Birth Story (long)

Symharmony · April 2009

Pictures in Siggy.

Sebastian Mikhael was born on Saturday, April 11, 2009 at 11:35am. He weighed 9lbs. and 9oz., and his length was 21 3/4 inches long.

On Friday evening around 8 pm I was watching tv and I got up to go to the bathroom. When I stood up, I felt like I was leaking. I was pretty sure it wasn't pee, because I had no control over the situation. I called the Midwife, and she told me to wait it out for awhile. I wasn't having painful contractions just occasional pressure, and she knew that I wanted to give birth without pain meds. They would have put me on Pitocin, and she knew that would make it a lot harder to go without drugs. I went to sleep that night, and I woke up around 1:50am to go to the bathroom. I moved to get up, and my water broke.

DH and I headed off to the hospital. We got to the hospital around 3:30am, and we first went to Triage before they could admit me. When I was hooked up to the monitors, I was having pretty regular contractions, but I was having no pain. I was only having pressure. Baby's heartbeat sounded great, and it was positive that my water broke. They had to wait until a room opened up before checking me in. We finally got to our room around 4:30am. The Midwife didn't want to check me since the more they check you after your water breaks the chances of infection goes up. They hooked me up to the monitors. The nurse told me I would probably have to go on Pitocin to help my contractions become more regular and stronger. DH and I rested for awhile.

At 8am the Midwife checked me, and I was at 5cm. I was amazed that I was half way there without any pain. They started Pitocin around 9am, and we waited to see my contractions progress. I was definitely feeling it more, but the pain was still manageable. Around 10am, the Midwife checked me again, but I was only 6cm. I still had some bag of water to break. I was still feeling good although getting uncomfortable. I would say that around 10:30am, I was starting to get really uncomfortable. By 11am, I wasn't speaking much to anyone and I was questioning my decision to do this without pain meds. At 11:20am I was ready to push and before the Midwife could check me to see if I was complete I was instinctively pushing. I couldn't help it...my muscles automatically started pushing through the pain. Thankfully, I was complete. I only pushed for 15 minutes before Sebastian made his entrance into the world. It got scary at one point, because his head was out but the Midwife was having trouble with the rest of his body. I think his shoulders got stuck. They were calling for an extra pair of hands to help out and the nurse was pushing on my belly to get him out. They were also telling me to push harder. He came out, and I felt so much better. I've never screamed louder in my life...I'm not a person who gets like that. I had no idea that Sebastian was going to be such a big baby. I was thinking he was going to be in the 8 pound range not 9 pounds almost 10. I still can't believe I delivered a 9lb. 9oz. baby with no pain meds, and I was receiving Pitocin.

I had an external tear...no cervix tear this time. My first baby tore my cervix.

Sebastian latched onto the breast with no troubles. Sebastian is continuing to do well with the breastfeeding, which is great. We got to go home Sunday afternoon, and I was so glad to leave. He has some jaundice, and he needs to be under the photolight therapy, but at least we can do this in the comfort of our home and not in a hospital. TIA for comments. :-)