Mr. Lee Michael a.k.a Mr. Man
Ok so where to start? How about Lee's birth story....
Just a little background, I have been saying for the two weeks prior to Lee's birth that I would just wake up one morning and know that I would go into labor that day. Aaron had been saying my body was holding out for my Thanksgiving Day apple pie as I may or may not have been saying for nine months that I was getting that pie.
Thanksgiving came...my due date and I actually felt no prelabor signs that I had experienced for the past week or two - no cramping or bowel movements. Instead, Aaron, Wubby and I set for our 5k/Turkey Trot. Yes, we ran a 5k Thursday morning. Well, we ran the first 1.5 miles and then I got this awful groin pain and we walked the rest of the way. We still won youngest participant. I thought I pulled/strained my groin muscle and waddled around the rest of the day. I was soo mad at myself for pushing it too hard. However, it seems that the goal of moving the baby down was actually what happened...and of course I had some apple pie.
Friday morning, I woke at 1 a.m. with menstrual like cramps. They occured every hour - which had been fairly normal for me of. Around 5 a.m. they were every 20-30 minutes. I finally woke up with that "hmmm" feeling, but did not want to excite myself and be disappointed. Instead, I let Aaron go to hockey and I went on the ellitpical feeling some pain at exactly 20 minute and 40 minute marks. Aaron came home and I generally mentioned that I felt something was up and that I was going to shower just in case. I did some laundry and texted my doula telling her that maybe I was crazy but it seemed that there was a bit of a pattern. She told me to eat something and call her around 11 AM.
From 10 to 11, it definitely started to feel like I had low back pain that moved to my inner, upper thighs and into my lower stomach. The pain occurred every 5 minutes or so, lasting 30 seconds, but I was still cleaning the house and getting ready just in case. At 11, my doula said she was going to come over; at home my contractions were more random - maybe 20 minutes apart for instance but lasting 10 minutes or so. However, by that time they were definitely painful. Around 12 p.m. they were about 5 minutes apart and I was itching for my doula to arrive. When she got there at 1 pm, I was hunched over our ottoman rocking and trying to make my way through contractions. From there on in, it felt like there was no break and that my contractions were about 5 minutes apart lasting a minute or so - sometimes less, sometimes more. I had a ton of back labor which was not fun. My doula kept asking me to get up to go pee - which was even worse. I definitely had many of the phrases along the lines of I want the epidural and when can we go to the hospital. My body however really seemed to know what to do when I did not. Many times contractions came in full force starting in the back and radiating to the front - if I was at the toilet I would stand up and bend all the way into Aaron and do squats. Sometimes I just literally fell to all fours looking for a place for myself. Most of the time I did the equivalent of pelvic rocks on the ottoman. The breaks were short - during which time Aaron and my doula had me drink Gatorade and pee some more. My doula continued to provide back pressure, hip squeezes, while Aaron continued to physically hold me up and support me. We tried other positions (the tub) but pretty much just stuck with the above.
Finally, after what seemed like forever, it was dark, the moon was out and we called the midwife who gave us the green light to come to the hospital. We left around 5:30 arriving to the hospital at 6. In the waiting room, I literally had to drop to all 4s, scaring the receptionist as we came through. She asked how far apart the contractions were and the doula responded 5 minutes. We went into triage and I was 5 cm, 90% effaced, and had my bloody show. My midwife met us right there and I was still so ready for that epidural..
We made it to our room and were checked again I was 9.5 cm and 90% effaced, +2 station with a bulging bag of water. The midwife was amazing. She was so cool, calm and collected. It was weird sometimes to look over at her writing something on the chart like not a care in the world. No biggie, just painful labor. She stayed with us the whole time. Aaron and our doula took their cues from her. The biggest hump was that last cervical lip. My midwife tried to push it back so I could push for awhile as I feeling such an overwhelming need to push and sooo much pressure. However the baby was posterior and needed to still turn. Thus ultimately, I had to not push for about an hour. This was probably the hardest part of labor. The amount of pressure felt low into my rectum was unbearable. However my team really got me through. It was amazing how through my midwife's instruction I could use my breath to manage this. Every time I got off track and screamed/moaned she instructed me to come back to my breath and I just intensely knew I had to listen to her to get this baby to come into the world. She had us do lunges, squat on the toilet, all fours, go into the bath, and lye on my side on the bed with my feet in the air. Finally, one big push and my bag of water broke - it was such a relief.
From there we pushed. Again, the pushing seemed to be all about the breath, finding a point of intensity and holding that push, releasing, taking another big breath and another push. All I wanted was to keep pushing to get this baby out but I had to learn to only push with the contractions and to enjoy my "breaks" in between. Soon I got the chance to reach down and feel the baby's head as well as have the mirror to see the baby come out. With each push, I focused on my nurse and midwife's instructions to push, hold, push a little more or not. Finally, actually only in an hour, he was out! Baby B had entered the world - naturally about 11.5 hrs of labor and a 9 apgar score.
New to the world!
Aaron caught him and he came right to my chest. Aaron also clamped the cord once it stopped pulsing. The placenta came fairly quickly and was not too bad all. I had a second degree tear but no episiotonmy. I cold not have done it without Aaron, my doula, and my midwife.
Wow I have so much more to say and can't take up more of your time. This may be a little jumbled but I wanted to get out here finally. Baby B or Baby Lee is with us. Sitting on my lap sleeping as I type this. Better get it posted before he wakes and wants to eat. Hope everyone is having a wonderful holiday season!
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