Eliza Imogene was born on May 14th. (8lbs 8oz, and 20 inches long) She is a great little baby, and I am trying to take time to enjoy her.
Lots of things have been going on... I am just too tired to post about. I am feeling a bit of the baby blues I think... either that or of the cold hard reality which is my life... hard to really tell at this point.Here is my birth story... I copied and pasted it... LOL
On Mother's Day, I was having contractions and thought for sure that I would go into labor. I took the kids for a 2 mile walk... and by the evening, wasn't feeling much of anything any more. So I went to bed.
At 2:30 AM, I woke up and looked at the clock, and thought, I have to go to the bathroom. I hoisted myself out of the bed, and went. Got back into bed, and fell asleep... for a few minutes, I was so tired that it took me about 4 tries before I even considered that I was having contractions, not having to go to the bathroom! Around 3:15, I went to the bathroom again, and thought my water broke, I got up and walked around, and felt a slight gush.. .yep it has broken, and boy was there a lot of fluid. And why have I blocked out all that mucous? This is baby number 4 and I just don't remember!!! Contractions were 3-4 minutes apart.
So I called my doctor, K. She said she was on her way.
My dh set up the birth tub, K got there, and she checked me. I had no idea how dilated I was the whole time. After a while I got into the tub. The water felt so nice, but it spaced out my contractions. I wasn't really *that* disappointed by that. My mom, sisters and friend came about 7 AM. There was a lot of people at my house, but I wouldn't have it any other way. They all really worked to make this a good thing for me. I know I mentioned in my initial post here, that my dd, Emerald died 2 years ago, and I really needed the support. Particularly since I had my son by section, and then while I was still recovering from that, my dd got sick. I feel like the birth, his babyhood, and her sickness, then death, all were part of the same experience. I feel kind of ripped off.
Around 11:30, I could feel that my contractions were different. They were in my hips and felt like they were going to my knees, but only on the outside of my body. I would try to relax and focus on getting the pain down and out, and it was rough, those contractions hurt a lot more than the contractions I have had in previous labors.
Around 1:30pm, I got out of the tub to go to the bathroom, and while I was in there, I felt like labor intensified. Dr. K checked me, and she said I was close. I ended up on the bed at this point. I could have gotten back into the tub, but I felt like if they hurt more and for longer, it would be over sooner, and I was so tired, and wanting it to be over.
When she checked again, I still had a lip, so we were trying different things to help get rid of that. Finally she was telling me I could push, but I felt really no urge to push. I was screaming, my support people were all helping me to push, and my 5 year old states, that "it sounds like she is having 5 babies!"
It just hurt so bad. For a minute I thought about going to the hospital, but the contractions were coming so fast, and I hurt so badly, that I decided in my head that it didn't matter. They couldn't do anything for me at that point, and even if they could, if I would just focus and push her out, then it would be over sooner, so I started really working to push her out. I could feel her moving down. I would scream and push, and push, and then yell, and I could feel her almost out, and then I would run out of steam. And less than a minute later, I would have to start all over again. Finally, her head popped out. Someone took my hand so I could feel her squishy head. I screamed even louder, and started yelling for them to get her out of me. Just pull her out... LOL, finally I could push again, and they did, and stuck her on me. I was just so relieved to have it be done. She started nursing almost immediately. Turns out she had her hand by her face, and the cord around her neck, AND there was a true knot in her cord! I have it in the freezer... LOL M y midwife said that I do truly have a smaller pelvis, and that it is harder for me than an average sized pelvis, but as she pointed out, I still did it!
I still don't understand how people can just breathe and have a quiet peaceful birth. LOL I felt so crazy and out of control.
Now that it is over, I think of how glad I am that I did it this way. Yes, it hurt. I didn't rip or tear or anything. If I would have went to the hospital for a section, I would just be getting home today. Instead, I got to share this with important people in my life. I didn't disrupt my kids lives. Eliza is alert, and strong and beautiful. I forgot to add in here, that while I was having contractions, they would end and I would get the hiccups. Every time. Unless it was going to be a double peaking contraction, then another would start instead... I hated those!
