Thomas's labor and delivery was by far my best birth! It all went so smoothly, shockingly so. In fact my first words as soon as he came out was not ones of love for my son, but "Wow that was awesome!" So here is the story in all the details I can remember.
Before hand-
While pregnant with Thomas I did a few things different, and who knows if it made a difference in his delivery but I think its worth noting. I stopped running completely, and I stopped doing any kind of strength training with my legs and hips. Instead I did a lot of walking, prenatal yoga, and hip opening stretches. I stayed very active (I mean I had no choice, I had 2 other crazy boys to deal with) but was careful about not doing anything that would tighten up my hips, low back, and pelvis. I also got adjusted regularly and got occasional acupuncture.
When I was about 16 weeks pregnant I started getting regular braxton hicks contractions. Almost every night I would have them for a few hours. It was annoying but not painful. Then about 2 weeks before he was born I started getting contractions. These became more and more uncomfortable and regular, but never enough to signal I was in labor. I really think all of these early contractions were preparing my body for labor way before real labor even started.
The day before I went into labor we had a busy summer Sunday. Spent a lot of time outside, went to a birthday party up the street, and had a nice family day. But at about 4pm I really just started not feeling well. I was very very tired and lethargic and just felt physically done. It was exactly 1 week before his due date. At this stage in pregnancy you know anything can happen so I tried to take it easy and I went to bed a little earlier than normal just in case.
Labor-
The whole time I was pregnant I would make jokes saying he could come whenever he was ready to be born, just not on June 26. June 26 is our wedding anniversary and I kind of wanted to keep that a special date for just Mike and I. I already share my birthday (Halloween) with my kids, I really wanted to keep my anniversary. Well you guessed it, at 4:30am on June 26 I woke up with intense contractions and almost immediately knew this was the real deal.
At first the contractions were strong enough to take my breath away, wake me up, and prevent me from laying down, but they were also quick and only every 5-6 minutes. I woke Mike up and we started to reach out to our parents for support about 5am. The plan was for both parents to come to the house, my mom first so she could let us leave for the hospital whenever we were ready, and then Mike's parents would get there a bit later and stay with Ryan and Patrick for the day. Then my mom would join us at the hospital.
I then spent from 4:30am-6:30am just walking around the house, eating small snacks, staying calm and just letting my body do its thing. Mike sent a few frantic work emails since clearly he wasn't making it to the office that day.
At 6:45 am we decided to head to the hospital for a few reasons- first the contractions were starting to get very painful and intense and come much closer together. But also because I thought it was a good idea to leave before the boys woke up. I realized if they woke up, it was going to be a big dramatic goodbye. I was in enough pain to know that I couldn't handle that, and Ryan is so emotional I didn't think he could handle it. So we snuck out just in time. My mom said they woke up within minutes of us leaving. My inlaws also arrived at that time and all 3 grandparents got to tell the boys that Mom and Dad were off to have their baby brother.
The car ride is always the worst part to me. Every bump feels terrible, its so uncomfortable to sit still, and at this point I was in full blown intense labor. When we arrived at the hospital I found out why the car was so rough- I was already 7 cm and going into transition!
I decided I wanted to get the epidural this time. I really debated this decision for the last few months of pregnancy. I didn't want to get one, I knew I could deliver the baby without one, but I also know how stressful and chaotic Patrick's delivery got without having one. My first baby the epidural did not work, and caused problems with delivery. The second baby I choose not to get one, but then had a very very long labor and pushed for over 2 hours and it got very scary and stressful. My main goal was I wanted this delivery to be peaceful. That morning when labor was still just starting and I was clear headed, I decided to go ahead and get the epidural, in hopes of a peaceful calm delivery.
The only problem that occurred was that I arrived at the hospital right at 7:00am - shift change! So by time we got admitted, got set up with the IV, got the bag full of fluids, and my blood work done, I a 8-9 cm dilated. My doula and all the nurses pretty much said there was no reason for the epidural at this time, I was doing great, baby was in great position and they thought he was going to be born very soon. But I am stubborn and once I make a decision, its hard to change my mind. So I opted to get it anyway. Looking back, I do kind of wish I choose not to get it, I didn't think I really needed it BUT it did help me have the peaceful calm delivery I wanted so I guess it was still a good decision.
While waiting for the epidural I walked around a lot, sat on the yoga ball, did all my breathing techniques and pretty much just labored on. Mike laughs that I was very zen and looked like a hippy (maybe I am a little hippy like these days haha)
Almost baby time-
After the epidural (around 9-9:30) things got calmer again. The epidural worked exactly like it should (I hadn't experienced that before). For about 20 minutes I just rested and we waited for my water to break on its own. While laying there I decided to try some of the breathing exercises that someone taught me were effective while pushing, a way to "breath the baby down." Well after the very first time doing it, my water broke. I guess it works and the breathing pushed baby down enough to break my water.
This next phase is why I loved my midwife Karen and my Doula Sue- I was 10 cm dilated, my water broke on its own, baby was in good position...technically I could have started pushing. But instead of making me push just because I could, they encouraged me to just continue to rest and relax until I really really felt the pressure that he was ready to come out. The epidural took away the intense pain, but I could still feel enough to know when I was having contractions and know when I was ready to push.
So we all just hung out and chatted. I was using the peanut ball to move in different positions so I was not just laying flat (thats never good for getting baby in the right position). After maybe another 30 minutes I really felt I was ready to push and so did my midwife. This was the part I was the most anxious about. I pushed for 45 minutes with Ryan and ended with a vacuum delivery, lots of tearing, and an episiodome and with Patrick I pushed forever and it was terrible.
We looked at the clock, it was 11:04 and decided next contraction I would push. After the first push the midwife said she could already see his head, and after the second push she said I was almost there (and I responded, don't mess with me, its never this easy). But sure enough the third push he was out. It was unbelievable. The relief and excitement was incredible. He was born at 11:13am! Under 7 hour labor and only being in the hospital for about 4 hours. It really was amazing.
After he was born-
Thomas Michael was finally here- 7lbs 13 oz, 21 inches. He had a head full of darker hair, and beautiful eyes. He had long skinny legs, wrinkly knees, and big feet! Of course, it was love at first sight.
Immediately following I was able to have skin to skin time and he nursed within minutes. Then the nurses did all of the measurements and tests and Mike got to hold him while I was stitched up. Lots of stitches again, but my midwife did a good job and everything healed well. This part is all kind of a blur- delivering the placenta, getting stitches, new born baby cuddles, waiting to go to the bathroom for the first time, and all the grossness that comes after having a baby. I will forever think of childbirth when I smell witch hazel!
We were moved into our room by about 1pm and we planned to have the boys come visit that afternoon. Everything just went really well. Mike and I had some time to rest, the boys got to visit by mid afternoon, and then we had the rest of our hospital stay to just recover and bond with Thomas.
Thank you to all of my birthing squad and the hospital staff for an amazing labor, delivery, and maternity care. It was a great experience.
No comments:
Post a Comment