Post by beersandweirs on Jul 1, 2015 10:55:38 GMT -5
And maybe also a beer...
So this is super delayed since baby Clara was born three weeks ago, but I am just now finding the time, turns out babies are a lot of work.
On Tuesday (June 9) night and Wednesday morning I was having some slightly different feeling contractions, but since I had been having braxton Hicks for so long, I didn't pay much attention to it and decided to go to work on Wednesday. My husband happened to be working from home that day, so I woke him up before I left and told him about the contractions, but that I would just keep him updated.
At work I had a bunch of conference call meetings to sit through, so during then I was timing my contractions, they were kind of regular at around 6-8 minutes apart, but would increase if I got up and moved, which made me think maybe it wasn't the real deal. I sat through all of my meetings, but decided to call the midwives and see what they thought and whether they thought I should go home. The midwife said it could be it, it could not, but recommended I go home since I was past due and having contractions.
I got home around 1pm and my husband and I decided to make a big lunch on case that was the last thing we would maybe eat for a while. We also walked over to the store to get some food to bring with us to the birth center, at this point contractions were becoming a little more intense and I had to breathe through them. I was in contact with the midwives a few times and we basically decided I should come in when things got intense.
I labored at home for a while and we left for the birth center at around 530pm. When I got there they checked me and I was 4cm dilated. I had to get antibiotics because I was gbs+. I basically just labored there for a while and the occasionally checked baby's heart rate and my blood pressure.
The contractions started to get really intense and I was starting to bear down at the end of them, but it had only been about 4 hours, so they thought I was just doing that as a coping mechanism and that I wasn't actually ready to push, so they had me try a few different positions to help me not to push. I tried hanging over the back of the toilet and in the tub, both of which I hated and all I wanted to do was push. They came in and checked me and asked if I wanted to know what it was, in case I would be discouraged if it was a low number. I said I wanted to know and then they checked and said there was only a lip of a cervix left and they could move it out of the way and I could let my body do what it wanted, thank god!
I pushed for 8 minutes and she came right out. I am a redhead and there is somewhat of an old wives take that redheads bleed more, that turned out to be true for me, so they have me a shot of pitocin right after birth to help stop the bleeding. Technically the amount I bled was considered a hemorrhage, but I felt fine. I had a second degree tear that the fixed with one stitch, and a few smaller tears they didn't need to stitch.
We went home after about 4 hours and baby and mom have both recovered very well.
So this ended up being quite the novel, and I wrote it on my phone, so please excuse any typos.
Pictures as a reward for making it through this long post!
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First day home, still all swollen and red from birth.![]()
She's already a pro at tummy time and can turn her head and lift it for a few seconds.
So this is super delayed since baby Clara was born three weeks ago, but I am just now finding the time, turns out babies are a lot of work.
On Tuesday (June 9) night and Wednesday morning I was having some slightly different feeling contractions, but since I had been having braxton Hicks for so long, I didn't pay much attention to it and decided to go to work on Wednesday. My husband happened to be working from home that day, so I woke him up before I left and told him about the contractions, but that I would just keep him updated.
At work I had a bunch of conference call meetings to sit through, so during then I was timing my contractions, they were kind of regular at around 6-8 minutes apart, but would increase if I got up and moved, which made me think maybe it wasn't the real deal. I sat through all of my meetings, but decided to call the midwives and see what they thought and whether they thought I should go home. The midwife said it could be it, it could not, but recommended I go home since I was past due and having contractions.
I got home around 1pm and my husband and I decided to make a big lunch on case that was the last thing we would maybe eat for a while. We also walked over to the store to get some food to bring with us to the birth center, at this point contractions were becoming a little more intense and I had to breathe through them. I was in contact with the midwives a few times and we basically decided I should come in when things got intense.
I labored at home for a while and we left for the birth center at around 530pm. When I got there they checked me and I was 4cm dilated. I had to get antibiotics because I was gbs+. I basically just labored there for a while and the occasionally checked baby's heart rate and my blood pressure.
The contractions started to get really intense and I was starting to bear down at the end of them, but it had only been about 4 hours, so they thought I was just doing that as a coping mechanism and that I wasn't actually ready to push, so they had me try a few different positions to help me not to push. I tried hanging over the back of the toilet and in the tub, both of which I hated and all I wanted to do was push. They came in and checked me and asked if I wanted to know what it was, in case I would be discouraged if it was a low number. I said I wanted to know and then they checked and said there was only a lip of a cervix left and they could move it out of the way and I could let my body do what it wanted, thank god!
I pushed for 8 minutes and she came right out. I am a redhead and there is somewhat of an old wives take that redheads bleed more, that turned out to be true for me, so they have me a shot of pitocin right after birth to help stop the bleeding. Technically the amount I bled was considered a hemorrhage, but I felt fine. I had a second degree tear that the fixed with one stitch, and a few smaller tears they didn't need to stitch.
We went home after about 4 hours and baby and mom have both recovered very well.
So this ended up being quite the novel, and I wrote it on my phone, so please excuse any typos.
Pictures as a reward for making it through this long post!
First day home, still all swollen and red from birth.
She's already a pro at tummy time and can turn her head and lift it for a few seconds.
