My aunt, Susan, was in town last weekend and her and my mother recounted their tales of giving birth in hospitals in the 80's and it made me feel very lucky about my birth. Some of what they went through can only be described has horror stories. First of all both of them could only eat ice chips while they were in the hospital, for my mom it wasn't so bad because she had a quick 4 and a half hour labor, but my aunt was in the hospital laboring for well over a day, on only ice chips, she ended up with a C-section. For anyone who has been through labor, you know how much work it takes and how much energy and calories it requires. I lost my appetite somewhere in the middle of early labor, but I was able to drink water and juice and could not have made it had I been limited to ice chips.
They were also shaved and given enemas and IVs, their husbands had to wear hospital gowns and masks, and the lights were described as being bright. Contrast this to my birth where the lights were kept low, Brent was by my side wearing the same clothes he came in with, I wasn't even wearing a hospital gown, I had no need for an IV, so why give me one? And besides a noticeably smaller belly and a small sutcher where I tore naturally, my body was intact and everything was where it should be.
The enema makes my head itch. Yes, you poo during the pushing stage, it sounds horrible to be pooing in front of a room full of nurses, but it really isn't. When you are pushing any kind of modesty or shame you might have ever felt is the last thing on your mind and you barely notice. And you get so cleared out you don't poo for two days after! :)
I also had the wonderful experience of having my son immediately put on my chest, all tests and bathing were delayed a few hours, and I roomed in with him the entire time we were in the hospital. They offered to take him to the nursery, but I couldn't imagine having him away from me, in fact the one time he had to leave the room for a biliruben and hearing test I cried and told Brent to follow him. I had an immediate primal urge to protect him and watch over him. Actually it was hard to have him out of my sight for a good week.
But the fact is that we had a pretty unique experience in a hospital. HCMC is rated one of the best places to give birth in the nation. The C-section rate in their Nurse Midwife unit is around 12%, while nation-wide it is nearly 30%. I was never asked if I wanted an epidural or anything for the pain. I also hired a privet birth doula, which I highly recommend, I'm pretty sure I would have ended up with an epidural without her. There are some hospitals with a 95% epidural rate and some doctors with a 100% C-section rate. There are some hospitals that give IVs routinely and some that still limit what a laboring woman can eat.
Although I did consider a home birth, I am very happy with my choice to deliver with an exceptional nurse midwife team in a hospital. They even respected our choice to not have E-mycin put in his eyes and to postpone his Hep B shot. We were talked into the vitamin K shot, which I'm OK with, it was one thing we kept going back and forth on as far as routine procedures go. They also had some excellent lactation support, which I am still getting.
Most women, probably at least 75%, should be able to have a natural birth with little intervention, but so few have the support they need to achieve it. I was lucky because I didn't need an induction and had a baby that cooperated by putting his head down and his back forward, some of these things are out of our control sometimes, but I do believe that because I was given the support I needed; someone was there making me do things to keep my labor progressing and telling me that I was doing well; I was able to get through the hardest, most pain experience of my life.
Childbirth sucks, it's incredibly painful and you aren't sure how long it will take when it starts. It is unknown, especially the first time, but your pain has purpose; I was never scared during labor. Or I should say, I was never scared of the labor; there was a moment when I was scared of becoming a mother. But I don't believe I am better than any women who ended up with a needless induction or C-section, I simply had the right support and guidance and a respectful environment. I feel blessed and feel terrible for the women who end up with needless interventions because they were not allowed food or the freedom to move around or the dignity to work with their bodies and be told that they had the power within them to birth their child.
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
Sleep So Far
Our baby is now three weeks and one day old. He is an expert sleeper right now, he sleeps a lot and sleeps through most noises still. There is something to be said about sleeping like a baby. The ability of him to nap anywhere during anything is amazing. Last night I took an emery board to all of his nails while he dosed on top of the Boppy pillow on my lap.
We're definitely getting more sleep than we thought we would in these early weeks. It's intermittent sleep. We tend to go to bed around 10 pm and get up around 10 am, and sleep on and off for 12 hours. This works for now, but would be hard to keep up for the long term. Luckily babies sleep for longer periods as they get older, so our every 2 to 3 hour feedings won't last forever. I find it hard to nap in the afternoon, which must mean I'm getting enough sleep for now. I mean, I don't feel well rested, but I function well enough right now. Though I can tell that my brain is slowed down a bit.
We have an Arm's Reach Co-sleeper next to the bed, but he doesn't spend much time sleeping in it. The idea is that you get baby out of the co-sleeper, feed him and put him back in it then go back to sleep. I tried this the first couple nights, but he slept so much better right next to me in bed. And when he is sleeping better, I am sleeping better. I also found myself watching over him way more when he was in the co-sleeper; when he's right next to me, I can feel him breathe and I worry less. So, for the most part he's either on my side, with the co-sleeper acting as a barrier to him falling all the way to the floor, or he's in between us. Even pro-co-sleeping people warn against having baby in between the parents, but Brent seems to be just as aware of him and we've had no trouble. Plus I often fall asleep while feeding him and wake up to him squirming and wanting to feed again, and he's still right next to me. If I move away from him, he eventually follows and I find him plastered right next to me. For now I have Brent change his diaper when needed, usually once each feeding. So we wake up about the same number of times. Sometimes baby fusses for a bit, so I burp him or check his diaper, but mostly he just eats and sleeps overnight.
The idea that we would roll on to him seems absurd right now, you are so aware of your baby when he's next to you. Of course we rarely drink and don't take any drugs or medications that make us sleepy, and we don't smoke or formula feed. The two biggest risk factors for SIDS is formula feeding and smoking. We also try to keep pillows and or comforter away from him, which is easier than I thought it would be. Some nights we just have a sheet on us because it's so warm. Baby stays plenty warm with our body heat and sometimes a blanket covering his legs. He's also a pretty big baby and has decent control over his head already, so I'm not too worried about him. Plus we sleep!
When he starts sleeping for longer periods, I might try the co-sleeper more. And if I ever get the elimination communication stuff going, we might be able to eliminate some of the night time diaper changes. For now though, baby is using cloth diapers and this is going well.
Daytime naps have been taken in a sling or mei tai carrier or the car seat if we are driving, and sometimes he will go down in the co-sleeper for a couple hours. We are seeing slightly more awake time from him, Brent will read to him, I tend to talk him him or sing to him, the last song I sang to him was "Dumb," by Nirvana; it's what came to my head. "I'm not like them, but I can pretend, the Sun is gone, but I have a light..."
We're definitely getting more sleep than we thought we would in these early weeks. It's intermittent sleep. We tend to go to bed around 10 pm and get up around 10 am, and sleep on and off for 12 hours. This works for now, but would be hard to keep up for the long term. Luckily babies sleep for longer periods as they get older, so our every 2 to 3 hour feedings won't last forever. I find it hard to nap in the afternoon, which must mean I'm getting enough sleep for now. I mean, I don't feel well rested, but I function well enough right now. Though I can tell that my brain is slowed down a bit.
We have an Arm's Reach Co-sleeper next to the bed, but he doesn't spend much time sleeping in it. The idea is that you get baby out of the co-sleeper, feed him and put him back in it then go back to sleep. I tried this the first couple nights, but he slept so much better right next to me in bed. And when he is sleeping better, I am sleeping better. I also found myself watching over him way more when he was in the co-sleeper; when he's right next to me, I can feel him breathe and I worry less. So, for the most part he's either on my side, with the co-sleeper acting as a barrier to him falling all the way to the floor, or he's in between us. Even pro-co-sleeping people warn against having baby in between the parents, but Brent seems to be just as aware of him and we've had no trouble. Plus I often fall asleep while feeding him and wake up to him squirming and wanting to feed again, and he's still right next to me. If I move away from him, he eventually follows and I find him plastered right next to me. For now I have Brent change his diaper when needed, usually once each feeding. So we wake up about the same number of times. Sometimes baby fusses for a bit, so I burp him or check his diaper, but mostly he just eats and sleeps overnight.
The idea that we would roll on to him seems absurd right now, you are so aware of your baby when he's next to you. Of course we rarely drink and don't take any drugs or medications that make us sleepy, and we don't smoke or formula feed. The two biggest risk factors for SIDS is formula feeding and smoking. We also try to keep pillows and or comforter away from him, which is easier than I thought it would be. Some nights we just have a sheet on us because it's so warm. Baby stays plenty warm with our body heat and sometimes a blanket covering his legs. He's also a pretty big baby and has decent control over his head already, so I'm not too worried about him. Plus we sleep!
When he starts sleeping for longer periods, I might try the co-sleeper more. And if I ever get the elimination communication stuff going, we might be able to eliminate some of the night time diaper changes. For now though, baby is using cloth diapers and this is going well.
Daytime naps have been taken in a sling or mei tai carrier or the car seat if we are driving, and sometimes he will go down in the co-sleeper for a couple hours. We are seeing slightly more awake time from him, Brent will read to him, I tend to talk him him or sing to him, the last song I sang to him was "Dumb," by Nirvana; it's what came to my head. "I'm not like them, but I can pretend, the Sun is gone, but I have a light..."
Saturday, June 18, 2011
My Boobs!
There has been lots of talk about boobs in our house. For now I am exclusively breastfeeding, no pumping, no anything else. I won't get into the details of why I think this is the best way, you can look up the benefits of breastfeeding on Google. But I've found keeping a sense of humor is best.
First of all, the baby knew more about breastfeeding than I did, in those first few days of life when we were in the hospital, I constantly had people checking his latch and everyone said he looked great and that he was doing great; "then why does it hurt so much!" was basically my response. I even had a crabby nurse say, "well there is formula." Which super pissed me off. In came the lactation specialists, who are fucking awesome at HCMC, and they gave me better support and reassurance that he was doing fine.
My milk came in about 48 hours after his birth and my boobs got super huge, I had to hand express some milk to get him to be able to latch on. I also started leaking a bit. But baby was fine and generally ended a feeding by falling fast asleep on my boob. We went home and the boobs seemed to get bigger, but there wasn't so much engorgement, I had to hand express some once more and then they evened out a bit. My boobs even got smaller and soft, I was so happy. Then they got bigger; dammit! And now they tend to fluctuate with feedings instead of randomly.
The leaking tends to go up and down. I had a few days of no leaking, and now I'm leaking all over the place and will soak the shirt I sleep in with one boob while I feed him from another boob. This also means baby sometimes gets soaked in breast milk, which will mean more frequent baths for him, which is OK because for now he really seems to like the baths, perhaps they remind him of his days in amniotic fluid.
I think the funniest part is when the baby is trying to frantically get to my boob, but does it by arching his back away from me and flailing his arms around. He just looks so ridiculous I can't help but laugh sometimes. And then there was the time I was feeding him while laying on my side in bed and I turned him upright to burp him and he was able to find my other boob all by himself, which was a good sign, but made me laugh because I was trying to do something totally different.
I didn't think I would use a pacifier this early on, but sometimes he's eaten a bunch and still wants to suck on something, so a few minutes with a pacifier seems to calm him and give my boobs a rest. And since he's gaining weight rapidly, I'm not too worried about it interfering with my supply. We also make sure to take care of other needs before we pop the pacifier in his mouth, and if he drops it I don't rush to pop it back in unless he's clearly rooting around for it. For now it works a little, though pacifiers in general aren't my favorite, but some babies really like to suck. I'd much rather him find his own thumb that he can be in control of. For now he kind of sucks his own fist sometimes.
The most annoying part for now is that my boobs are actually making too much milk too fast and he sometimes chokes on the milk that comes out. He'll arch away from the boob and then be mad that he doesn't have boob anymore. I've been burping him more often when he seems to be struggling with the flow of milk. Sometimes feedings take several latches. Laying down works best, but this does mean a good portion of the milk comes out of the side of his mouth and drips on the the bed below him, though I do try to keep a cloth diaper under him. We also have some signs that a yeast infection is coming on because he's getting more crabby and gassy after feedings and has a bit of a red bottom. The lactation specialists told us to watch it over the weekend, we might need to get it checked out by a doctor; I'm taking some acidopholus for now.
So breastfeeding is quite the journey so far, but will be well worth it. I think I've had it relatively easy, but it's still really hard right now. I know that it will get easier. He will eventually sleep through the night, or at least for longer, he will eventually be able to go four hours before needing to eat again, and once he's an older toddler it might just be a couple feedings a day. It's worth it to breastfeed at least two years simply for the health benefits it gives me, not to mention all the good benefits for him.
First of all, the baby knew more about breastfeeding than I did, in those first few days of life when we were in the hospital, I constantly had people checking his latch and everyone said he looked great and that he was doing great; "then why does it hurt so much!" was basically my response. I even had a crabby nurse say, "well there is formula." Which super pissed me off. In came the lactation specialists, who are fucking awesome at HCMC, and they gave me better support and reassurance that he was doing fine.
My milk came in about 48 hours after his birth and my boobs got super huge, I had to hand express some milk to get him to be able to latch on. I also started leaking a bit. But baby was fine and generally ended a feeding by falling fast asleep on my boob. We went home and the boobs seemed to get bigger, but there wasn't so much engorgement, I had to hand express some once more and then they evened out a bit. My boobs even got smaller and soft, I was so happy. Then they got bigger; dammit! And now they tend to fluctuate with feedings instead of randomly.
The leaking tends to go up and down. I had a few days of no leaking, and now I'm leaking all over the place and will soak the shirt I sleep in with one boob while I feed him from another boob. This also means baby sometimes gets soaked in breast milk, which will mean more frequent baths for him, which is OK because for now he really seems to like the baths, perhaps they remind him of his days in amniotic fluid.
I think the funniest part is when the baby is trying to frantically get to my boob, but does it by arching his back away from me and flailing his arms around. He just looks so ridiculous I can't help but laugh sometimes. And then there was the time I was feeding him while laying on my side in bed and I turned him upright to burp him and he was able to find my other boob all by himself, which was a good sign, but made me laugh because I was trying to do something totally different.
I didn't think I would use a pacifier this early on, but sometimes he's eaten a bunch and still wants to suck on something, so a few minutes with a pacifier seems to calm him and give my boobs a rest. And since he's gaining weight rapidly, I'm not too worried about it interfering with my supply. We also make sure to take care of other needs before we pop the pacifier in his mouth, and if he drops it I don't rush to pop it back in unless he's clearly rooting around for it. For now it works a little, though pacifiers in general aren't my favorite, but some babies really like to suck. I'd much rather him find his own thumb that he can be in control of. For now he kind of sucks his own fist sometimes.
The most annoying part for now is that my boobs are actually making too much milk too fast and he sometimes chokes on the milk that comes out. He'll arch away from the boob and then be mad that he doesn't have boob anymore. I've been burping him more often when he seems to be struggling with the flow of milk. Sometimes feedings take several latches. Laying down works best, but this does mean a good portion of the milk comes out of the side of his mouth and drips on the the bed below him, though I do try to keep a cloth diaper under him. We also have some signs that a yeast infection is coming on because he's getting more crabby and gassy after feedings and has a bit of a red bottom. The lactation specialists told us to watch it over the weekend, we might need to get it checked out by a doctor; I'm taking some acidopholus for now.
So breastfeeding is quite the journey so far, but will be well worth it. I think I've had it relatively easy, but it's still really hard right now. I know that it will get easier. He will eventually sleep through the night, or at least for longer, he will eventually be able to go four hours before needing to eat again, and once he's an older toddler it might just be a couple feedings a day. It's worth it to breastfeed at least two years simply for the health benefits it gives me, not to mention all the good benefits for him.
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
The birth - at the hospital
So we got to the hospital around 8 pm after laboring at home for about 12 hours. We luckily had a copy of my birth plan on us, because they never actually got it into my file. They looked it over and asked me if I still didn't want to know how dilated I was. I told them that I only want to know if I'm dilated enough to get into the water birth tub; you have to be 5 cm dilated at this hospital. I didn't know it at the time, but at 9 pm after 13 hours of contractions 2 to 5 minutes apart, I was only 2 cm dilated. They told my doula this info however and she basically ordered us to walk around and use a step stool to get my contractions coming on even stronger. And they did! But by 10:40 pm I was exhausted and insisted on laying down for a while. I also had no appetite, but was able to drink juice and lots of water.
Brent joined me in bed and I told him to talk to me about something. "You're going to be a great mom." It was sweet, but I replied, "NO! Talk to me about anything BUT the baby." So he told me about his day at work and how he got free pizza and some stupid memo. They checked my cervix again at 11:30 pm and I was 3 cm dilated, I was progressing, but wished I was farther, again, not dilated enough to get into the tub, which I desired so much. The tub was my big plan for pain management, goddamnit!
Two more hours passed, I believe I spent some time on a birthing ball and eventually ended up in bed again, contractions were getting harder, but I breathed through them and moaned, I was coping and totally unaware of what time it was. Then I felt my water break. I felt this popping sensation and then I felt a gush of liquid. I alerted Brent and our doula. I vaguely remember our doula saying, "things are going to pick up now." I also remember the midwife saying, "we have meconium, HEAVY meconium!" Meconium is newborn baby poop, and sometimes they poop before birth and this occasionally causes problems. "No tub!" They said. They also had to put me on continuous external fetal monitoring, which wouldn't have been so bad except that the baby moves and the monitors move and they kept losing the baby's heartbeat and alarms would go off in the hallway.
They could hear that the baby was fine, but the monitor wasn't getting enough info to prevent a lawsuit if something did go wrong. Basically I was started to qualify for an emergency c-section based only on the monitor readings, so they suggested an internal monitor, which I agreed to. I must say the internal one is WAY better, baby was fine and now they knew for sure.
I, on the other hand, was losing it. I started to say, "I'm going to die," "I can't do this," "Please kill me," and "I don't care anymore." But mostly I said, "I'm going to die." I simply can't describe the pain I was in. At 3:30 am, two hours after my water broke, I was 5 cm dilated. Progressing, but not as quickly as I would have liked. I started to contemplate pain relief, but I pressed on. I squeezed Brent's hand hard. Brent kept telling me that he had faith in me and that I could do it, this helped me more than anything.
But at 5 am, 21 hours into it, I started demanding something for the pain. "I can't do this, I need something for the pain!" My doula suggested checking to see how dilated I was before I made any decisions. They checked me and I was 9 cm dilated. This time my doula let me know the good news. I knew that I could make it at this point, I had one cm to go before I would probably want to start pushing, really there was no point to getting pain relief at this point.
One hour later at 6 am I felt this urge to push and I pushed. I pushed and pushed and pushed. I wanted this baby out of me. Pushing made the contractions way less painful and I was able to push several times during a contraction. I was almost totally unaware of anything going on around me, I did hear lots of words of encouragement though as I pushed. They helped me change positions several times. If someone had told me that I pushed for 45 minutes, I would have believed them, but I pushed for nearly 2 1/2 hours.
Because of the meconium they had a newborn resuscitation team on hand and they told me that if he didn't cry right away, they would have to take him from me, this barely registered with me, but I had faith that he would be fine. At 8: 27 am on May 30th my baby boy was born and he cried right away and was put immediately on my chest. When I imagined this moment, I thought I would cry, but all I could do was smile and stare at him in amazement. I rubbed his head and he calmed down and looked at me and held on to Brent's finger. He also latched on to my breast pretty quickly. And then pooped all over me again.
I did it! I got my natural birth and I wasn't even allowed to use the birthing tub, which gives you more pain relief than shots of Demeral. I avoided an epidural, a c-section, and an episiotomy. I also avoided any kind of augmentation or induction. I had one tear that required stitches, but it was apparently in an area that heals quickly. I can't feel it anymore. I feel so proud, but I also know that I could not have done it alone, I could not have done it without Brent and our doula's constant support. I did not have an easy labor, it was 24 hours of difficulty, but we did it!
Brent joined me in bed and I told him to talk to me about something. "You're going to be a great mom." It was sweet, but I replied, "NO! Talk to me about anything BUT the baby." So he told me about his day at work and how he got free pizza and some stupid memo. They checked my cervix again at 11:30 pm and I was 3 cm dilated, I was progressing, but wished I was farther, again, not dilated enough to get into the tub, which I desired so much. The tub was my big plan for pain management, goddamnit!
Two more hours passed, I believe I spent some time on a birthing ball and eventually ended up in bed again, contractions were getting harder, but I breathed through them and moaned, I was coping and totally unaware of what time it was. Then I felt my water break. I felt this popping sensation and then I felt a gush of liquid. I alerted Brent and our doula. I vaguely remember our doula saying, "things are going to pick up now." I also remember the midwife saying, "we have meconium, HEAVY meconium!" Meconium is newborn baby poop, and sometimes they poop before birth and this occasionally causes problems. "No tub!" They said. They also had to put me on continuous external fetal monitoring, which wouldn't have been so bad except that the baby moves and the monitors move and they kept losing the baby's heartbeat and alarms would go off in the hallway.
They could hear that the baby was fine, but the monitor wasn't getting enough info to prevent a lawsuit if something did go wrong. Basically I was started to qualify for an emergency c-section based only on the monitor readings, so they suggested an internal monitor, which I agreed to. I must say the internal one is WAY better, baby was fine and now they knew for sure.
I, on the other hand, was losing it. I started to say, "I'm going to die," "I can't do this," "Please kill me," and "I don't care anymore." But mostly I said, "I'm going to die." I simply can't describe the pain I was in. At 3:30 am, two hours after my water broke, I was 5 cm dilated. Progressing, but not as quickly as I would have liked. I started to contemplate pain relief, but I pressed on. I squeezed Brent's hand hard. Brent kept telling me that he had faith in me and that I could do it, this helped me more than anything.
But at 5 am, 21 hours into it, I started demanding something for the pain. "I can't do this, I need something for the pain!" My doula suggested checking to see how dilated I was before I made any decisions. They checked me and I was 9 cm dilated. This time my doula let me know the good news. I knew that I could make it at this point, I had one cm to go before I would probably want to start pushing, really there was no point to getting pain relief at this point.
One hour later at 6 am I felt this urge to push and I pushed. I pushed and pushed and pushed. I wanted this baby out of me. Pushing made the contractions way less painful and I was able to push several times during a contraction. I was almost totally unaware of anything going on around me, I did hear lots of words of encouragement though as I pushed. They helped me change positions several times. If someone had told me that I pushed for 45 minutes, I would have believed them, but I pushed for nearly 2 1/2 hours.
Because of the meconium they had a newborn resuscitation team on hand and they told me that if he didn't cry right away, they would have to take him from me, this barely registered with me, but I had faith that he would be fine. At 8: 27 am on May 30th my baby boy was born and he cried right away and was put immediately on my chest. When I imagined this moment, I thought I would cry, but all I could do was smile and stare at him in amazement. I rubbed his head and he calmed down and looked at me and held on to Brent's finger. He also latched on to my breast pretty quickly. And then pooped all over me again.
I did it! I got my natural birth and I wasn't even allowed to use the birthing tub, which gives you more pain relief than shots of Demeral. I avoided an epidural, a c-section, and an episiotomy. I also avoided any kind of augmentation or induction. I had one tear that required stitches, but it was apparently in an area that heals quickly. I can't feel it anymore. I feel so proud, but I also know that I could not have done it alone, I could not have done it without Brent and our doula's constant support. I did not have an easy labor, it was 24 hours of difficulty, but we did it!
Thursday, June 2, 2011
The Birth- leading up to going to the hospital
If I don't write, I might go insane, so I'm going to try. I'm only roughly 90 some hours post-partum. So bare with me.
So, yeah, we had a baby boy! One who is currently inside a Baby Hawk carrier against my chest who has been asleep for a while. He is great.
So for me labor was not like they teach you in class or what you read about in the books. Generally labor contractions start mildly and far apart, sometimes 30 minutes apart. For me the mild ones started 2 to 5 minutes apart, which totally made me think they couldn't be early labor contractions and I was freaked out. Brent went to work early on Sunday and I called various people like my doula, my friend, Manda, Brent, and the nurse midwife unit. The "experts" of course were like, "probably just those pre-labor contractions," but I knew something was different. If I had listened to my instincts I would have said, "look people! I'm having a baby soon!"
People were obsessed with the mucus plug and whether or not I was bleeding. I never saw that goddamn mucus plug and only spotted a little until close to the end. I guess people were used to the woman in early labor who thinks she's farther along than she really is. It was a little scary not knowing what was going on and being told that birth could still be days away. "Days away?! I will die before then!"
So Manda came over with Chinese food, and I ate a bunch, which was good, it was the last time I felt like eating much until after the birth. We timed my contractions, which were getting more painful and they were still 2-5 minutes apart and about 1-2 minutes long, which means about 40% of the time I was in pain. And these had been going on since about 8 am, and Manda got me food around 2 pm. Manda also read cracked.com to me and some jokes from Lake Woebegone to keep me calm. Around 4 pm it was clear that these were going somewhere and we called the doula and called Brent to come home. The doula put a TENS unit on me, which helped a little and kept me moving and changing position to keep the contractions coming and doing their work. Brent got home and we paced the apartment after I refused to go outside for a walk, I was in no shape to be in public.
The contractions got more intense and were still 2-5 minutes apart. I laid down in bed with Brent for a bit and cried, we also held each other and I moaned through contractions and we knew we were going to have a baby soon.
At about 8 pm we headed for the hospital. Hospital insisted I be dropped off at the entrance, but I wanted to walk in with everyone. The hospital is big, so we walked and had many contractions before we reached the right unit.
So, yeah, we had a baby boy! One who is currently inside a Baby Hawk carrier against my chest who has been asleep for a while. He is great.
So for me labor was not like they teach you in class or what you read about in the books. Generally labor contractions start mildly and far apart, sometimes 30 minutes apart. For me the mild ones started 2 to 5 minutes apart, which totally made me think they couldn't be early labor contractions and I was freaked out. Brent went to work early on Sunday and I called various people like my doula, my friend, Manda, Brent, and the nurse midwife unit. The "experts" of course were like, "probably just those pre-labor contractions," but I knew something was different. If I had listened to my instincts I would have said, "look people! I'm having a baby soon!"
People were obsessed with the mucus plug and whether or not I was bleeding. I never saw that goddamn mucus plug and only spotted a little until close to the end. I guess people were used to the woman in early labor who thinks she's farther along than she really is. It was a little scary not knowing what was going on and being told that birth could still be days away. "Days away?! I will die before then!"
So Manda came over with Chinese food, and I ate a bunch, which was good, it was the last time I felt like eating much until after the birth. We timed my contractions, which were getting more painful and they were still 2-5 minutes apart and about 1-2 minutes long, which means about 40% of the time I was in pain. And these had been going on since about 8 am, and Manda got me food around 2 pm. Manda also read cracked.com to me and some jokes from Lake Woebegone to keep me calm. Around 4 pm it was clear that these were going somewhere and we called the doula and called Brent to come home. The doula put a TENS unit on me, which helped a little and kept me moving and changing position to keep the contractions coming and doing their work. Brent got home and we paced the apartment after I refused to go outside for a walk, I was in no shape to be in public.
The contractions got more intense and were still 2-5 minutes apart. I laid down in bed with Brent for a bit and cried, we also held each other and I moaned through contractions and we knew we were going to have a baby soon.
At about 8 pm we headed for the hospital. Hospital insisted I be dropped off at the entrance, but I wanted to walk in with everyone. The hospital is big, so we walked and had many contractions before we reached the right unit.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)