Length of labor (not pushing)
9 hours
Length of pushing
18 min
Who was with me
y husband, mother, sister, sister-in-law, midwife, nurse, and NICU team
What I would do differently next time
Well, no more babies for me....
What I did to prepare for birth
We had the baby's room somewhat ready, but the bassinet was ready next to my bed.
How my birth happened
At 2:30am I awoke to the feeling of cramps in my abdomen and my back. I tried to go back to sleep, but I knew it was the early stages of labor and anxiety about it kept me from going back to sleep. I got up and walked around the house a bit, and then took a warm bath. The contractions started to get stronger and closer together, so at 3:45am I woke up my husband to help me time the contractions. They were 4min apart and lasting about a min long. At 4:30am I called the midwife, who said it sounds like you can come in whenever you're ready. My husband called my mother to come watch my son, and I called my sister and brother to inform them. At 5:30am we headed to the hospital. In triage they hooked me up to the monitors, and the midwife checked me and I was 4cm, and my blood pressure was very high. I was admitted to my room and instructed to "lay low" due to my blood pressure. So I calmly labored in the rocking chair while my b/p and babies HR were monitored closely. I was then allowed to get in the tub, and continued to calmly breathe through my contractions, as they were getting stronger with every one that came. I got back into bed to be checked, and my water broke and immediately went to 9cm. At this point it was getting harder and harder to breathe through the contractions, and my husband and nurse just kept telling me how great I was doing. Suddenly I felt the urge to push, and that's when I panicked and started to fight the urge. I yelled, "I don't want to do this anymore!" My mother came to my side and said, "You don't have a choice! Now push!" With just a few pushes through the ring of fire her head was born, with a wrapped cord. The midwife said stop pushing and I yelled, "NO! I can't!" And with that pushed with all my might. She was delivered through the loop of the cord and put on my chest. She cried for only a min, then looked at me and held her head up! She was 7lbs 10oz, 20" long. With 2nd degree tearing and a hemmorhage, I was in rough shape. But my beautiful baby girl, Sage, was perfect! Due to a rare antibody in my blood the NICU team was present, but not needed as she didn't have any of the possible complications she could have had. She was beautiful, blond hair, and a cute little coo. As rough as it was that first night, it was all worth it!
Lessons learned
- Pay attention to the monitors!
- When going through natural labor, remain as calm as you can through every contraction. Every contraction is one less and gets you closer to meeting your baby!
