Yella726's Birth Story (Team Green turned Team Blue) - Lucas Armando
Saturday
October 11 was 2 days past my due date, so DH and I decided to drop by
the vineyard (I work at a winery) to check out how harvest was going and
then go for a hike that morning. Almost as soon as I started on the
trail, I definitely felt some downward pressure as if gravity was
starting to take effect.

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The previous couple of days had seen sex, nipple stimulation and accupressure, eggplant parmesan and pineapple. The
rest of the day ahead was relatively uneventful and we took advantage of doing stuff
around the house (including making some yummy lasagna for dinner later
that night).
But by 8 PM, I started having some uncomfortable
(what I thought were) Braxton Hicks. Up until that point, I was getting
Braxton Hicks pretty regularly, so this didn't phase me -- except for
the fact that it was getting difficult to get comfortable. My doula
was 1.5 hours away that weekend, but told me to call as soon as things
started happening. After deciding to take a bath and (try to) relax, I
decided to start timing things. They were already 3-4 minutes apart and
lasting average 45 seconds each. I was expecting to have *some* back
pain, but it was all in front which continued making me question things.
After hemming and hawing for a while (I felt bad for waking her up
since I just wasn't sure), I called our doula at 10PM. She told me
(since I wasn't sure), to drink some water and lie down for an hour to
see if they continued in intensity or died down. But before the hour was
even up, I knew this was the real deal. I called her back and she said
she'd hit the road immediately. Since we had decided in our birth plan
to labor at home for as much as possible, I drew another bath and tried
again to relax. The sensations began radiating into my back and, at a
certain point, I told my husband to just text our doula and let her know
to meet us at the hospital.
We arrived at the hospital just
after 12AM and were wheeled directly into the birthing center. The
lights were low and the atmosphere was calm. We had brought an iPod with
a playlist on it to play and soothe us. Things are a little
hazy after this point; my husband tells me stories of things that
happened that I just can't remember. We were going for a natural birth,
and I was hooked up to a saline lock right away for antibiotics (Group B
Strep Positive). Our doula arrived about half an hour after that and we
immediately set up the birthing tub and I jumped in as soon as it was
ready. After an hour or two, we decided to get me up and out and moving
around and going to the bathroom. Over the course of the next --
::counts on fingers:: -- 10 hours, I shifted from the yoga ball (the
pressure on my nether regions was too much), the
birthing tub, the toilet, the birthing stool, hands and knees and
squatting. Each change of position was incredibly painful, so once I was
IN a position, I was hellbent on staying there. Ultimately, I ended up
on my back pushing with my legs against the squatting bar and pulling
with my arms. Not how I had wanted to push my baby out, but that's the
way my body (and my baby) chose!
After a little over 2 hours of
(incredibly vocal)
pushing, a lot of breathing and focusing my energy on helping to move
the baby downward, as well as an offer of an episiotomy from my midwife
(which I turned
down), and the most intense "ring of fire" sensations I have ever felt,
Lucas Armando came into our lives on Sunday October 12 at 12:56 PM,
weighing in at 8 lbs, 8.5
oz and 21 inches long. I was relieved, in shock and so in love! My
husband cut the cord (he swore up and down that he wouldn't be able to)
and we had some serious skin-to-skin time (DH as well!). Our midwife
told us that my pelvic floor muscles were so strong (uuhh, thanks yoga?)
that it prolonged my labor and that if I had let her give me an
episiotomy the baby would have been born 45 minutes earlier. That said, I
had almost no tearing BUT I did bleed quite a lot so I was hooked up to
an IV bag of Pitocin and given methergine (in pill form) to help stop
bleeding, as well as a daily iron pill to combat my bleeding-induced
anemia.
But srsly, you guise:
Re: Yella726's Birth Story!!
It's a BOY! Est. Due Date - October 17th
O14 January Signature Challenge: Snow Fails
30 dx with PCOS 2010 treating with metformin
DS1 12-29-11 DS2 11-4-14
BFP 10/19/13 missed mc at 5 weeks d&c 11/18/13
BFP 2/16/14 Please stick baby! ! EDD 10/31/14
DX with septate uterus 3/1/14
Me: 34 DH: 34
TTC since Jan '13
BFP#1 - EDD 3/24/14 - d&c 7w5d
BFP#2 - EDD 6/14/14 - cp 4w2d
BFP#3 - EDD 10/28/14 - It's a BOY!!! - Born 10/26/14
Married 8/27/2011
BFP #1 9/28/2011 DS born 5/22/2012
BFP #2 4/24/2013 m/c 4/25/2013 at 4w
BFP #3 1/31/2014 DD born 10/14/2014
BFP #4 1/20/2016 m/c 2/12/2014 at 7w2d
BFP #5 8/19/2016 DS2 born 4/29/2017
BFP #6 3/7/2018 EDD 11/18/2018