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#3 arrived on 11/23 and is a...

JKM416JKM416 member
in D.C. Area Babies
...BOY! The very strong hunch that I had from the day I got a positive pregnancy test was correct. For those interested in a (long) birth story, including my use of Midwifery Care Associates and Shady Grove, read on:
 
* Tuesday (11/22), late evening: Had a few contractions that were definitely not BHs, but they were 2 or 3 an hour and irregular, so I didn't get excited. This pregnancy had marched to the beat of its own drummer the entire time. Went to bed around 11:00pm.
* 1:30am: Woke up with more contractions.
* 2:00am: Called midwife on call for thoughts (I needed GBS meds and we didn't think a third labor would take very long). She said it was up to me to decide whether to come in then. I said I'd wait another hour and reassess.
* 2:30am: Contractions already becoming more frequent. Told DH he wasn't going into work that day. We both took showers, packed up, he made coffee (!?), and I woke my mom up to tell her we were leaving.
* 3:30am: Left for hospital and called midwife again.
* 4:00am: Checked in and put on monitors. As happened with DS1, as soon as I was lying in the bed, my contractions slowed down. Cervical check = 4cm ("stretchy to 7") and 80% effaced.
* 4:30am: IV of Clindamycin (sp?) begun. Luckily no allergic reaction like I've had to other antibiotics, but it made me feel nauseous and left an awful metallic taste in my mouth.
* 5:30am: Taken off monitors and allowed to walk around. Repeated the cycle (go for a walk / return to room for monitoring) for a few hours. Contractions pretty regular and decently strong but not getting closer.
* NOTE: Baby was showing heartrate decelerations throughout my monitoring with most contractions that were slightly concerning to midwife and nurse. But they weren't getting progressively worse, so they just kept me on the monitors longer than the usual 20 minutes at a time. It made me wonder if I'd been with a typical OB practice whether they'd have begun threatening more interventions or even started talking c-section.
* 1:00pm: Next dose of Clindamycin...fun.
* More walking. Contractions worse but still not doing as much as we all thought they would. Cervical check = 5cm and 100% effaced. Agreed to a membrane sweep. It definitely hurt, but it wasn't as bad as I'd anticipated.
* 3:30pm: Went in the shower and used the nozzle for the heat and water pressure on my lower back. It helped, but I think I have "back labor" (because the only pain I feel the entire labor is in my back, and it's a mofo). Apparently I stayed in there longer than most laboring ladies do because people kept saying "You're STILL in there?" Oh, and my dignity was completely gone by then.
* 4:00pm: Allowed in the bathtub (midwife had been hesitant because she was worried my progress would slow due to being so relaxed). The tub was awesome and I definitely recommend it. However, the water was getting cold and I needed to be monitored again, so I had to get out.
* 4:25pm: Cervical check = 6cm. I agreed to having my water broken then. I had been hesitant to do it earlier in labor because I knew that things would move fast and furious soon after, and I'd thought my cervix would dilate more on its own. But I was tired, hungry, and didn't want to go through a staff change at 7pm. So it made sense.
* 4:30pm: Labor got down to business. I tried a few positions (a reclining squat, on my hands and knees, etc.) but couldn't get comfortable. I knew I'd be entering Transition Land soon. A birthing ball was hunted down so I could drape my upper body over it, but by the time it arrived, I didn't want it.  At this point the mind games started and I was wondering why the heck I wanted to do this without an epidural.  The best I could do was focus on one contraction at a time and not look ahead to the next or how much longer the whole thing would take.
* time = unknown! I got to the point where I only wanted to lie on my left side and cling to the bed rail. However, Baby was having more decelerations (thanks to the very frequent contractions), and the midwife wanted me to switch to my right side to see if it helped. No small feat to roll myself over at that point.
* Once I was on my right side and hanging on that bed rail, I knew I was really close. I started getting crazy nauseous, which I'd expected and was why I had avoided almost all food and drink during labor. I thought I had a few more contractions to go before I'd hit the "I NEED to push" stage, but it slammed me out of nowhere and I had to go with it. Cavewoman instincts took over. Midwife wasn't expecting things to switch so quickly and told DH to hit the nurse call button. When no one answered immediately, she sent him into the hallway to flag down any available nurse.  So the amazing nurse I'd had since 7:00am didn't get back in time and missed the birth, unfortunately.
* I had no one telling me when to push or not, or counting to ten, so I just did what my body wanted, which felt like one continuous push. I was lying half on my back / half on my right side, which felt a lot nicer than being flat on my back in stirrups!
* I didn't have nearly the "ring of fire" I'd had with the other two, and when the midwife said, "I'm suctioning the nose and mouth," I was like, "Um, the head is out already??"
* 5:56pm: Another big push and the rest of Baby arrived. It was put on my chest immediately and the cord was allowed to stop pulsing (two things I was denied with DS1 and that were really important to me). DH took a look and announced it was a boy, and I thought, "Well, duh." So the "delivery surprise" was a little anticlimatic just because that's what I'd expected all along.
 
According to the usual calculations, my due date was 11/15. However, I was pretty sure it was 11/23, so I say he arrived right on schedule. DS2 was 8.12 (DD = 8.10 and DS1 = 8.11) and 20.25" (DD = 19.5" and DS1 = 20"). Clearly I only know how to grow one-size-only babies!  He has a bit of blond hair, which was unexpected since DD and DS1 arrived with plenty of dark hair.  Total time of labor was something like 16+ hours, but pushing was recorded as lasting 5 minutes. So if DS2 had to give me a much longer labor than the other two (while I functioned on 30 hours of almost no sleep or food), at least the pushing part was a (relative) breeze.
 
I was happy with my care from Midwifery Care Associates and was glad that one of my two favorite midwives (Tara) was on call that night. She was great with discussing everything with us, keeping calm and not threatening any interventions, etc. She encouraged me to drink juice, soda, and gatorade and offered jello and applesauce...a smorgasbord compared to previously only being allowed ice chips! I would definitely recommend them. Shady Grove was also a positive experience, and I had some really awesome nurses - especially on the L&D side (a few in the maternity ward were "ehh," but that's to be expected).  I'd use both again.
 
DS2 is BFing well and sleeping OK. Things will be even nuttier when DH goes back to work next week, but I know this stage won't last forever. I am forcing myself to sit and snuggle DS2 and let him sleep on my chest (when possible...I do have two other kids to take care of, as well as trying to make sure my house doesn't become a biohazard).  This is probably my last newborn, so I'm going to soak up those moments more than I allowed myself to do with the other two!
 
I don't normally put my kids' names online, but since I made multiple posts about our naming indecision, I feel I should share.  Our little guy is Patrick James...I hope he likes it!
Baby Birthday Ticker Ticker
Baby Birthday Ticker Ticker
Baby Birthday Ticker Ticker
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