I suppose I need to write down A's birth story before I forget all the details. I had expected to have a similar experience as I did with B2, but it was quite different.
A was due June 11, 2012. As I had anticipated, I started dilating early. At my 36 week appt, I was already 2 cm dilated and 70% effaced. And, as before, I was hoping for an early delivery. I was also hoping not to have two of my boys sharing birthdays, because that was a definite possibility--at 36 weeks, B2's birthday was 6 days away and D's was 3.5 weeks away. We were also moving in to our new house the weekend after my 36 week appt. I asked the doctor if lifting heavy boxes would throw me into labor, but he sadly informed me that at best it would do nothing; at worst, I would get hurt (sore muscles and all). He said the move would have no positive or negative impact on my pregnancy.
The move went well, and I went in two days later for my 37th week appointment hoping for good news. Sadly, I didn't get it--I had made absolutely no progress. For me, that's unusual. I usually dilate 1/2 to 1 cm per week and continually efface, but I hadn't done either. I began to resign myself to the idea that I was probably not going to have another May baby.
By the 38th week appt, I had made a little more progress. I was up to 3 cm dilated and still around 70-75% effaced. With B2's birthday now behind me, I was ready to have this baby quickly before it got too close to D's birthday. The doctor swept my membranes, hoping to throw me into labor. Alas, no luck. I just bled a little for a day or two and had some wonderfully awesome (*cough*) and intense contractions, but stayed pregnant.
At 39 weeks, I was so done being pregnant! D's birthday was now in 4 days, so I had the doctor sweep my membranes again, hoping that I could go into labor, have this baby, and be home before D's birthday. Again, no luck--just more contractions, but they never got close enough together to go the hospital and would stop by bedtime. I tried walking and cleaning and all sorts of stuff to keep those contractions going, as well as applying essential oils to encourage the contractions, but no luck.
I saw the doctor again on my due date, June 11th. By now, I had been pregnant longer with this baby than with any other (B2 was born at 1:00 a.m. on his due date, and we induced D a week early), so I was getting really sick of being pregnant and ready to snuggle this cute (and likely ginormous) baby. I was also getting a little scared of having a stillborn child. Even though the doctor reassured me that the odds of stillborn didn't go up until at least a week after my due date (and more likely two weeks), I asked to be scheduled for an induction on Friday, June 15th. I didn't want to go a whole weekend without being able to easily (and cheaply) see my doctor in his office instead of having to go to the ER, just in case. I also had the doctor sweep my membranes again, just in case. He (Dr M) mentioned that he was the on-call doctor until 7:00 a.m. the next morning, so he said he hoped to see me before he got off call. I agreed. I didn't really get many contractions that afternoon, and I got sadder and sadder as I watched my due date come to a close.
I was woken up by contractions at 3:45 a.m. The contractions weren't terribly intense, but they were intense enough to wake me up (that hadn't happened before...ever) and seemed to be coming fairly close together. Not wanting to unnecessarily freak out my husband, I went into the living room to time the contractions and see if they were getting closer together, staying the same distance, or growing further apart. Plan failed--B1 felt me get out of bed and within seconds he was out of bed too. We timed a few contractions, and they were lasting about a minute and were coming every 3 minutes. We decided to head to the hospital. After my short labor with B2, we were afraid of having a freeway baby and didn't want to wait any longer. So far during the pregnancy, I hadn't had any contractions this close together (except the occasional 2 or 3 that would be close together but then nothing for hours or days). We packed up the hospital bags, called B1's parents (who were kind enough to wake up in the middle of the night and drive to our house so we didn't have to wake up B2 and D), and we were off to the hospital. My contractions weren't as intense as they were with B2 as we drove, so I was better able to handle B1's crazy driving. :) Just kidding--he did really well, especially with avoiding speeding up and slowing down dramatically.
We got to the hospital around 4:45 a.m., and was immediately checked in. We didn't have to be monitored like I was with D--I guess they figured that since a.) I was technically past my due date, b.) I was already dilated to 3 cm, c.) I had been timing my contractions for nearly an hour, and c.) this wasn't my first pregnancy so I theoretically knew what was real labor, they would accept my word for it. I was taking to the delivery room and got settled in.
B1 and I had discussed prior the plan of me going all natural with this delivery. With B2 and D, I had had IV painkillers (Demerol, I believe) during the labor. Both boys seemed to struggle a very tiny bit as well--B2 struggled during delivery, when his oxygen dropped and I had to put on oxygen mask, and D after delivery when he couldn't clear the fluid out of his lungs. While I don't know all the research to know if these are even known risk factors for IV painkillers and delivery, I felt that I needed to not do any painkillers this time and see if it made a difference. We explained that we did not want any painkillers to the nurse, but she still said I had to have an IV inserted and taped off due to hospital policy. It happened so fast, and I was not happy about it after the fact. I found out later that we could have avoided that if we had signed a waiver, and I wish we had been more forceful with the nurse. Oh well...notes for me for next time.
With B2, I was only in the hospital for about 3 hours before he was born--I was being monitored for an hour, at which point I was at least 5 cm dilated and moved to the labor room. I then went from a 5 to a 10 in another hour, at which point my water was broken and I started to push. He was born an hour later. So, I was hoping for another quick delivery (though hopefully much less pushing). But, sadly, I went at the normal rate--I was dilating about a cm per hour. Thankfully, my contractions were not intense for most of that time. I would describe them as uncomfortable--I would have to stop talking and focus on breathing, but other than that the time passed fairly easily, although slowly. We joked with Dr. M, who stopped in every hour or so, that he must be the only OB at the doctors' office who knows how to sweep membranes, because the other two OBs had not been successful. He kept me laughing whenever he came in. At 7:00 a.m. Dr M went home, and Dr. L came in! Dr. L was the same OB who delivered B2, and the reason why we returned to that practice for this pregnancy.
Around 9:00 a.m. the contractions started getting worse--they were more intense and painful, and seemed to be even closer together. I was checked, and still only around 7 cm. I feared that I would have another 3 hours of painful contractions, and was starting to doubt my decision to go natural. Brian and I talked, and we figured we would wait a little longer to see how much more I could handle. At 9:30 a.m., I asked the nurse to check me and I was still around 7.5 cm. I broke down and asked for the painkillers at this point, only to be told no--she said at this point I could go so quickly that it's not advised to have painkillers injected.. The contractions right after being checked were so intense that I quickly moved to the stage of thinking, "I can't do this!" After one or two contractions, I felt my body start pushing the baby. The nurse had mentioned that my OB had left the hospital to go to his office (it's just on the other side of the parking lot), so B1 quickly summoned the nurse and told her that my body was pushing and we needed the doctor back. By this point, it's now around 9:45 a.m. The nurse checked me again, and I was nearly at 10 cm. She summoned the doctor, and I started pushing. I was shocked that my body was pushing this baby out, because as of yet my water still hadn't broken. I didn't know it was possible to start delivering the baby while he was still enclosed in the amniotic sac. I guess I didn't pay enough attention in my birthing class when I was pregnant with B1. My water finally broke a few pushes before the baby's head came out. So, I had my first "spontaneous rupture." As with B1, there was meconium in the amniotic fluid, but I guess that's what I get for having full-term babies (and another reason I'm terrified of going past my due date).
I imagine the rest is fairly typical of labor--I pushed, screamed some, insisted I couldn't deliver this baby, and tried to convince the doctor that the baby's head wasn't going to fit, while he tried to convince me that there was plenty of room. Ha! You're going to tell the pregnant lady who is feeling every cm of her baby's head burning its way out that there's more room??? And then, suddenly, the head pops out, the body quickly follows, and all is right with the world.
I had always heard stories about people saying what a spiritual experience birth is, and I had felt kinda like a horrible person because the delivery had been such horrible experiences for me in the past. But, this time, I had had that spirtual experience. As soon as A's head was out, I felt an outpouring of peace, happiness, love, and so many other positive emotions that I don't even have words for. All thoughts of pain, frustration, and so on that I had just had were instantly gone, and all I could think about was this sweet baby in front of me, and he was the most perfect thing I had ever seen. I know it's probably silly and can't be proven scientifically, but I honestly think not having painkillers with this delivery made a huge difference. Now, I'm not saying that you can't have a similar wonderful experience with IV painkillers or epidurals, but for me the experience was so much better without the medications.
Little Strider, as he was known in the womb, was born at 10:20 a.m. He weighed 7 pounds and 13 ounces. I was shocked that he was so little. B2 was 6 ounces heavier and born one day earlier, so I was expecting at least an 8 pound baby. We moved into the recovery room, and within a few hours I was ready to go home, except we didn't have a name for the baby. B1 and I spent most of that day talking about it, and decided on A. Both his first name and nickname both have references to Lord of the Rings. The middle name was in a dream that B1 had, and we both liked it. It's a big name for a little guy, so we mainly call him by his initials.
My recovery was very fast and easy. I didn't have any pain medication in the hospital (to the shock of the nurses--they didn't seem to know what to do with me since I didn't need helping peeing and I didn't need drugs), and I didn't have an episiotomy or tear when delivery. Within a few hours, I felt almost as good as new (though it still hurt a bit to sit), and we pushed to be discharged the following morning. We were discharged about 26 hours after A was born.
So, overall, this birth was a wonderful experience. Yes, there was pain and frustration and fatigue, but mostly I remember the wonderful feelings associated with snuggling this cute, adorable baby. A was already sleeping 4-5 hours at a time in the hospital, and would sleep best at night, so I have been able to do fairly well on his sleep schedule. He hasn't grown as quickly as my other boys, which makes me both happy (because he stays a little boy for just a bit longer) and scared (because I'm worried he's not eating enough). I am thrilled that I get to stay at home with him and I don't have to leave him with a babysitter 5 days a week. I'm glad that I didn't stay on maternity leave for the full 12 weeks with my other boys, because it just would have been too heart-wrenching to come back after that. So I am just loving being able to cuddle A all day, every day. I may even indulge him a bit too much by holding him for his afternoon naps and letting him sleep in our bed after his 4:30 a.m. feeding, but I know he won't stay little for long.
A was blessed on Sunday, July 15th. Rinz and J came in to town from AR, and my parents, E, and K were in town from CA. We were sorely missed B1's sister C1, her husband B, and their kids, but other than that all of A's immediate and close extended family were there! Thank you to all who came--you made it the perfect day!
