The birth story of Sam
Nov. 4th, 2009 06:05 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rms10I was aiming for a natural childbirth, and I came very close to it being all-natural. The whole process was great until the last five minutes, but I wouldn't change anything else.
The executive summary:
17 hours of active labor
3 hours of pushing
1 push with vacuum assistance (this part was not fun)
Sam's stats:
7 lb, 1 oz.
20 inches
Apgar 8 and 9
Posterior, the little bugger!
41w5d gestation. Oy.
Born Friday, October 16, at 10:06 p.m.
I was in early labor for over 24 hours, but luckily I was able to get a good night's sleep during the early labor phase.
At around 2 a.m. on Friday morning, it was clear that things had switched into active labor. The contractions were a little more regular -- 5-6 minutes apart, lasting nearly a minute each -- and I could no longer lay down during them. From here on out, I had to deal with contractions by either standing and moving my hips in a circle, or holding onto a a table or railing and squatting (while making sure to keep my knees and shoulders relaxed!). I also went from quietly moaning through contractions to very loudly moaning through contractions at the end. But I never did any patterned breathing -- just took long, deep breaths throughout the whole thing. Sometimes I wanted a bit of counter-pressure against my lower back, or on my hips, but other times I couldn't stand to be touched. In general, I followed my instincts, and it worked.
Unfortunately, at 2 a.m. I also started throwing up every hour or so, and couldn't keep anything down -- I tried water, ginger ale, gatorade, chicken broth, and tea. No luck. We were worried about dehydration, so our doula came over at 6 a.m., and we went to the hospital around 8 a.m. so I could have an IV of fluids. At this point the contractions were 4 minutes apart, and I was 5.5 cm dilated -- a little earlier than I'd have liked to get to the hospital, but the IV fluids helped a lot. And since they gave me a saline lock, once that was done I wasn't tethered to the IV stand or anything like that.
(I should note that the hospital was pretty natural-birth-friendly. Since I didn't have an epidural, not only did they bring me juice and crackers constantly, but they offered me a light breakfast. I declined. They also had a set of electronic fetal monitors that were wireless -- I had requested them in the birth plan, and our doula called ahead to reserve them before we went to the hospital. This meant I could pace the halls all day, even though they wanted near-continuous monitoring. And the nurses were awesome.)
I tried to avoid looking at clocks through the whole thing, but I was stuck at 8 cm with a bulging bag of waters for quite some time, so I asked to have my waters broken around 4 p.m. or so. To the pleasant surprise of everyone, considering I was nearly 42 weeks, the fluid was clear. (Later, when showing me the placenta, a nurse marveled at how strong my membrane was, considering how late I was. "You must have eaten really well!" Er, thanks?) I then got to 9+ cm fairly quickly, and had the urge to push, but had to wait for the last lip of cervix to dilate. This was extremely frustrating, and once only one edge of it was left, and was stretchy, a nurse held it back so I could push the baby past it. At this point it was 7 p.m., and I could start pushing.
I pushed for three hours in a variety of positions. I didn't have much luck with the squat bar -- maybe because it was the first position I tried -- or on the toilet, but it went better on my hands and knees, and also laying on my side. And only near the very end did we realize that the baby was posterior, based on the fontanelle that the nurse felt. He was almost, almost out when the doctor started worrying about late decels, and wanted to get him out asap. One push with the vacuum, and Samuel Harris R was born at 10:06 p.m.!
I'm pretty disappointed that I needed the vacuum, and not just because it left me with a bad tear. Other than that, although I had a long labor, it wasn't a hard labor. Only at the end were the contractions right on top of each other, and I never felt like I couldn't handle it. I just let my body tell me how to get through each contraction. If we have another kid, I'll definitely aim for a natural childbirth again. And the eeee! was totally awesome and supportive during the whole thing.
Here we are right after he was born:
And here he is at 10 days old -- already looking like a baby, and not a newborn! He was up to 7 lb, 7 oz by then. In related news, breastfeeding is going well. :D
The executive summary:
17 hours of active labor
3 hours of pushing
1 push with vacuum assistance (this part was not fun)
Sam's stats:
7 lb, 1 oz.
20 inches
Apgar 8 and 9
Posterior, the little bugger!
41w5d gestation. Oy.
Born Friday, October 16, at 10:06 p.m.
I was in early labor for over 24 hours, but luckily I was able to get a good night's sleep during the early labor phase.
At around 2 a.m. on Friday morning, it was clear that things had switched into active labor. The contractions were a little more regular -- 5-6 minutes apart, lasting nearly a minute each -- and I could no longer lay down during them. From here on out, I had to deal with contractions by either standing and moving my hips in a circle, or holding onto a a table or railing and squatting (while making sure to keep my knees and shoulders relaxed!). I also went from quietly moaning through contractions to very loudly moaning through contractions at the end. But I never did any patterned breathing -- just took long, deep breaths throughout the whole thing. Sometimes I wanted a bit of counter-pressure against my lower back, or on my hips, but other times I couldn't stand to be touched. In general, I followed my instincts, and it worked.
Unfortunately, at 2 a.m. I also started throwing up every hour or so, and couldn't keep anything down -- I tried water, ginger ale, gatorade, chicken broth, and tea. No luck. We were worried about dehydration, so our doula came over at 6 a.m., and we went to the hospital around 8 a.m. so I could have an IV of fluids. At this point the contractions were 4 minutes apart, and I was 5.5 cm dilated -- a little earlier than I'd have liked to get to the hospital, but the IV fluids helped a lot. And since they gave me a saline lock, once that was done I wasn't tethered to the IV stand or anything like that.
(I should note that the hospital was pretty natural-birth-friendly. Since I didn't have an epidural, not only did they bring me juice and crackers constantly, but they offered me a light breakfast. I declined. They also had a set of electronic fetal monitors that were wireless -- I had requested them in the birth plan, and our doula called ahead to reserve them before we went to the hospital. This meant I could pace the halls all day, even though they wanted near-continuous monitoring. And the nurses were awesome.)
I tried to avoid looking at clocks through the whole thing, but I was stuck at 8 cm with a bulging bag of waters for quite some time, so I asked to have my waters broken around 4 p.m. or so. To the pleasant surprise of everyone, considering I was nearly 42 weeks, the fluid was clear. (Later, when showing me the placenta, a nurse marveled at how strong my membrane was, considering how late I was. "You must have eaten really well!" Er, thanks?) I then got to 9+ cm fairly quickly, and had the urge to push, but had to wait for the last lip of cervix to dilate. This was extremely frustrating, and once only one edge of it was left, and was stretchy, a nurse held it back so I could push the baby past it. At this point it was 7 p.m., and I could start pushing.
I pushed for three hours in a variety of positions. I didn't have much luck with the squat bar -- maybe because it was the first position I tried -- or on the toilet, but it went better on my hands and knees, and also laying on my side. And only near the very end did we realize that the baby was posterior, based on the fontanelle that the nurse felt. He was almost, almost out when the doctor started worrying about late decels, and wanted to get him out asap. One push with the vacuum, and Samuel Harris R was born at 10:06 p.m.!
I'm pretty disappointed that I needed the vacuum, and not just because it left me with a bad tear. Other than that, although I had a long labor, it wasn't a hard labor. Only at the end were the contractions right on top of each other, and I never felt like I couldn't handle it. I just let my body tell me how to get through each contraction. If we have another kid, I'll definitely aim for a natural childbirth again. And the eeee! was totally awesome and supportive during the whole thing.
Here we are right after he was born:
And here he is at 10 days old -- already looking like a baby, and not a newborn! He was up to 7 lb, 7 oz by then. In related news, breastfeeding is going well. :D
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no subject
Date: 2009-11-06 01:28 am (UTC)i'm surprised they wanted you on continuous monitoring, since you weren't on any meds and everything was routine and low risk sounding. i'm glad that you got the wireless monitor, though. my hospitals that i work at only have one set at each site.
i think proof that your labor went reasonably well is that you are already considering having another one. (: chances are, unless your next is unusually large, you will be able to skip the vacuum part.
congratulations!!!
no subject
Date: 2009-11-06 03:18 am (UTC)They weren't seeing enough accels, apparently, which is why they kept me on the monitor for so long. And I don't think there was any competition for the wireless monitor that day -- I didn't see anyone else roaming the halls, or hear anyone else yelling or anything.
chances are, unless your next is unusually large, you will be able to skip the vacuum part.
My doula assured me that I'd have no problem pushing out an anterior baby, in the future!
no subject
Date: 2009-11-06 01:49 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-11-06 03:20 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-11-06 03:20 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-11-06 02:08 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-11-06 02:09 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-11-06 03:22 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-11-06 03:21 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-11-06 03:53 am (UTC)you just make it sound easy. yay for having good hips!
no subject
Date: 2009-11-06 05:00 am (UTC)note to self: take the epidural. possibly pre-emptively.
no subject
Date: 2009-11-07 09:42 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-11-06 03:04 am (UTC)An encouraging thought - labors with second babies are supposed to be both faster and easier!
no subject
Date: 2009-11-06 03:32 am (UTC)I'm not sure I could ask for an easier labor -- and I thought that faster labors were harder, in general? I guess if there's a second kid, I'll see how that trade-off works.
no subject
Date: 2009-11-06 03:41 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-11-06 04:52 am (UTC)Oh, yes, hopefully the pushing stage will be shorter and easier! The combination of posterior baby and first baby was kind of rough -- anything else and I think I'll be okay.
no subject
Date: 2009-11-06 03:56 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-11-06 03:33 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-11-06 05:59 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-11-06 09:41 pm (UTC)got here from "pregnant" community!
Date: 2009-11-06 02:02 pm (UTC)Re: got here from "pregnant" community!
Date: 2009-11-06 09:41 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-11-06 09:06 pm (UTC)Oh, and I should mention - I'm here from
no subject
Date: 2009-11-06 09:41 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-11-07 04:55 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-11-07 09:43 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-11-07 08:19 pm (UTC)Try not to feel badly about parts of your birth. Enjoy your babymoon and don't dwell on the bad!
no subject
Date: 2009-11-07 09:43 pm (UTC)