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March 2014 Moms
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Pinecone21's Almost Med-Free Birth

Pinecone21Pinecone21 member
in March 2014 Moms
My intention was to have a med-free hospital birth. It didn't quite end up that way, but overall I'm happy with how things went.

Short version: Abigail Jane was born on Tuesday, March 25 at 8:18 pm, 7 pounds 7 ounces, 18.5 inches, over 24 hours of labor

Long version: My due date based on my LMP was on Saturday the 22nd. Based on when I ovulated it would have been the 25th, but the OB only changes it if you ovulate more than a week past day 14. Turns out, my baby was right on time with her ovulation due date!

As of my Friday appointment, I had absolutely no signs of labor. All weekend I tried getting things moving with sex, walking, spicy food, nipple stimulation, and on Monday I had a pedicure. All day Monday I had cramps, and by Monday evening I had timeable contractions. They slowed down by midnight, so I went to sleep. I woke up at 1:30 with more contractions and the loss of my mucus plug (which continued throughout the day - so gross!). I labored the rest of the night at home.

By 10:30 on Tuesday morning, the contractions were 5 minutes apart, so MH and I headed to the hospital. When we got there, the nurse at the L&D reception didn't believe I was ready to be admitted because I was walking and talking fine. Then she saw me have a contraction, and finally sped up the process. At my first check, I was dilated 3-4 cm, which was quite the improvement over 0 cm on Friday! This hospital's standard procedure is to give everyone pitocin and an epidural, but all I got was a heplock.

I continued to labor through the afternoon, mostly walking and standing. By 5 pm I was only at 6 cm, and I was exhausted. The contractions were coming one on top of the other. I agreed to get some fentanyl through the heplock. It made the room spin, but as long as I kept my eyes closed I was fine. It took the edge off, and also spaced out the contractions a bit. It wore off after an hour, so I got a second dose. By 7 pm, I was through transition and felt the urge to push.

Pushing took some practice! The L&D nurse was very helpful in coaching me through it - I had to hold my breath and push for a count of 10, then take another breath and push some more, over and over until the contraction was finished. I did this for an hour, and then Abigail slid out, turning a 360 (according to MH) and spraying the OB with the water that had been stuck above her body. It was such a relief to have her out!

Delivering the placenta and getting stitched (2nd degree tear) was worse than the actual delivery. They think the placenta was wrapped around my fibroid, so they had to give me pitocin to get it out. I did immediate skin-to-skin, but with all the poking and prodding and stitching, I wasn't able to breastfeed very well. Overall, though, it was a good delivery, and I'm happy with how things turned out.

I'll leave it here, after being interrupted for an hour by a screaming baby. My life sure has changed!

Here are the photos, including one of me right before we left the hospital. I knew that I would still look pregnant, but wow, my belly is still so big.

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