Saturday June 8th
I woke up at 3am to go for my nightly pee and started having contractions, they were mild, not bad, just crampy, but different from the ones I had been having. I went to go back to sleep and they were bothering me enough not to sleep so I started timing them. They were 5-7 minutes apart for about 2 hours and then I went for a walk and they were 3 minutes apart, so I called the midwife and she said go to bed and see what happens, so I did and they stopped. 8-(
I called her back and let her know I was going to work and would inform her if any other changes happened. I went to work and they were 20-10 minutes apart and when they did come they were uncomfortable, so I went home, ate some food, took a shower and relaxed for a bit. About 11pm, I called the midwife to let her know they were coming again a little faster, about 5 minutes again. She decided to come over and check me and hang out for a while and see what happens, so we did, and surprisingly, I was still 2-3 cm same as the day before. I was disappointed, one of the reasons it sucks to be checked. So she hung out for a while, nothing changed, she went home and I went to bed, not much sleep they were still coming, irregular, not too strong but enough to make me whiny.
I woke up the next morning and felt yucky, tired, called her to let her know they hadn't stopped and were actually a little stronger, and I was having the bloody show mucus thing. She wanted me to do some castor oil and I was not keen on that idea, diarrhea and cramps on top of contractions was not my idea of a good time. I had a friend come get Robbie and about 11:30am, I did the dreaded enema. THAT SUCKS!! It was the lesser of the evils though and I sat for 30 minutes on the toilet, no fun at all, but boy did it do the trick, I woke Tim up and had him fill the pool that we had blown up the night before and called the midwife back and told her what was up. I had talked to her and Silverhawke (a friend from the Empowered Childbirth list on yahoo groups) before doing the enema to kinda weigh out some options and at last I got some results, (THANKS SILVER!!!) So that worked. The midwife got there and her assistant and my friend got there minutes after. I was already in the pool. She said I should get out for a bit because things slowed down again and she wanted to check me but I was already moaning and feeling really tense through contractions so I took my time and she was great, not being real pushy, letting me go at my pace. I got out, we checked, I still had not made too much progress so I rested for a while, and started having more intense contractions and we checked again, 5 cm, yay!! It started going faster from there. I was having contractions one after the other 2-3 and then about 5 minute break, I lay down, sat up, leaned on Tim, knelt by the couch, leaning over, changed positions a lot, at least as often as I felt necessary and the girls stayed out of my way, if they talked to me it was to try and get me to let go of some of the tension. I was really holding a lot of tension and getting louder then I wanted to be, but it was really getting hard and I was really uncomfortable. I was a little disappointed with the way I handled it, I had this vision of being nice and calm and quiet and I was not at all.
I moved out to the living room, I was in the bedroom for a good part of the time, I wanted to be alone, unless Tim was there, and when I came out to the living room, all the girls were there and they were calm and it helped me focus. They kept asking me if I wanted to deliver in the water so they could get it warmed up and I was not I was not in a state of mind where I could answer them, I wasn't sure what I wanted, I wasn't thinking of delivery, I was focusing on getting through the next contraction. I felt really hard, tight contractions and finally decided I wanted to get the water warmed up so I could get in again, and it worked out great, through about 3 contractions, the water was warm and I got in and things moved quick.
I laid back at first, felt a little pushy, got checked and was at 8cm, I looked at the midwife and said, "It is gonna be fast now", she said don't push yet, I told her I will when I am ready. I had a couple contractions and my water broke, it was nice a clear so there was no worry about meconium. I turned over on my knees and leaned against Tim and had 2 right after each other and then I looked at the midwife and said she is coming, I could not stop from pushing at that point. It is amazing what your body can do when it is unhindered by drugs and idiot doctors and nurses telling you what to do. I turned over again so we could be in a better position. The pool was not deep enough for me to kneel, but I leaned on Tim and pushed my feet against the edge and she couldn't even check again, because her head was already visible and boy did she come down quick.
I started getting a little scared, I was watching in a mirror and felt her head with my hands, I didn't realize the bones on the top of her head were going to feel like that, it freaked me out, I wasn't sure what part of her was there, but they reassured me that it was her head and normal. I had contractions that made my body push hard, harder then I thought was imaginable and I let it happen to the best I could with out helping, I was afraid of tearing, she was coming quick and I could feel the burning. I had 3-4 contractions where she would start, and then go back a little, but then she really started crowning and I gently pushed with it, I knew it was time for her to come out. The midwife assured me I was not tearing and go ahead with it and she held my labia to help and it hurt at first, then it was relieving and her head came out, her cord was wrapped tight, I stopped feeling the push and took a couple breaths while we got her cord unwrapped, then waited for the next contraction. Her shoulders were kind of hung on my pelvis so, because we were in the water and I shouldn't move out at that point, the midwife assisted gently to help turn her and get her shoulders out and she came out. It looked as though a lot of blood came out with her and I didn't ask much at that point but the girls looked at each other and said my placenta had already detached, they wanted to move me to the bed to deliver the placenta and monitor the bleeding so we waddled over there and waited for the cord to stop and then we cut it, the cord was short, I couldn't even get her the breast without pulling it. They gave me a frozen pad with herbs and did all the blood pressure crap and left me alone for a while.
I snoozed with Olyvia for a while and then they came back and wanted to check for tears and they found a small, quarter inch tear on my labia, not enough to stitch so we left it alone and then it was time for me to try and pee and they wanted to weigh and inspect the baby so I got up and did all that, she was 6lbs, 10oz and 19 inches and all her body parts and such. They said their dues, collected their stuff helped clean up the bulk of the mess and took off. I got a little snooze in while Tim went to pick up our Robbie and then he came back and we woke up and Robbie was very happy to meet his lil sister.
