Birth Story
Feb 11, 2015 18:42:32 GMT -5
Post by fishes on Feb 11, 2015 18:42:32 GMT -5
Jesse Ryan born 2/8 after 5 hrs of labor at 2:45am, 9lbs 6 oz, 20.5". 5 days before his due date.
I think he keeps all the extra weight in his cheeks
And now for the novel...
Saturday morning I had three painful contractions close together, plus some other symptoms that although I knew I wasn't in labor, made me think my body was getting ready for it soon. So I let myself rest when I felt tired, I actually napped twice that day (not normally possible). And we made it through Ds1's birthday party!
At 9:30pm I started having crampy contractions again, this time roughly 5 minutes apart. I was just casually checking the clock, not really timing them. They went on for an hour and a half, not really getting any closer but starting to increase in pain. DH didn't think I was in labor, I didn't know what to think/hope since I hadn't had to wonder at all with DS1 (with him my water broke first). So I finally called L&D since I figured whether or not it was labor I wasn't going to be able to sleep and they said come in. Then I had to go wake DH back up. I have no idea how he could sleep
We made our phone calls and left the house around 11:30 pm. Last pregnancy I made DH drive me to all my appts because I wanted to make sure he knew the way. This time I didn't. Which of course meant that even with the GPS I had to give him directions in the middle of not-fun contractions. Not cool. Also, someone should really repave those streets. They suck.
They started checking us in and the nurse was going to check my cervix. Not a fun experience (another one I skipped with DS1 since my water had already broken). And the nurse says, "wow, his head is so low! How are you even walking? ... I can't find your cervix because his head is so low." She felt bad for causing me pain and decided to just let the midwife check it later since she was sure by that time anyways that I was in labor. When the midwife did check it, it was an 8 and she kind of laughed at the nurse and told her she had probably felt right through it and was feeling the bag of waters.
Anyways, so I labored for a while and they asked if I wanted to get in the tub. The contractions weren't fun or anything, but they weren't as intense or as close together as I remembered with DS so I kept telling them I could wait a little longer. The nurse timed one contraction, "well that one was only 3 minutes apart." (First pregnancy the midwife had told me to wait until I really needed it because it would work great for pain relief, but only once.) this was the same midwife who delivered DS1 and when she heard me say that she said, "Well, if you want to use it you'd better do it now or it's going to be too late." So I did. Oh, I love the tub. It really is magic.
Some time later she asked how I was doing. I was feeling pressure but not enough to start pushing. She offered to break my water whenever. She said with how low his head was that we could probably finish very quickly after that. I decided I was ready to get it over with, even though I didn't want to get out of the tub, especially knowing that once my water broke things would get intense.
And they did. Once she finally got my water to leak a bit, I started wimping out and asked if I could get back in the tub. (Part of it was I really hated laboring on my back) She smiled and said only if I promised to get out quickly, I was at a 9 1/2 pre-water breaking. She recommended waiting through another contraction, or two. Another one came and I said, oh. Yeah, okay I think we'll just stay here. Pushing started not long after.
I hate pushing. This time he was sunny side up, at least to start, so the pain was in my back. I felt like I couldn't push with the pain there so my first couple pushes were probably not very effective since I was waiting for the pain to go away. The midwife had DH push on my back to help with that, so at one point I was telling him to push harder as if he was the one doing the work, lol. It didn't take long though, and even with my huge baby I didn't need any stitches this time.
Ha. Yeah. 9 lbs 6 oz. The last two midwives I saw (it's a team of 7) for my appts guessed he wouldn't be much bigger than 8 lbs. But of course, with DS they guessed about 6 1/2 lbs and he was 8 lbs 6 oz.
DH cut the umbilical cord, and seemed coherent enough I think he'll even remember he did. He cut DS1's also but was apparently in enough shock he can't remember it.
So, names. I had been preparing myself to go with my second choice name, and DS2 looked like such a serious old man that I was feeling okay with calling him James. I mean, I've always liked that name, there are just reasons why I like Jesse better for this one. But then, after proposing some jokey names once again, DH said, "so his name is Jesse, huh? Hi Jesse." And I'm like, are you sure? James is ok... But, nope, he decided Jesse it is. I think in the end it was more he wanted to have been the one who came up with the name, than having strong preferences any which way, KWIM?
I think he keeps all the extra weight in his cheeks
And now for the novel...
Saturday morning I had three painful contractions close together, plus some other symptoms that although I knew I wasn't in labor, made me think my body was getting ready for it soon. So I let myself rest when I felt tired, I actually napped twice that day (not normally possible). And we made it through Ds1's birthday party!
At 9:30pm I started having crampy contractions again, this time roughly 5 minutes apart. I was just casually checking the clock, not really timing them. They went on for an hour and a half, not really getting any closer but starting to increase in pain. DH didn't think I was in labor, I didn't know what to think/hope since I hadn't had to wonder at all with DS1 (with him my water broke first). So I finally called L&D since I figured whether or not it was labor I wasn't going to be able to sleep and they said come in. Then I had to go wake DH back up. I have no idea how he could sleep
We made our phone calls and left the house around 11:30 pm. Last pregnancy I made DH drive me to all my appts because I wanted to make sure he knew the way. This time I didn't. Which of course meant that even with the GPS I had to give him directions in the middle of not-fun contractions. Not cool. Also, someone should really repave those streets. They suck.
They started checking us in and the nurse was going to check my cervix. Not a fun experience (another one I skipped with DS1 since my water had already broken). And the nurse says, "wow, his head is so low! How are you even walking? ... I can't find your cervix because his head is so low." She felt bad for causing me pain and decided to just let the midwife check it later since she was sure by that time anyways that I was in labor. When the midwife did check it, it was an 8 and she kind of laughed at the nurse and told her she had probably felt right through it and was feeling the bag of waters.
Anyways, so I labored for a while and they asked if I wanted to get in the tub. The contractions weren't fun or anything, but they weren't as intense or as close together as I remembered with DS so I kept telling them I could wait a little longer. The nurse timed one contraction, "well that one was only 3 minutes apart." (First pregnancy the midwife had told me to wait until I really needed it because it would work great for pain relief, but only once.) this was the same midwife who delivered DS1 and when she heard me say that she said, "Well, if you want to use it you'd better do it now or it's going to be too late." So I did. Oh, I love the tub. It really is magic.
Some time later she asked how I was doing. I was feeling pressure but not enough to start pushing. She offered to break my water whenever. She said with how low his head was that we could probably finish very quickly after that. I decided I was ready to get it over with, even though I didn't want to get out of the tub, especially knowing that once my water broke things would get intense.
And they did. Once she finally got my water to leak a bit, I started wimping out and asked if I could get back in the tub. (Part of it was I really hated laboring on my back) She smiled and said only if I promised to get out quickly, I was at a 9 1/2 pre-water breaking. She recommended waiting through another contraction, or two. Another one came and I said, oh. Yeah, okay I think we'll just stay here. Pushing started not long after.
I hate pushing. This time he was sunny side up, at least to start, so the pain was in my back. I felt like I couldn't push with the pain there so my first couple pushes were probably not very effective since I was waiting for the pain to go away. The midwife had DH push on my back to help with that, so at one point I was telling him to push harder as if he was the one doing the work, lol. It didn't take long though, and even with my huge baby I didn't need any stitches this time.
Ha. Yeah. 9 lbs 6 oz. The last two midwives I saw (it's a team of 7) for my appts guessed he wouldn't be much bigger than 8 lbs. But of course, with DS they guessed about 6 1/2 lbs and he was 8 lbs 6 oz.
DH cut the umbilical cord, and seemed coherent enough I think he'll even remember he did. He cut DS1's also but was apparently in enough shock he can't remember it.
So, names. I had been preparing myself to go with my second choice name, and DS2 looked like such a serious old man that I was feeling okay with calling him James. I mean, I've always liked that name, there are just reasons why I like Jesse better for this one. But then, after proposing some jokey names once again, DH said, "so his name is Jesse, huh? Hi Jesse." And I'm like, are you sure? James is ok... But, nope, he decided Jesse it is. I think in the end it was more he wanted to have been the one who came up with the name, than having strong preferences any which way, KWIM?