On Saturday morning, March 3rd, I met my midwife at the hospital for a Non-Stress Test. A standard, non-intrusive, test for pregnant moms that are past their "due date" by a week. Everything was looking fine. The midwife checked my cervix and performed a stretch and sweep. Since my cervix was favourable (3cm dilated and 90% effaced) she told me that I could drink the cocktail if I wanted. The cocktail is a combination of verbena oil, castor oil, almond butter and fruit nectar. I'm all for letting little ones come when they decide to but at 41 weeks pregnant I was willing to try sometime to get things going.
I returned home at 1100 and told my husband I wanted the washer and dryer hooked up. They had been disconnected throughout the week during our basement renovations. At 1130 I took the cocktail and set about making chocolate chips cookies and putting ribs into the slow cooker. If I did go into labour at least there'd been some food ready to eat. An hour went by and I started feeling hot and nauseous, but no contractions. I tried to drink and eat a little and my husband took out some summer maternity clothes for me to wear. It was such a beautiful sunny day outside. A perfect day for having a baby.
The Birth Tub |
My midwife arrived at 1415 and I was pretty happy between my contractions but they were getting closer, every 2-3 minutes apart. My doula showed up 15 minutes after. Everything was getting set up. The water birth tub was almost filled. I was sitting on the couch breathing deeply through my contractions. My doula pressed on some pressure points and my husband rolled a tennis ball on my lower back. I still felt good during the breaks but by 1500 (3:00pm) the breaks were getting shorter and I started moaning my way through them. From this point onward time gets fuzzy.
My doula suggested sitting on the toilet backwards if I was serious about getting things going. I got on the toilet, had about four contractions there, cursed the toilet for making things so intense and my husband for taking a picture of me there, and then realized my body was pushing. My midwife suggested getting into the water tub if I wanted to have the baby there so somehow I managed to hobble over.
Labour isn't all rainbows and kittens and butterflies. |
My husband noticed that it was a boy and started to laugh. I had been so sure that it was a girl that I knit the baby a purple romper and a pink Easter dress.
Sigh of relief! |
It took me a good couple hours to start feeling somewhat normal again. Everything was so quick and intense. After the birth I snuggled our little guy on the couch and ate a chocolate chip cookie. Everyone else took care of cleaning and tying up loose ends.
My husband calling family to make the announcement. |
8lbs 3 ounces, our little Teddy. |
Wow. That's crazy, I'm glad it was such a positive experience for you though!!! I can't wait to meet him.
ReplyDeleteI think his blog name should be Chipmunk. ;)
What a story! Wow, I can't imagine all the labour pains pushed into 2 hours. You are a strong woman! I can't wait to meet Teddy - he looks just beautiful, and no doubt will fit perfectly into your family. Praying that these first days with a newborn go smoothly and that Monkey and Sweetpea adjust quickly to a new brother. I'll probably give you a call next week sometime.
ReplyDeleteCindy and family
Wow, you are certainly brave not only for the home birth but also for posting the pictures online. Congrats!
ReplyDelete