I started this blog almost two years ago to share a birth story. Then my target audience was a unique and creative group of friends that we lived by while T was in college. Since then my understanding of blogs and readership has expanded. So I've been mulling the right way to share this birth story. I still want to share it. I understand that this might not be the most interesting subject for some people. So if that's you, just skip to the next blog. I have learned so much and been inspired by birth stories shared by other women. I hope that by sharing this story I can pass that on and inspire others.
To preface this birth story I will say that V was the most active baby I've ever carried. J was pretty active. We called him the bubbling pot. He was always practicing bicycle kicks. But V had a lot more tricks than that. She was like those videos you see on YouTube where the belly does a wave. During prenatal checkups she would often kick at the fetal monitor. Once she kicked it off! And she is the only child that has awaken me from a dead sleep because she was so active.
I mostly enjoyed all her activity. It made her seem so much more present even though we couldn't see her yet. I often said we need to name this baby, she is so active. I began to get a little worried though when I went in for a checkup at 38 weeks and she was transverse. Her back was up with her head at my right side. ( I didn't feel so good that day.) She moved head down again on my way out to the parking lot after the appointment. Still, that is a lot of movement so late in the pregnancy. My understanding of childbirth is this: It is the mothers job to dilate and it is the baby's job to rotate (into position for birth). How was she ever going to rotate? She was too busy playing!
I started having contractions at 39 weeks, light "stage one" contractions. They continued for a whole day then stopped for a whole day, then started again the next day. By the second afternoon they were starting to get uncomfortable and pretty regular. I called T at work, put our support people on alert for a possible night time trip to the hospital and started packing the hospital bag. By the time I finished all that I realized that the contractions had stopped again. False alarm. :(
I was sort of down the next day. I felt like the boy who cried wolf. After all this is my fifth pregnancy. I ought to know if it was real labor or not. I threw myself into a storm of cooking. It cheered me up a lot. I love cooking! And we had some really yummy things to take to the church social that night.
At 40 weeks I was still waiting for more contractions. At my appointment I was at a three but closed. An ultrasound confirmed that her head was down. We could even see her wiggling her fingers up by her face. The next evening I started having contractions again. They were fairly strong, but figured we could wait till morning to alert people. By the next morning contractions were strong and about 15 minutes apart. I keep T home from work and we called our support people again. After I got up and started moving contractions slowed down. They were still strong, but only coming once or twice an hour.
Many books I've read about birth say that if you are up and moving gravity is on your side and you labor will be shorter. So we went out to run errands to see if we could get things going. We even stopped at the puppy store in the mall for the first time. Puppies are so cute! Soon it was evening and I still wasn't feeling ready to go into the hospital.
My doctor called to see how things were going. I was pretty confused at this point. I knew all those long, strong contractions had to be doing something. I was worried that I might go from hour apart contractions to transition and not have enough time to get to the hospital, a 30 minute journey.
It was the eve of the big New Moon primer. My friends were having a big party and then going to the movie. I had planned on going to the party if I was still pregnant. But contractions were pretty strong, so I opted to get some rest instead.
By 4 AM I started to feel a little bit pushy. I wanted to take a warm bath, but decided we'd better get the kids dropped off and head to the hospital. At 5:30 AM charity never faileth. Our neighbor, who went to the New Moon primer, got home at 3 AM and was up with her own kids after that, opened her door to my four children. Thanks Trish!!!!
We got to the hospital at 6 AM. Once again as I got up and moving, my contractions slowed. (I didn't really connect that fact until afterward. Up and moving = slowed contractions.) The hospital was all ready for a rapid birth. I had two children within minutes of arrival. But this time my contractions weren't racing, I once again felt a little sheepish. The doctor checked me at a 5 with the head right there. Definately progress from the last check. I've delivered within minutes of a 7. I knew that if my water broke this would all be over very soon. One or two big contractions would be enough.
They strapped on the monitors, put in an IV and let me go walk the halls. . . not much. I tried the birthing ball. . . no result. I was having contractions all along, just not the ones I was looking for. At some point the doctor came to see how things were progressing - 6. Finally I decided I'd take a warm shower. I went in, but I was just too tired to shower. I climbed in the bed and rested. I realized that I was fighting contractions a little. I tried visualization and relaxation. I just let the contractions wash over me. It was pretty easy to do because I was completely spent. I decided it might be a good idea to break my water and get this over with. There was just no energy left. I asked for some broth. It was wonderful!
Around lunchtime the doctor came to check my progress again. I tried to sit up so we could get a progress report. When I did I had three very strong contractions right together and I started pushing. She was coming out. I struggled to get into position and my water broke - myconium. Not so good. I could feel her coming . I still wasn't in the C position, but I was so ready to be done I pushed anyway. She was born at 12:39 PM. She weighed 8 lbs, 5.5 oz and was 20.4 inches long. The nurses said she was a ham because she was so strong and wiggly.
The doctor said there was a slight bit of shoulder distocia. Her hand was crossed over by her face, so her shoulder got caught a little bit. Still she was healthy and happy. Yet I think the asymmetrical presentation could explain a lot of the slow labor.
I tore as usual. I also retained membranes which is sort of rare. So the doctor cleaned those out. With all of that I lost a lot of blood. The doctors were very deliberate in explaining that I had lost a lot of blood and needed to take good care of myself. But overall, my recovery has been much quicker than usual. I've had basically no back pain and much *much* less postpartum bleeding. It makes me wonder if perhaps I had retained membranes in the past that weren't noticed, especially after #3. #3 was like a 7 month recovery. I still cringe.
Thanks to my husband! This was the first birth I didn't have anyone come but him. He did a great job! And he said I didn't make him feel like I was mad at him. Yay! He is also doing *so* much to support me so I can recover.
Thanks to my doctor. He's a great guy we go to church with. I'll post a picture in case any of you know him. I hope he doesn't mind. His wife is an awesome nursery leader so we get to see them at church often. She told me early on that he is in the field because he wants to help friends and family. She also told me he's a really good doctor. They almost got moved halfway through my pregnancy, but I'm glad they didn't. The Tech told I was lucky because I got a *really* good doctor. I completely agree, he is a really good doctor! Lucky, lucky me.
Thanks to my mother-in-law who is hosting my husband and four oldest kids right now. And thanks to my mom who agreed to come out next week and help out. We really appreciate you guys. It's truly a blessing to have so much support!
