Mom of 6 day old... any questions? (nat. birth story, PIP)

AmandaToo · February 2010

HA! I'm totally kidding. Don't ask me anything; I'm sure I don't know the answer.

I posted last Wednesday that my water broke on its own at 4:30 AM. Within half an hour, contractions were 10 minutes apart. By 8 AM, they were 5 minutes apart, and by 11 AM they were 2.5 minutes apart, lasting almost a minute, and we went to the hospital. I got there at 6 or 7 cm, in transition and barfed all over the triage room. We hoped to use our hospital's natural birthing room and have a water birth. However, my awesome ability to hold off showing up at the hospital until labor was well-established had the effect of also making it too hard for me to sit still long enough on the fetal monitor to get the kind of readings they wanted to see on the baby's heartbeat. We weren't gettting enough accelerations/decelerations. There was no actual concern about the baby's health, but I just couldn't meet the criteria for the birthing center. Additionally, I ended up bleeding quite a bit, and it was fine to be in a normal room for delivery and could labor, but not give birth, in the tub according to hospital policy.

My m/w found a ball, set me up with the tub for labor, found a birth stool, etc. Labor moved incredibly fast after this, but I got stuck somewhere around 2 PM with 8-9 centimeters dilation and a tiny lip of cervix on one side that wouldn't budge. I was going all natural and tried walking, lunges, etc. We spent a lot of time in a really introverted place, just moving together, changing positions every few contractions. I was convinced I was having back labor, too, but wasn't. I spent a lot of time in the tub with DH pressing HARD into a spot just above my tailbone and also squeezing my hips. Finally, at 5:17 exactly (our anniversary is May 17!), it was time to push. In an hour and 15 minutes, Romy Beatrice was born at 7 lb, 13 oz. Big cheese! Beautiful face and so alert. DH is making me a certificate for getting through that labor all natural. He's so proud.

She has done well breastfeeding (mostly - she has a high palate, so I'm stuck using a nipple shield even though my nipples aren't exactly flat) after some frustration the 2nd night in the hospital where I actually resorted to using a SNS system for formula. After that, she has had no formula and we're chugging along with this fairly well. I really wish they had lactation consultants immediately available - the conflicting advice on latching, etc., was a source of a lot of anxiety this week. Next time, I want to have a doula or a lactation doula available to us immediately. Anyhow, she's gained back all but 5 ounces of her birth weight, so we must be doing it right.

I had a 3rd degree laceration (natural tear), which is rare when attended by a midwife. She worked so hard to help me NOT tear with perineal counterpressure, but I believe the fast labor & my own impatience caused this. The final push, I probably could have stopped, waited for another contraction, and pushed her out with almost no tearing. The healing is going OK so far. I feel very well, to be honest. Going natural was very positive for me, even with this. It occurred to me that stalling at 8 cm while under an epidural might have caused an even more painful, prolonged labor, because I wouldn't have been able to take the bath, go for walks, or do those lunges.

Quick advice:

the laboring at home was best... as comfortable as my delivery room was made to be, being at home made me feel so much better.

Bring some of your own pads that are flat-weave, overnight, not bulky. The ones they have at the hospital would bunch up and work their way into my labia. Ow. Obviously, with the kind of tearing I had, there were other hospital pads, too, that worked, but this would annoy me with regular bleeding even without the tears.

I never opened any of the labor supplies in our bag- we were too far in for massage, tennis balls, lollipops. I'm still glad that we had it all just in case.

If you have any commitment to BF'ing, take a class, make sure you will have help at the hospital besides the L&D nurses. As helpful as they were, they gave me some of the most frustrating "lessons."

The freezer meals? Have been great. However, also make sure you have food around that you can eat with one hand, like fruit & cheese sticks. DH is a great cook, but he's helping me with EVERYTHING else, so he doesn't also need to be cooking anything more than just reheating it. In fact, he's supposed to be napping & he isn't. :P

Romy Bea