He's here. He was born on April 23 at 1:54 am. He was 7lb8oz and 20 inches long and just perfect in every way. I know this post is a little late, but I guess I have been a little busy. When I am not feeding him, I am trying to catch up on some sleep.
Here's the story...... It's long, but I love love love reading other moms birth stories, so if you don't, just check out the pictures.
Last week:
On Tuesday the midwife stripped my membranes and by Tuesday night I was having good contractions 7 minutes apart all night long. I was awake most of the night waiting and hoping that they would get stronger and closer, but they never did. By morning they had stopped, but I was so tired that Dave stayed home for a couple of hours in the morning to let me sleep. Wednesday nothing happened, until bedtime again of course. Overnight I had really strong contractions, but super far apart. Again they stopped by morning. Now it's Thursday and I am certain it is never going to happen. I have given up and decided to cry about it instead. Thursday I was just going to take it easy and keep waiting. Thursday after my lovely nap I woke up and started to have severe cramping. Not a lot of contractions, but I was in a lot of pain and not sure what was going on. So Dave came home from work about 3:30 and I had my sis-in-law pick up the kids just in case. I started having some really good hard contractions about 5 minutes apart. Because I was already 5cm dilated at my appointment on Tuesday, Dave didn't want to wait a long time to get to the hospital. On the way there I started having contractions that made me think that maybe he was right. By the time we got there I could barely walk to the front doors from the parking lot. They checked us is in triage and then......nothing. They completely stopped. The midwife told me to walk for a couple of hours and come back at 8. I decided at about 7:30 that the walking was doing nothing except for making me extremely tired so I went and checked back in with the midwife up in triage. Because I was 5 cm dilated and completely effaced, she gave me the option of just breaking my water. Even though I was so tired of being pregnant, it was a hard decision to make. But after talking it over both Dave and I felt that the time was right. We tried one more time to get the contraction going with some walking, but eventually I just gave up and asked her to do it. Around 10 she broke my water and immediately things started to take off all on their own. I didn't need any pitocin. The contractions started coming 3 to 4 minutes apart with varying intensity. I was worried the whole time that they weren't hard enough. My doula had to keep reassuring me that they didn't need to be any stronger to be effective. I was comparing them to pitocin contractions, which are just way worse. Around midnight the contractions started to be painful and I moved to the tub to labor. Wow, that was nice. The warm water really helps relax you in between. The pain continued to be manageable up until transition. Pit or no pit, contractions during transition are just insane. I always feel like I am about to just lose it and start screaming. I had about 6 or 7 intense contractions in transition and then knew I was ready to push. They moved me to the bed, I pushed with contractions for probably 30 or 40 minutes and he was born at 1:54 am. They handed him straight to me and he was alert and ready to eat. It was just amazing. It's so unbelievable and miraculous. It was 2am and I was wide awake, just bonding with me new little guy. I was so grateful that it all went smoothly and he was safe. It was a perfect labor and delivery. Everything I had always wanted in a birth. My doula was fantastic. She knew when to be there for me and when to sit back and let Dave labor with me. Even during the most intense contractions she hung back and helped me breathe, but let Dave be closest and most present. Which was exactly what I wanted. I wasn't connected to any monitors or IVs, my wonderful nurse monitored his heart rate with a doppler and periodically checked my blood pressure. It was really nice not being hooked up to machines the whole time. I always regret doing it all natural when I am in transition and then I am grateful when it's all over. It was an amazing, wonderful, beautiful, hard, exciting, exhausting experience.
This Week:
I am constantly holding a perfect beautiful baby boy. I love just watching him sleep and make adorable newborn faces. He is very healthy and loves to eat. I spend most of my time in the day nursing him. He smiles when I talk to him and I am the a happiest mommy in the world right now. Dave has been beyond wonderful. He has been home all week taking care of me and all of our babies. Having a new baby makes you fall in love all over again. I am madly in love with my new sweet Calvin, my wild blondie boy Jeffrey, my grown up responsible magical princess Ruby June, and my best friend and partner David. I am a grateful wife and mother.
