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Augusta's Birth

Yes, it was really labor, but the baby was not in a great position. I had just
over 24 hours of really hard labor to get her down and dilated--I was
fully effaced when the midwife got there. Progress was steady, but
very slow because--as we found out--her head was coming down at an
angle.

I started having irregular pressure waves on Monday evening, the 2nd.
They had progressed to a steady 5 minutes on Wednesday but were still
very mild. The midwife came over and checked me (I was planning a
homebirth) at 8pm on Wednesday evening--just in time for the
fireworks. She said I was only 2cm but was fully effaced (from zero
effacement the Thursday before) and was just entering "real" labor.
She decided to stay.

Around 10pm I began to get very nauseous. I couldn't eat or drink
anything and was suddenly having a really hard time using my
Hypnobabies. I'd had no problems with the pressure waves, but the
nausea cut right through my concentration. Luckily my friend Laura
arrived (from her home over an hour away) who had volunteered to step
in as my birth partner at the last minute when my original partner
backed out. Having no experience in hypnosis and knowing nothing about
the program, she leaped right in with the scripts and was wonderful!
:-) She got me back on track and kept me calm through some really
nasty back labor. (We have pictures and video that I will post later!
You can here Laura reading the scripts while taking video. A true
friend!)

At 3am the midwife checked again and I was at 5cm. She said several
times how impressed she was with my relaxation and how well Laura did
as my coach. :-) I labored through the day on Thursday and the
pressure waves seemed to plateau in the afternoon. The midwife checked
me at 6pm and I had only progressed to 6-7cm, but the baby had dropped
significantly. She had me change position several times--until now I
had been laboring primarily on my side since that was the most
comfortable with my hip and back pain. She also had me take a shower
and walk outside up and down my patio steps (my poor neighbors are
probably scared for life).

TMI Warning: During this time my midwife also badgered me into eating
and drinking as much as I could. The nausea had finally subsided so I
was able to keep things down. Unfortunately, the baby had dropped so
low that she was blocking my urethra. After several unsuccessful
attempts to urinate, the midwife talked me into letting her do a
catheter. I felt immediate relief and she removed well over 1/2 liter
of urine.

I'm not sure what time my water broke, probably around 7:30pm, but
things immediately got much more intense. I labored on hands and knees
and was fully dilated by 8pm and ready to push. My "ahh" breathing got
a little more like "AAHHHHH" yelling at times and there was one "ahh"
that turned into an "ahh, #$^%$!" but luckily that didn't get into the
video. :-)

It was maybe 4-5 waves to Augusta crowning. Despite my plans to watch
her in the mirror and feel her head and catch her myself--I was
fighting so hard to maintain my concentration that I ended up with my
eyes squeezed tightly shut. I ended up almost flat on my back, too.
:-) The baby's head was halfway out when the midwife told me to stop
pushing--that was the hardest thing I'd done, but I did it. She had me
"grunting" Augusta out, little by little. After her head was out, her
body was easy. I finally opened my eyes as they lifted her to me. She
was slimy and dark purple and almost immediately peed and pooped on
me. It was love at first site!

My cord was very short--and I'm very tall--so Augusta had to lay low
across my hips until the cord stopped pulsing, which took a couple of
minutes. The midwives clamped the cord and held it for me so I could
cut it and then I pulled my baby up to my chest. Since my labor had
been so hard, the midwife gave me a shot of pitocin and we waited for
the placenta. Augusta and I practiced our nursing to help the placenta
along, but I ended up just having to push it out. It was quite
disgusting. :-)

Augusta Jane peed and pooped on me (twice) while we waited for the
placenta--but still weighed 7lbs 13oz. I'm pretty sure she would have
been at least 8lbs. if we would have weighed her immediately. :-) She
was 20 1/2 inches long and her head was 14 1/2 circumference. She has
a swollen spot on the back left side of her head where it was coming
down at an odd angle--the cause for me long labor. (The midwife said
that probably would have been cause for an emergency c-section if I'd
been doing a hospital birth, but we got through it fine. :-) )Other
than that she's perfect!

As a footnote, at one point I had two midwives, a birth assistant, my
wonder-coach Laura, another friend Liz, and my neighbor and her
college-age daughter in my very small house with my four dogs and two
cats. Combined with the incredible back and hip pressure, not to
mention the killer nausea, it was really a challenge to keep my focus.
I would say, during the 24 hours of "real" labor (which had been
preceded by two sleepless nights of "early" labor), I lost my
concentration maybe 5 or 6 times and each time Laura was able to bring
me back by the end of the wave. She did a really incredible job on
such short notice.