At 40 weeks and 5 days I had just gone for a NST to make sure there
was no reason to induce and that my little guy was still doing well.
Everything was fine and I rescheduled my midwife appointment until a
later day. I was with my mom and since we were in town we decided some
walking around would be good for me and my aunt suggested ginger tea.
Low and behold after a few sips of ginger tea my contractions started
at 6 P.M and my mother drove me home.
After two weeks of prodromal labor I was a little skeptical, but the contractions continued and then at around 8 P.M I knew that this was the real deal. They always
say you will have that one contraction and just know, well it's true.
So early labor continued on and laying down was not an option so I sat
on the birthing ball for a while and walked around, breathing through
the whole time. At around 10 I told my boyfriend to get some sleep it
was going to be a long night.
At 11 P.M. my contractions were coming every 2 minutes and lasting from a minute to a minute and a half. I called my midwife to let her know and she suggested I wait a little
longer and see if they get more consistent and closer together. A half
hour later they started getting irregular but stronger, and it was
getting more difficult to find a tolerable position.
In between contractions I read Secret Garden since I was coping in the bathroom
and letting my boyfriend sleep. At first I sat cross legged in the
tub, facing out and that felt wonderful for a while but as things
steadily progressed I started getting nauseous and was sitting Indian
style in front of the toilet.
Through all of this I was timing my contractions with an application on my phone, for an hour and a half my contractions were back to every two minutes lasting a minute and a
half each. I awoke my boyfriend and called the midwife, this was at 1
A.M., she said if it was time then she would meet us at the birthing
center and I confirmed that it was definitely time.
I called my doula and my mother next to inform them that we were headed to the birthing
center so they could meet us there. The drive wasn't too bad, I just
focused on my breathing, but the nausea was quite strong and I took a
bag just in case. I am sure glad I had the sense to bring it, as soon
as we pulled in the driveway I used the bag, but man did I feel sooooo
much better. I walked into the birthing center at 2:45 AM feeling
wonderful and I was thinking I couldn't be too far along yet, but when
Galyn checked me I was already 7 cm dilated. I couldn't believe it, I
was so happy to be so far along already. So I kept laboring for a
while and tried to get comfortable and rest if I could, but sleep just
wasn't coming. At this point time went out the window and I can't say
I know how long for sure, but it didn't feel like too much longer
before I got to get in the tub.It felt wonderful, the water was nice
and warm and the contractions eased up a bit, I was still talking and
smiling though. At my next check I was 10 cm dilated, I believe this
was around 4 AM ,but again I had no sense of time. I had no urge to
push yet and the baby wasn't quite down far enough yet. They said he
was laying a little funny and wanted to try sidelining, so out of the
tub and in the bed I got.
I laid on my side with one leg over a few
pillows and the other straightened, this was probably the most painful
part of my labor. I was suppose to stay this way for 30 minutes and as
painful as it was it felt nice to have my boyfriend holding me, and I
ended up sleeping between contractions.
I woke up two hours later and felt an urge to use the restroom, I waddled into the bathroom and sat on the toilet and there I stayed for quite a while. My doula came and
brought the birthing ball to rest my head on in case I wanted to rest
some more, and that's when I finally said I can't do this. Ashre, my
doula, said you are doing this just breath. She went and told Amber
and then they came back to me and asked if they could check me. I said
I didn't want to get up it hurt too bad, but they said I really needed
to get up so I did and waddled back to the bed. When Amber checked me,
she said it was time to start pushing if I felt like it and then my
water broke.
The urge to push hit me hard after that. The contractions
no longer hurt but my back and hips were hurting a lot, and Amber
explained I have an athletic pelvis and my muscles were so tight it
was hard for them to separate. They rubbed my lower back and hips with
essential oils and pressed down on them while I pushed on the birthing
stool, this felt good but I wasn't having as much progress. So I got
down on all fours and was resting my head on my boyfriends lap and
pushed. He had moved down and my hips and back felt so much better.
The tub was ready for me and I got in and kept pushing, but this
didn't quite feel right so I asked if I could turn the other direction
and was more or less squatting in the tub facing outward. This was
much more effective for me and Amber asked if I wanted to reach down
and so I did and as he was crowning and I could feel a full head of
hair.
I have to admit this felt pretty strange but it gave me
motivation for I bared down and pushed and pushed with each
contraction. I put my hand down my where I could feel his head and
gently massaged around it to relieve pressure and to help when I was
pushing. At this point I don't remember anything just pushing with all
my strength and everything I had in me and then Amber was telling me
to reach down and pull my baby up, and I did. It was fantastic, I
brought him right up to my chest and just looked down at his little
face and listening to his strong cries.
My boyfriend was behind me and whispered thank you in my ear as he held his son's hand and we both just touched him and were amazed that he was in the world and that I
had brought him into it. He continued to cry for about 10 minutes and
he wouldn't latch so Amber knew that something wasn't quite right. She
suctioned his mouth again and patted him on the back till a little
more fluid came out and he settled right down. I didn't even notice
birthing the placenta, I just focused on my baby while it happened.
After he was all settled down Amber gave to my boyfriend to hold while
they got my herbal bath ready. I felt wonderful and had no tearing
whatsoever, but still not really a sense of time, but I'm told about
an hour later they asked if I wanted to shower and change. Let me just
say that a shower sounded wonderful! My doula came with me in case of
heavy bleeding and to make sure I didn't faint, luckily no issues
there. I got out and went back into the room to hold my son and I saw
my boyfriend holding him with his pinkie in his mouth, what a
beautiful sight.
My dad held him and so did my mom, and we alerted the
whole family that Anthony Ray Gonzalez was born March 19th at 10:03
AM. While I held his little hands Amber checked him over and before
telling us how much he weighed she asked us to guess, Mario guessed 7
lbs 6 oz. and he was right on the money. He weighed 7 lbs 6 oz. and
was 20 and a half inches long. After trying the nippled shield he had
no issues eating and by week two he was completely weaned off of it.
He is a happy,healthy, growing little boy and I couldn't be more
blessed. It was such a wonderful birth, the only thing I would change
is putting on my swimsuit top so that we could take more pictures
after he was born, but that's all.
The birth was absolutely perfect!
As a first time mother I have to say that I will be trying for a home
birth the next time now that I feel more comfortable. If there was any
advice I have for first time moms it's to stay relaxed, breath, and
trust your body. And of course, build a great birthing team!
Many many thanks to Amber, Galyn,Stephanie, and Ashre. Without their support my
birth would have been much harder and I would have given up. They
helped me with all of my questions and concerns, big and small, then
when it was really time to get down to buisness I can't think of
anyone else I would like to have with me during labor.
No comments:
Post a Comment