The result was a short video clip she made with an explanation about nuchal cords (cord around a baby's neck.)
http://screenr.com/B7O
And, of course he was just fine... here's a recent photo of Ezra, now 7 months old.
Monday, August 2, 2010
Some birth pictures
I recently posted to my fellow birthing friends on a Yahoo group the pictures of the cord around Ezra's neck, and some of the birth photos. A prominent natural birth advocate, and midwife, Gloria Lemay, asked permission to use these photos on her blog.
The result was a short video clip she made with an explanation about nuchal cords (cord around a baby's neck.)
http://screenr.com/B7O
And, of course he was just fine... here's a recent photo of Ezra, now 7 months old.
The result was a short video clip she made with an explanation about nuchal cords (cord around a baby's neck.)
http://screenr.com/B7O
And, of course he was just fine... here's a recent photo of Ezra, now 7 months old.
Thursday, January 7, 2010
Ezra's Birth - The long, detailed story!
This labor story starts before this baby was ever conceived… my last birth was so long, and hard, and a disappointment because I wanted an unassisted homebirth so badly, and ended up transferring to the hospital after more than 30 hours of hard labor. Then… my recovery was awful – I felt like I had been run over by a semi truck for a couple weeks. And to top it all off, I had tons of trouble breastfeeding this baby, even though he was my 5th and I’d never had any serious trouble before with any of my previous babies, and nursed them all up to at least 18 months old.
So, in the days and weeks after the birth of this baby, I figured I was done. I never ever wanted to go through the pain and suffering that I had experienced again. I am usually a very strong woman, and to have been on a hospital bed, literally screaming and shrieking because of the pain… I didn’t want to go through that again!
But… I guess God works on hearts and there was a gentle nudging in both myself and my husband’s hearts that we weren’t finished. When I got to the point where our baby was eating solids and breastfeeding less often, I knew we had to figure things out – I usually had my period return sometime after 1 year, and that time was coming. So we let go, and put our trust in God. If it was His plan that we would have another baby, we were open to it. And boy oh boy, it was obviously what he wanted because I had just 1 period (just before my 5th’s first birthday) and got pregnant right after!
This time around, I felt sure that I wanted to go completely unassisted in both my pregnancy and birth – that as long as I felt good and things were fine, I would stay away from the opinions that cater to the normal pregnancy and birth, and trust myself and my intuition.
My pregnancy was fairly uneventful – I was exercising regularly, paying attention to my diet, and kept track of my measurements and weight. When I was feeling more tired in the third trimester, I took a natural iron supplement. I also began to drink a lot of Red Raspberry Leaf tea, and in the last weeks, I took Evening Primrose Oil Capsules.
I knew I would be overdue with this baby – and my approximate “due date” was December 15th. I had to do a bit of an estimate with that because it was based on the positive pregnancy test I had about 2 weeks after my period was expected. I may have been a little further along because the first pregnancy tests I took were from the Dollar store and they came out as negative – but who knows! I didn’t want to emphasize too much on an actual date. All along I expected it would likely be the beginning of January that we would see this baby.
At around 40 weeks, I started to feel big and uncomfortable. I was experiencing some swelling in my ankles and had achy hips. I knew that my body was gearing up for labor a little bit because I had a lot more mucousy discharge and had been having more Braxton Hicks contractions. However… we had a lot going on in our lives at the time. We had bought a house a month and a half prior, that we had to do major renovations on. However, our time was running out for us to be in our current house because we had some renters who wanted to move in right after Christmas.
So here were were, the week before Christmas, and for two nights I had a bunch of regular but light contractions. I woke up earlier on the Monday morning (Christmas would be on Friday) and I felt some strange gushing sensations. I kind of wondered if maybe my water had a slight leak… or if after all these pregnancies, I just couldn’t hold my bladder anymore. At any rate, I didn’t want to get out of bed when it first happened, and after an hour or so, dragged myself to the bathroom. What a surprise! There was blood! So I figured it must be bloody show, and that must mean I’d be having a baby soon! I got a bigger pad on and headed back to my room.
I was in a bit of a tizzy, wondering how I would cope with an early baby (ha ha… being just under 41 weeks felt VERY early to me when all my previous babies were born at 42 or more weeks).
Here is the excerpt from my blog about this “early labor”:
Skip this part if you already read my blog from this day...
Thursday, December 24, 2009
To labor, or not to labor?
41 weeks and 2 days Pregnant.
I really thought I was in labor on Monday... that would have been quite the miracle for me, to have the baby BEFORE 41 weeks!
On Saturday night I had started to have light contractions fairly consistently. I didn't tell Dan because I didn't want to stress him out with all that's going on (and with him preparing to preach the next morning at church!) But, they kind of went away... Then, Sunday night the same thing. This time I told him! But I didn't figure there was anything to get excited. I am well known for having days or even weeks of prodomal labor - labor that is doing very little, but is all in preparation for the "big day".
Then, early Monday morning while I was still trying to sleep, I noticed a few times that I felt slight little gushes. I thought it was a little strange - either I was really losing control over my bladder, or maybe my water had a slow leak? At any rate, for a couple hours I was too lazy to get out or bed quite yet. Then I got up, finally around 7:30 and went to the bathroom. It was blood! Not bright red bleeding, but more of a bloody mucous. AHA! Also, I still seemed to be having random light contractions. I'll have to say that despite my history with EXTRA long pregnancies and even EXTRA long births; I really thought something was happening!
That morning I asked Dan to check things out, and he guessed I was around 4cm dilated. Oh, and the gross part, there was LOTS of yucky, bloody stuff going on down there. Not like I was bleeding like a period or anything, but... definitely stuff happening. I haven't had this in every labor, but this is a classic example of "bloody show".
So, I was in a bit of a tizzy thinking of all I had to do to get ready for Christmas, and that if I was in early labor, I really needed to get some stuff done and I didn't want to be sitting around, just waiting. So I decided to go into town with Dan (we live 10 minutes outside the city, and only have 1 vehicle) and after running to a few stores, dropped him off to work on the house that we have to move into next week.
I headed to Wal-Mart with the kids, thinking that maybe I could get some Christmas shopping done. Ha ha... We went to the bathroom right off the bat so the kids and I could have a potty break. I noticed a bit more discharge, but nothing substantial.
So we headed across the store to the fishes and the baby department. Suddenly, I felt these blobby gushes coming out of me. Uh-oh! I wondered if it was my water breaking... or if it was just some blood or clots. I stood there, in a bit of a panic, grateful that the kids were in the next aisle over looking at the fish. I felt the front of my jeans (of course, not able to see over my belly) and it felt dry, but I was getting concerned! What would I do if I had a big mess all over me with 5 kids, trying to shop in Wal-Mart!!!!
I went over to the kids and let them look at the fish another couple minutes, then I said I had to go back to the bathroom and we headed back.
I have to tell you it was pretty disgusting. Thankfully I was wearing a full-on pad, not just a panti-liner, in expectation of birth stuff going on. Anyway, there were several turd-sized clots - not too huge, I've certainly had bigger in my time, but they were clots nonetheless. In my head I went through the possibilities, and although I felt at peace, there was that clamoring of fear that said "You don't even have a doctor or midwife to turn to, what are you going to do, stupid!" I began to get logical though, and figured that since I had been sitting in the van for quite a while, that it was not abnormal for blood to pool and clot. And besides, it was still all mucousy and gross, not like it was blood pouring out of me. I said a quick prayer and asked God to have the baby move if things were ok. Immediately, I felt a couple nudges beneath my ribs.
So... needless to say, I didn't feel much like shopping. I stuffed some toilet paper on top of the yucky pad, kicking myself for not having prepared and having another pad in my purse (but there were some in the van). So I waddled around the store, did a couple more things, and decided to get the kids some Timbits before we left. I stood in line next to another mom and she looked over at my shopping cart full of children and said "Oh my... they're all yours?! 5?"
"6." I said, pointing at my basketball. (More like a monster pumpkin.) She asked when I was due, and I said "any day". Her eyes got big and she said "Wow... you're so small for number six!" Yay... that made my day!
So, I carted the kids back into the van and gave them strict instructions to stay buckled and that they could have 1 Timbit while I was gone. Then I had to take a pad and go to the bathroom AGAIN! The kids looked at me like I was growing a second head, in shock that I had to go AGAIN!!!
Well, the day continued and I kept having contractions and in the midst of it, kept feeling the baby wiggle around (and that was quite reassuring). The bloody show slowed down a lot, so I became less concerned as the day went on. I do remember that when I was in labor with my third, I had bleeding during labor, and it scared me at first - but the midwife said it was totally normal, just a sign that the baby was coming soon!
So, that night I really figured something should have happened, and asked Dan to check me again. But... it wasn't really different except for the fact that my cervix seemed shorter (so more effaced) but not really any more dilated. I went to bed, content with the fact that at least SOMETHING had been accomplished, and I actually had a great sleep that night. In other words... no contractions.
And I haven't really had any contractions since. Two whole days of NOTHING! I don't know whether to be happy or sad because on one hand, I really would prefer to have the baby at least a few days after Christmas, but on the other hand, who wants to stay pregnant when you're this big and uncomfortable!!???
So yesterday was full of tears... disappointment, uncertainty... I want to be excited about this baby coming, but I also feel a lot of stress about us MOVING next Monday. I don't really have the opportunity to nest or anything, I'm just going to have to roll with the punches.
In Conclusion... my sanity has come from a belief that this baby is planned by God... and that HE is fully aware of when it needs to be born. I also find myself thinking of Mary, Jesus' mother... travelling on the back of a donkey, wandering around Bethlehem with Joseph and they can't even find a crappy motel room to stay in!! That must have been scary... and horribly frustrating...
I'm sure this baby will come at the right time, so I'm back to waiting. I think what is bizarre is that when you reach 4-5cm dilated, you are supposed to enter the "active" labor stage. Instead, for me, I've entered the "inactive" stage. Nothing happening... nothing going on. Just have to wait! Oh well, at least some of the work is already done.
So… we had our Christmas, drove up to see family in Calgary (2 hours away) and stayed over 1 night. My sister-in-law was a little paranoid, and didn’t neglect to tell me that I’d better not have the baby at her house! Not like I wanted to…
Sunday, we had church and then it was time to move the last of our stuff out of our old house and into the new one. Thankfully, we had some friends who were taking all our older kids (just not the toddler) out for the day. We got to our “old” house and I worked my butt off packing up the last of our stuff. Then it happened… one more event to add to the adventure. One of our friends helping us move found some bedbugs on the corner of our mattress! AAAAHHHHH!!!! So now I knew where this mysterious rash that was mostly on one of my arms was coming from. It wasn’t pregnancy related, it was those disgusting @$*@%!!! bugs! I can’t believe they were on my side of the bed. I can’t believe we had bugs in our bed. I felt so gross, and insulted – like I don’t clean my home and wash my linens!? Because, although I have 5 kids… I do clean!
Anyway, that threw a monkey-wrench into our moving. We had to throw out our mattress, and now we’d have to wash all our linens and pillows. Thankfully, nothing was in the kids’ beds or rooms. The problem apparently contained to only picking on the pregnant lady… aaarrggh!
So, that brings us to the end of a long, exhausting day. Most of our stuff was moved, but we were tired and figured we’d have to come back the next day to finish and clean. We had some wonderful, accommodating friends who let us sleep over at their house and even fed us a late supper. As soon as the kids ate, we put them all to bed – the toddler in his own room, and all the kids on the floor around the bed we’d be spending the night in.
After dinner (leftover turkey and sweet potato pie, yum!) I began to notice I was having contractions again. And they seemed to be consistent. However, I wasn’t too keen on drawing attention to myself and they didn’t really hurt. By the time we headed to bed at midnight, I just wanted to ignore them and sleep. For the next couple of hours, I would wake up ever so often and realize I was still having some contractions. But they still weren’t hard enough or long enough to make me think this really was labor. And after the last Monday, I figured anything could happen! I got out of bed every hour or so, and threw another load of laundry into the washer. By about 3am, I noticed the contractions were actually getting harder. I even had to start breathing through them and I tried out my visualization that I had thought up a few weeks prior. In my mind, I would picture a pebble being thrown into a very calm lake, and the ripples expanding slowly outwards. I also found that if I drew a very deep breath, way down into my belly, and even tried to push my stomach out with the breath, it seemed to help me have less tension and pain through the contraction.
I still wasn’t convinced I was in true labor, but then I started to have bloody show again. I had to snoop around the house, and head to the upstairs bathroom to find a pad because we didn’t have any of our birth supplies with us! I wasn’t supposed to be having the baby now! Thankfully, my friend had some big pads in the cupboard and I was saved. I went back to bed, and tried to rest some more. Now I wasn’t getting much sleep at all. I really tried to relax in between contractions, but they seemed to be coming every 4-5 minutes now, and they were strong enough that I had to pay attention. I looked at the clock and told myself that I would wait in the bedroom until Henry went to work (and I knew he was supposed to get up at 5am). I felt embarrassed about being in labor at their house – if it was labor, and I didn’t want to get caught in the hallway having a contraction when he was up and getting ready! Finally I heard their alarm go off, and it went on FOREVER!!! I remembered how the night before, when I asked about doing laundry in the night, the wife had said that they were really deep sleepers!
Sometime later, and a handful of contractions later, the house was quiet and I figured the husband had left for work. It was about 5:45am and I went to the bathroom. More bloody show… another hard contraction. It was time to wake up Dan. I went back to the bed and touched his arm. He jolted awake “What???”
I said that I thought I really was in labor now, and I needed him. We snuck into the bathroom together and I asked him to check my dilation. I wanted to know if this was another false alarm, or if things were actually changing. This time he said I was probably about 6cm… Okay, I guess something WAS going on… and maybe we’d see a baby today? But I was still a bit doubtful.
We both went back to bed, surrounded by our snoring children. I tried in vain to get back to sleep, but now I was finding that lying down during contractions was NOT enjoyable. They were really beginning to hurt!
I decided to head upstairs and get online. I sat and checked my email, and sent one out to a Yahoo birthing group I’m a part of, asking for advice about having bleeding during labor. I wasn’t too concerned about it, but I’d only had bleeding like this in one of my previous births, and I don’t think it was as much as I was having now.
I had several contractions while sitting at the computer, and they seemed like they were coming a lot more often than before. Sometime after 7am, I realized that labor was taking over me. I did no longer doubt that things were happening, but began to expect that birth was actually likely to happen that day! It didn’t even cross my mind really that we were at someone else’s house – I was becoming so wrapped up in the birth, that I just wanted to get this over with! So, it was time to get my man out of bed to be with me and support me – and maybe it was time to call our doula as well!
I woke Dan up again and told him I needed him with me. We took another trip into the bathroom and I kind of half sat half squatted over the toilet and he checked my dilation again. “Wow!” he said…
“What???!!” was my excited reply…
“I can’t feel any cervix at all anymore” he explained. He said that he couldn’t spread his fingers far enough apart to feel from one side to another… so maybe I was fully dilated?
I was excited, but a bit amazed, considering I still didn’t feel like things were super intense. So far, it was pretty much a breeze – I was on top of things! We went upstairs and got me a glass of apple juice to sip on. Then I sat down at the kitchen table while Dan looked up the phone number for our doula.
According to her records, we contacted her at about 7:40am. Dan told her I was in labor, and that we’d like her to come now and gave her directions to our friend’s house.
I spent a bit more time having contractions in the kitchen, then felt a bit like I needed some privacy and retreated to the main floor bathroom. For a little while, I was laboring on the toilet – and at this point, things were feeling quite a bit more serious. I almost felt like jumping into the tub, but knew that the birth pool would show up soon, and that would be way better!
Our doula arrived and came to check in on me in the bathroom. I think it was around the same time that our friend woke up, and was coming upstairs to get her kids up for breakfast. Dan said “Good morning” and told her that our doula was here.
She sounded a little confused (as I heard from the bathroom) “Your doula is here?”
“Yes,” Dan said – “Lisa is having the baby.”
“Ohhh!” our friend exclaimed, “Wow! What can I do?”
So it all worked out wonderfully, that Dan was able to let the kids out of bed, and send them with our friend to the kitchen with her kids to have breakfast. A couple times our kids walked by and at one point, my 6 year old girl looked in at me on the toilet and said “What are you doing, Mommy?”
By this time, I’d stripped my shorts and panties off, and was just straddling the toilet with only a t-shirt on. (I remember that a short time before, I was feeling cold and shivery, and was wearing a sweatshirt and wrapped myself in a blanket, but now I was hot!) I told her calmly “I’m having the baby.”
Her big blue eyes got even bigger than normal and she repeated “You’re having the baby?!!” Then she ran off, yelling to her siblings “Mommy is having the baby right now, she told me that she is!”
By now, our doula was blowing up the pool in the downstairs bedroom we had spent the night in – and it happened to be perfect because it used to be part of a basement suite, and had a small kitchen area with lino and a sink in it.
Labor was getting harder at this point, and I asked Dan to check again – maybe something would indicate that this was almost over!!
This time, he said he felt the bag of waters bulging out!
I really wanted to be in touch with things in this labor – and since I’d tried to check my dilation at various points in my pregnancy and this labor, I wanted to feel this “bulging bag of waters”. Sure enough, I reached up and there it was… like a balloon, all squishy yet firm… my amniotic sac, just waiting to burst and let our baby out! YAY!
Shortly after this, things got really intense. I couldn’t wait to get into the pool. I was starting to feel a bit desperate though – if I wasn’t careful, my contractions got the better of me and were starting to hurt a lot! I didn’t want to sit on the toilet anymore, but because the pool wasn’t ready, I didn’t really want to go downstairs for nothing. I ended up lying on the floor, sort of cushioned by a couple towels. I remember staring at some paint flecks on the bathroom cabinet… concentrating on them during the contractions.
Finally I got word that there was some water going into the pool, and Dan helped me head downstairs. I stood next to the pool, looking longingly at the water, and had a couple contractions where all I could do was lean on the counter of the little kitchenette. Finally there was enough water, and I climbed in. Our doula kept an eye on the water temperature, and Dan began to pour water over my back since it was too shallow to cover me.
I resumed my favorite position of kneeling and draped myself over the side of the pool, trying to let the water take the weight off my belly. Contractions got really hard, and now, not only did I feel it in my belly, but I felt intense tingling, electric pain in my upper thighs! I leaned back and was on all fours for a minute and suddenly felt this pop and gush! My water broke! There was a bit of greenish meconium in the water and all sorts of shimmery little flecks, but it wasn’t the yucky dark meconium that I’d had with my last birth. This probably wasn’t very fresh, so it didn’t signal any real danger.
From what I remember, contractions after this point became quite hard. I was having difficulty maintaining control during them – and I remember I probably went though 4 or 5 very bad contractions with that pain running down my legs, and I was having difficulty managing my breathing. The doula reminded me to relax and take deep, slow breaths. It was probably only 15 minutes after my water broke, that I started to push. I don’t remember feeling an intense urge to push at first, but in my mind, it seemed the right thing to do. With the second pushing contraction came the incredible force from within, and I was grunting and really wanted to get this over with! I had a humongous, long push and suddenly I felt the bulge of the baby’s head right on my perineum. I had this strange thought that maybe I wasn’t really having the baby – just having a big poop – and lo and behold, I did poop a tiny bit – but then, I felt a bit of a sting, and the baby’s head popped out of me! I gave a bit of another push and felt the incredible feeling of the baby’s body tumbling out and suddenly, in front of me, floating like in outer space – so surreal, was this baby!
I immediately noticed the cord looped around our baby’s neck – it was wrapped around 3 times, AND, it was wrapped around the baby’s wrist as well! I quickly grasped the baby with one hand under its tummy and used my other hand to pull the cord off. There wasn’t any panic on my part – mostly just astonishment at how the cord could be wrapped around 3 times! Sometime during this endeavor, I found out the secret… It was a boy!!! I announced the gender… I was the first to see, to touch, and to experience our new boy child!
Once the cord situation was dealt with, I gently lifted him out of the water into the air, and cradled him against my breast. He was so perfect… his color was wonderful and he was so calm and lovely. He didn’t make a peep at first and didn’t seem to be trying to breath, but with the cord fully intact, I didn’t worry about it. I began to rub his little back – which had vernix on it – (so much for being “overdue”) and within a few moments, he let out a very lively cry! Now that he was here, and obviously healthy and strong, I asked what the time was…
We guessed his birth to have occurred at 9:20am – amazing to me, since I’d only felt like I was in hard labor since around 8am! Dan yelled to the kids that the baby was here, and a crowd surrounded the birth pool, including my friend and her two little daughters. Everyone was so excited and amazed that I’d already had the baby… We were so happy!
I stayed in the pool for a little longer, with a towel over myself and the baby to keep us a bit warmer. Unfortunately, the water wasn’t all that deep, so it wasn’t staying very warm either and I figured it was time to get out.
We weren’t all that prepared, so my friend graciously allowed us to use a bunch of her towels to protect the floor and cover the bed – thankfully the towels were all dark colors!
It took a while for the placenta to come out – probably 1 hour and 45 minutes – and that time felt like agony. I wanted to keep the cord intact until the placenta was delivered, but after a while (probably about 1 hour) it became pretty awkward for me to move around and change positions when I was so closely connected to the baby. (Dan cut the cord with a sharp knife from the kitchen, and later we tied the the baby’s section of cord with a piece of blue string, and trimmed the cord on his tummy shorter.) At first I just lay on the bed and nursed the baby (he did pretty good right from the beginning!) but I found that my afterpains were really bad. I tried a lot of different things, like sitting on the toilet, squatting, then I just ended up back on the bed, semi reclined because I felt so exhausted and just wanted all this “birth stuff” to be over. FINALLY, I felt like pushing, and had some small clots come out, and then the placenta. I instantly felt relief and energy return to my body. I think part of this was mental for me, since I’d had trouble with my other unassisted birth and after 6 hours had gone to the hospital for a retained placenta. In that case though, it was the fault of my full bladder, and once they gave me a catheter, the placenta came out no problem.
So, in the end, everything worked! We did it all on our own without any medical help. One of the things that really makes me happy is that only I and my husband had our hands in my “private parts” and we were able to keep the birth intimate and family oriented…and natural. I feel so blessed to have given birth with no outside pressure because I was overdue. No one trying to induce me. No one trying to break my waters….
Later that day, we weighed our boy and he was 7 pounds, 10.5 ounces and 20 inches long. Born on December 28, 2009 at 9:20 am. It took us until the next afternoon to decide on the name: Ezra Samuel. He is a wonderful baby so far and the kids love him so much and so do we!
So, in the days and weeks after the birth of this baby, I figured I was done. I never ever wanted to go through the pain and suffering that I had experienced again. I am usually a very strong woman, and to have been on a hospital bed, literally screaming and shrieking because of the pain… I didn’t want to go through that again!
But… I guess God works on hearts and there was a gentle nudging in both myself and my husband’s hearts that we weren’t finished. When I got to the point where our baby was eating solids and breastfeeding less often, I knew we had to figure things out – I usually had my period return sometime after 1 year, and that time was coming. So we let go, and put our trust in God. If it was His plan that we would have another baby, we were open to it. And boy oh boy, it was obviously what he wanted because I had just 1 period (just before my 5th’s first birthday) and got pregnant right after!
This time around, I felt sure that I wanted to go completely unassisted in both my pregnancy and birth – that as long as I felt good and things were fine, I would stay away from the opinions that cater to the normal pregnancy and birth, and trust myself and my intuition.
My pregnancy was fairly uneventful – I was exercising regularly, paying attention to my diet, and kept track of my measurements and weight. When I was feeling more tired in the third trimester, I took a natural iron supplement. I also began to drink a lot of Red Raspberry Leaf tea, and in the last weeks, I took Evening Primrose Oil Capsules.
I knew I would be overdue with this baby – and my approximate “due date” was December 15th. I had to do a bit of an estimate with that because it was based on the positive pregnancy test I had about 2 weeks after my period was expected. I may have been a little further along because the first pregnancy tests I took were from the Dollar store and they came out as negative – but who knows! I didn’t want to emphasize too much on an actual date. All along I expected it would likely be the beginning of January that we would see this baby.
At around 40 weeks, I started to feel big and uncomfortable. I was experiencing some swelling in my ankles and had achy hips. I knew that my body was gearing up for labor a little bit because I had a lot more mucousy discharge and had been having more Braxton Hicks contractions. However… we had a lot going on in our lives at the time. We had bought a house a month and a half prior, that we had to do major renovations on. However, our time was running out for us to be in our current house because we had some renters who wanted to move in right after Christmas.
So here were were, the week before Christmas, and for two nights I had a bunch of regular but light contractions. I woke up earlier on the Monday morning (Christmas would be on Friday) and I felt some strange gushing sensations. I kind of wondered if maybe my water had a slight leak… or if after all these pregnancies, I just couldn’t hold my bladder anymore. At any rate, I didn’t want to get out of bed when it first happened, and after an hour or so, dragged myself to the bathroom. What a surprise! There was blood! So I figured it must be bloody show, and that must mean I’d be having a baby soon! I got a bigger pad on and headed back to my room.
I was in a bit of a tizzy, wondering how I would cope with an early baby (ha ha… being just under 41 weeks felt VERY early to me when all my previous babies were born at 42 or more weeks).
Here is the excerpt from my blog about this “early labor”:
Skip this part if you already read my blog from this day...
Thursday, December 24, 2009
To labor, or not to labor?
41 weeks and 2 days Pregnant.
I really thought I was in labor on Monday... that would have been quite the miracle for me, to have the baby BEFORE 41 weeks!
On Saturday night I had started to have light contractions fairly consistently. I didn't tell Dan because I didn't want to stress him out with all that's going on (and with him preparing to preach the next morning at church!) But, they kind of went away... Then, Sunday night the same thing. This time I told him! But I didn't figure there was anything to get excited. I am well known for having days or even weeks of prodomal labor - labor that is doing very little, but is all in preparation for the "big day".
Then, early Monday morning while I was still trying to sleep, I noticed a few times that I felt slight little gushes. I thought it was a little strange - either I was really losing control over my bladder, or maybe my water had a slow leak? At any rate, for a couple hours I was too lazy to get out or bed quite yet. Then I got up, finally around 7:30 and went to the bathroom. It was blood! Not bright red bleeding, but more of a bloody mucous. AHA! Also, I still seemed to be having random light contractions. I'll have to say that despite my history with EXTRA long pregnancies and even EXTRA long births; I really thought something was happening!
That morning I asked Dan to check things out, and he guessed I was around 4cm dilated. Oh, and the gross part, there was LOTS of yucky, bloody stuff going on down there. Not like I was bleeding like a period or anything, but... definitely stuff happening. I haven't had this in every labor, but this is a classic example of "bloody show".
So, I was in a bit of a tizzy thinking of all I had to do to get ready for Christmas, and that if I was in early labor, I really needed to get some stuff done and I didn't want to be sitting around, just waiting. So I decided to go into town with Dan (we live 10 minutes outside the city, and only have 1 vehicle) and after running to a few stores, dropped him off to work on the house that we have to move into next week.
I headed to Wal-Mart with the kids, thinking that maybe I could get some Christmas shopping done. Ha ha... We went to the bathroom right off the bat so the kids and I could have a potty break. I noticed a bit more discharge, but nothing substantial.
So we headed across the store to the fishes and the baby department. Suddenly, I felt these blobby gushes coming out of me. Uh-oh! I wondered if it was my water breaking... or if it was just some blood or clots. I stood there, in a bit of a panic, grateful that the kids were in the next aisle over looking at the fish. I felt the front of my jeans (of course, not able to see over my belly) and it felt dry, but I was getting concerned! What would I do if I had a big mess all over me with 5 kids, trying to shop in Wal-Mart!!!!
I went over to the kids and let them look at the fish another couple minutes, then I said I had to go back to the bathroom and we headed back.
I have to tell you it was pretty disgusting. Thankfully I was wearing a full-on pad, not just a panti-liner, in expectation of birth stuff going on. Anyway, there were several turd-sized clots - not too huge, I've certainly had bigger in my time, but they were clots nonetheless. In my head I went through the possibilities, and although I felt at peace, there was that clamoring of fear that said "You don't even have a doctor or midwife to turn to, what are you going to do, stupid!" I began to get logical though, and figured that since I had been sitting in the van for quite a while, that it was not abnormal for blood to pool and clot. And besides, it was still all mucousy and gross, not like it was blood pouring out of me. I said a quick prayer and asked God to have the baby move if things were ok. Immediately, I felt a couple nudges beneath my ribs.
So... needless to say, I didn't feel much like shopping. I stuffed some toilet paper on top of the yucky pad, kicking myself for not having prepared and having another pad in my purse (but there were some in the van). So I waddled around the store, did a couple more things, and decided to get the kids some Timbits before we left. I stood in line next to another mom and she looked over at my shopping cart full of children and said "Oh my... they're all yours?! 5?"
"6." I said, pointing at my basketball. (More like a monster pumpkin.) She asked when I was due, and I said "any day". Her eyes got big and she said "Wow... you're so small for number six!" Yay... that made my day!
So, I carted the kids back into the van and gave them strict instructions to stay buckled and that they could have 1 Timbit while I was gone. Then I had to take a pad and go to the bathroom AGAIN! The kids looked at me like I was growing a second head, in shock that I had to go AGAIN!!!
Well, the day continued and I kept having contractions and in the midst of it, kept feeling the baby wiggle around (and that was quite reassuring). The bloody show slowed down a lot, so I became less concerned as the day went on. I do remember that when I was in labor with my third, I had bleeding during labor, and it scared me at first - but the midwife said it was totally normal, just a sign that the baby was coming soon!
So, that night I really figured something should have happened, and asked Dan to check me again. But... it wasn't really different except for the fact that my cervix seemed shorter (so more effaced) but not really any more dilated. I went to bed, content with the fact that at least SOMETHING had been accomplished, and I actually had a great sleep that night. In other words... no contractions.
And I haven't really had any contractions since. Two whole days of NOTHING! I don't know whether to be happy or sad because on one hand, I really would prefer to have the baby at least a few days after Christmas, but on the other hand, who wants to stay pregnant when you're this big and uncomfortable!!???
So yesterday was full of tears... disappointment, uncertainty... I want to be excited about this baby coming, but I also feel a lot of stress about us MOVING next Monday. I don't really have the opportunity to nest or anything, I'm just going to have to roll with the punches.
In Conclusion... my sanity has come from a belief that this baby is planned by God... and that HE is fully aware of when it needs to be born. I also find myself thinking of Mary, Jesus' mother... travelling on the back of a donkey, wandering around Bethlehem with Joseph and they can't even find a crappy motel room to stay in!! That must have been scary... and horribly frustrating...
I'm sure this baby will come at the right time, so I'm back to waiting. I think what is bizarre is that when you reach 4-5cm dilated, you are supposed to enter the "active" labor stage. Instead, for me, I've entered the "inactive" stage. Nothing happening... nothing going on. Just have to wait! Oh well, at least some of the work is already done.
So… we had our Christmas, drove up to see family in Calgary (2 hours away) and stayed over 1 night. My sister-in-law was a little paranoid, and didn’t neglect to tell me that I’d better not have the baby at her house! Not like I wanted to…
Sunday, we had church and then it was time to move the last of our stuff out of our old house and into the new one. Thankfully, we had some friends who were taking all our older kids (just not the toddler) out for the day. We got to our “old” house and I worked my butt off packing up the last of our stuff. Then it happened… one more event to add to the adventure. One of our friends helping us move found some bedbugs on the corner of our mattress! AAAAHHHHH!!!! So now I knew where this mysterious rash that was mostly on one of my arms was coming from. It wasn’t pregnancy related, it was those disgusting @$*@%!!! bugs! I can’t believe they were on my side of the bed. I can’t believe we had bugs in our bed. I felt so gross, and insulted – like I don’t clean my home and wash my linens!? Because, although I have 5 kids… I do clean!
Anyway, that threw a monkey-wrench into our moving. We had to throw out our mattress, and now we’d have to wash all our linens and pillows. Thankfully, nothing was in the kids’ beds or rooms. The problem apparently contained to only picking on the pregnant lady… aaarrggh!
So, that brings us to the end of a long, exhausting day. Most of our stuff was moved, but we were tired and figured we’d have to come back the next day to finish and clean. We had some wonderful, accommodating friends who let us sleep over at their house and even fed us a late supper. As soon as the kids ate, we put them all to bed – the toddler in his own room, and all the kids on the floor around the bed we’d be spending the night in.
After dinner (leftover turkey and sweet potato pie, yum!) I began to notice I was having contractions again. And they seemed to be consistent. However, I wasn’t too keen on drawing attention to myself and they didn’t really hurt. By the time we headed to bed at midnight, I just wanted to ignore them and sleep. For the next couple of hours, I would wake up ever so often and realize I was still having some contractions. But they still weren’t hard enough or long enough to make me think this really was labor. And after the last Monday, I figured anything could happen! I got out of bed every hour or so, and threw another load of laundry into the washer. By about 3am, I noticed the contractions were actually getting harder. I even had to start breathing through them and I tried out my visualization that I had thought up a few weeks prior. In my mind, I would picture a pebble being thrown into a very calm lake, and the ripples expanding slowly outwards. I also found that if I drew a very deep breath, way down into my belly, and even tried to push my stomach out with the breath, it seemed to help me have less tension and pain through the contraction.
I still wasn’t convinced I was in true labor, but then I started to have bloody show again. I had to snoop around the house, and head to the upstairs bathroom to find a pad because we didn’t have any of our birth supplies with us! I wasn’t supposed to be having the baby now! Thankfully, my friend had some big pads in the cupboard and I was saved. I went back to bed, and tried to rest some more. Now I wasn’t getting much sleep at all. I really tried to relax in between contractions, but they seemed to be coming every 4-5 minutes now, and they were strong enough that I had to pay attention. I looked at the clock and told myself that I would wait in the bedroom until Henry went to work (and I knew he was supposed to get up at 5am). I felt embarrassed about being in labor at their house – if it was labor, and I didn’t want to get caught in the hallway having a contraction when he was up and getting ready! Finally I heard their alarm go off, and it went on FOREVER!!! I remembered how the night before, when I asked about doing laundry in the night, the wife had said that they were really deep sleepers!
Sometime later, and a handful of contractions later, the house was quiet and I figured the husband had left for work. It was about 5:45am and I went to the bathroom. More bloody show… another hard contraction. It was time to wake up Dan. I went back to the bed and touched his arm. He jolted awake “What???”
I said that I thought I really was in labor now, and I needed him. We snuck into the bathroom together and I asked him to check my dilation. I wanted to know if this was another false alarm, or if things were actually changing. This time he said I was probably about 6cm… Okay, I guess something WAS going on… and maybe we’d see a baby today? But I was still a bit doubtful.
We both went back to bed, surrounded by our snoring children. I tried in vain to get back to sleep, but now I was finding that lying down during contractions was NOT enjoyable. They were really beginning to hurt!
I decided to head upstairs and get online. I sat and checked my email, and sent one out to a Yahoo birthing group I’m a part of, asking for advice about having bleeding during labor. I wasn’t too concerned about it, but I’d only had bleeding like this in one of my previous births, and I don’t think it was as much as I was having now.
I had several contractions while sitting at the computer, and they seemed like they were coming a lot more often than before. Sometime after 7am, I realized that labor was taking over me. I did no longer doubt that things were happening, but began to expect that birth was actually likely to happen that day! It didn’t even cross my mind really that we were at someone else’s house – I was becoming so wrapped up in the birth, that I just wanted to get this over with! So, it was time to get my man out of bed to be with me and support me – and maybe it was time to call our doula as well!
I woke Dan up again and told him I needed him with me. We took another trip into the bathroom and I kind of half sat half squatted over the toilet and he checked my dilation again. “Wow!” he said…
“What???!!” was my excited reply…
“I can’t feel any cervix at all anymore” he explained. He said that he couldn’t spread his fingers far enough apart to feel from one side to another… so maybe I was fully dilated?
I was excited, but a bit amazed, considering I still didn’t feel like things were super intense. So far, it was pretty much a breeze – I was on top of things! We went upstairs and got me a glass of apple juice to sip on. Then I sat down at the kitchen table while Dan looked up the phone number for our doula.
According to her records, we contacted her at about 7:40am. Dan told her I was in labor, and that we’d like her to come now and gave her directions to our friend’s house.
I spent a bit more time having contractions in the kitchen, then felt a bit like I needed some privacy and retreated to the main floor bathroom. For a little while, I was laboring on the toilet – and at this point, things were feeling quite a bit more serious. I almost felt like jumping into the tub, but knew that the birth pool would show up soon, and that would be way better!
Our doula arrived and came to check in on me in the bathroom. I think it was around the same time that our friend woke up, and was coming upstairs to get her kids up for breakfast. Dan said “Good morning” and told her that our doula was here.
She sounded a little confused (as I heard from the bathroom) “Your doula is here?”
“Yes,” Dan said – “Lisa is having the baby.”
“Ohhh!” our friend exclaimed, “Wow! What can I do?”
So it all worked out wonderfully, that Dan was able to let the kids out of bed, and send them with our friend to the kitchen with her kids to have breakfast. A couple times our kids walked by and at one point, my 6 year old girl looked in at me on the toilet and said “What are you doing, Mommy?”
By this time, I’d stripped my shorts and panties off, and was just straddling the toilet with only a t-shirt on. (I remember that a short time before, I was feeling cold and shivery, and was wearing a sweatshirt and wrapped myself in a blanket, but now I was hot!) I told her calmly “I’m having the baby.”
Her big blue eyes got even bigger than normal and she repeated “You’re having the baby?!!” Then she ran off, yelling to her siblings “Mommy is having the baby right now, she told me that she is!”
By now, our doula was blowing up the pool in the downstairs bedroom we had spent the night in – and it happened to be perfect because it used to be part of a basement suite, and had a small kitchen area with lino and a sink in it.
Labor was getting harder at this point, and I asked Dan to check again – maybe something would indicate that this was almost over!!
This time, he said he felt the bag of waters bulging out!
I really wanted to be in touch with things in this labor – and since I’d tried to check my dilation at various points in my pregnancy and this labor, I wanted to feel this “bulging bag of waters”. Sure enough, I reached up and there it was… like a balloon, all squishy yet firm… my amniotic sac, just waiting to burst and let our baby out! YAY!
Shortly after this, things got really intense. I couldn’t wait to get into the pool. I was starting to feel a bit desperate though – if I wasn’t careful, my contractions got the better of me and were starting to hurt a lot! I didn’t want to sit on the toilet anymore, but because the pool wasn’t ready, I didn’t really want to go downstairs for nothing. I ended up lying on the floor, sort of cushioned by a couple towels. I remember staring at some paint flecks on the bathroom cabinet… concentrating on them during the contractions.
Finally I got word that there was some water going into the pool, and Dan helped me head downstairs. I stood next to the pool, looking longingly at the water, and had a couple contractions where all I could do was lean on the counter of the little kitchenette. Finally there was enough water, and I climbed in. Our doula kept an eye on the water temperature, and Dan began to pour water over my back since it was too shallow to cover me.
I resumed my favorite position of kneeling and draped myself over the side of the pool, trying to let the water take the weight off my belly. Contractions got really hard, and now, not only did I feel it in my belly, but I felt intense tingling, electric pain in my upper thighs! I leaned back and was on all fours for a minute and suddenly felt this pop and gush! My water broke! There was a bit of greenish meconium in the water and all sorts of shimmery little flecks, but it wasn’t the yucky dark meconium that I’d had with my last birth. This probably wasn’t very fresh, so it didn’t signal any real danger.
From what I remember, contractions after this point became quite hard. I was having difficulty maintaining control during them – and I remember I probably went though 4 or 5 very bad contractions with that pain running down my legs, and I was having difficulty managing my breathing. The doula reminded me to relax and take deep, slow breaths. It was probably only 15 minutes after my water broke, that I started to push. I don’t remember feeling an intense urge to push at first, but in my mind, it seemed the right thing to do. With the second pushing contraction came the incredible force from within, and I was grunting and really wanted to get this over with! I had a humongous, long push and suddenly I felt the bulge of the baby’s head right on my perineum. I had this strange thought that maybe I wasn’t really having the baby – just having a big poop – and lo and behold, I did poop a tiny bit – but then, I felt a bit of a sting, and the baby’s head popped out of me! I gave a bit of another push and felt the incredible feeling of the baby’s body tumbling out and suddenly, in front of me, floating like in outer space – so surreal, was this baby!
I immediately noticed the cord looped around our baby’s neck – it was wrapped around 3 times, AND, it was wrapped around the baby’s wrist as well! I quickly grasped the baby with one hand under its tummy and used my other hand to pull the cord off. There wasn’t any panic on my part – mostly just astonishment at how the cord could be wrapped around 3 times! Sometime during this endeavor, I found out the secret… It was a boy!!! I announced the gender… I was the first to see, to touch, and to experience our new boy child!
Once the cord situation was dealt with, I gently lifted him out of the water into the air, and cradled him against my breast. He was so perfect… his color was wonderful and he was so calm and lovely. He didn’t make a peep at first and didn’t seem to be trying to breath, but with the cord fully intact, I didn’t worry about it. I began to rub his little back – which had vernix on it – (so much for being “overdue”) and within a few moments, he let out a very lively cry! Now that he was here, and obviously healthy and strong, I asked what the time was…
We guessed his birth to have occurred at 9:20am – amazing to me, since I’d only felt like I was in hard labor since around 8am! Dan yelled to the kids that the baby was here, and a crowd surrounded the birth pool, including my friend and her two little daughters. Everyone was so excited and amazed that I’d already had the baby… We were so happy!
I stayed in the pool for a little longer, with a towel over myself and the baby to keep us a bit warmer. Unfortunately, the water wasn’t all that deep, so it wasn’t staying very warm either and I figured it was time to get out.
We weren’t all that prepared, so my friend graciously allowed us to use a bunch of her towels to protect the floor and cover the bed – thankfully the towels were all dark colors!
It took a while for the placenta to come out – probably 1 hour and 45 minutes – and that time felt like agony. I wanted to keep the cord intact until the placenta was delivered, but after a while (probably about 1 hour) it became pretty awkward for me to move around and change positions when I was so closely connected to the baby. (Dan cut the cord with a sharp knife from the kitchen, and later we tied the the baby’s section of cord with a piece of blue string, and trimmed the cord on his tummy shorter.) At first I just lay on the bed and nursed the baby (he did pretty good right from the beginning!) but I found that my afterpains were really bad. I tried a lot of different things, like sitting on the toilet, squatting, then I just ended up back on the bed, semi reclined because I felt so exhausted and just wanted all this “birth stuff” to be over. FINALLY, I felt like pushing, and had some small clots come out, and then the placenta. I instantly felt relief and energy return to my body. I think part of this was mental for me, since I’d had trouble with my other unassisted birth and after 6 hours had gone to the hospital for a retained placenta. In that case though, it was the fault of my full bladder, and once they gave me a catheter, the placenta came out no problem.
So, in the end, everything worked! We did it all on our own without any medical help. One of the things that really makes me happy is that only I and my husband had our hands in my “private parts” and we were able to keep the birth intimate and family oriented…and natural. I feel so blessed to have given birth with no outside pressure because I was overdue. No one trying to induce me. No one trying to break my waters….
Later that day, we weighed our boy and he was 7 pounds, 10.5 ounces and 20 inches long. Born on December 28, 2009 at 9:20 am. It took us until the next afternoon to decide on the name: Ezra Samuel. He is a wonderful baby so far and the kids love him so much and so do we!
Monday, January 4, 2010
It's a boy!
Wow... I really thought I would be posting both 42 week and 43 week updates... I had no idea that I'd have this baby "early". I was sure that I was safe until at least sometime in early January!!!
But he's here...
Details:
Ezra Samuel
Monday, December 28, 9:20am
7 pounds, 10.5 ounces
20 inches long
Home waterbirth... no interventions and no complications!!!
I will be posting the birth story very soon!
Thursday, December 24, 2009
To labor, or not to labor?
41 weeks and 2 days Pregnant.
I really thought I was in labor on Monday... that would have been quite the miracle for me, to have the baby BEFORE 41 weeks!
On Saturday night I had started to have light contractions fairly consistently. I didn't tell Dan because I didn't want to stress him out with all that's going on (and with him preparing to preach the next morning at church!) But, they kind of went away... Then, Sunday night the same thing. This time I told him! But I didn't figure there was anything to get excited. I am well known for having days or even weeks of prodomal labor - labor that is doing very little, but is all in preparation for the "big day".
Then, early Monday morning while I was still trying to sleep, I noticed a few times that I felt slight little gushes. I thought it was a little strange - either I was really losing control over my bladder, or maybe my water had a slow leak? At any rate, for a couple hours I was too lazy to get out or bed quite yet. Then I got up, finally around 7:30 and went to the bathroom. It was blood! Not bright red bleeding, but more of a bloody mucous. AHA! Also, I still seemed to be having random light contractions. I'll have to say that despite my history with EXTRA long pregnancies and even EXTRA long births, I really thought something was happening!
That morning I asked Dan to check things out, and he guessed I was around 4cm dilated. Oh, and the gross part, there was LOTS of yucky, bloody stuff going on down there. Not like I was bleeding like a period or anything, but... definitely stuff happening. I haven't had this in every labor, but this is a classic example of "bloody show".
So, I was in a bit of a tizzy thinking of all I had to do to get ready for Christmas, and that if I was in early labor, I really needed to get some stuff done and I didn't want to be sitting around, just waiting. So I decided to go into town with Dan (we live 10 minutes outside the city, and only have 1 vehicle) and after running to a few stores, dropped him off to work on the house that we have to move into next week.
I headed to Walmart with the kids, thinking that maybe I could get some Christmas shopping done. Ha ha... We went to the bathroom right off the bat so the kids and I could have a potty break. I noticed a bit more discharge, but nothing substantial.
So we headed across the store to the fishes and the baby department. Suddenly, I felt these blobby gushes coming out of me. Uh-oh! I wondered if it was my water breaking... or if it was just some blood or clots. I stood there, in a bit of a panic, grateful that the kids were in the next aisle over looking at the fish. I felt the front of my jeans (of course, not able to see over my belly) and it felt dry, but I was getting concerned! What would I do if I had a big mess all over me with 5 kids, trying to shop in Walmart!!!!
I went over to the kids and let them look at the fish another couple minutes, then I said I had to go back to the bathroom and we headed back.
I have to tell you it was pretty disgusting. Thankfully I was wearing a full-on pad, not just a panti-liner, in expectation of birth stuff going on. Anyway, there were several turd-sized clots - not too huge, I've certainly had bigger in my time, but they were clots nonetheless. In my head I went through the possibilities, and although I felt at peace, there was that clamoring of fear that said "You don't even have a doctor or midwife to turn to, what are you going to do, stupid!" I began to get logical though, and figured that since I had been sitting in the van for quite a while, that it was not abnormal for blood to pool and clot. And besides, it was still all mucousy and gross, not like it was blood pouring out of me. I said a quick prayer and asked God to have the baby move if things were ok. Immediately, I felt a couple nudges beneath my ribs.
So... needless to say, I didn't feel much like shopping. I stuffed some toilet paper on top of the yucky pad, kicking myself for not having prepared and having another pad in my purse (but there were some in the van). So I waddled around the store, did a couple more things, and decided to get the kids some Timbits before we left. I stood in line next to another mom and she looked over at my shopping cart full of children and said "Oh my... they're all yours?! 5?"
"6." I said, pointing at my basketball. (More like a monster pumpkin.) She asked when I was due, and I said "any day". Her eyes got big and she said "Wow.. you're so small for number six!" Yay... that made my day!
So, I carted the kids back into the van and gave them strict instructions to stay buckled and that they could have 1 Timbit while I was gone. Then I had to take a pad and go to the bathroom AGAIN! The kids looked at me like I was growing a second head, in shock that I had to go AGAIN!!!
Well, the day continued and I kept having contractions and in the midst of it, kept feeling the baby wiggle around (and that was quite reassuring). The bloody show slowed down a lot, so I became less concerned as the day went on. I do remember that when I was in labor with my third, I had bleeding during labor, and it scared me at first - but the midwife said it was totally normal, just a sign that the baby was coming soon!
So, that night I really figured something should have happened, and asked Dan to check me again. But... it wasn't really different except for the fact that my cervix seemed shorter (so more effaced)but not really any more dilated. I went to bed, content with the fact that at least SOMETHING had been accomplished, and I actually had a great sleep that night. In other words... no contractions.
And I haven't really had any contractions since. Two whole days of NOTHING! I don't know whether to be happy or sad because on one hand, I really would prefer to have the baby at least a few days after Christmas, but on the other hand, who wants to stay pregnant when you're this big and uncomfortable!!???
So yesterday was full of tears... disappointment, uncertainty... I want to be excited about this baby coming, but I also feel a lot of stress about us MOVING next Monday. I don't really have the opportunity to nest or anything, I'm just going to have to roll with the punches.
In Conclusion... my sanity has come from a belief that this baby is planned by God... and that HE is fully aware of when it needs to be born. I also find myself thinking of Mary, Jesus' mother... travelling on the back of a donkey, wandering around Bethlehem with Joseph and they can't even find a crappy motel room to stay in!! That must have been scary... and horribly frustrating...
I'm sure this baby will come at the right time, so I'm back to waiting. I think what is bizarre is that when you reach 4-5cm dilated, you are supposed to enter the "active" labor stage. Instead, for me, I've entered the "inactive" stage. Nothing happening... nothing going on. Just have to wait! Oh well, at least some of the work is already done.
I really thought I was in labor on Monday... that would have been quite the miracle for me, to have the baby BEFORE 41 weeks!
On Saturday night I had started to have light contractions fairly consistently. I didn't tell Dan because I didn't want to stress him out with all that's going on (and with him preparing to preach the next morning at church!) But, they kind of went away... Then, Sunday night the same thing. This time I told him! But I didn't figure there was anything to get excited. I am well known for having days or even weeks of prodomal labor - labor that is doing very little, but is all in preparation for the "big day".
Then, early Monday morning while I was still trying to sleep, I noticed a few times that I felt slight little gushes. I thought it was a little strange - either I was really losing control over my bladder, or maybe my water had a slow leak? At any rate, for a couple hours I was too lazy to get out or bed quite yet. Then I got up, finally around 7:30 and went to the bathroom. It was blood! Not bright red bleeding, but more of a bloody mucous. AHA! Also, I still seemed to be having random light contractions. I'll have to say that despite my history with EXTRA long pregnancies and even EXTRA long births, I really thought something was happening!
That morning I asked Dan to check things out, and he guessed I was around 4cm dilated. Oh, and the gross part, there was LOTS of yucky, bloody stuff going on down there. Not like I was bleeding like a period or anything, but... definitely stuff happening. I haven't had this in every labor, but this is a classic example of "bloody show".
So, I was in a bit of a tizzy thinking of all I had to do to get ready for Christmas, and that if I was in early labor, I really needed to get some stuff done and I didn't want to be sitting around, just waiting. So I decided to go into town with Dan (we live 10 minutes outside the city, and only have 1 vehicle) and after running to a few stores, dropped him off to work on the house that we have to move into next week.
I headed to Walmart with the kids, thinking that maybe I could get some Christmas shopping done. Ha ha... We went to the bathroom right off the bat so the kids and I could have a potty break. I noticed a bit more discharge, but nothing substantial.
So we headed across the store to the fishes and the baby department. Suddenly, I felt these blobby gushes coming out of me. Uh-oh! I wondered if it was my water breaking... or if it was just some blood or clots. I stood there, in a bit of a panic, grateful that the kids were in the next aisle over looking at the fish. I felt the front of my jeans (of course, not able to see over my belly) and it felt dry, but I was getting concerned! What would I do if I had a big mess all over me with 5 kids, trying to shop in Walmart!!!!
I went over to the kids and let them look at the fish another couple minutes, then I said I had to go back to the bathroom and we headed back.
I have to tell you it was pretty disgusting. Thankfully I was wearing a full-on pad, not just a panti-liner, in expectation of birth stuff going on. Anyway, there were several turd-sized clots - not too huge, I've certainly had bigger in my time, but they were clots nonetheless. In my head I went through the possibilities, and although I felt at peace, there was that clamoring of fear that said "You don't even have a doctor or midwife to turn to, what are you going to do, stupid!" I began to get logical though, and figured that since I had been sitting in the van for quite a while, that it was not abnormal for blood to pool and clot. And besides, it was still all mucousy and gross, not like it was blood pouring out of me. I said a quick prayer and asked God to have the baby move if things were ok. Immediately, I felt a couple nudges beneath my ribs.
So... needless to say, I didn't feel much like shopping. I stuffed some toilet paper on top of the yucky pad, kicking myself for not having prepared and having another pad in my purse (but there were some in the van). So I waddled around the store, did a couple more things, and decided to get the kids some Timbits before we left. I stood in line next to another mom and she looked over at my shopping cart full of children and said "Oh my... they're all yours?! 5?"
"6." I said, pointing at my basketball. (More like a monster pumpkin.) She asked when I was due, and I said "any day". Her eyes got big and she said "Wow.. you're so small for number six!" Yay... that made my day!
So, I carted the kids back into the van and gave them strict instructions to stay buckled and that they could have 1 Timbit while I was gone. Then I had to take a pad and go to the bathroom AGAIN! The kids looked at me like I was growing a second head, in shock that I had to go AGAIN!!!
Well, the day continued and I kept having contractions and in the midst of it, kept feeling the baby wiggle around (and that was quite reassuring). The bloody show slowed down a lot, so I became less concerned as the day went on. I do remember that when I was in labor with my third, I had bleeding during labor, and it scared me at first - but the midwife said it was totally normal, just a sign that the baby was coming soon!
So, that night I really figured something should have happened, and asked Dan to check me again. But... it wasn't really different except for the fact that my cervix seemed shorter (so more effaced)but not really any more dilated. I went to bed, content with the fact that at least SOMETHING had been accomplished, and I actually had a great sleep that night. In other words... no contractions.
And I haven't really had any contractions since. Two whole days of NOTHING! I don't know whether to be happy or sad because on one hand, I really would prefer to have the baby at least a few days after Christmas, but on the other hand, who wants to stay pregnant when you're this big and uncomfortable!!???
So yesterday was full of tears... disappointment, uncertainty... I want to be excited about this baby coming, but I also feel a lot of stress about us MOVING next Monday. I don't really have the opportunity to nest or anything, I'm just going to have to roll with the punches.
In Conclusion... my sanity has come from a belief that this baby is planned by God... and that HE is fully aware of when it needs to be born. I also find myself thinking of Mary, Jesus' mother... travelling on the back of a donkey, wandering around Bethlehem with Joseph and they can't even find a crappy motel room to stay in!! That must have been scary... and horribly frustrating...
I'm sure this baby will come at the right time, so I'm back to waiting. I think what is bizarre is that when you reach 4-5cm dilated, you are supposed to enter the "active" labor stage. Instead, for me, I've entered the "inactive" stage. Nothing happening... nothing going on. Just have to wait! Oh well, at least some of the work is already done.
Friday, December 18, 2009
Tales from a cervix... (This is X-rated by the way!)
Alright... in the beginning I made myself out to be "alternative" and that this blog was going to be all about taking control and responsibility for my own body, with a knowledge and understanding of pregnancy that doesn't rely primarily on the medical world.
So... this post is not for the squeamish. This may gross you out. This may cause you to think I'm a complete weirdo - and that's okay. But, if you're game for this, read on...
Back when I had my second baby, a VBAC (vaginal birth after Cesarean), we hired midwives to deliver the baby - statistically, I had read that your chance of a natural birth with midwives after a Cesarean were MUCH higher than if you went with a doctor. The midwives were very open. They talked about EVERYTHING. And it was really quite refreshing. We learned so much from them - including, what changes a cervix goes through in late pregnancy/early labor. One of the things I remember is their description of your cervix: Before any "ripening" or dilation or effacing occurs, your cervix is a firm round knobby thing that feels like the end of your nose. As it "ripens" it becomes soft and "mushy" like a ripe peach.
By our third pregnancy, we weren't content to be innocent by-standers in regards to the whole pre-labor activities of my body! Especially, being someone who goes overdue... always overdue and very overdue, I wanted to know if ANYTHING was going on in my body that meant labor should eventually, sometime begin! So I think it was in this, my 3rd pregnancy, that we ventured into the assessment of my cervix. I found it rather awkward to "reach up there" myself, so I assigned my husband the task! Honestly... if we are comfortable having sex and all that... why shouldn't he be able to check my cervix? In fact, it should be a more natural thing than having a doctor - who I barely know - do it!
Okay, so that's the background in this. We became pretty confident and my husband became rather experienced over the next couple pregnancies figuring out how dilated I was and discovering the changes that sometimes happened WEEKS before I actually delivered. For example, I was 3-4 cm dilated for at least a week before I went into labor with my 5th... it was as though my body was slowing working it's way up to labor.
Now, onto this pregnancy. For one thing, I've noticed a crazy increase in discharge (ewww... such a yucky word!) over the past week or so. I don't know if I could say that I lost my mucus plug, but some women lose theirs over time, rather than having a specific "plug" that comes out. I do remember one of my pregnancies that was the case - it happened after some... err.. intimate encounter and it was like "oh gross, there it is, my mucus plug!" Other times, it can slowly melt away like a runny nose. Gross, huh!
So anyway, I've been curious. I decided to try for myself about a week ago to see if I could decipher what was happening inside. My goodness... you really need piano fingers for this job. I've found the best way to get a gander is to squat down, although some women (yes, I'm not the only one who does this) will stand in front of the toilet seat with one foot up in a lunge position. So anyway, I was in this awkward position, and I could just barely feel a knobby thing at the tip of my fingers - aha! Hello cervix - AKA the front door of my baby's current residence! It felt a medium-ripe, I guess, and I think it was also pointing more back than down. As you head towards labor, the cervix will actually shift and begin to point down.
Now yesterday... since I'm officially "overdue", I thought I'd see if there were any changes. I've also noticed a lot more funky feelings down there, so I figured that something might be starting to happen. This time, I could feel like my cervix had shifted a bit - maybe pointing more downwards. And it feels more squishy. The problem is, as you can probably guess, it is SUPER AWKWARD with a humongous belly to do all this assessment - let alone when you're not pregnant! Of course I'm sure a lot has to do with whether you have meaty oven mitts for hands or graceful, slender piano hands. I tend a little toward the former. So I needed a second opinion and requested my husband to "check me out". Well, apparently his reach is better than mine and he determined that I'm about 3cm dilated already! Yahoooooo!!! And he described my cervix as very "floppy". How romantic!
So, that's the latest, greatest update on my pregnancy. Of course, just because I'm starting to dilate, has little bearing on WHEN I'll have this baby. But it is a comfort to me that my body is heading in that direction. I'm on my way to labor-land....
So... this post is not for the squeamish. This may gross you out. This may cause you to think I'm a complete weirdo - and that's okay. But, if you're game for this, read on...
Back when I had my second baby, a VBAC (vaginal birth after Cesarean), we hired midwives to deliver the baby - statistically, I had read that your chance of a natural birth with midwives after a Cesarean were MUCH higher than if you went with a doctor. The midwives were very open. They talked about EVERYTHING. And it was really quite refreshing. We learned so much from them - including, what changes a cervix goes through in late pregnancy/early labor. One of the things I remember is their description of your cervix: Before any "ripening" or dilation or effacing occurs, your cervix is a firm round knobby thing that feels like the end of your nose. As it "ripens" it becomes soft and "mushy" like a ripe peach.
By our third pregnancy, we weren't content to be innocent by-standers in regards to the whole pre-labor activities of my body! Especially, being someone who goes overdue... always overdue and very overdue, I wanted to know if ANYTHING was going on in my body that meant labor should eventually, sometime begin! So I think it was in this, my 3rd pregnancy, that we ventured into the assessment of my cervix. I found it rather awkward to "reach up there" myself, so I assigned my husband the task! Honestly... if we are comfortable having sex and all that... why shouldn't he be able to check my cervix? In fact, it should be a more natural thing than having a doctor - who I barely know - do it!
Okay, so that's the background in this. We became pretty confident and my husband became rather experienced over the next couple pregnancies figuring out how dilated I was and discovering the changes that sometimes happened WEEKS before I actually delivered. For example, I was 3-4 cm dilated for at least a week before I went into labor with my 5th... it was as though my body was slowing working it's way up to labor.
Now, onto this pregnancy. For one thing, I've noticed a crazy increase in discharge (ewww... such a yucky word!) over the past week or so. I don't know if I could say that I lost my mucus plug, but some women lose theirs over time, rather than having a specific "plug" that comes out. I do remember one of my pregnancies that was the case - it happened after some... err.. intimate encounter and it was like "oh gross, there it is, my mucus plug!" Other times, it can slowly melt away like a runny nose. Gross, huh!
So anyway, I've been curious. I decided to try for myself about a week ago to see if I could decipher what was happening inside. My goodness... you really need piano fingers for this job. I've found the best way to get a gander is to squat down, although some women (yes, I'm not the only one who does this) will stand in front of the toilet seat with one foot up in a lunge position. So anyway, I was in this awkward position, and I could just barely feel a knobby thing at the tip of my fingers - aha! Hello cervix - AKA the front door of my baby's current residence! It felt a medium-ripe, I guess, and I think it was also pointing more back than down. As you head towards labor, the cervix will actually shift and begin to point down.
Now yesterday... since I'm officially "overdue", I thought I'd see if there were any changes. I've also noticed a lot more funky feelings down there, so I figured that something might be starting to happen. This time, I could feel like my cervix had shifted a bit - maybe pointing more downwards. And it feels more squishy. The problem is, as you can probably guess, it is SUPER AWKWARD with a humongous belly to do all this assessment - let alone when you're not pregnant! Of course I'm sure a lot has to do with whether you have meaty oven mitts for hands or graceful, slender piano hands. I tend a little toward the former. So I needed a second opinion and requested my husband to "check me out". Well, apparently his reach is better than mine and he determined that I'm about 3cm dilated already! Yahoooooo!!! And he described my cervix as very "floppy". How romantic!
So, that's the latest, greatest update on my pregnancy. Of course, just because I'm starting to dilate, has little bearing on WHEN I'll have this baby. But it is a comfort to me that my body is heading in that direction. I'm on my way to labor-land....
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
Due-Date???
So, I have reached "full-term", the "end", my much anticipated "due-date". But what does it mean? Well, to me, I have switched from counting down to 40 weeks, to now counting-up to when this baby wants to be born! It could be 3 weeks - or more, or less.I feel fine - well, I certainly feel "due" now, with the big belly that makes it uncomfortable to sleep, and I started to get swollen ankles every night. But, I do have to admit that I feel...fine. Yep, I could do this for another few weeks and it would be no big deal. So... we shall see.
On a technical note, I am drinking 2 or more small pots of Red Raspberry Leaf tea each day now - to strengthen and tone my uterus. I'm also taking 3-5 500mg capsules of Evening Primrose Oil each day - and that is supposed to help "ripen" your cervix. It gives the potential to make labor quicker, so that sounds good to me! I've also begun to take a natural iron supplement called Floradix. That's about it as far as medical issues. I feel fine, baby is doing fine, and next week is Christmas! Crazy....
Monday, December 7, 2009
Ready or Not???
Well I can't believe I'll be 39 weeks (approximately....) tomorrow!!!
This is ridiculous how quickly this pregnancy is going by, and I don't really feel all that prepared to have a baby any time soon.
I did finally buy some newborn diapers and packed a bag of stuff for the birth and baby, but things with moving and our house are going slower than we'd hoped and we're still living in our old place, and should be moving into the new one "any time". In some ways, I really want to be there - I'm excited about living in the city again, and just having our new house, but on the other hand I'm also not naive to think that it's going to be all fluff and bubbles when we get there! There's going to be so much more work to do... no real kitchen, bathrooms aren't done yet and we probably won't have carpet/laminate, etc., on our floors for a while yet!!!
Anyways, back to this pregnancy. I'm beginning to feel quite pregnant. I notice twingey feelings in my cervix especially when I'm walking around or on my feet for a long time. It feels like my pelvic floor muscles are getting exhausted with holding it all together as well, and I often feel achy by the end of the day!
I've noticed my breasts have really grown again in the past month or so, which is funny because I spent such a short time having "little boobs" when Ben (now 21 months) was slowly weaning himself. He pretty much stopped nursing around 6 weeks ago - although, at that point it was maybe once per day, and had been only once a day since he was about 18 months. So... I guess this will be the shortest break I've ever had from nursing since I started having babies, but then, this is also the quickest I've ever become pregnant.
I've turned 30 in the last week! Wow... so now I'm in the category of those books targeted to the "older mother" - like Your Pregnancy After 30... Ummm... whatever, I don't think I'll bother checking it out from the library!
I've been a little more lazy with my exercise the past couple weeks, so I'm going to try to increase my frequency to 4-5 times a week, but just doing around 20 minutes cardio at a time. I'm stuck without my stairclimber which I've loved working out on my whole pregnancy, so now I do aerobic dvds or find stuff at www.exercise.tv
Tonight I will meet with one of the doulas who will probably be around for my birth. We'll see how that goes. I've had second thoughts and wavered back and forth because I really feel like this birth is going to be straightforward and "easy" and like I probably won't need any extra help. However, I was talking with my husband last night and told him that it's basically like we're purchasing insurance - just in case I need the extra help, it will be there. At least they can be extra hands to take pictures and help clean up!
Okay, I'm off to la la land for a nap... it's quiet time in my house right now!
This is ridiculous how quickly this pregnancy is going by, and I don't really feel all that prepared to have a baby any time soon.
I did finally buy some newborn diapers and packed a bag of stuff for the birth and baby, but things with moving and our house are going slower than we'd hoped and we're still living in our old place, and should be moving into the new one "any time". In some ways, I really want to be there - I'm excited about living in the city again, and just having our new house, but on the other hand I'm also not naive to think that it's going to be all fluff and bubbles when we get there! There's going to be so much more work to do... no real kitchen, bathrooms aren't done yet and we probably won't have carpet/laminate, etc., on our floors for a while yet!!!
Anyways, back to this pregnancy. I'm beginning to feel quite pregnant. I notice twingey feelings in my cervix especially when I'm walking around or on my feet for a long time. It feels like my pelvic floor muscles are getting exhausted with holding it all together as well, and I often feel achy by the end of the day!
I've noticed my breasts have really grown again in the past month or so, which is funny because I spent such a short time having "little boobs" when Ben (now 21 months) was slowly weaning himself. He pretty much stopped nursing around 6 weeks ago - although, at that point it was maybe once per day, and had been only once a day since he was about 18 months. So... I guess this will be the shortest break I've ever had from nursing since I started having babies, but then, this is also the quickest I've ever become pregnant.
I've turned 30 in the last week! Wow... so now I'm in the category of those books targeted to the "older mother" - like Your Pregnancy After 30... Ummm... whatever, I don't think I'll bother checking it out from the library!
I've been a little more lazy with my exercise the past couple weeks, so I'm going to try to increase my frequency to 4-5 times a week, but just doing around 20 minutes cardio at a time. I'm stuck without my stairclimber which I've loved working out on my whole pregnancy, so now I do aerobic dvds or find stuff at www.exercise.tv
Tonight I will meet with one of the doulas who will probably be around for my birth. We'll see how that goes. I've had second thoughts and wavered back and forth because I really feel like this birth is going to be straightforward and "easy" and like I probably won't need any extra help. However, I was talking with my husband last night and told him that it's basically like we're purchasing insurance - just in case I need the extra help, it will be there. At least they can be extra hands to take pictures and help clean up!
Okay, I'm off to la la land for a nap... it's quiet time in my house right now!
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