ShanaMama
07-27-2008, 07:27 PM
DD2 arrived safe and sound on Wednesday, the 23.
My water broke about 7 am and I thought there was some meconium so my midwives said I needed to come right in. We took our time packing up and getting DD off to the friends she'd be staying with. She was so excited to take her own little suitcase! Turns out there was no mec and I was barely having contractions. They gave me the choice of waiting things out (12 hours until induction) or being induced then. Since this was a repeat of DD's labor my I didn't feel things would start on their own. I was not about to wait around until 7 pm and then labor all night- I was ready to have a baby. So I started pitocin at 11:45 am. It took several hours for labor to really kick in. I was walking around the hospital with DH, breathing through the contractions. Took a shower, tried various positions in the room which were all very good for the terrible back labor. DH and I spent a good long while laboring together. He was incredible and it was such a special bonding time.
By about 6 pm I was really in active labor and started having a slight urge to push. When my mw checked me and I was only 6 cm I got pretty discouraged. (I had walked in at 4.) DH was so encouraging with this funny example about how it takes a car longer to get from 0-50 mph than from 50-80. We decided to give it an hour and re-evaluate. The next half hour was really difficult. I was up in the bed and my midwife and nurse were rubbing my back and holding my hand with each contraction. I barely had time to recover from one when the next one started. By 6:30 I said that's it. I need the Jacuzzi or an epidural. Well, my midwife checked me again and I was 9.5!! I couldn't believe it.
The next 20 mins are a bit of a blur. My mw wanted to try and push aside the last bit or cervical lip so she asked me to push. It didn't work. Once I was lying down in bed it was too hard to get up between contractions so I stayed laying down. Apparently the baby's heartbeat started having some decelerations during contractions, which were coming on top of each other. The nurse and midwife were pretty concerned with getting a good tracing of the baby. When they ignored my request to hold my hand during a contraction I started getting nervous. They gave me some oxygen and I just dealt with the contractions on my own. I was envisioning being rushed out for an emergency c-section because I wasn't quite sure what was going on. When they suggested I try pushing I made up my mind to give it all I've got for my baby. I gave two tremendous pushes and out she came! They were so shocked they were calling for nursery STAT as her head was being delivered! Nothing like a scared momma to get her baby out fast!
She was perfectly ok and I they handed her right to me. I discovered that she was a beautiful baby girl. She was 9 lb 6 oz and 21 3/4 in long- a chubby little girl.
I am so proud of myself and what I accomplished with that hard labor. No pain meds at all, which was what I really wanted. People are shocked when I tell them I was induced with no epidural, but if you have the support I did and all the options and labor positions I used it is so do-able.
We came home on Friday and we are all doing very well. DD is so proud of her baby sister! I am adjusting to being a mom of 2. Nursing is going great. We are currently dealing with a slightly elevated bilirubin so we need to go back to the hospital tomorrow morning for another blood test. Otherwise little DD2 is a champ and I am so in love with her!
My water broke about 7 am and I thought there was some meconium so my midwives said I needed to come right in. We took our time packing up and getting DD off to the friends she'd be staying with. She was so excited to take her own little suitcase! Turns out there was no mec and I was barely having contractions. They gave me the choice of waiting things out (12 hours until induction) or being induced then. Since this was a repeat of DD's labor my I didn't feel things would start on their own. I was not about to wait around until 7 pm and then labor all night- I was ready to have a baby. So I started pitocin at 11:45 am. It took several hours for labor to really kick in. I was walking around the hospital with DH, breathing through the contractions. Took a shower, tried various positions in the room which were all very good for the terrible back labor. DH and I spent a good long while laboring together. He was incredible and it was such a special bonding time.
By about 6 pm I was really in active labor and started having a slight urge to push. When my mw checked me and I was only 6 cm I got pretty discouraged. (I had walked in at 4.) DH was so encouraging with this funny example about how it takes a car longer to get from 0-50 mph than from 50-80. We decided to give it an hour and re-evaluate. The next half hour was really difficult. I was up in the bed and my midwife and nurse were rubbing my back and holding my hand with each contraction. I barely had time to recover from one when the next one started. By 6:30 I said that's it. I need the Jacuzzi or an epidural. Well, my midwife checked me again and I was 9.5!! I couldn't believe it.
The next 20 mins are a bit of a blur. My mw wanted to try and push aside the last bit or cervical lip so she asked me to push. It didn't work. Once I was lying down in bed it was too hard to get up between contractions so I stayed laying down. Apparently the baby's heartbeat started having some decelerations during contractions, which were coming on top of each other. The nurse and midwife were pretty concerned with getting a good tracing of the baby. When they ignored my request to hold my hand during a contraction I started getting nervous. They gave me some oxygen and I just dealt with the contractions on my own. I was envisioning being rushed out for an emergency c-section because I wasn't quite sure what was going on. When they suggested I try pushing I made up my mind to give it all I've got for my baby. I gave two tremendous pushes and out she came! They were so shocked they were calling for nursery STAT as her head was being delivered! Nothing like a scared momma to get her baby out fast!
She was perfectly ok and I they handed her right to me. I discovered that she was a beautiful baby girl. She was 9 lb 6 oz and 21 3/4 in long- a chubby little girl.
I am so proud of myself and what I accomplished with that hard labor. No pain meds at all, which was what I really wanted. People are shocked when I tell them I was induced with no epidural, but if you have the support I did and all the options and labor positions I used it is so do-able.
We came home on Friday and we are all doing very well. DD is so proud of her baby sister! I am adjusting to being a mom of 2. Nursing is going great. We are currently dealing with a slightly elevated bilirubin so we need to go back to the hospital tomorrow morning for another blood test. Otherwise little DD2 is a champ and I am so in love with her!