I predict most people will think I am absolutely nuts for taking time to blog about my son's birth story when he isn't even two days old....but I want to document and remember as much as I can and I also notice I some weird "where did that come from" surge of energy tonight, which happens to be our first night home from the hospital. Might as well make it a productive night while I can...plus, who knows when I'll even "publish" this blog and actually finish it. (On THAT note, I kid you not....Jack started making noise and whimpering....guess the blog will have to wait). Blog actually finished between Jack's 4th and 5th day of life :)
Disclaimers: THERE WILL BE LOTS OF WORDS AND FEW PICS. This is a birth story. Some births happen through people's vagina...so there may be details about that...read at your own risk. Also, every birth story is different. Just because you went "all natural" or had a horrible or wonderful experience with a drug, method or visualization tools...doesn't mean it worked for everyone...or went horribly for everyone. My midwives and nurses, etc told me to be sure and at that as a disclaimer for when I get to my "I love everything about life and birth section of this story".
Okay, here we go:
I started having some contractions late Tuesday night (Jan 31st) and wanted to track them on my "contraction app" on my phone. From about 11:30-about 5am I was having some pretty regular contractions in terms of intensity; however, they seemed to fluctuate in terms of time. I took a bath at 3am and called in to the midwives who told me to wait it out and labor at home as much as possible. With my first child, I had intense back labor and barely felt anything at all in the front....so I just kind of assumed I wasn't having contractions unless they were doubling over painful in your back. Because these back pains were irregular, I thought it was a false alarm and was very discouraged. BUT...we decided to go in to the hospital at 3pm and just see where we were at. We showed up and I was already 5cm dilated!!! Yeah!!!! With the good news, we settled in to the room and labored in bed, on the ball, in the tub for the next 3 hours progressing from 5 to a "stretchy 8cm". The back labor intensified and was crippling...very similar to my experience with our daughter...and I was NOT a fan of this. I opted not to get an epidural with Mia's delivery and I ended up enduring crazy pain including a long labor, 3 hours of pushing, an episiodomy, vacuum extraction and a 3rd degree tear for "no reason"....I was NOT about to allow this to happen again, Effffff that. I was super calm, chatty and fine in between contractions so Nate and our awesome team of providers kept saying how well I was doing, how strong I was, how I "could do this". I knew I COULD...but I didnt WANT to...not without some pain relief. I knew I had to "convince" them that an epidural was what I wanted in spite of "doing so well"....I said I could still do well with pain meds...duh, people!
Dear Epidural,
Where have you been all of my life and why did I dismiss you over 2 years ago without even getting to know you first? I am sorry. You were the best thing that ever happened to me (at least during labor and delivery on Feb1st, 2012). You knew exactly how to impress me, charm me with your ease and grace and work your magic to make me love you. Everything you did was "just right" and I love that you didn't overdue it. Thank you for all you did for me, I will never forget you.
XOXO, Molly
Between 7pm-11:25pm, life and labor were wonderful and great...I know I said it...labor was great. I was Zen, focused, chatty, crackin jokes, comfortable, calm, patient and relaxed. There was no sense of "get this over with" or urgency, I was totally patient and willing to let Jack do whatever he needed to do to come when he needed to come out. I was happy that the epidural didn't stall the labor and things progressed very well and very consistently. I felt no pain, no "high drugged-out-ness", no urgency and no regret..this was turning out to be glorious. I started to feel the urge to go to the bathroom (#2) somewhere between 10-11pm and so we decided to start pushing. It was funny because it was like a natural conversation or something..."okay Molly, let's get ready to start pushing and he'll be here in a few minutes okay?" Um, ok. I pushed for a total of 45 min but of course that wasn't CONSTANT...I'd say maybe only about 10-12 contractions worth of pushing...either way, HUGE improvement from last time when I pushed with Mia for nearly 3 hours before her vacuum extraction :) The midwives and our team were absolutely amazing, they should all get awards and homemade baked goods forever. They coached me toward the end on my pushing so I could "stretch out" and avoid a 3rd degree tear like last time. This was so cool. I could feel pressure but no pain and I could feel my hoo-ha stretching the way it should. AND....they encouraged me to reach down and touch Jack's head....I did and it was all wrinkles....didn't feel like what I expected a head to feel like. Anywho...about 4 contractions later, I pushed hard and his head came all the way out. What was funny is then there was a calm pause and I heard them talking about "ok, lets just twist him a smidgen and gently work out his shoulders, okay good...hey Molly why dont you reach for your baby...go ahead." So I looked down, reached for Jack and seriously helped them pull him out of me!! Ahhhh, isnt that nuts!? Ba ba ba baaaaaa, BOOM! Jack was born at 11:25pm 2/1/12.
He instantly cried and opened his eyes and was on my chest for about 20 min before wiping him off and all of that stuff. We both opted out of cutting the chord. Nate did it last time and I think it made him queezy so he took a pass...I did too because eh, I did enough by then :) Although I did stretch, I did end up getting a "barely" 2nd degree tear/rip but it wasn't nearly as bad as before and I have been told that the "repair" work was done excellently and I should expect a very nice recovery and presentation of my taint area very shortly. I love that they "order" us to take hot baths everyday, I will certainly follow those recommendations...I also think they said something about the bath being accompanied with a wine or beer too...but I could have misunderstood them :)
Not a good pic, but what can you do?
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