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Birth Stories
Azalea Loriann's Homebirth
Labor started Monday night at around 11:30AM, RIGHT after I finally took everyones advice and have sex to try and get things started. The contractions hurt but were bearable, but I was so excited that after an hour of regular 7 min apart pain, I told Jordan and we both got out of bed to clean up the house just in case she made a quick arrival. The contractions stayed pretty steady at 6-8 mins apart for hours, and at 4am I decided that we needed to try and get some sleep. I went to bed and managed to sleep in between contractions for about 4 hours until the pain became too much to be laying down during. I knew Azzie was still laying posterior because the pain in my back was incredible- I could not sit or lay down during the contraction or it was 10x worse than standing.
That morning we went for a long walk to try and get things moving, and the contractions did pick up pace, going to about 5-6 mins apart. I got excited but as soon as I got back to the house and stopped walking, they spaced back out again. I was getting frustrated at this point, as I had not slept since Monday at 8AM (besides barely sleeping through contractions that morning), and was in great pain during contractions that seemed to be going nowhere. I started pacing around the house and doing nipple stimulation to see if I could get things going again, and I did, but again as soon as I stopped the contractions spaced back apart to 6-8 mins. I went to the bathroom at this point and noticed that I had a bloody show, which lifted my spirits a little.
My Midwife called me around 4pm on Tuesday and determined that I was having prodromal labor and that I should take a bath and try to get some sleep. I took the bath which slowed my contractions back to 8 mins apart and tried to go back to bed, but the pain was unbearable when laying down and I got back up and used the birthing ball/backward chair with help from Jordan massaging my back during contractions. I was unbelievably tired after about 3 hours of this, and my midwife called me back again around 8:30 and told me that she was going to call in a vicodin so that I could try and get some sleep again. Jordan picked up the pill and I took it around 10pm and tried to go to sleep once again. There was just no way that it was going to happen though, at that point the contractions were so painful that I was nearly having a panic attack if I was sitting down or in a laying position when a contraction started. At this point I had a total meltdown when I realized that I wasn't going to be able to fall asleep at all. At this time though, I was getting though the contractions by being on my hands and knees on the bed, and I felt Azzie make a huge rotation which I'm pretty sure was her flipping around to anterior position finally.
Jordan suggested we go for a walk, and I agreed. Walking was the only thing that made the pain bearable, and after about a half hour of walking the contractions started to become regular and increasingly intense. After an hour and a half of walking, I noticed that we had finally met the 4-1-1 rule and I was able to call my midwife and my doula (my former Bradley class instructor) to come over. I was so relieved. They arrived 45 mins later and the contractions were still coming closer and harder.
When they got there, my midwife checked me (OUCH!) and determined that I was 7 centimeters and 90% dilated! I was SO happy. I was in late second stage labor at that point and she told me that I could go ahead and get into the birthing tub to try and relieve some pain. Unfortunately I could not get comfy in the tub because I still could not do contractions in anything other than a standing or hands and knees postition. After another hour my midwife asked if she could check me and she determined that I was an 8, but my water had not broken and she asked if she could break it so that I could continue progressing, since I was seriously tired and losing steam and motivation. I agreed and she told me that she would need to do it during a contraction and in a laying position-- I cried when she told me that because I knew the pain would be unbearable. It was- I SCREAMED bloody murder when she did it.
The water breaking threw me into transition almost instantly, I was having contractions one after another and got so scared and upset that I needed reassurance that I COULD keep going, which everyone there gave me and I did keep going. I got back into the tub at the suggestion of my midwife, and soon after started feeling urges to push. I started pushing contractions but it was excruciatingly painful. I continued to push but wasn't truly bearing down because of the pain for about an hour. My midwife checked to see where the baby was and she was at the 0 station. I was so freaked out that she was only there, and that really motivated me to start bearing down. She told me to get out of the tub and try squatting to get her down. I did that for a few times which seemed a lot more effective, but I told everyone that I wanted to try pushing on the bed so I moved over there. When I got over to the bed, the midwife and my doula held my legs and coached me through pushing. It was truly the hardest thing that I've ever done. It seemed like it was so much pain and it wasn't doing anything, but she was at this point only about an inch from the opening. I kept pushing like this for another 20 minutes and then finally started to feel the infamous ring of fire. What I didn't realized about the ring of fire was that if the baby gets stuck at crowning, it's a continual ring of fire until you can successfully navigate her out of there. I ended up having the ring of fire for about 10 minutes until FINALLY i was able to get her past the hump and out she finally came! I can't even describe the relief I felt when I felt her body slip out of me. Apparently she had her cord around her neck and was quite purple which freaked Jordan out a little bit, but she started screaming as soon as they laid her on me and pinked right up. Jordan started bawling and it was all already worth it. She was finally here. I delivered the placenta about 5 minutes later easily.
She was 9lbs5oz with a 35cm head- no wonder it took her so long to be pushed out! I ended up with a 1st degree tear and had 5 stitches which were pretty painless with some lidocain. What really hurt was the fundal massage
All in all, it was an unbelievably painful but completely rewarding birth experience. She is breastfeeding like a champ and is such a happy baby so far.
That morning we went for a long walk to try and get things moving, and the contractions did pick up pace, going to about 5-6 mins apart. I got excited but as soon as I got back to the house and stopped walking, they spaced back out again. I was getting frustrated at this point, as I had not slept since Monday at 8AM (besides barely sleeping through contractions that morning), and was in great pain during contractions that seemed to be going nowhere. I started pacing around the house and doing nipple stimulation to see if I could get things going again, and I did, but again as soon as I stopped the contractions spaced back apart to 6-8 mins. I went to the bathroom at this point and noticed that I had a bloody show, which lifted my spirits a little.
My Midwife called me around 4pm on Tuesday and determined that I was having prodromal labor and that I should take a bath and try to get some sleep. I took the bath which slowed my contractions back to 8 mins apart and tried to go back to bed, but the pain was unbearable when laying down and I got back up and used the birthing ball/backward chair with help from Jordan massaging my back during contractions. I was unbelievably tired after about 3 hours of this, and my midwife called me back again around 8:30 and told me that she was going to call in a vicodin so that I could try and get some sleep again. Jordan picked up the pill and I took it around 10pm and tried to go to sleep once again. There was just no way that it was going to happen though, at that point the contractions were so painful that I was nearly having a panic attack if I was sitting down or in a laying position when a contraction started. At this point I had a total meltdown when I realized that I wasn't going to be able to fall asleep at all. At this time though, I was getting though the contractions by being on my hands and knees on the bed, and I felt Azzie make a huge rotation which I'm pretty sure was her flipping around to anterior position finally.
Jordan suggested we go for a walk, and I agreed. Walking was the only thing that made the pain bearable, and after about a half hour of walking the contractions started to become regular and increasingly intense. After an hour and a half of walking, I noticed that we had finally met the 4-1-1 rule and I was able to call my midwife and my doula (my former Bradley class instructor) to come over. I was so relieved. They arrived 45 mins later and the contractions were still coming closer and harder.
When they got there, my midwife checked me (OUCH!) and determined that I was 7 centimeters and 90% dilated! I was SO happy. I was in late second stage labor at that point and she told me that I could go ahead and get into the birthing tub to try and relieve some pain. Unfortunately I could not get comfy in the tub because I still could not do contractions in anything other than a standing or hands and knees postition. After another hour my midwife asked if she could check me and she determined that I was an 8, but my water had not broken and she asked if she could break it so that I could continue progressing, since I was seriously tired and losing steam and motivation. I agreed and she told me that she would need to do it during a contraction and in a laying position-- I cried when she told me that because I knew the pain would be unbearable. It was- I SCREAMED bloody murder when she did it.
The water breaking threw me into transition almost instantly, I was having contractions one after another and got so scared and upset that I needed reassurance that I COULD keep going, which everyone there gave me and I did keep going. I got back into the tub at the suggestion of my midwife, and soon after started feeling urges to push. I started pushing contractions but it was excruciatingly painful. I continued to push but wasn't truly bearing down because of the pain for about an hour. My midwife checked to see where the baby was and she was at the 0 station. I was so freaked out that she was only there, and that really motivated me to start bearing down. She told me to get out of the tub and try squatting to get her down. I did that for a few times which seemed a lot more effective, but I told everyone that I wanted to try pushing on the bed so I moved over there. When I got over to the bed, the midwife and my doula held my legs and coached me through pushing. It was truly the hardest thing that I've ever done. It seemed like it was so much pain and it wasn't doing anything, but she was at this point only about an inch from the opening. I kept pushing like this for another 20 minutes and then finally started to feel the infamous ring of fire. What I didn't realized about the ring of fire was that if the baby gets stuck at crowning, it's a continual ring of fire until you can successfully navigate her out of there. I ended up having the ring of fire for about 10 minutes until FINALLY i was able to get her past the hump and out she finally came! I can't even describe the relief I felt when I felt her body slip out of me. Apparently she had her cord around her neck and was quite purple which freaked Jordan out a little bit, but she started screaming as soon as they laid her on me and pinked right up. Jordan started bawling and it was all already worth it. She was finally here. I delivered the placenta about 5 minutes later easily.
She was 9lbs5oz with a 35cm head- no wonder it took her so long to be pushed out! I ended up with a 1st degree tear and had 5 stitches which were pretty painless with some lidocain. What really hurt was the fundal massage
All in all, it was an unbelievably painful but completely rewarding birth experience. She is breastfeeding like a champ and is such a happy baby so far.
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