Wednesday, April 9, 2014 was a normal day for us. My Mema came over to visit and entertained baby girl while I repaired some of her cloth diapers (good thing I got that out of the way, lol). We ordered take-out for lunch at a little restaurant near our home. I spoke on the phone with a sweet lady that I know when I called to order the food and she "hooked me up". I had a lot to eat for lunch that day, lol...hamburger steak & gravy, fried okra & French fries (I know, I know...very unhealthy). I can't really remember what all I did that evening but I do recall starting a sewing project for a friend's baby before going to bed as well as eating a late dinner that SO cooked for us. I had a full plate of scrambled salmon and turnip greens around 10:30 p.m. (interesting fact: my mama ate turnip greens for lunch hours before she went into labor with me [-: ). After I ate we went to sleep as we would any other night.
On April 10, 2014 I woke up needing to use the bathroom which was nothing out of the ordinary, for me, at that point in my pregnancy. I usually woke up at least twice throughout the night/early morning to use the bathroom. When I woke up I had some pain (but I was thinking it was due to me having to pee so bad). I have a habit of looking at the time when I wake up and it was only 12:30 a.m. and I thought it was rather odd that it was that early since I usually didn't wake up until 2 or after. I sat on the toilet a few minutes as I still had some pain after peeing. I just summed it up to being my bladder from maybe holding my urine too long, so I got back in the bed. I had two more bouts of pain within 15 minutes & they were causing me to tremor. So, at that point I had experienced 3 contractions in 15 minutes. I then thought to myself...oh boy, this must be it so I texted my sister who lives 2.5hrs away to give her a heads up on what was going on (of course she didn't respond at that hour). I couldn't lay in bed so I got up again and turned the camera monitor on so I could watch baby girl even though she was in bed with her Daddy (I hadn't woke him up yet), grabbed the monitor screen and my phone then headed to the other bathroom (I have some kind of comfort in the bathroom, lol) to sit on the toilet again. I brought up my contraction app on my phone to start timing them & then called my sister. She told me to call her back after I spoke with my midwife to let her know if she should come on to my house. At 1:03 a.m. I called my midwife to let her know what was going on. She asked how the contractions felt and I told her that if someone talked to me/asked a question while I was having one that I would probably want to punch them, haha. So, she then said that she would go ahead and get dressed and head our way. She told me to give her a call in 30 minutes to give her an update. I went back into the bedroom after speaking with her and sat on the exercise ball. That seemed to help with the pain of the contractions. I managed to make a post about my labor to a group of ladies I met through babycenter.com when I was pregnant with my first baby. It took two contractions for me to get it typed up. I wasn't able to stay in the bedroom long. I was afraid I'd wake up baby girl so I moved into the living room. I kept the light off for my comfort. I tried to sit on the couch wrapped in a blanket through a few contractions but that wasn't comfortable at all. I went from being really cold to burning up. I ended up squirting myself with lavender water to cool down. I had to get SO to make the next call to my midwife because I was in a lot of pain at that point. I kept up with my contractions on my phone until 2:11 a.m. and then kind of slung my phone to the side because I really wasn't getting much of a break between and figured there was no need to continue timing them. SO and my sister kept in touch while she was on her way to our home. I prefer to labor alone so SO washed the dishes and straightened up the kitchen. Baby girl woke up during all this but I'm not really sure if it was before or after the midwife arrived since I was in a room to myself. At 2:25 a.m. the midwife arrived & I had already began moaning/squealing (lol, at the squealing part). She checked baby's heart rate. I was on my knees and leaning on the couch at that point.She put some chuck pads on the floor and suggested I change positions after I was in that one a while. My lower back started hurting pretty bad and I couldn't get comfortable laying elevated on back or on my left side while in the floor. Mentally, I was getting pretty frustrated. At 2:45 a.m. my water broke in the living room floor (on chucks pads, lol). Not too long after that my midwife suggested sitting on the toilet. I managed to make it back down the hall to the bathroom. The toilet helped a lot but I didn't stay there very long. At 3:13 I was pushing on the toilet & losing more fluid. She didn't want the baby to fall in the toilet, lol...so at 3:28 she suggested we move to the bed. All the moving around really helped me stay focused and comfortable. I got on my knees in the bed and leaned over a stack of pillows but I could barely stand that position anymore because of the back/hip pain so I turned over to my left side and still couldn't get comfortable. I ended up in an elevated lying position for the final stretch at 3:50. Baby boy's head crowned at 4:06 and his head was also born at 4:06. I laid there staring at his head and I kept saying "I don't feel the urge to push anymore". My midwife told me it was okay...and just wait for it, he was going to be fine. Finally, at 4:08 a.m. he was fully born and screaming! Ahhh! LOVE! He was put on my chest and it was awesome. (I didn't get to experience that with my daughter at the hospital /-:) At 4:19 he latched onto my breast for the first time. I delivered the placenta at 4:20. The cord stopped pulsing shortly after and was cut by SO at 4:37 a.m. Baby girl was present during all of this and she did so well. She was so tired but watched anyway. My estimated blood loss was 350cc. The after pains were pretty awful & a terrible reminder of the pain I had just endured so the assistant midwife gave me Motherwort tincture. That stuff was DISGUSTING but it worked really well. At 5:15 I was assisted to the shower and that felt so nice. I was able to pee (a must before midwives could leave). While I was in the shower they checked baby boy over and took his measurements and weight. He weighed 7lbs 5oz, his head measured 13.75in, his length 20.25in and his chest 13.5in. After my shower the assistant midwife helped me get some clothes on and helped me get comfortably settled in bed. I felt great other than my bum...that hurt so bad, lol! Baby guy's temperature was a little low...96 something so we put him skin to skin with me plus a heating pad on him for a few minutes. The midwives started the laundry from the labor/birth, started packing their things and went over postpartum instructions with me (I drank a bottle of Chlorophyll within three days after birth). My sister left around 6-7. SO made us all breakfast. We sent my placenta home with the assistant midwife to have it encapsulated. After the midwives left the four of us were piled up in bed and was able to sleep for a few hours. It was heaven. We had a restful day and just hung out/rested. I didn't inform anyone of baby guy's arrival until after 3p.m. I'm so glad I chose that route. Visitors get in the way of enjoying those first hours with your new family member and cause stress. (for me anyway). I'm so glad that I labored through everyone's normal sleeping hours so all of this could be possible.
So sorry it took me nearly two months to type this up but it required a lot of concentration and quiet time which can be hard to come by with two little ones. I feel like I got "lazy" telling the story towards the end and I apologize but you all can get the jest of the experience, I hope.
I'm so glad I had my placenta encapsulated. I feel it has made a great difference in my postpartum experience.
I LOVED using my cloth pads! They are amazing!
I don't have time to proofread all of this right now and since you all have been waiting so long I will go ahead and post. I apologize for anything that may not make since or for grammatical errors! I will be glad to answer any questions as well!
So sorry it took me nearly two months to type this up but it required a lot of concentration and quiet time which can be hard to come by with two little ones. I feel like I got "lazy" telling the story towards the end and I apologize but you all can get the jest of the experience, I hope.
I'm so glad I had my placenta encapsulated. I feel it has made a great difference in my postpartum experience.
I LOVED using my cloth pads! They are amazing!
I don't have time to proofread all of this right now and since you all have been waiting so long I will go ahead and post. I apologize for anything that may not make since or for grammatical errors! I will be glad to answer any questions as well!
