Baby A's Birth Story!

Wow! Baby A's birth was quick, simple, overwhelming, painful, and truly wonderful....all at the same time. 

Her birth started at 2:30 am on 11/22/11 when my water broke., only a few hours after the Patriot's football game on television.

Hubby and I had joked with Baby A that she couldn't make her arrival until after the Patriots game. We had no idea at the time that she would take us seriously.

I had what I thought at the time were painful Braxton Hick contractions late during the 3rd quarter of the game. I also had trouble eating my dinner that night.

I had guessed my due date as 11/21/11 and the Dr. guessed 11/24/11, so we knew she would be coming soon. Although we knew she was coming soon, we thought we would have time for one more trip to the grocery store. Since I am gluten free/ dairy free due to Celiac, we had to bring all of our own food to the hospital. They weren't well versed on gluten free food, pretty much the only fault this hospital seemed to have. 

My water broke while getting up to pee in the middle of the night. I excitedly woke Hubby up to let him know, and he (well knowing labor could take hours) said okay and went back to sleep. I lay in bed trying to sleep too, but just could not. I practiced my Hypnobirthing breathing and lay with my eyes closed.

At 4 am I woke Hubby as contractions were 16 minutes apart. I told him we better get up. He got up with me.  He rubbed my back. I used the rocking chair, birthing ball, and paced the hall way back and forth for a while. I even sat on the floor in the corner because it felt comfortable. Hubby was getting himself ready during this time, and checking on me. He knew I  had it under control and would ask for help if I needed it. Knowing he was at home with me meant the world to me.

At 6:30 am we called the Dr. my contractions were 6 minutes apart.  At one point in time the contractions were changing so much that it was nearly impossible to time them. I got into the shower knowing the I had to get ready quickly. It was so painful I felt like I could barely stand. Hubby knew that at this time making a quick run to the store wasn't going to happen. He started packing our freezer meals I had prepared weeks before, and continued to come back to the bathroom to check on me. 

I worried while in the shower because I saw that the water was greenish, meaning that Baby A had meconium in her water. 

I hopped out of the shower, Hubby had the car packed and warm.  Of course living on the 3rd floor of an apartment building I had to walk down a ton of stairs. Hubby helping me the whole way.... I did it! On top of this, people had a moving truck backed up to the building.  

On the way to the hospital it felt like it would take forever as there was a ton of traffic & on the road in front of the hospital there was construction. The whole time my contractions were getting more painful and closer together. 

We got to the hospital at 9:30 am. Hubby ran inside & grabbed a wheelchair and took me up to the maternity ward. They came at me with a ton of paper work, not believing me when I told them I had the urge to push. Angrily I told them, I thought I was at least 7 centimeters dilated. They hooked me up to monitors and quickly read my birth plan. Hubby made sure that every person who walked in the room had a copy of the plan, and made them aware of my allergies. I informed them I wanted NO pain medications and NO pitocin.
 They didn't pay attention to  the intermittant monitoring part of the plan, pushing on my stomach with no pain medication....wanting to slap the nurse in the face, I ignored her . They checked me and said I was 7 1/2 centimeters dilated.

We stuck to our birth plan with the slow breathing and no medications. My hubby held my hand, rubbed my back, and put my birthing playlist on. He supported me in every way I needed.

I had HORRIBLE back labor, I tried to birth on my side & on fours, but the nurse kept trying to get me on my back. Being in so much pain I didn't have will to fight her on what position I was in. I knew I was strong enough to fight through the pain as long as Hubby was there. Now on my back I was scared, I held onto the bed rail & Hubby stroked my hair. 

They checked again. I was 9 centimeters. They told me to hold the baby in?!, while they called the Dr.  I ignored them (Hubby said "don't listen just push) and rolled over on my side.

The Dr. got there. In 3 sets of 3 small  pushes & 1 set of 4 small pushes, Baby A was out! The last set of pushes was insane. I thought my body was going to split in half. I felt what they call the "ring of fire", that is when Hubby said, " I see her! One more push. You can do it! " It took every ounce in me to get her out in that last push, as at one point I recall just wanting to take a nap. Not to mention lazy nurse on the right size was barely holding my leg, I had to hold it myself as Hubby had my other leg.

Baby A arrived at 11:20 am on 11/22/11. 8 lbs. 4 ozs and 19 inches long,

I had the natural unmedicated birth I wanted, in a hospital. 

It was amazing seeing her for the first time. 

Instant love. 

She was placed on my chest for immediate skin to skin contact & breastfeeding. Then handed directly to Hubby!
We birthed Baby A together, as a Team.

The cord was cut after 10 minutes to let all of the cord blood out. Hubby cut the cord in 2 cuts as it was so big. Yay for healthy babies!

We were at the hospital less than 2 hours before Baby A was born, and I pushed less than 30 minutes.

Due to the natural nature of my birth & the fact Thanksgiving was so close, we were allowed to go home the very next day.

We are so blessed. 

I love being a mommy!

♥

Lolli