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May baby- Got a huge surprise at 38w3d! (long)

strawberrytreestrawberrytree member
in June 2012 Moms

 

I work part time, and have been trying to get as many hours in as possible before baby comes. DH was getting nervous about me working, so I promised him that I would stop working once June arrived. LO wasn't due until the 10th so I figured I would have plenty of time, since there was no way I'd be so lucky as to go a week or so early.

So on Wednesday afternoon right at the end of lunch when I saw a bit of my mucous plug when I wiped, I didn't get too excited- I knew from these boards that it could regenerate, or it could be a week or more before baby came. I'm a teacher, and during my last period class I started to feel something leaking. I got another teacher to watch my class for a second while I dashed to the bathroom and peed, but the fluid kept leaking. I made a makeshift pad and returned to finish teaching my class, finally realising that my water had broken.

I walked home (we only live 15 minutes away from my school) at the end of the day and met DH there. We ran around frantically packing bags, since mine was only half packed, and realised we hadn't even installed the carseat yet. I started having a few irregular contractions in the car on the way to the hospital, fighting rush hour traffic the whole way (felt like it took forever- DH said it wasn't any worse than usual but he wasn't the one in labour!).

When we got to the hospital they checked me out and said my water had definitely broken but I was still in early labour, so they suggested I go for a walk and see if things sped up. The school DH teaches at is across the street from the hospital, so we walked over so he could leave some work for a sub the next day and call his boss and say he wouldn't be in. By then the contractions were pretty bad, so we returned to the labour unit and they checked me out. I was only 3cm dilated but 100% effaced (for which I am going to credit the evening primrose oil I was taking).

At that point my doula arrived and labour really started. After two hours of labouring on the ball and in the tub, they checked again and I was almost 8cm dilated. Around 10pm I was 9cm and my body started to push involuntarily before I realised it. I pushed for half an hour before he started to crown. He stayed in that position for an excruciating half hour while I kept pushing, convinced that he was going to stay in the birth canal forever. The doctor told me that if he didn't make any progress in the next few minutes I might need an episiotomy, and I was dead set on having a med-free, intervention-free birth so I used that as motivation. Baby Gareth Brian was born at 11:16pm on May 30, 19 inches long and 7 pounds even with a head full of red hair.

Gareth was a bit jaundiced so we had to stay at the hospital an extra day, but we were able to come home yesterday afternoon. Breastfeeding has been going pretty well- he's mostly got the hang of it but I'm struggling with a bit of engorgement on one side. My mom flew out for the weekend to meet him and help out and was the perfect new-baby-houseguest- did laundry, cleaned my bathroom, picked up some easy groceries for us, etc. She just left a short while ago and we are so excited to get into a routine as a family of three. 

I am so grateful that I had a relatively fast and straightforward birth experience that went just the way I had hoped. I didn't take any childbirth classes and hadn't gotten around to watching any videos yet but it was so much easier than I had built up in my mind. My body just took over and knew exactly what to do. 

On another note, anyone know how I can change my settings so that on TB's homepage it stops telling me I still have 7 days left to go? 

Will add some pics later when I get a chance to upload them! 

 


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