Isaac's Birth

Grab a cuppa, this is a real scroller!

I had a feeling that labour wasn't far away on Monday when I was
alternating between being extremely agro, extremely tired or
insisting on making sure all clothes were washed, dried and folded.
I told DH on Monday night that for the first time I felt like I was
ready to have the baby, and he was welcome to come any time soon.

Tueday morning, 3rd Oct the kids greeted me with their usual "Is my
brother coming out today?" to which I replied that I had a feeling
he might just do that.

By the time I had finished making their breakfasts I was feeling
crampy and when I posted the pics of the centrepieces I noticed I
was definitely 15mins apart. Mum came over and I had a couple while
she was here so I asked her to please take the kids so I could be by
myself.

I called my sister to let her know that things might be happening so
she could organise herself (she wanted to come and has 4 of her own
children so I figured she'd need ample warning)

My husband rang because he 'had a feeling' and I told him that I
thought I could control it and he should try finish his day at work.
You wouldn't believe it but I still drove myself to my antnatal
check up at 2.30, I was still at 15mins (and in denial) and although
they were becoming quite nasty I figued why not! Besides, I hadn't
had a "show" so I thought it was possible that labour could stop at
any time.I Had a contraction at 3 red lights LOL.

The midwife didn't want to give me an internal so I came home again.
When DH got home I became very hormonal and told him to quickly have
a shower while he had time, then to call work and tell them he was
now on holiday. This is when I went down to 10mins apart.
At 7pm, although still at 10mins, the contractions were making me
cry so I called the hospital. Because they know that I tend to birth
quickly they told me to go straight in.

This is when I felt like I gave myself"permission" for labour to
really progress, in the car I was getting much closer together but
able to recover completely between each one. I think this was
because of the hypnosis I was practicing throughout pregnancy.
The midwife greeted us as I was crying through a contraction and
then looked at me funny when I laughed and said" Whew! That was a
good one!" I thought she was going to send me home because I was in
too good a mood!

An internal (which took forever because she was a student) showed
that I was 2-3 and I told her that I could feel my hormones shifting
and that things were about to get more intense. This was at 8.30.
They had a listen to bub's heart and it was racing at 176 so they
thought they'd monitor him for a while. I told the MW I might be in
transition because I was feeling nervy and confused. Another
internal showed I was 9cm (this was at about 8.45) The called the OB
who broke my waters to make sure bub wasn't too distressed - he was
fine. I wasn't impressed as that then classified my labour
as "induced" but deep down understood that it was for the baby's
well being. So I said "good one, what are you going to do now, sew
them up again?"

We rang my sister and I asked her to bring me a magazine because I
was bored ROFL! When she arrived, I told her this was the wierdest
labour ever, I mean I was 9 cm and still 'felt' perfectly normal
between contractions and completely aware of my body.
Then my back bones started to really ache because bub's spine was
against mine so we put the bed right up and I leant over the back of
it. Then nothing happened for ages and I started feeling like a
fraud.

Well, that was the labour part done and it was completely drug free
and controlled, I just went within myself to deal with each
contraction. I can even say that I enjoyed it actually, and I'm
positive that I owe that to hypnosis and having complete trust in my
body.

Pushing... well, that's a different story in comparison but I
required no interventions and it lasted about 20-30 mins. This phase
was really hard and very very painful in my lower spine, I could
here the OB and midwives explaining what was happening to my support
ppl and was trying to ignore them as they were saying "this is going
to be very hard, the baby needs to rotate on her pelvic floor"
This was when I changed from the serene relaxed breather to some
kind of primitive cave woman! No screaming but lots of angry
growling LOL This baby was much harder to move through my pelvis, my
sister had her hand on my belly and said she could feel the baby
moving down which helped alot. I visualised what my belly looked
like against her hand.

I panted through crowning and was amazed at how hard it was to get
the shoulders out, this was because bub chose then to turn into
correct position.
Then I nearly sat on him because I thought he was out but I hadn't
delivered his knees yet.
I looked behind me on the bed and there he was Isaac Timothy, 8 and
a half pound, 52 cms long!! Drug free, no stitches or tears. Dh had
a proud cry and gave us both a kiss. When he cut the cord, blood
squirted all over the midwife and the wall behind her.

When we got to third stage, I was completely over the whole pushing
part. I asked the MW to give me a c-sect and take my pacenta out
that way LOL... no, they didn't comply haha. My pelvic floor was
pretty finished and had no stregnth what so ever but has made a full
recovery already. I haven't had any trouble with sneezing etc, so
I'm taking that as a good sign!

I did my usual heammorage (sp) which we think was because the
placenta didn't want to come out, I had to stay in for an extra day
because I kept losing bits of placenta rather than just the normal
stuff. But all is well now.


Whew! That was long, sorry!

I hope you enjoyed it!
Nat
xx