Tuesday, January 10, 2012

Elizabeth's Birth Story Part 2

As I was saying in Part 1, I had decided that I'd better get to work.

I had been so excited at the option of a water birth, I had stayed up late into the nights preceding her birth reading about birthing in water, and yet somehow had never expressed this to Dennis, Megan, or Jen.
Oops.
By the time I asked about possibly getting into the tub there, Jen (the midwife) felt that the baby would be here before the tub filled.
Instead of getting excited about the proximity of meeting my child, I was disappointed again!  It seemed to be a recurring theme...
I had been in lighter spirits for a time during my labor with her...like when the nurses cleared the room and left us alone, Dennis bumped into the sterile table, knocking over the contents.  I told him it reminded me of something Don Knots would have done.
Most of the contractions I had I handled by "hanging" from Dennis' neck and swaying from side to side.  As he had a migraine, he said the pressure of my hands gripping the back of his neck actually felt good for him.  It was a win-win.
I also found that sitting on the birth ball was very helpful--I had done this with both Ruby and Ivy, too.

After some minutes, it was suggested that I try using the birth stool, which I had never done.  I thought I could give it a try, and did, but did not like it.  I wonder if perhaps they are not the best for plus-size women?  It's just my theory.  I did labor for a time upon it, but right before the baby was born, Jen could see I was not impressed using it and asked if I would prefer to birth the baby in the bed.  As I'd delivered all the others that way, I said yes, and that's what we did.

It only took a couple pushes and she was here!

I had completely convinced myself that the baby was a boy so that's pretty much what I said over and over again:  I thought it was going to be a boy...

We had seen the midwife at 3pm, swept membranes at 4, labor began mildly at 6:15.  At 7:45, Jen checked and I was at 9cm with no consistent contraction pattern. She said the only thing holding this baby back was a big bag of water.  After some discussion, I agreed for her to break the water. Things moved quickly then and she was born at 8:16 pm.  Not a bad schedule.  (The overdue part wasn't a fun part of the schedule, but the quickness of labor was a plus!)

There is some more to the story I'd like to write about, so I guess there will be a part 3.

And if you're thinking, that took her a whole week to write that?!?! , the answer is:
Yes.
Yes it did.
My mind has been on a bit of a grammatical sabbatical lately.
(Ha, ha!  I crack me up.)

4 comments:

  1. I REALLY had my heart set on a water birth with Kendall. I was SO disappointed when my blood pressure spiked so it was necessary for me to have Kendall on the fetal monitor. I still grieve the loss of my "perfect" birthing experience. 50 hours of labor followed by a c-section was NOT what I had in mind!!! I'm very sorry you had so much disappointment. It's hard to let go of the experience we hope for. But at least we still have some beautiful babes to show for it. -Becca

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  2. I know that feeling of disappointment. I did not get my water birth with Zoelle. Lots going on there with her heart, etc. However, God was good to restore and Meridian was birthed in the water.

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  3. Ahhhhh, LOVE it. Who announced her gender? And did you already have a girl name picked out?

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  4. Megan Mueller JensenJanuary 11, 2012 at 9:39 AM

    I love hearing other mommies' birth stories! I don't know if you remember, but Sydney was 2 weeks late. 12 hours after resorting to castor oil and 3 hours after a big bowl of chili, I was absolutely convinced I had gas and wasn't in labor. (My belly never got hard like it had with Braxton-Hicks). So when we finally went in at the middle of the night, I stuck my bare feet into some nasty tennis shoes and told Matt NOT to bring the bag because I was sure I would jinx it and it wouldn't be the real thing anyway. Lo and behold, I went through labor and delivery plodding around the hallways in disgusting old tennis shoes and didn't have a single thing with me that I had so meticulously read about, purchased, and packed. Mom, dad, and Martin (with my bag) finally got to the door as I yelled "I'm going to poop on the table!" My brother has been permanently scarred. :)

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