Oscar's Birth Story

My EDD for my 3rd LO was this past Sunday the 10th, but I had been pretty confident that he would be born early. Alas Sunday came and went without even a sign of labor. On Monday I started to get a bad cold, and we feeling very frustrated. Tuesday morning I woke up feeling terrible, emotionally. I was frustrated to be 'overdue' with NO signs of impending labor and so annoyed to have a cold as well. But it turned out to be a beautiful day. DD and I went for a brisk and long walk while DS was in school. The rest of the day was pretty normal, though I did have a contraction or two throughout the afternoon. I recognized that they were definitely contractions, as they were pretty dang uncomfortable, but were so sporadic and infrequent that I knew it also didnt guarantee labor. When DH came home from work I told him and he encouraged me to go rest, in case it was the real deal. I did, but didn't get much sleep. My parents came over after dinner to visit the LOs and offered to put them to bed for us so DH and I could go for a walk and get things moving. They definitely increased on the walk, but still no real regularity. I labored like that for about 15 hours with DS, and was worried it would be a similar experience.

We got home, they slowed down again so we tried to go to bed. We rested from about 10pm to midnight, but I was contracting throughout and had to breathe through them, so I had a pretty good sense at this point that things were really happening. We got up at midnight to try and start timing them. They were still irregular, but were very painful and I definitely had to concentrate through them. We called my MW around 1am and she seemed uncertain about it being early labor vs real labor. But I was concerned b/c it was my 3rd (and could go fast) and I was GBS+ (and needed the time for the antibiotic doses). She said to call back in an hour, so we spent the hour on the couch, kind of watching TV, timing them, and relaxing. I found at this point I got very quiet and very inwardly focused to work through the contractions. I didn't need to be rubbed or touched, but needed to breath really deeply and swinging my hips in a wide half circle definitely helped. My MW called me at the end of the hour and agreed to meet and see what was what. We got to the birth center at 2:45, and got settled in. My MW checked me and found I was at 6 cms, and they agreed this was happening, so hooked up my IV for the antibiotics. 

After the first dose was done, I got in the birth tub, which felt great but slowed things down. I was so mentally done with being pregnant, eager to meet Oscar, and ready to give myself in to the contractions that I didn't want things to slow down. I got out and walked around to encourage things along, still dealing in much the same way: inwardly focused, deep breathing, and some hip swinging. I had read some birth stories that talked about a contraction being like a wave, and you ride up the wave to the peak, and back down. So I started imagining it like that, breathing deeply until the peak and riding it back down, focusing on staying on top of the wave and not letting myself get submerged. It actually helped a lot to stay on top of the contractions, which was the first time where visualization like that worked for me in labor.  My MW suggested, since they needed 4 hours between antibiotic doses, that I try to rest for a bit. Surprisingly I was able too. DH and I just lay on the bed, dozing in and out, dealing with contractions the same way while DH squeezed my hand.

At the end of the hour, 6 am, I wanted to know how long until my next dose. With my previous 2 LOs my dilation stalled and my water needed to be broken for things to continue (DS was out 2 hours after having water broken, and DD was out 30 minutes after having water broken). At this point I wanted them to break my water, but they wouldn't  until I had completed my antibiotics, which was an hour and a half away. But my MW agreed to check me and found me to be at 8 cms, and then stretched me further. At that point things really picked up for me and I think the MWs recognized that we may not make it another hour and a half. I also started to feel a bit pushy. This was a new experience for me too. With the other LOs once I was complete, I HAD to push and couldn't stop my body if I wanted to. This time,during contractions I just felt lots of pressure and it felt good to bear down a bit. It wasn't the overwhelming urge like the other 2, but just relieved some pressure. 

I got back in the tub at that point and continue to work through the contractions, though I became a bit more vocal about it. They set up my IV a little bit early and I got my 2nd dose closer to 7 than 7:30. Once it was done, my MW broke my water (around 7:15), which felt great. She also said at that point I was almost complete, just with a bit of a cervical lip. Things got intense quick and soon enough I was having that overwhelming urge to push. His head was out in just a few pushes, but I had to pant through some of it, which was SO hard. And then his cord was around his neck 3 times and was tight enough that they couldn't get it unwrapped over his head. The fact that the cord was around his neck (which isn't uncommon) didnt concern me, but when they couldnt get it unwrapped and both MWs had their hands down there working on it, things got uncomfortable (physically) and I got really really eager to get him out asap. He also had "sticky shoulders", where they dont technically get stuck, but they're just a little...sticky, I guess. So I was pushing with all my might, and the MWs were working to get the cord off AND were pulling and turning him to help the shoulders. It was definitely the most difficult pushing phase of my 3 LOs! But he was out by 7:20, so only 5 minutes after they broke my water, and was pinking up right away. He was great!! 

We snuggled in the tub for a bit, then they passed him to DH for some skin-to-skin cuddles while I moved to the bed. I was checked out and had zero damage, which I was glad to hear (this was also the first labor where I truly felt the 'ring of fire'). Then I took DS back and he latched like a champ! He did so well. But its no wonder; he was born hungry! We found out after that he was 9lb 7oz at birth! A good pound, almost pound and a half, bigger than our other 2! 

Things have gone well since then. DH is home and taking care of the other 2 LOs and I snuggling and nursing DS. I'm not doing well at the whole 'sleep when the baby sleeps' thing though....

But we're so happy he's here and doing well!  (Sorry that got long!)