consultant that got me back on track. I'm glad this wasn't my first baby b/c I really injured my nipples from ignoring a bad latch for too long. I would have quit if I didn't know it would pass. But i did have to pump and bottle feed for a few days which was a pain. Everything is back to normal now though.

[dana86]

Thanks for sharing your story, I love reading them. Yours brought back tons of memories of my labor with M. All my contractions with her were inconsistent, I also had to sit in the car for about 40-50 minutes and I agree the worst thing ever lol, then getting to the hospital and popping her out not long after.

How is E doing with everything? Is she just in love?

[ilovebed]

May 26, 2016 15:46:09 GMT -5 dana86 said:

Thanks for sharing your story, I love reading them. Yours brought back tons of memories of my labor with M. All my contractions with her were inconsistent, I also had to sit in the car for about 40-50 minutes and I agree the worst thing ever lol, then getting to the hospital and popping her out not long after.

How is E doing with everything? Is she just in love?

Yes! She really is. She doesn't appear to be jealous at all. She just wanted to hold and play with her and tells everyone about her. It's really sweet. She seems like such a proud big sister.

[picksthemusic]

How cool!! Thank you for sharing!