My beautiful perfect daughter was born early this morning and this is her birth story:
I had had a midwife appointment earlier in the day and started contracting regularly around 6pm. Around 10:30pm I called my midwife and my friend and then I headed to the shower because I was starting to hurt. It was getting really intense and I was a little concerned- it had only been a few hours and this was not my usual ‘putt putt oh Im having a contraction…no biggy’ this was a ‘oh wow…WOW…WOW here it comes’ it felt like I was going to explode. After a really awesome pain relieving shower I got into bed for a little to check on the contrax- and talk about birth announcements on my favorite message board. Priorities, right? Soon it was too much for me- and really that is saying something. Aarons labour was 55 hrs and Chases was 17- and I was strapped into a hospital bed unable to move around. I tried several different positions and techniques to get through the contractions but they were seriously coming HARD and I was getting double peaks! I thought ‘nuh-uh’ there is NO way Im in transition already, there just cant be any way! I was only 2cms dialated at 6pm! I got in the bath tub and the hot water really was amazing for the intense contractions. My midwife arrived right around midnight and checked me and I was 9cms! Holy moly no way! I was shocked. I was hoping for a 6 but hey but Ill totally take 9! I got back in the bathtub and soon was filling it way up (its a huge tub) and my midwife and husband just sat around the bedroom and we all chit chatted between my contractions. Then came the scarey one….oh God! Everything in my body started saying PUSH PUSH PUSH!! I tried to fight it (ha!) and my midwife said ‘that sounded like a pushy one ‘ Ohhh it was! She asked if I wanted to deliver in the tub or out. I thought for a second and said out. She had everything already set up and ready to rock. I dried off and got into my own bed (SO NICE!) and just relaxed for a couple minutes….I had a moment where I thought ‘wth?! Did I totally screw up-why isnt that PUSH contraction coming again?’ Oh but it did…there was just a lull- I guess for me to get ready! It started building and I was terrified. it hurt-holy heck it was the most intense feeling! I HAD to push. I wasnt flat on my back but more of a semi upright position- it was VERY comfortable. I wish I had gotten a picture of it, seriously its a thousand times better than flat on your back!! My water was STILL intact! My midwife said it would probably burst on my first push and she was ready for it with an extra chux pad held up to me It did, it was a very odd but cool feeling- like a water balloon. I pushed through that contraction and I was just like ‘OMG…this just isnt cool it really hurts’ My midwife said the next push and she will be out. I said ‘Nu-uh!’ she put her hand up to me and she said ‘her head is right here’ and sure enough when she touched me I could feel that the head was already right at the opening!! I started laughing and told Hailey to help her Mommy out and to be gentle. My midwife couldnt believe I was laughing,but it was part nerves!! Then THE contraction came. Oh my God….yep…this baby was coming. I pushed and started seeing stars so I took a breath and refocused on pushing in the right area. Wow….during this my hands went down and I felt her head. Lots of black hair! OMG it hurt! I pushed more and more. That contraction was working for me and I was going to get this kid out on that push because there was NO way I was going to wait for another contraction with her head half out! Then I felt it- a little relief. Her head was out…this was so different than with the boys when I was torn or cut-I rested for a few moments while my midwife suctioned Hailey and then I pushed the rest of her body out. My eyes were closed as I was pushing and my midwife called for me to open my eyes and look down at my baby. There she was- beautiful and perfect face up, one arm up by her chin and then the other one popped out. Whoa that felt WIERD! And she was born. It was wonderful. She pooped AND peed on me within about 3 minutes of being born and Ive already been puked on we are all so in love, the boys are thrilled!
At 34 weeks my baby should be a bit under 20 inches long and about 5 pounds!! It feels like she has dropped but I still feel her up high so I really dont know just yet! Right now baby is needing a lot of calcium for their bones so I am being ver careful to drink lots of skim milk, eat yogurt and take my prenatals. I also felt like I was feeling low on iron. My muscles felt really fatigued and I was very tired. So I have been really conscious of getting enough iron. One easy way is iron fortified cereal but through this whole pregnancy eating cereal with milk has made me sick so I started mixing my cereal with yogurt. Grape Nuts has 90% daily recommended intake of iron in 3/4ths of a cup and Raisen Bran has 100% in one cup so those are my two cereals of choice. I kept up with my prenatal vitamins and ate at least one serving of cereal a day and upped my red meat with a vitamin C source and within a week or so I was feeling MUCH better. I tried to make sure I got iron not only from my prenatal vitamins but from a meat source and a grain source. The meat source is most readily absorbable followed by the grain source and then lastly the least efficiently absorbed source is from the supplement. Many pregnant women who are low on iron are prescribed a huge iron pill but unfortunatly most of that goes through the body unabsorbed, so that is why I didnt just pop a few extra pills a day. Eating the right foods are not only more efficient in increasing my iron levels but is far more tastey!
My baby should weigh right about 4 and a half pounds and a little under 19 and a half inches long! Wow! My little baby is growing so fast!! I definatly am feeling her pressing on my bladder! It seems like I am in the bathroom every half hour. Its really annoying but its important to keep up with fluids right now! Baby’s amniotic fluid is changed every 3 hours so its important for moms to be to drink plenty of water, a singleton pregnancy has about a quart of amniotic fluid at all times!
Its hard to believe Im flying through my third trimester. Im nearly 30 weeks pregnant. Ive gained about 20 pounds! My tummy is HUGE, Ive been getting a lot of comments on it. My baby is still very active and squirmy. Lots of kicking and moving around, sometimes she is so active it takes my breathe away for a moment. Im having some difficulties sleeping these days. Its hard getting comfortable in bed. Its most comfortable for me to sleep on my back but the weight of my uterus can press on my vena cava causing a restriction in blood flow so its dangerous to sleep on my back. I usually still wake up once a night on my back. I am looking forward to easier movement during the night too. I feel like a whale everytime I turn over in bed.
I walked three miles today and felt good doing it. Im very very slow these days but I really enjoy working out still! I feel so alive afterwards for hours. I really hope I can keep up at least three miles as a ‘long’ distance once a week and two other shorter walks per week until I give birth. In Four weeks I have a 5k ‘race’ in las vegas. Ill be walking it, but it should be a great time!
Im 25 weeks 4 days pregnant and I was 172.2lbs this morning which is a gain of about 16 pounds. In the beginning of this pregnancy I knew I would give birth at home, actually before I got pregnant this time I knew if I ever had another child they would be birthed at home. This wasnt a decision I took lightly, but one I regret that I did not make two births sooner. I had my older two children at a hospital and had aweful experiences which still scar me mentally and physically. The old saying ‘Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me’ comes to my mind when I think about why I had hospital births with a doctor attending. I had completly uncomplicated pregnancies and I made choices to keep the interventions to the lowest possible number (no drugs etc) but so many things are ‘routine’ in a hospital and they make you feel like you have no choice. I was even given a drug after my children were born without my knowledge or consent. I didnt know until 4 years later that this happened, when I picked up copies of my medical records. I dont think thats okay. I wasnt in medical distress, there was no need for drugs, but at the hospital I delivered at its ‘routine’. This time my baby will be born at home with the assistance of a midwife, an amazing woman who I feel absolutly confident and comfortable in having in my home and at the birth of my child. Having a homebirth means a drug free and intervention free labour. It varies with the midwife but most believe a baby will come on its own, there is no ‘one hour=one centimeter dialation’ rule, labour takes how long it takes. Women who labour and deliver at home are not confined to being flat on their back in a hospital bed hooked up to monitors and a catheter, they can move into any position that feels best, they also are encouraged to push in any position other than flat on their back. Why push uphill when gravity can do some of the work for you? I never understoon the lithomy position (flat on back, knees cranked up to the ears, nurses screaming at you to PUUUUUSH!!!!) I delivered my two older sons in this fashion and I knew it was all wrong but I wasnt allowed to get into a better position because it would obscure the doctors view of my child being birthed, and it would make an episiotomy more difficult to perform (it would also negate the NEED for an episiotomy)
If you are contemplating delivering at home please contact a few midwives and chat with them! I hope you find one that is a great fit for your needs.