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Our sweet Little
Steven Edward was born April 8 at 6:00 a.m. I
was
home by 1:00 p.m. and
we're all doing wonderfully and enjoying getting to know each other. Hypnobabies was miraculously successful and we had
a beautiful birth.
Here's the
scoop:
I was
having surges off and on all day Wed. and they were getting a
bit more steady at 6 to 8 minutes apart while I was finishing
our taxes around 9:00 p.m. (I keep joking with my hubby David, that
doing the taxes was the only painful part of the birth.) I decided to
make it an early night and get some rest incase it was
really starting. I went to bed around 10, and the surges slowed
down. David came to check on me around 2:00 and I listened to the
Hypnobabies Birth Guide while I tried to get back to sleep. But I
noticed the surges were
back around 8 minutes apart, and sometimes they were only 5
minutes apart, and they were very intense, so I had him call the
midwives. They were delivering their 3rd baby of the day and while there
wasn’t a room available they still said, "It's a party around here, come
on in!" David packed up the car and brought
our son to our neighbor's and we left around 3:30. The surges were
constant in the car, and I suspected I was in transition.
But with the help of the Birth Guide, I remained calm and
comfortable.
When we
arrived, I saw that the light was on in the room I had pictured
all along as the one where we would deliver and was
disappointed that it was already in use. But it turned out that the light was
on so they could get it ready for us. They ushered us in and I got
ready to be examined and asked for a minute to relax with the
hypnosis CD. I kept waiting for the surge to end so I could be checked,
but I wasn't having any breaks anymore, and the pressure was beginning
to build up in my back. I was dying to get in the tub, so I finally
had the midwife check me, despite the surges. It turned out she was
holding off because I was so calm she didn't think I was really in
labor and was afraid she would have to send us home!
Imagine her surprise when
she started feeling around and realized I was complete! Her exact
words were, "Ummm, I don't feel any cervix here." She
was amazed, and I couldn't help but laugh at her reaction.
I knew I
was somewhere between 8 and 10, so I wasn't surprised.
Unfortunately, during the exam she realized that I was having the same
problem this time as I had with my first birth. My bag of waters was
protruding down the birth canal and the baby couldn't come down until it
broke. The pressure of the water bag was pressing my baby into my back,
causing the continuous pressure wave and back labor. She couldn't just
break the water because there was no way to
feel for the baby's head with it in the way, so she couldn't be
sure that the cord wouldn't be prolaped when it broke. I got in the
tub (incredible relief!) and tried various positions to get my
water to break. At that point I was having 3 to 4 minute long
contractions with little 5 to 10 second breaks in between, or no breaks at
all, just a slight lessening of the intensity. Thanks to David's
attentions and the Birth Guide, I wasn't in
pain, but it took a great deal of effort to remain that way, and
the pressure was unbelievably intense and a little scary - not to
mention frustrating. I was already at 10 - I just wanted to push! One
thing I noticed during this time, and which the midwives mentioned
as well is that the Birth Guide seemed to have magical qualities.
No matter what I was experiencing at any moment, that always just
happened to be what the Birth Guide was mentioning. It helped me
relax over and over, as did my husband's use of hypnosis prompts,
including the word
"release" and putting his hand on my head or shoulder. Every time he did
any of those things, everyone in the room could see me relax more
deeply. During that time, he was also using counter pressure
during the more intense part of the surges and dribbling water on my
back. After nearly 2 hours of that, during which I also spent some
time on a birthing stool, the other midwife came in and had me get
on the bed so she could check me in a different position.
That's when
she discovered the problem (warning- this is kinda gross!).
Apparently,
the pressure from the water was so great that it had caused some
fecal matter to back up behind it, and that was pushing the baby up
even higher. It's certainly wasn't the beautiful, empowering
moment I had envisioned, but what she had me do was poop on a chux
pad while she held the bag of water out of the way. It was not my
brightest moment, and one that David will use against me
until my dying day (you know how fascinated boys can be by poop
jokes), but the relief was miraculous. Literally the second that she whisked
that mess out of the way, my water exploded. I had been telling
them the pressure was incredible, but I don't think they realized
just how much pressure I was feeling until my breaking water hit the
wall across the room. It was pretty amazing, (and pretty funny,
since I didn't have to clean it up.) That happened at 5:52. I took a few
moments to relax and enjoy the sensation of not having a surge for
the first time in hours. Then
they checked the baby's heartbeat, and I could
tell it was slow. They didn't say anything, but the whole atmosphere
of the room changed. They slapped an oxygen mask on me
and told me to roll onto my other side and I just started pushing him
out without even waiting for another surge. It wasn't peaceful by
a long shot, but I felt that I just needed to get him outright away,
so I began using a very strong, deep vocalization to help me relax my
mouth and focus my efforts. Two surges came along to help me, and he
was out about 6 minutes later. One midwife referred to the baby as "she" and
David and I both said, "(gasp) It's a girl?!" and my mom said, "Uh, no,
that's definitely a boy." By then, he was snuggled up
on my belly and David and I were just beside ourselves with joy.
He was a little blue, but only for the first few seconds. His apgars
were 8 and 9. He came out with his hand next to his head, but even
so, I didn't tear at all and haven't had any soreness. Since he hadn't
had a chance to engage before the water broke, and he was born 8
minutes later, his head was perfectly round. He weighed in at 7 lbs 5 oz
and is 20 1/4 inches. I delivered the placenta 16 minutes later with
about a 1/2 a push. My bleeding has been easily a tenth of what it
was after my last birth (interesting, since I got a shot of pitocin
last time to "help with the bleeding").
We make a
point of not naming our children until we meet them face to face, so we
enjoyed looking over our name list and getting the new arrival's
input. Good thing we did, because none of the names from the list
were right. It wasn't until that afternoon that we realized our
oversight and he was quickly and fittingly named after the brother
David lost to cancer shortly before he and I met. Steven has been
blissfully calm and sweet from the first moment. He's beautiful,
eating well and very, very loved. |