Team green water birth story (XP from June, long)

Birdies08 · June 2011

I was having trouble sleeping Saturday night because of some painful contractions. I'd been dealing with lots of "false" labor and so was mostly annoyed that I couldn't get good rest. Around 4am, I noticed that the contractions were coming about every 10 minutes. I started to think this really might be it! By the afternoon, they started to even out (around 5 minutes apart lasting about 1 minute). MH was a HUGE help when it came to managing them- he did counter pressure, helped with positions (we liked slow dancing and I liked being on the ball), massaged my hands, reminded me to breath.At about 4pm (12 hours in!), I had a few contractions come really close together that were harder for me to handle. I called my doula and she came over. Between her and MH I was completely taken care of. We did counter pressure, massage, aroma therapy, positioning (loved the birth ball!), and affirmations. I didn't do hypnobabies, but I listened to the birthing day affirmations and that was incredibly helpful to me. I kept telling myself, "My baby and my body know what to do. My job is just to relax and let them do it." Contractions were now 3.5 minutes apart lasting a little over 1 minute. We decided to wait about 30 minutes, since I was still holding up well, and then head to the hospital.We left for the hospital at 7pm. The car ride was so hard without being able to change position or have anyone rub my back. MH still massaged my hand and I did my affirmations. When I got into triage, I was 5cm and 80% effaced. Woo hoo! I was ready to have my baby! We were admitted and I labored in the shower while my nurse filled the tub. My nurse was really wonderful- I had an overabundance of support with her, my doula, and MH. It was great. Getting in the tub was so unbelievably amazing. Everyone kept telling me how peaceful I looked. Of course it still hurt, but it was so very manageable. Then transition hit (we're at about 8 or 9pm now). Transition is no joke! I was screaming like a crazy person. In between contractions I kept apologizing. Those poor other women in the unit- I was seriously yelling things like "Help me!" I felt out of my head and I am not normally the yelling type! I also kept feeling like the only thing that would ever make me feel better was to push. They checked me and I was only about 7cm. Ah- I wanted to push so badly! The baby was just super super low. The nurse had me do low noises with small pushes which helped but I kept feeling a stronger and stronger urge to push. The MW came in and felt her head while I pushed. I was still only about 8cm, but she was able to push my cervix out of the way, I guess, and I could finally push! I still felt out of body. It was like someone else was doing it.Less than an hour later, my baby was born and went straight on my chest. It took a minute or so for me to realize we didn't know if we had a boy or a girl! MH pulled the blanket back and told me we have a daughter.Sylvia Josephine was born at 11:12 pm, just in the nick of time to be a Father's Day baby. She weighed 9lbs, 5oz and was 21 inches long.The last few days have been tough. I had a 2nd degree tear, because she had a hand out by her face and then came so fast. We're also struggling a little with breastfeeding and I have mastitis on top of that. It's a learning process- I know we'll get it eventually. All of the pain and problems are more than worth it, though, because we have the most beautiful and perfect baby girl and just couldn't love her more.