- Mar 11, 2004
- 2,450
- 154
- Faith
- Presbyterian
- Marital Status
- Married
- Politics
- US-Libertarian
Jonas Gregory arrived at 9:48 am on Thursday the 29th (the day before his due date). He weighed 7 lbs. 5 oz and is 21 inches long. He's doing great, and I can't believe he's already a week old!
I don't know how to keep it short, so sorry about the rambling, but here's our story for anyone who's interested:
I woke up at 6:30 am on Wednesday the 28th, and I was pretty sure I was in early labor at that time. I was having contractions that weren't going away when I got up. They were coming pretty consistently at about 7 minutes apart from the beginning. So I went about my day and had Ben come home around 2 when I knew that things were going to continue getting stronger. I would say I was in active labor by 3:30 or 4-ish and my midwife was at the house by 5pm.
I spent a lot of time laboring in the pool which felt really good. Labor progressed fairly slowly, though my contractions were strong and long - they were lasting about 2 minutes before I ever got to transition. Ben joined me in the pool quite often and was wonderful about applying pressure to my back.
Unfortunately, I had horrible back labor through the whole thing, though Jonas wasn't posterior. I'm thinking maybe he had his hands by his head or something. He did in his u/s and he loves to have his hands by his face now. Anyway, I knew back labor sucked, but oh my goodness! I hardly even felt the contractions in my belly because my back hurt so much. We tried a sterile water injection in my back to relieve the pain, but it didn't work for me, and it burned sooo badly for a couple minutes - like someone was holding a curling iron to my back. I was so disappointed when I realized I was stuck with that pain.
So, progress was rather slow. I was stuck around 6-7 cm for a long time, his head was decending nicely, and around 2am my midwife asked if I wanted her to break the water. I thought it was a good idea since his head was already down so far, and I felt that it would probably help things kick in more strongly. So, I said yes. But I continued to dilate slowly, and after some more time passed, my midwife began becoming concerned because his heart tones were dropping with some of the stronger contractions. At 5:30 am, she told me that she thought we should go to the hospital because of this. I was beginning to have a strong urge to push because his head was so low, and the whole car ride was a bit scary because I was trying so hard not to push as I was laying in the backseat, and I was realizing that there was probably a pretty good chance I'd end up with a c-section because he was in some amount of distress and I wasn't ready to push, no matter how much I wanted to.
When we got to the hospital though, his heart was fine, so thankfully, they pretty much left me alone to continue laboring as I wanted. I don't even remember all that much of the hospital labor because things were so intense and I was still trying not to push because I was still only 7 cm. I know I was sitting on a birthing ball at the end of the bed with my torso draped over some pillows. I was there for quite some time until they checked me again, at which time I stayed in the bed and labored on my side.
Finally, I had finished dilating - no concept of time as far as how long I was laboring in the bed before I could start pushing. Unfortunately, I was so exhausted by this time, I stayed on my back instead of getting into a better pushing position. My midwife did stand at the end of the bed, grasping my hands, and we were pulling against each other, so I think that helped a bit, but I wish I was more upright. When I was pushing, his heart tones started dropping significantly. I only got to push for 30 minutes before my doctor told me that she wanted to do a vacuum extraction because he really needed to come out. So, he ended up being pulled into the world. I of course had to have an episiotomy because of the vacuum, which really sucks, though in the grand scheme of things, I know it's no big deal. She did a medio-lateral cut instead of the straight back one because with the amount of pressure on the perineum from the pulling, there was too much of a chance of damaging the rectal muscles. The medio-lateral cut goes through more muscles, but in this case, I'm glad she did it this way.
I just remember feeling the burn of his head being right there, and still kinda wondering if I would ever get him out, and then he was there. They put him on my chest and we checked and found out that we had a little boy. I got to keep him most of the time the doctor was stitching me up. Ben went with as the nurses cleaned him up on the other side of the room, and then I got him back and was able to feed him.
The doctor told me that he was born with his cord wrapped around his shoulders and arms like a shawl. I suspect that is what was causing his distress - the cord being squeezed between me and his shoulders during contractions. I really believe that if I would have decided against having my waters broken, we probably would have had him at home - at least if the bag had continued to stay intact. He would have been so much more protected. If that is the case, it's amazing that such a seemingly minor intervention had such a large impact on Jonas' birth. It makes me even more aware of how important choices are, and will make me think twice before making such decisions next time.
We had to stay in the hospital for 24 hours, so we left the following morning. It was good to be home with him.
I don't know how to keep it short, so sorry about the rambling, but here's our story for anyone who's interested:
I woke up at 6:30 am on Wednesday the 28th, and I was pretty sure I was in early labor at that time. I was having contractions that weren't going away when I got up. They were coming pretty consistently at about 7 minutes apart from the beginning. So I went about my day and had Ben come home around 2 when I knew that things were going to continue getting stronger. I would say I was in active labor by 3:30 or 4-ish and my midwife was at the house by 5pm.
I spent a lot of time laboring in the pool which felt really good. Labor progressed fairly slowly, though my contractions were strong and long - they were lasting about 2 minutes before I ever got to transition. Ben joined me in the pool quite often and was wonderful about applying pressure to my back.
Unfortunately, I had horrible back labor through the whole thing, though Jonas wasn't posterior. I'm thinking maybe he had his hands by his head or something. He did in his u/s and he loves to have his hands by his face now. Anyway, I knew back labor sucked, but oh my goodness! I hardly even felt the contractions in my belly because my back hurt so much. We tried a sterile water injection in my back to relieve the pain, but it didn't work for me, and it burned sooo badly for a couple minutes - like someone was holding a curling iron to my back. I was so disappointed when I realized I was stuck with that pain.
So, progress was rather slow. I was stuck around 6-7 cm for a long time, his head was decending nicely, and around 2am my midwife asked if I wanted her to break the water. I thought it was a good idea since his head was already down so far, and I felt that it would probably help things kick in more strongly. So, I said yes. But I continued to dilate slowly, and after some more time passed, my midwife began becoming concerned because his heart tones were dropping with some of the stronger contractions. At 5:30 am, she told me that she thought we should go to the hospital because of this. I was beginning to have a strong urge to push because his head was so low, and the whole car ride was a bit scary because I was trying so hard not to push as I was laying in the backseat, and I was realizing that there was probably a pretty good chance I'd end up with a c-section because he was in some amount of distress and I wasn't ready to push, no matter how much I wanted to.
When we got to the hospital though, his heart was fine, so thankfully, they pretty much left me alone to continue laboring as I wanted. I don't even remember all that much of the hospital labor because things were so intense and I was still trying not to push because I was still only 7 cm. I know I was sitting on a birthing ball at the end of the bed with my torso draped over some pillows. I was there for quite some time until they checked me again, at which time I stayed in the bed and labored on my side.
Finally, I had finished dilating - no concept of time as far as how long I was laboring in the bed before I could start pushing. Unfortunately, I was so exhausted by this time, I stayed on my back instead of getting into a better pushing position. My midwife did stand at the end of the bed, grasping my hands, and we were pulling against each other, so I think that helped a bit, but I wish I was more upright. When I was pushing, his heart tones started dropping significantly. I only got to push for 30 minutes before my doctor told me that she wanted to do a vacuum extraction because he really needed to come out. So, he ended up being pulled into the world. I of course had to have an episiotomy because of the vacuum, which really sucks, though in the grand scheme of things, I know it's no big deal. She did a medio-lateral cut instead of the straight back one because with the amount of pressure on the perineum from the pulling, there was too much of a chance of damaging the rectal muscles. The medio-lateral cut goes through more muscles, but in this case, I'm glad she did it this way.
I just remember feeling the burn of his head being right there, and still kinda wondering if I would ever get him out, and then he was there. They put him on my chest and we checked and found out that we had a little boy. I got to keep him most of the time the doctor was stitching me up. Ben went with as the nurses cleaned him up on the other side of the room, and then I got him back and was able to feed him.
The doctor told me that he was born with his cord wrapped around his shoulders and arms like a shawl. I suspect that is what was causing his distress - the cord being squeezed between me and his shoulders during contractions. I really believe that if I would have decided against having my waters broken, we probably would have had him at home - at least if the bag had continued to stay intact. He would have been so much more protected. If that is the case, it's amazing that such a seemingly minor intervention had such a large impact on Jonas' birth. It makes me even more aware of how important choices are, and will make me think twice before making such decisions next time.
We had to stay in the hospital for 24 hours, so we left the following morning. It was good to be home with him.
(this is Shannon McCAtholic..had to change my account because of a stalker
)
