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Natural Birth
Klikina
member
Natural hospital birth story - delivered on the toilet!
Klikina
member
My estimated due date was November 1. I didn?t get checked in the last few weeks by my midwife because once again I had tested positive for GBS, and we didn?t want to risk the bacteria spreading. My midwife, Mary, had told us that she was working the evening shift on October 31 and November 1, so we were really hoping something would happen then. I?d had lots of Braxton Hicks contractions during this pregnancy, but in the end?nothing. We went to bed on Nov. 1 at about 11-11:30 pm.
At 12:30 am I woke up feeling like I needed to use the bathroom, but before I could get out of bed, I felt my water break. I woke up DH to get a towel and when he brought it to me it just started gushing. After cleaning up, we got back in bed. We knew that if we went to the hospital, they?d start me on Pitocin and I wanted to wait until the contractions started on their own. DH called his mom and told her that my water had broken but nothing else was happening (she was coming up to keep our son.) He also texted my sisters, who were supposed to come be my back-up labor supports. They were all 2.5 hours away.
At 1:30ish am I finally started having contractions. Right away they were really uncomfortable, so I got up and labored on the toilet for a few of them. I quickly decided to get in the bath, where I stayed for at least 30 minutes. By this point, DH had called his mom to tell her to come up, but not to rush. We thought we had at least 5-7 hours to go. After awhile in the tub, I really had to start vocalizing through the contractions. I got back on the toilet and they started feeling more intense. DH was finishing packing last-minute stuff in our bags. My plan had been to take a shower but that quickly went out the window. DH got our neighbor to come stay at our house and wait for his mom while our son slept, and in between two or three contractions, I managed to put in my contacts, put on my makeup, and get dressed- probably the fastest I?ve ever done that in my life! I had to actually hold onto the sink, and I was moaning and swaying. I couldn?t relax at all and with each one I knew this baby was coming quick.
We got in the car at about 3:30 am and I jumped in the backseat and hunched over the car seat. I told DH, ?Turn on the hazards and run the red lights. This girl is COMING!? I then closed my eyes while he drove the two minutes down the road and basically moaned/screamed ?Oh God!? through the contractions. It was all I could do not to push because I needed to bear down. We got to the ER parking lot and Chris yelled to the security guard at the door that we needed a wheelchair because I was having a baby. The guard basically said, ?Huh?? Yeah, we weren?t happy! Two soldiers who were outside came running and suddenly I was in a wheelchair and we?re headed down the hall, up the elevator, and into Labor & Delivery. (We live on a military post.) (I had my eyes closed and continued with my moaning/screaming.) I did find the time to yell about the fact that the automatic doors in the hospital weren?t working!
We got into L&D Triage, where I ripped off my dress and they started the monitor. I kept saying I needed to push. My midwife came in and said, ?I?m not even going to check you. I can tell by your contractions that you?re ready!? They got an ultrasound machine in there just to check that she was still head down, and then quickly unhooked the bed and rushed me down to an L&D room. (This was like 2-3 minutes total).
As soon as the bed was still, I flipped over onto my hands and knees and bore down during contractions. Then I was on my knees, sort of hugging the bed. Neither of these positions seemed effective and I said I wanted to push on the toilet, so Mary, DH and I went into the bathroom. I was not really aware of any of the nurses in the room but apparently they came and went. So during a contraction, I held onto the metal bathroom bar with my left hand and the toilet seat with my right, stood up, and kind of squatted. After the first few, Mary said she still couldn?t see the head. I was pretty much screaming and DH got verbally abused. It was very much an out-of-body experience. Finally when she said she could see the head, I pushed and felt the ?ring of fire?. Mary directed DH on how to catch the baby. Her head came out in one contraction push and her body in the next, and DH caught her! He just kept saying over and over, ?Our baby girl is here! She?s here!? I sat on the toilet and he put her in my arms. I think the first thing I said was, ?She?s so much smaller than DS!? She opened her eyes right away and let out a big cry. I couldn?t believe I had pushed her out so fast, and yay, didn?t have an episiotomy! (Something I had with an OB the first time and really wanted to avoid.)
The placenta came out about 10 minutes later, which I delivered into a dish Mary placed in the toilet. We waited until the cord stopped pulsing before clamping it. Before giving DH the scissors, she said, ?Let?s pray over your baby and your family.? So I was holding DD and DH and Mary put their hands on her while Mary prayed. It was so wonderful! Then DH and the nurse took Helen out into the room to get weighed while Mary cleaned DD's blood and poop off me in the shower. Afterward, I went out into the room and got back into the bed and we did all the admittance paperwork and blood draws. I worked on breastfeeding while we all joked about not having had time to get the birth plan out. Because I didn?t have any antibiotics for GBS, we were definitely going to have to stay in the hospital 48 hours for her observation, but she was fine! (I didn?t have an IV at all, which was wonderful.)
Our little girl was born November 2, 2012 at 4:18 am, weighed 7lbs 4 oz and was 19.5 inches long. Her head circumference was 35 cm and her Apgars were 8 and 9. She is a breastfeeding champ, and DS has decided she?s not so bad after all. J
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Re: Natural hospital birth story - delivered on the toilet!
Wonderful story! Thanks for sharing :-)
Elizabeth 5yrs old Jane 3yrs old
Congrats on your little one!
Curious which post you live on. So many around here get really bad raps for being non-med free birth friendly. It's good to hear there are some that are conducive to having a great birth experience.
Thanks everyone!
We are at Ft. Hood. When we had DS, we used civilian docs because we weren't close to a base. So I was wary but our midwife was awesome! The post hospital doesn't even have a nursery so they do automatic rooming in, unless baby needs to go to the NNicu. Even after a c-section baby stays with you. And they are planning to put in water birth tubs next year. We were really happy overall with our experience.
As far as Braxton Hicks, I didn't have any with DS, but had them all the time with DD. It literally felt like nothing was ever going to happen! But I guess it's true that you don't stay pregnant forever!