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Jesse's Birth Story By Mary E. Burgess |
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Birth Stories -
Homebirth Birth Stories
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Wednesday, 04 February 2009 09:48 |
I went in to see my midwife Monday morning at 10:00am. I hadn't had contractions and really was surprised when she said, "Let's do this." We used herbs to naturally induce. The reason to induce was to make sure I had some notice for finding care for the other three boys.
Anyway, the easiest way to explain the difference between hormone induction and herbal induction is that hormone induction is a definite eviction notice while herbal is along the lines of, "Hey, it's been fun and all but you really need to think about moving out." She said that it could work anywhere from one hour to 24 hours. I was surprised that half an hour later I was having contractions.
I drove to the chiropractor where he used a technique on my lower back to help the labor process. While adjusting me he said that I was in labor and he could feel the vibrations in the nerves in my back (pretty cool, eh).
Of course I had things I still had to get done so I raced to the vet to pick up my dog (who was on pain killers and totally out of it) and then started home. I stopped for gas and had to have an attendant that was walking past put a few dollars of gas in my tank because my contractions were then 7 minutes apart and I was on fumes and still had to get to the bank to make my van payment!
I got home and started to clean and make pumpkin bread. By the time I was done with all the cleaning, final preparations for home delivery and stuck the bread in the oven the contractions had been five minutes apart for an hour. I called my midwife, mother and husband. No sooner did I get off the phone with my midwife when they started at four minutes apart and in less than half an hour they were three minutes apart...but they didn't hurt yet.
My mother and Dear Husband came home. Mom watched the kids while DH and I went to the book store for coffee and a HUGE Rice Krispie treat (with chocolate on top). While browsing the books they started to get quite uncomfortable at three minutes apart so we went home.
The midwife decided to head over immediately. She got here and five minutes later POP! My water broke! She was laughing because there was so much of it that I filled the pad under me and almost flooded the bed (good thing the towels were nearby!).
I changed into my birth gear (bra and one of DH's undershirts...which he INSISTED I use one of his new ones...thanks, Bear). I had this towel between me and wrapped myself in a robe and went out to the living room where I was dancing to the Vegi Tales Silly Sing Along 2 video that the boys were watching on TV. By this time the contractions were lasting longer but were a little further apart. My mom, dad, sister-in-law, midwife and midwife's assistant were all here. I guess about 30 or 45 minutes later I decided to lay down because they were starting to hurt. It was 6:00pm and I was 7 cm.
We all expected me to have the baby within the hour because my other three were so fast. But by 7:00 or 7:30 I was only at 8 cm. It turns out that not only was Jesse the biggest baby I'd had (and I only gain 13 lbs) but his head was tilted towards his right shoulder making it more difficult for him to pass through the birth canal.
My midwife had me go sit on the toilet and push a few times (it actually felt good to push) to help move the baby down with the help of gravity. After about ten minutes I came back to bed. She said I had made "terrific progress" and that the head was right at the cervix. I had to blow through the next several contractions because I was now at 9 cm but she didn't want the cervix to swell because that would have slowed things down and that would have not been fun!
The next thing was that my cervix was not dilating evenly because Jesse's head was tilted funny. The pressure was not evenly distributed. Lori had to help get the last of the cervix dilated. Okay...this hurt! But I'm glad it was done because it sped things up!
About 8:30 (I'm guessing on the time because I really wasn't watching the clock too close) she told me I could push. After some pushing she had me pull up legs and drop my chin because Jesse's positioning made it slow progress (at least for me). I pushed for forty minutes or so when the head FINALLY started to come out. Lori had to reach in (thank goodness she has little hands and could do it!) and help get him out! Now I had told her he had a big head and bigger shoulders! I kept thinking to myself, "Oh my! I'm giving birth to a line backer!" Of course that's fine as long as he eventually plays for Green Bay (GO PACK!!)
In between the head coming out and shoulders coming out I didn't think I could do it. I just looked at her and said, "I can't push anymore! I can't do this!" She looked me right in the eye and told me I could just a few more.
About three pushes later the shoulders were out. WHAT A RELIEF! I was holding my little baby boy on my stomach with my DH right next to me smiling. I was so tired I couldn't cry. All I could do was tell my little Jesse that I had worked harder for him than any of the others.
I'll be honest. I wasn't prepared for this labor. My last three had at the most thirty minutes of pushing all together. I only pushed about three times with Grant and then ended up pushing for over forty minutes with Jesse! He came out so cute though with big chubby cheeks and thighs like his mother!
I held him for about forty-five minutes. Chris and I and Jesse spent a good amount of time alone just the three of us. Then we let CJ in to see his new brother (the other two were sleeping).
On the first three I was ready immediately to have another. This one took until the next day for me to say, "Okay, I can do this again." Besides, now that I can see my feet again and can verify that I still have ten toes, the memory is starting to fade...
Mary E. Burgess, mother of four boys
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