Finn's all natural birth center story -- big baby!!

@font-face { font-family: "Wingdings"; }@font-face { font-family: "Cambria"; }p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal { margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman"; }div.Section1 { page: Section1Two days before I was 42 weeks, my midwives had me wake up early and take castor oil. A BPP the day before had showed Finn was doing great, but the estimated weight was 9lbs, 8 oz. Since he seemed on the bigger side and we were rapidly approaching the 42-week cut off, castor induction it was. I mixed 4 oz of castor oil into a chocolate milkshake. It was so gross. But I just tried to suck it down quick through a straw. I chased each sip with Gatorade to try and get rid of the flavor. I started having some diarrhea about 30 minutes after. This went on for about 2 hours, but it really wasn?t that bad. At about 9 a.m. we finished getting everything together, and we left for the birth center. It was so weird to finally be leaving our house knowing that next time we came home, it?d be with Finn!

 

I had some contrax on the 1.5 hour drive to the birth center, but they were not consistent and nothing to write home about. When we got there, I was checked and at a 1.5. Better than before, but still not much. We were sent to walk around a nearby mall, with strict instructions to walk up and down as many stairs as possible. We did that for about 2 hours, stopping only for a quick lunch. Last meal before I became a mom? Chic-fil-A ? classy, right? At about 1 p.m., I went to the bathroom (lots of pee, and still having some, ahem, effects from the castor oil). I lost my mucus plug and had some bloody show. I had been having contrax as we were walking, but still nothing nuts. We decided to head back to the birth center to go get checked. They checked me again, and I was a 3, but pretty rigid. They told me to rest for half an hour, and then head back to the mall for more walking. Well, in that half hour, my contrax really picked up. We ended up laying down for about an hour, and they were consistently 2-3 minutes apart, lasting a minute. We let the midwives know, and they said we should stay. Sounded like it would still be awhile, so they set us up in the classroom to watch tv, bounce on the ball, etc. After about 45 minutes of that, I started having a hard time. The contrax were still coming, and there was no break between them.  We headed back to the birth room, and I was checked again. Still a 3, but they could see how hard the contrax were. I got set up to get into the tub, the thinking being that it was early, but I actually needed my labor to slow down a bit and give me some rest.

 

Well, it never slowed down, but things progressed quickly from here! I labored mostly in the tub from 3:30 p.m. ? 8 p.m. Nick sat right next to me the whole time, handing me water when I needed it. I was totally able to use my hypnobirthing technique. Even tho there were no breaks between the contrax, they did settle into a rising and falling pattern. I just rode those like waves, with my eyes closed, breathing deeply. Nick held my hand every once in awhile and kept the mellow music flowing. I can?t remember most of it, but I know we listened to a lot of Devendra. ?We came to get this baby dancing?.? Still makes me tear up ? we sure did get that baby dancing! At some point I was checked and found to be a 6. My mom showed up around 7 p.m. Nick took a little break, made a sandwich, called his mom. They both sat around the tub while I labored. At 8, I started feeling kind of pushy. I was checked and woah ? complete already! For the next two hours I pushed, but the first hour I was mostly just laboring him down, not doing real pushes. Started off pushing in the tub, then on my side in the bed, then on the toilet, then back to the bed on my back, propped way up. That position worked best for me. He came at 10:14 p.m. It took 2 contrax to get him out ? one for the head, and then one for the body. Most amazing moment of my life! They put him right on my stomach ? and that?s where he stayed for the next hour or so. He was so alert ? just looking around at us all, checking things out. Nick got pretty teary when he came out. The look on his face was so amazing; I?ll never forget it. Nick cut his cord after is stopped pulsing, and I delivered the placenta after about 10 minutes. One push and it was out. After about an hour, the midwife was itching to weigh him ? she knew he was big. They took him in the other room to weigh him, and I heard every one exclaim, ?oh my gosh ? 10 pounds, 3 oz!!? The fact that I didn?t tear was amazing. My midwives totally let me push only during my contrax. They also gave me support both above and below. And with each push, when he was coming out, they used a ton of oil to help lube everything up. I have felt fine ever since, just a little bit of swelling.

 

 

 

Finn is home and doing great. We are nursing like champs around the clock. We did have to go get size 1 diapers tho, but I am pretty sure his one-size cloth diapers will fit soon! I hope some other natural mamas are given some hope by this story. If I had been seeing a doctor, there is no way they would?ve ?let? me deliver this baby vaginally, even tho everything obviously went perfect! I couldn?t be happier with my whole birth experience!