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Natural Birth
BrideNamedMeg
member
Xavier's Birth Story...Big, Posterior and at Home!
BrideNamedMeg
member
I wanted to post this sooner, but life with a newborn and a 2 year old can be busy! We welcomed our son into the world 15 days ago. We had a great homebirth, and I have to credit the 30 years of experience that my midwife brought with her to the success of our home birth. Without her knowledge and experience a transfer may have been necessary due to a long labor and what might have been seen as failure to progress.
Xavier's Home Birth
3.07.11 - 1:59am - 9lbs 5oz - 20 3/4 in
I woke up on Sunday with pretty bad cramping. It was early, maybe 5:00 or 6:00am. I was pretty sure this was going to be the real thing and tried to get some sleep but I was up around 7:30 having slightly stronger contractions and timing them - they were 7-8 minutes apart.
I called my Mom and sister to let them know I thought the baby would be coming today. My Mom was going to be taking care of my 2 year old DD so I wanted to make sure she was here before things got serious. I called my midwife and doula to let them know what was going on as well. My midwife asked me to keep timing the contractions and call her back in an hour. My doula was first to come over, she was at the house around 10:30 - my Mom came not long after that and took Ellie out to do some errands. The midwife, her apprentice and assistant were all at the house around noon and spent some time setting up the birth tub, the supplies I had at the house and all the things they bring along. I was spending time on a yoga ball getting through each contraction.
The day passed pretty uneventfully. I walked around the house, bounced on the yoga ball, and ate and drank when possible. Things seemed to be picking up a bit, but I still felt like I had a long way to go. Towards the evening I thought I'd try the birth tub. The tub was nice, contractions seemed more intense but overall my pain level was low. The midwives were so funny, they sat at our kitchen table with their knitting and sudoku puzzles talking quietly and letting me do my thing. Every once in awhile they'd come over to check on the baby's heartbeat and see how I was doing.
Around 10:00pm my midwife (Sue) asked to check me and see where we were at as far as progress. We found out then that my cervix was in a posterior position - the baby wasn't hitting it correctly so I wasn't dilating. At that point I was 2cm and in two contractions Sue was able to stretch me to almost 5cm - still very tough to hear after so many hours of work. She suggested squatting through contractions and using nipple stimulation to get things moving along. With my husband and doula for support (literally I hope I didn't hurt anyone), we started doing that and things got hard very quickly. Within a few contractions I started vomiting - it wasn't a ton but it felt awful. After and hour or so of that, I needed to lay down on my bed for a minute, almost as soon as I did my water broke. Sue came in to check things out, I stayed lying on my side and was pushing within a few minutes. After I had pushed for awhile (not sure how long..maybe a half hour?) Sue checked my cervix again only to find that a little lip of it was holding onto the baby and not allowing him to descend (though we didn't know it was a him!). She was able to get that out of the way and I started pushing for real.
This was definitely the hardest part of labor. It took about two hours of intense pushing to get him out. I tried squatting for a couple of pushes and leaning over a yoga ball, but I was most "comfortable" on my side. There were definitely a few times that I was worried I couldn't do it - I knew I was doing okay at the moment, but I was worried that I would run out of energy. At one point, I tried to open my eyes after a contraction and found it really difficult - I was pushing so hard my eyes had become swollen and felt like they were bulging. Afterwards, I kinda look like I got punched in the face a couple of times, but today (2 days PP) I look 100x better though not back to myself yet. When he was low enough, they could tell he was posterior and that's why the pushing was so difficult. When his head finally came out they had me stop pushing (SO hard) and asked me to "breath him out". They were able to turn him a bit and help ease him out as I pushed. Despite being posterior and big (9lb 5oz vs. the 7lb 11oz that my DD was), I had no tearing at all and afterwards only minor swelling. Quite an accomplishment according to Sue! He came out with a serious cone head, but within a few minutes of birth it was noticeably better and now it's fairly mild.
After he was born, they put him right up onto my chest. It happened so fast after all the waiting that for a minute we didn't know what he was! I was holding him and thought I could feel some boy parts, but he was already covered in blankets to keep him warm and we had to move them out of the way so MH could announce what he was. Seeing him for the first time was such a perfect moment. He had a full head of dark hair and his eyes were wide open, taking it all in.
I had such a great team of people supporting me. The midwives were a very calm and comforting presence. MH was amazing, just like last time! He was definitely my rock throughout the labor and I know I couldn't have done it without him. My mom and sister were helpful in various ways?during pushing my mom kept bringing me cold compresses and occasional spoonfuls of honey to help keep my energy up. My sister was taking pictures throughout the birth and I'm so glad she did. Just looking at them gives me a rush, she did an awesome job of capturing the intensity of it all. MH was originally hesitant about hiring a doula, but I think he would agree that her help was invaluable and I am SO glad she was there!
My home birth experience was amazing - everything that I hoped it would be and more. I had a much, much, much harder labor with Xavier than with Ellie, but I was always supported by the people around me and felt so safe it made getting through it easier. If we have another one we will certainly be going with a homebirth again. Xavier is an amazing baby and I am so thrilled that we were able to have such a great birth experience.
Here are a few pics...
My midwife checking the heartbeat, while MH looks on. My doula is sitting behind me. I have TENS unit on at this point and the control is what's around my neck here.
DH watching as the baby's head crowns
MH, my son and me moments after his birth! I don't think I've ever been so tired in my life!
Checking his weight...9lb, 5oz!
Doing some newborn exams, I think I was asleep at this point 
Xavier at four days old..
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Re: Xavier's Birth Story...Big, Posterior and at Home!
I can relate to so much of your story. Posterior babies are not fun to birth at all.
Congrats! He is beautiful!
Matthew Kevin
7/31/83-7/20/11
Met 1/8/00
Engaged 4/21/06
Married 9/29/07
Two beautiful legacies: Noah Matthew (2 yrs) and Chloe Marcella (8 mos)
Day Three
[url=http://www.thebump.com/?utm_source=ticker&utm_medium=UBB&utm_campaign=tickers][img]http://global.thebump.com/tickers/tt1a1ae8.aspx[/img][/url]
Wedding 6.18.04 Cole 11.20.06 Gavin 3.31.08 Parker 07.15.10 Logan 04.03.12
Congrats! I also had a posterior baby at home. What a long haul but so grateful to be at home for the experience.
I have heard lots of good things about Sue over the years. Is that Barbara F. in the background? I met her through my previous MW when I was pregnant with Lily. She is SO wonderful!
Yeah, as hard as it was I am SO thankful I wasn't at the hospital...I don't know what would have happened, but I have a feeling there would have been a lot more intervention and if I'd had the option of an epi I might have given in or at least have been VERY tempted!
Sue was incredible, I am so happy we went with her. She came highly recommended from a friend and when we have our third we will definitely go with her again.
That is Barbara in the background (don't know her last name...lol but I assume it's the same one!). She is really nice, I'm glad she was part of the team