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Serena's Birth Story By Serena |
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Birth Stories -
Natural Birth Stories
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Tuesday, 02 December 2008 09:26 |
I didn't find out I was pregnant until I was seven weeks along. It was a big surprise for me and my boyfriend, and a big scare.
I had gotten pregnant eleven months before and miscarried at six weeks. Although we were reassured that alot of first pregnancies end up miscarriages I couldn't help but worry...constantly.
I did this until I was about three and a half months, then I finally started to enjoy being pregnant. My morning sickness was gone and my energy level back up, and I wasn't as worried about losing my baby. Sure enough when 24wks. strolled around I started getting alot of contractions. They weren't very painful, but I decided to check it out anyway. Good thing. I was told that I was in premature labor. I was given medication to stop it, checked out by ultrasound, and monitered overnight. The next morning I was sent home with strict orders to stay in bed-with bathroom priviliges-I believe they called it. Well I stayed in bed and continued to take the pills they prescribed me. One week later I was back. This time the contractions were less than two minutes apart so I had to be sent to a different hospital with a better premie unit.
Again I spent the night, but I didn't recieve any medications this time. I was sent home on bedrest, but I didn't stay in bed. I went about things like I normally did, taking it extra easy of course. And if I started to get lots of contractions I drank a ton of water and put my feet up. I did take alot more rests and naps than before, which body definitely needed. I continued to get regular contractions up until I delivered my lttle girl at 38 and a half weeks-full term.
I think that all the contractions before hand helped me through my labor. The night I went into labor I fell asleep around 9pm and woke up around 2:30am. I was getting the same contractions as before, no big deal. I wasn't tired so I watched t.v. til about 4am.
When I layed down to go back to sleep they started. Good ones this time. I took two showers, paced, and walked up and down my stairs. Around 6:30 I woke my boyfriend up and told him we should get ready. We left for the hospital around 8am. When we got there he did the ritual paperwork while I was hooked up to a fetal moniter. After ten minutes of trying to stay still I told them to let me off. They insisted I stayed on for a few more minutes to try to get some movement from the baby.
The baby was fine, just lazy. I tried ten more minutes and told them to let me off. I just needed to walk and I wanted to get into the hot tub in my room. My midwife came up and asked me if I wanted to get my water broken, that it would speed things up. It wasn't in my birth plan, but I expected and prepared for some things to be different about my delivery. So here I was sitting in the hot tub, water broken and still only four centimeters. Very frustrating. The hot tub itself didn't seem like much comfort, but at every contraction I stood up in the tub and sprayed the shower on my stomach and back. That helped me alot.
At the end of each one I grabbed my cup of ice and gulped some down. My mother and boyfriend kept making fun of me saying "Every time one starts she jumps up and you can tell it's over when she grabs that cup of ice". All I kept thinking about was something I read about keeping hydrated. I chose not to have an I.V. so I kept chewing in ice.
I slept in between contractons and the time really went by quickly. Until the last hour it wasn't like the horror stories you heard from everyone while you were pregnant. At this point I was almost laughing because my mother was crying and kept insisting that I get an epidural. Well I'm glad I held out a little longer.
After that hour of bad contractions I was 8cm. dialated. I had the urge to push. I didn't realize it at the time so I kept runnng to the bathroom thinking okay maybe this time I'll go. It's funny because my mother kept asking me if I felt like I had to go really bad and I kept saying no, but after she noticed me running to the bathroom a few times she called the nurse and asked her if I could push. My midwife came quickly and I was still 8cm, so she told me to try a few short pushes. I did and twenty minutes later I was holding my precious baby girl. I had a small perinium tear that needed a few stitches and I hemmoraged a little. My boyfriend went with our daughter to get checked out after I nursed her. And me, well I tok a short nap...I needed it!
A few hours later I was up and about showing off my little girl to family and friends. I'm very happy with my decision not to get medication. I don't think I would've felt as great afterwards if I did. We left the hospital around 1:30pm two days later just in time for Thanksgiving dinner.
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