My beautiful Jacob was born at 6:48 pm last Friday. Talk about a
crazy day and an amazing birth. Remember the parts about having
a “fast” birth in the scripts?
My first hint birthing might be starting was around 1 pm. I was at
the hospital dilated to a 3-4 cm at 4:40 pm. I had a bulging bag of
waters and dilated to a 7-8 cm at 6:20 pm. My waters broke at 6:23
pm, and he was born at 6:48 pm.
He was born posterior, despite two weeks of spinningbabies efforts
and even two visits to the chiropractor.
But, I have to say the belly lift SAVED me!! I spent the two hours
in the hospital with my earphones on and switch in center. I walked
around the room, pausing every minute to lift my belly during a
surge. The lift took 2 – 4 notches off of the intensity of my surges
and made it possible for me to stay completely in control up to the
very end. When I tried any other position, the surges jumped in
intensity and I had more difficulty staying relaxed.
The belly lift definitely took some of the pressure off the back of
my pelvis, and if the speed of his birth is any indication, it helped
his head engage my cervix better and kept my birth progressing
quickly.
I wasn’t able to stay in control the last 15 minutes, during the
pushing phase, but that stage is so intense and fast for me and my
body. It’s been like that for all three of my Hypnobabies – and
though I wish I could skip that stage, I can’t complain when it’s
such a short time.
It just makes the next stage – holding and nursing my beautiful baby
so much sweeter.
We did have a bit of a scare – I birthed his head on all fours (I
didn’t realize his head was out), but he was blue with his cord
around his neck too tight to slip over his head, and too tight to let
the rest of his body out. So my midwife had to cut and clamp the
cord, (which removed the redundancy he really needed), flip me over
to try and dislodge him, and he then came the rest of the way
quickly. He was on my stomach for a second or two, but was floppy
and not breathing.
They hit a code button, which filled the room with people, but by the
time I realized something was wrong, I heard him screaming over
everyone. He had a 1 min. Apgar of 2, but a very healthy 5 min.
Apgar score of 9.
We both did perfectly afterwards – Jacob latched on easily, my
placenta birthed easily, my bleeding was normal, and I didn’t have
any tears even with how fast the pushing stage went. Even Jacob’s
regular glucose checks that were required because of my gestational
diabetes were fine. Boy it was nice to be able to eat all the carbs
I wanted afterwards without counting them, and no insulin shots!! We
both left the hospital at the 24 hr mark and are very happy to be
home.
Also, I had been drinking raspberry leaf and nettle tea for 2 wks
prior to the birth, during birth, and afterwards. I also made sure
they didn’t give me postpartum pitocin since I wasn’t bleeding too
heavily. In any case, the cramps I usually get with nursing were
much less severe than previous babies (they’ve gotten stronger with
each baby – this is #5), which I think is due to either or both the
tea and the no pitocin. I just took Motrin for the first day and a
half and with a few ‘off’ switching the first few nursing sessions, I
was fine.
I’ve posted a birth story with pictures on my blog at:
www.docmisty.com
My husband also made a little video clip of me doing a belly lift
during birth.
Thank you Hypnobabies and all you ladies for the encouraging posts
over the last few months!
Misty
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Hypnobabies® Childbirth Hypnosis 