Jeremiah's birth story!

shindylahoe · November 2014

I have loved reading all of the birth stories on here while waiting for my own. They were an encouragement that my own was right around the corner. I hope this does the same for the rest of you ladies who are still waiting!

Short story:
AROM at 8:45am
Contractions start at 1:00pm
Baby born at 3:45pm

Long story:

11-12-14- I go to routine doctors appointment. 3-4cm dilated, very favorable for an induction via AROM.

My midwife gives me the choice to be induced the following day or wait until the 21st when she will be available again.

Based on my past history of going late and needing to be induced anyway I opt for the earlier induction date.

11-13-14 (39w 6d)

7:00am- get checked into the hospital. This takes some time to start paper work and an IV. They also use this time to monitor baby and his heart rate looks amazing.

8:45am- My midwife comes in and breaks my water. She also checks dilation and I am at a solid 4cm.

I get up and start walking around as soon as they allow me to. I change positions often hoping to get contractions to start. I wanted to have the best chance possible to give birth with out pit.

It takes contractions a lot longer to start then expected and I become somewhat discouraged.

1:00pm- I finally start having contractions that are both time able and painful. It couldn't have been too soon because my midwife had just come in and offered to start some pit. She was not pushy at all but I knew that I was on the clock.

At this point my contractions coming around every 5-7 minutes and I had to focus/ breath through them. I was confident with the progress that I was making, so I turned down the offer. Pit was never offered again.

2:00- My contractions are coming consistently at every 5 minutes and I decide to get into the shower for a bit to try to help relieve some pain. The shower has always been a place where I can focus and relax.

While in the shower I start feeling a lot of pressure and send my husband to let my nurse know.

My coping technique changes from breathing through the contractions to low moans.

I can hear that there are more nurses and also that my midwife is now staying in my room. I am encouraged by this knowing that they all believe I am close to delivery.

3:00- I slowly (and painfully!) make my way out of the shower to be checked. 7cm.
I ask for a dose of fentanyl and it helps me to focus during contractions and relax in between the pain.

The fentanyl is short lived but just what I needed to help focus my energy. I begin feeling a lot more pressuring during contractions that makes me feel like I need to pee.

I head to the toilet where contractions keep coming and my midwife urges me to come back to the bed so she can check me.

On my way to the bed I have 2 more contractions. At this point there is a lot of "I can't do this, I need to poop, can I have more fentanyl" coming out of my mouth. Everyone in the room was very supportive and just kept encouraging me that baby was almost there.

I was scared of the pressure and urge I was feeling to push. In my previous labors I had never felt the urge to push and had always needed to be informed of when it was time for me to push.

I was also scared that I would start pushing and then find out that I hadn't made enough progress and irritate my cervix.

3:30(ish) I give in to the urge to push and let out my first deep push.

The birth staff quickly gets everything ready. I was currently standing leaning against the bed and working through contractions and they urge me onto the bed so that my baby will be in a better position to catch.

With much convincing I climb onto the bed on hands and knees and begin to bear down.

Although previously I had always done my pushing on my back in that moment there was no way I was going to roll over and lay down.

My body took over and forces me to push.

It may be more accurate to say, that I finally let go of my inhibitions and once that happened my body knew exactly what to do.

This was such a change from my previous labor and deliveries where I had needed constant coaching to know when to push and for how long.

3:45 Around 3 intense pushes later Jeremiah is born and they hand him to me under my legs.

The relief was immense. I couldn't stop saying "oh my God, I just did that" I couldn't believe it was over. I wasn't pregnant anymore!

After birthing the placenta my midwife checks me out and I had no tearing! I was surprised because of my position and how quickly I had pushed him out.

After birth he was wide awake for a few hours and nursed multiple times. He got the nack of nursing right away.

We had all taken bets on how big he would be and my midwife guessed it exactly (same midwife to guess My daughters weight exactly)

Jeremiah Addison was born weighing 6lbs 9oz and 19" long.

I would say that it was a really good experience but I am also so ready to never ever do that again.

Please feel free to ask any questions if I missed anything! Thank you so much for reading!