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March 2011 Moms
Baby Charlie is here -- natural birth story & super long
So I haven't been as active this pregnancy, but love reading labor stories, etc so I thought I'd share mine.
I went to my 39 w appt on Friday afternoon and had my first internal. 3cm dilated, no mention of effacement. MW asked if she could strip my membranes. Sure, why not -- I had them stripped with DS1 and had him the next day. So she did to no obvious effect (with DS1, my mucus plug had come out on the table after my membranes were swept and we had him the following afternoon), so I drove home and called DH on the way to fill him in on the 3cm dilated.
Anyway, when I got home I sat down to continue doing some work, we got DS1 to bed and ordered dinner (oddly from the same resturant where we'd had dinner the night before having DS1). Around 7pm I told DH that I was starting to have some contractions but nothing timetable and nothing overly painful. A week earlier I'd have something similar 5 minutes apart for 3+ hours and knew it wasn't real, so I was hesitant to believe these would turn into something. By 8:30pm they were 5 minutes apart again and I began thinking it was probably it. I called MW on call because I was GBS+ and needed a better understanding of when to show up (I feel like every MW or nurse had told me something slightly different). With DS1, I was not GBS+ and waited til the very last minute. I knew I needed antibiotics this time... She seemed fairly relaxed and just wanted at least one dose in 4hours prior to delivery, if possible. We called my aunt to come watch DS1 and couldn't get in touch with her. By 9:30pm, I called my neighbor to come over and hang out til we could reach my aunt. By 10pm we finally reached my aunt who was at dinner downtown with friends and she headed right over. She arrived at 10:30pm and we left the for the hospital. We got to the hospital around 10:45pm, I was having contractions every 3 minutes but nothing horrible still. I was only 4cm dilated. I did start having some bleeding upon arrival at the hospital when I went to the bathroom, but nothing major. They admitted me and got me hooked up to the IV. I received my 1st dose of antibiotics at about midnight. They then put an IV block on me so I could walk around and make some progress. DH and I walked the halls (it was sort of cool doing it again since we'd done the same thing only 16 months earlier for DS1) for a couple of hours. Things were getting more painful and more and more I was needing to use the restroom to pee. Neither of my sons had dropped prior to me going into labor, so this was obviously what was happening as the need to pee increased. Sometime after midnight, I was using the restroom and just couldn't handle the contractions anymore (they'd been about 1 minute apart and increasingly more painful for 45+ minutes). I was standing at the bathroom sink looking at myself in the mirror trying to decide whether I was willing to get an epi. One more contraction and I thought "absolutely!," so I asked the nurse. She was so sweet and helpful, but she didn't believe me because I was in the midst of another contraction. When it was over, I looked her straight in the eyes and told her "please - I need one". She asked if the MW could check me again first, and I said "no - just get it for me before I change my mind, please!" Emphasis on the "please". 
Mind you, I was still walking around, etc. As soon as she turned around to start getting the epi ready (supposedly), I had another contraction and may water broke and blood came out. With this one, I looked at DH through the mirror (he was standing behind me putting pressure on my hips) and I told him, "I need to push; I'm pushing" It was sort of surreal. We were the only ones in the room. He hit the emergency call button in the bathroom and told the nurses I was pushing and still standing there. This brought several into the room + the MW. They hurried me back to bed. MW checked and I was fully dilated and was, in fact, pushing. I thought I was pooping on the table and actually apologized ("sorry!" -- ha ha, I'd pooped and vomited with DS1, so I knew the possibility). Turns out it was not poop, it was DS2. They all said "no, no -- it's your baby, keep pushing" Sure enough, less than 10 minutes on the table and a total of maybe 2-3 pushes, and DS2 arrived. It was so awesome this time because they were able to put him right on me immediately and cleaned him up while in my arms. I hadn't experienced this with DS1 because he'd had a partial abruption so was immediately taken for testing. It was amazing. DS2 (Charles Christopher "Charlie" was born at 2:37am on Saturday morning weighing 8lb1oz and 21.25 inches long.
So there ended up only being 2.5 hours between antibiotics and delivery. Thankfully, Charlie was fine and all blood tests came back negative. Instead of waiting 48 hours, we left the hospital on Sunday at noon.
Introducing the brothers: We have made sure that when we first got home from the hospital that I showered love and attention on DS1 without mention of DS2 (who was safely in his seat in the corner) until DS1 noticed him and wanted to interact, and we continue to show DS1 lots of individual attention and not make everything about the baby. He can approach him as he wants (although we're limiting touching to just DS2s feet since DS1 is a daycare kid and we all know how germy they are!) or choose to ignore him -- his choice. This was at the recommendation of our pediatrician and it has worked awesome so far in bringing the 2 together. DS1 loves his little brother so much and wanders around the house asking for "my bebe" (accent and all) when he can't find him. So cute!
Recovery: Recovery has been a breeze. 2nd degree tear (compared to a 3rd degree with DS1) although no pain generally or when urinating or pooing (sorry if TMI, but I wanted people to know that it is possible). Love Colace to get things moving. Also, can't emphasize the use of ice packs in the 1st 24 hours enough, and the witchhazel pads and dermaplast (sp?) were great to relieve my fears of pain in the beginning when trying to use the restroom (and the warm water squirt bottle thing). I did take the 1st percocet they offered right after delivery but just took ibuprofen after that for 2 days.
BFing: With DS1, I tried for almost 2 weeks to get him to latch properly but a crazy tongue thrust prevented it. I ended up EPing for 5+ months. This little man latched immediately and BFing is a completely different experience this time. It's shocking to me that it can be so easy after everything that we went through trying to get DS1 to latch in the beginning (so many tears from both DS1 and me!). Anyway, just goes to show every child is different, so even if you weren't successful BFing the 1st time it doesn't mean you can't be with subsequent children.
Thanks for reading if you made it this far. Sorry it's so long, but I had a lot to say...
I will eventually upload a pic of DS2, but it's been sort of busy lately! Ha!
This discussion has been closed.
Re: Baby Charlie is here -- natural birth story & super long
Congrats! I am planning a natural birth so it was great to read your story.
PS- Your DS #1 is adorable! I'm sure your new LO is too!
I love exciting happy birth stories! Thanks for sharing. I can't wait to see a picture Charlie. I'm glad everything is going so well!
Thanks, everyone.
I just wanted to add that I didn't intend to make it seem "not too bad". After 2 natural births, I will be the first to say that contractions during transition and actual delivery is painful. No kidding. But the result is obviously an amazing miracle and makes it all worth it.