My first birth was a typical, textbook perfect epidural delivery. Labor was 9.5 hours, pushing phase was 1.5 hours. I decided for baby #2 I wanted to have a natural birth. DH wasn’t real convinced that it was feasible but he went along with me.
By Sunday October 12 I was 41 weeks and starting to get anxious about having the baby before my doctor wanted to schedule an induction. But there were no signs of labor starting and everyone at church was surprised to see me. The pastor included us in the prayer requests at each service, which made me feel great.
I spent the afternoon as usual, but was ravenous. I must have eaten my way halfway through the kitchen. I guess my body knew something was up. :heehee:
At 9:30 pm I noticed that my back was aching but I couldn’t tell if it was normal end of pregnancy aches or something more. I heated up one of my rice heating pads and decided to finish the book I was reading (The Sonnet Lover — a good story tied to Shakespeare’s sonnets) and then do my Hypnobabies practice. At around 11:15 pm, I felt a pressure wave in my lower belly. I told DH that I was going to take a shower to see if they waves would go away. It didn’t go away so I got out of the shower and told DH this was it. He started getting all of his last minute things together and I tried to concentrate on timing the waves.
My waves never settled into a pattern. Some were 1 minute apart and some were 5 minutes apart. Some lasted 21 seconds and some lasted 1 minute. At about midnight I told DH that we should call my mom to come be with Tom (our almost 3 yr old). He asked me if I was at the point in labor when we should go to the hospital. I said no, but we should still call. He wanted to wait and I said OK.
During the next half hour, my pressure waves moved into my back and stayed there. I knew this meant that the baby was probably posterior and I started trying things to turn the baby. The discomfort did not change. I told DH that he should call my mom now since it takes 1/2 and hour for her to get to our house. He listened to me that time and called. We also called the doctor and told them what was going on.
Mom got to our house at about 1:25 am. By that time, I was sweating, the pain was in my back and not relenting, and I felt a little sick to my stomach. We got in the car and DH could tell that he needed to go fast. My water broke about 5 minutes into the drive (of course, I forgot to bring a towel to sit on :rolleye: ) and I told him that the pressure got more intense. I told DH that if it stayed in my back like this I would have to get an epidural because I could not handle more of this type of feeling. DH was going about 70 mph on a straight road and even ran a red light (after looking both ways).
When we got to the road the hospital is on I felt the urge to push. Uh oh. I didn’t tell DH. We drove up to the ER entrance and DH ran in to tell them what was going on. Someone wheeled me up to L&D and DH parked the car.
At L&D the nurse (who helped at Tom’s delivery — she changed hospitals within the last year) took me triage and wanted me to put on a gown. I told her my water broke and she asked if I was sure. I told her that I was and she wanted to see the pad/liner I had on. I then told her that I felt “pushy” and she said well lets get you to a room.
We got to the room, DH arrived from the parking lot, I got partially in a gown and the nurse did a vaginal exam. She told me to lie down on the bed — she did not want me standing up again. The room was very busy because there were about 5 people pulling stuff out of cabinets, calling the doctor, etc. DH asked what was going on and they told him that I was complete and the baby was coming.
I pushed once and felt the baby move down. I told them that I need to push again and the baby flew out! There was no crowning, no real stretching of my perinium, nothing. I just felt this pressure and then a release. She was sunny side up and DH got to announce that it was a girl. Her head has almost no molding because she spent almost no time in the birth canal.
The doctor walked in 5 minutes later. :heehee: I arrived at the hospital at 1:42 and Irene arrived at 1:58 — all 8 lbs 15 oz, and 20 inches of her.
I do have a 3rd degree tear but hopefully that will heal all right. My tear from Tom tore again, basically. But since she came so fast I’m not really surprised. She did inhale a bit of merconium but that was suctioned out easily. Because of her size they wanted to monitor her blood sugar so she did get heel pricks a couple of times, but those numbers are good.
So, I didn’t get to use my birth ball, use my playlist on the ipod, work on any knitting, DH did not get to read or do any crosswords. 😆 I barely was able to use my Hypnobabies techniques because it happened so fast. After she was born, I realized that I was in transition at home and just didn’t recognize the signs. Now I know what to look for and next time will be better prepared.
Hypnobabies really helped me get focused when I thought things were only beginning. I was looking forward to breathing the baby down and at first was disappointed that I didn’t get the chance. Then I realized that I did it without thinking while in the car. And I had no p*** during the one push that got her out. I just felt the pressure of her head and then a big release. Hypnobabies rocks!
Diana