Amelia's Birth Story
Amelia arrived safely into this world on a Tuesday evening after a quick and
natural labor. She is a happy healthy baby, joining her 3 older sisters into our
growing family.
BIRTH STORY
I was ready to no longer be pregnant.
We tried to schedule an induction on Tuesday morning. My OB, Dr. F., knew I
wanted to have a natural labor, so we agreed on no pitocin, just to break my bag
of waters. I was already 4 cm dilated, so it was bound to be a quick labor.
However, Monday night, Labor and Delivery from the hospital called and canceled
my induction, they were just too full. Even though I knew it was a possibility,
I was really bummed. I was ready to meet this little girl, and even tho I was
only 39 weeks, it was the longest I had been pregnant with any of my kids. So
Tuesday morning, I called my OB and made an appointment to just get checked out.
He checked my dilation again, and I had progressed to 5cm, so I had made some
progress since my last appointment 5 days before. I also asked him to strip my
membranes, hoping that would help things start on their own. After doing that,
he told me, "Okay, see you tonight." I certainly hoped so.
The rest of the day I tried to just keep busy. I went with Grace and Emily (my
two little ones), and my sister-in-law Diana and her little girl, Aubree to
McDonalds to let the kids play. I was feeling crampy by then, but that happened
the last time I was checked, so I tried not to get my hopes up. That afternoon,
the cramps had not really let up, and I noticed I was having semi-regular
contractions, so I started timing them. Some were 5 minutes apart, some 8
minutes apart. Some lasted almost a minute, some just 20 seconds. But they
weren't stopping. I called Matt, and told him to go ahead and come home from
work, just in case.
Around 3:30, I called my OB's office to talk to the nurse practicioner, to see
if she thought I should come in. We lived about 30 minutes away from the
hospital, and it was getting close to rush hour, so she said I should come just
in case. They weren't painful at all, and still only semi-regular, so I wasn't
sure if they were the "real thing". I decided to waste some more time, and try
to eat supper, before going, just to make sure the contractions wouldn't stop. I
also called and left a message with my doula to give her a heads up.
Around 5PM, right before I went to eat, I got up from the couch, and a small
gush of fluid ran down my leg. I told Matt, either I just peed myself, or my
water just broke. Walking to the bathroom, it became very apparent my water had
broken. I tried to eat a few bites of spagetti before leaving, but the
contractions were starting to pick up, and since we live a good bit away from
the hospital, we decided to go ahead and leave. I called my doula again, and
left a message with my OB that it was for sure the "real thing".
The drive to the hospital was luckly uneventful for rush hour. I closed my eyes
and listened to my
Hypnobabies hypnosis scripts on my ipod, which was extremely helpful. We
arrived to the hospital around 5:45, the contractions at that point were only a
couple minutes apart, and while I couldn't walk while having one, they were
still very manageable. We checked in at the admit desk, and they took us fairly
quickly to one of the l&d rooms. I changed into the hospital gown (at that point
my pants were soaked), and laid down in bed for monitoring. It was about 6PM at
that point.
My birth plan called for a hep-lock and intermittent monitoring, and they were
very respectful of that. My wonderful OB,
Dr. F., walked in while they were placing the hep-lock, and reminded them.
He checked my dilation again, and I was about 6 cm and completely effaced. My OB
then sat down in the room, and worked on a chart, just waiting and watching.
After the 20 minutes of monitoring was
over, I moved to the birth ball and listened to my scripts on my ipod,
completely zoning out to what was going on around me. My wonderful husband Matt,
and doula Lydia, massaged and put pressure on my lower back during contractions,
which were at that point, pretty much constant. I concentrated on relaxation
using my hypnosis, and while the contractions were very intense, I still felt
very much in control of what was going on.
After a while, I felt what I thought was a huge muscle cramp in my lower abdomin,
and started to lose concentration somewhat. At that point, not much thought
process was going on in my head, but I decided to move back to the bed and
stretch out to relieve the "cramp". Dr. F. checked me again, and I was
completely dilated, and the baby was about halfway down in my pelvis (which was
probably the cause of my "cramp"). He asked me how I would like to push, and I
didn't care, so they started breaking down the bed and put up the stirrups. At
that point, I told them, "She's coming!", and after a couple pushes, she was
out. I don't remember a "ring of fire" or any real pain from her coming out,
just relief that the "cramp" stopped. Matt cut her cord, and they handed her to
me. At 7:27Pm, only 2.5 hours after my water broke, she was born.
She was very alert right away. I held
her for a while, then let them take her to wrap up and weigh while I was cleaned
up. She was 8 lbs 4 ozs, about 1/2 a pound bigger than Grace and Emily, and 2oz
smaller than Kiersten. They gave her back to me, and she took to nursing right
away. Actually, I couldn't get her to unlatch to take a pic with the nurse, so I
just told them to take it anyway :-) We hung out in the l&d room for a couple
hours afterwards, letting Amelia nurse and checking her out.
My thoughts about the birth:
It went definitely like I wanted it to.
Hypnobabies worked wonderfully for me, even though parts were definitely
uncomfortable, it gave me the tools to stay in control of my body, and make it
through the rough parts. I would definitely recommend
Hypnobabies to anyone wanting a natural childbirth.
Looking back, I probably should have headed to the hospital earlier. Getting
through the admissions process and getting the hep-loc placed, etc, would have
been much easier before the contractions got so intense.
Having a very supportive husband and a wonderful doula also helped immensely, I
recommend getting a doula to everyone.
Also, anyone that lives in the DFW area,
Dr. Fogwell is an awesome OB. He completely supported everything on my birth
plan, and just hung out in my room while I was laboring.
My birth plan:
We got a lot of positive feedback on our birth plan. I can't take complete
credit for it, as I swiped some of the wording from the Hypnobabies yahoo forum
I belonged to. Here is the link to the
birth plan if you are interested.
Special Thanks to:
Above all, to my wonderful husband, Matt, the loving father to my children, for
all his support. To my mom, who came down to stay with us a few days early just
to make me feel better, for taking photos during the labor and birth, and for
all her help taking care of the girls while I was in the hospital and during my
recovery. To my sister-in-law Diana, for all her help taking care of the girls
during my labor and the couple days afterwards. To my wonderful sister, Nicole,
for all her support, all the time! To my doula, Lydia, for her moral support
during my pregnancy, and support during my labor. To my wonderful OB, Dr.
Fogwell, who has caught 3 of my 4 babies. I can't say enough wonderful things
about him. And of course, to the hospital staff, for their support of my ideal
birth.
MEETING THE BIG SISTERS
Kiersten, Grace, and Emily came up to
the hospital Wednesday afternoon to meet their new baby sister. They all were
very excited, taking turms holding her. Emily was especially facinated, looking
at her tiny hands and ears, and rubbing her head. Grace held her for a while,
and curled up next to me in bed. Kiersten, of course, loved holding her, being
the experienced big sister she already is. The girls sported their new "Biggest
Sister" (Kiersten), "Bigger Sister" (Grace), and "Big Sister" (Emily) T-shirts.