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Natural water birth story, Nicholas Hans 9/30/11 (long) PIP

nick&heathernick&heather member
in October 2011 Moms

the following birth story is what i wrote to my birthing class instructor. i took brio birth, read both bradley boks, and read hypnobirthing and practiced with the included meditation track sometimes. i visualized a strong bag of waters with crystal clear fluid and listened to meditation cds for 5-10 min daily (tried to at least). i did squatting daily (but not perfect with daily!) and pelvic tilts. i drank red raspberry leaf tea at the end, 2c/day. i read birthing from within & made birth art, read spiritual midwifery by ina may, la leche league's breastfeeding book, and breastofeeding made simple among other books from our instructor.

 SHORT VERSION-  i was 40 wks my calculation, 39 wks by ultrasound dating/ midwife estimate. one night of early labor contractions that stalled out during day. next night timable contractions starting about 11:30pm, to the hospital at 7am, 7cm 0 station! on car ride contractions slowed. labored at hospital 7 am to 4:04pm delivery. total labor (not including first night) 16.5 hrs. I delivered under water via birth tub. 10 on both apgars, 8 lbs, 3 oz, 22.5 in. 1-2 degree tear plus skids around urethra, stitches to be proactive. Amazing, and no drugs!

LONG VERSION-

I delivered baby Nicholas Friday 9/30/11 at 4:04pm and it was incredible! Didn't even cross my mind to ask for medication, could not imagine not being able to move! I was a champ and it was all thanks to the training. I was 7cm when I got to the hospital, I went even though they had advised me to stay home because I sounded too calm by phone during contractions. I was watching my emotional signposts and knew this was it. I was so grateful for all the training of labor positions, I used a bunch and they all came back to me from practice. I was grateful for the nutrition information and visualization of strong bag of waters, I was intact until right before he came and the water burst out while pushing him. I was grateful for the vocalization information (keep it low) and breathing and "floppy soggy" and visualization of being carried over the contraction on a wave, it made everything so bearable and relatively easy.


Wednesday 9/28 night I had contractions all night, easy, early labor. Then they spaced out during daylight, eventually petered out entirely. My contractions were all low in my abdomen and were intense menstrual cramp-like for best description. 

About 11:30pm Thursday night 9/29 contractions came back, I started timing, 5 min apart consistently, about 1 minute, not too intense, but maybe more so than night before.

I labored in imitation of sleep position lying on side, on my birthing ball leaning over pillows on bed, bouncing on ball, leaning backwards over toilet with pillows, on toilet, on ball leaning over sink with pillows bouncing, kneeling and laying over ball, in tub. At some point I took a bath which was very relaxing, slowed contractions down, seemed to stall, then at end of bath came back more intense and 3 minutes apart, less than 1 minute long. I labored on all fours leaning over the birthing ball on the floor for the rest of my time at home, which wasn't long. At 4am I called to Nick to get the Midwives' number and called as he packed our bags. (I know, I'm such a procrastinator!)

At this point I was afraid of the car ride and leaving my ball (about an hour ride). Midwife advised to wait longer but to trust my instincts.

Shortly after getting off phone I called it and thought, if I haven't progressed far enough for admittance, we'll get a hotel and be local so I can labor comfortably without worrying about the car ride. By the grace of God I got downstairs to get in the car and my contractions stalled. I slept most of the car ride with some less frequent, less intense contractions I breathed through. We got to the hospital about quarter to 7am.

Walking to labor and delivery helped get a contraction going again but I most definitely did not seem to be in active labor. They got my 20 min. strip with about 3- 4 ? contractions and to the midwife's shock I was at 7cm, 0 station. During the strip was the onset of some low back pain accompanying my contractions which was something new to get used to. Eventually I would have Nick occasionally press on my lower back during contractions or place his hands there.

They showed me to my room, first words were "Where is the birthing ball?", I promptly got on all fours on bed and plopped over it, and breathed and vocalized through the contractions which did not seem to becoming frequently at all but the midwife said they were. My only concern was my labor wasn't active enough which was awesome!

When my breathing technique of deep breaths carrying me up and over contractions stopped working, (not long at all at hospital) I knew my contraction pattern had changed to more pushing contractions, breathing down felt better, and my body would involuntarily bear down. I labored on toilet for quite a while in privacy.

At home during contractions I visualized with each contraction the opening of my cervix. Now I visualized the moving down of my baby.  I could feel my bag of waters within inches of the opening.

After several hours (I think?) I asked the nurse to fill the tub as well as get a birthing stool. It turned out I had quite a few hours/ rest of day to go (I'm in labor land at this time so no idea of time markers) but I spent them in the tub getting upright for contractions and laying back during rest periods. I think most of my day was in the tub ( total, 7am - 4pm in labor at hospital). I started to get impatient/ discouraged with so many hours passing when I thought I was in the shorter phase of labor. I took the time to relax and sleep in the tub between contractions and I had Nick and my sister start using the spray attachment to spray my tummy and legs and side and back.

My sister had gotten there at 2pm which perked me up and I got more encouraged to go back to upright positions during contractions or be more focused in using it to push even though reclined. My mom was also in room. My dad and my stepmom waited all day supporting me from the waiting room and got to meet little Nicholas on arrival.

My midwife had to take care of an emergency c-section most of the day so now she came back and we decided to get serious about trying to push and deliver. I was at 9.5/.75? and +1 station. She was going to see about holding the lip back while pushed during a contraction, but when she did that he was already past the lip/ no more lip. We didn't want to break the bag of waters if possible because I was GBS+ but declined preventative antibiotics unless I had additional risk factors.

This sustained pushing part I'm not sure how long, but it was quick I would say, less than 30 minutes. So I purple pushed a little while instead of my breathing and pushing by instinct. Then I got out of water onto the birth stool to intensify things. It was more intense, particularly felt a difference between contractions, and after just a couple minutes there my bag of waters burst out and I could feel the baby move down, that bowling ball between legs feeling. They moved me back to tub where I got on all fours, then kneeled, knees akimbo, body upright, and arms pushing edge of tub. This is how I stayed. We talked about possibly going on my side lying down on all fours to minimize tearing risk but I preferred this. At this point it was very hard to distinguish when a contraction was there so I'd try to push with it but I was unsure of timing. Also, they were "very"(relatively) spaced out (I was impatient!).

I delivered baby Nicholas shortly, head first, waited for next contraction, then shoulders and rest. He was moving his neck/ head so much I thought the midwife was pushing his head up! She passed him up to me under water between my legs, he floated bottom up, I scooped him up and held him to my chest and took a good look at him. He was sucking his thumb and eyes wide open. Then he let out healthy cries. He had no vernix and his hands and feet were peel-y, I think he was further along than we estimated.

He got a 10 on both his Apgars, pink feet and hands.

After the cord stopped pulsing, Nick, who got shirtless, took our baby and held him skin to skin as I was helped to the bed to deliver the placenta. I decided to keep it right then, they freeze it and we can pick it up in 2 weeks. I'll plant it with his blue hydrangea Nick's mom gave us this summer in honor of baby Nick.

As soon as  I was in bed Nick brought my the baby and we worked on nursing. After exploring for awhile, maybe an hour, he got serious about eating and stayed that way for hours. He was super alert and awake for about 4 hours. Family came later to play pass the sleeping baby.

After delivering the placenta I was stitched up. I had 2 skid marks (can they think of a nicer term?) around my urethra and a 1-2 degree tear down below at an angle, not near bottom. I could feel the possibility of this but wanted to go ahead and push through, and stay in same position, anyway. My midwaife decided to give me a shot of pitocin to facilitate contracting my uterus and preventing hemorrhage because my baby was biggish and my uterus seemed to firm then relax.

Nicholas was 8 lbs 3 oz and 20 1/2 inches long.

We are so blessed, he is perfect, I am deliriously happy, I am nursing him right now in fact!

My birth was more than I ever could have hoped for, I know that a lot is left to luck, and every birth will be different, but having the best preparation really made this ease, enjoyment and incredible experience possible. I am so grateful to you and the Brio class and would gladly pay double to have had this experience. :)
 
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