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Birth Stories
Water Birth (LONG)
Gabriel William was born 12-07-08, 7lb, 2.6oz, 20 inches long. His EDD was 12-03. We did do a Water birth, and it was definitely an experience! I woke up around 7:15am on Sunday 12-07 with some consistent contractions. They were about 8 minutes apart, and 45 seconds long. I decided to get up and clean. I folded laundry while bouncing on my birthing ball. The contractions weren?t painful, just uncomfortable. DH got the car started (we live in MN so it was pretty cold,) I went to take a shower. We were going to a birthing center which is 80 miles away, but my mom lives about 15 minutes away from the center so at around 11am we decided to relocate to my mom?s house. So off we were, DH, my sister, Samuel and I. The car ride was the most uncomfortable thing ever. I really wanted to move around. We stopped at a gas station so I could go the bathroom. Moving around felt heavenly! I had to stop every time I had a contraction, but just being able to move felt wonderful! The contractions were still lasting about 45 seconds but were much closer together about every 3-4 minutes. DH asked if I wanted to go the hospital. I said yes, but then I changed my mind because I really didn?t think I was in active labor. DH said that he?d rather stop at the hospital and get sent home, then to deliver a baby on the side of the road. We got to the hospital around 12 and I totally thought that they were going to send me home, my contractions were consistent, but not very intense. We got in and got back to a room. The nurse asked if I wanted her to check me or if I wanted to wait for the midwife. I told her I didn?t mind if she checked me and she did. At my last appt on Thursday I was 2cm dilated. As the nurse was getting ready to check me I was telling her that I was pretty sure I wasn?t in active labor, but we just wanted to know were we were at. She checked me, and asked us if we wanted to have a baby. To our surprise I was 5 cm dilated so they kept me. I had to lie on my back and be monitored for about 20 min to get a base line for the baby?s heart beat and the contractions. I found out that they didn't do a complete Hepatitis Panel, so I had to have blood drawn. They don?t' do a water birth unless you are completely negative on all blood tests. They had no idea how long it would take to get back from lab, so depending on how fast I progressed I wouldn't be able to deliver in the tub. I could labor in it, but not deliver. So the midwife put a rush on the blood test, since the whole reason we went to that specific hospital was because of the water birth option. At around 2pm I was having difficulty staying on top of the contractions so I asked for some medication. They gave my 5mg of Nubain. It really helped me stay focuses on breathing through the contractions and the really curved the intensity. I got into the tub as soon as they got a hep lock (an IV w/o having any fluids or anything running through it, just the port into the vein) started and had drawn all the blood they needed. It was so great! It was just a big Jacuzzi tub w/o the jets. The buoyancy of the water made all the contractions much easier to breath through, actually it was more like meditate through. I kept making this Ooohooom noise like when monks meditate! I don't know why, but it seemed to help, I did it through the whole labor. I would say around 3:30 I started having trouble staying on top of the contractions again, so they gave me another 5mg of nubain. At this point the midwife was trying to call the lab and see if the results were back, because she thought that I was pretty close to needing to push. She checked me while the nurse called the lab, and sure enough I was 9.5 cm dilated and just had a little lip of cervix left and I would be ready to start pushing. So they were getting ready to get me out of the tub when the nurse ran in and said that I was clear, and I could stay in the tub. I was so happy! I was getting really nervous about having to get out of the tub, it felt so great! I started pushing and pushed for about an hour, he was born at 4:51pm. When he crowned it was the most intense feeling I have ever felt. It was like my vagina was on fire. My calm meditation noised turned into straight out mad women screams as he crowned and came out into the water, the midwife grabbed him and suctioned out his mouth and placed him on my chest, they placed a blanket on top of us both, and told me to sink down into the water so the baby?s body was in the warm water with me. At the same time, they kept rubbing his back and suctioning his mouth to get the amniotic fluid/water out of his mouth. He let out a huge wail and started crying and began to pink up. They took him to the warming lights and started to do their thing. I stayed in the water. After a few minutes they asked me if I felt like I could give a little push to push the placenta out. I tried, and nothing really happened, she tugged on the cord a little and said that it wasn't ready yet. A few minutes later she did the same thing and this time she asked me to push. I pushed, and out came the placenta. They took that and examined it to make sure it was normal. I stayed in the water for just a minute longer (I would have stayed longer but they told me they had to check me to see if I tore, and make sure that everything was starting to clamp down.) I got out of the water, and this sucked so much, as soon as gravity hit I felt like my insides were trying to fall out. They moved me to the bed where they started to check me. The midwife was trying to look to see if I tore, but it hurt so much every time she opened up my labia. I finally asked her if I could open it for her. She agreed. This was the best thing I could have asked. I was able to spread everything so she could see what she needed, but it didn?t hurt as much, because I was doing it. I didn't tear, but my uterus wasn't clamping down the way it was supposed to. So they brought Gabriel over to me and to nurse. Nursing stimulates the body to clamp/cramp. So I started to nurse him, and started feeling what felt like contractions again, which is what they wanted. They told me if I didn't start clamping down more than what I was and I continued to bleed, they were going to give me a shot to help. Thankfully, Gabriel is a champion nurser and got to business and everything stopped bleeding. When I had Samuel I had an epidural, and I can't say that I prefer one over the other. I definitely felt more empowered after the water birth, but I also kind of knew what to expect, and I'm also not 17 years old!
I am BF, and everything is going really well. We stayed in the hospital until Tuesday AM. Monday night was the hardest night I?ve had with Gabriel. He nursed all night long. I latched him on at 10 pm, and he literally switched from one breast to the other until 6:15 am, when he finally fell asleep. At around 3pm I broke down and started crying just because of the intensity of his sucking, and how tired I was. It was hard, but I am grateful I stuck with it. He was so efficient at nursing that by Tuesday afternoon, my milk came in. I was so engorged and stayed that way until Thursday. My experience BF Gabriel is very different than when I BF Samuel. I?m more comfortable because I?ve done it before, and knew what to expect. With Gabriel I had, and still sometimes have a very painful stabbing pain in my chest. It almost feels like a hot blade going through my breast to my spine, and from my shoulder towards my nipples. My mom has been my own personal lactation consultant! She got me a rice pack to heat up in the microwave and place down my spine while I nurse, and it has been a miracle!
Samuel loves his little brother and its great being a mother of two!
Feel free to ask any questions, and I?ll try to answer them as soon as I can!
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Re: Water Birth (LONG)
Congratulations. Sounds like a pretty good birth (and a lot like my own). Recover quickly, and enjoy your new little one!