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Sunday, March 2, 2014

Our Second Unmedicated Birth (Jo's Birth Story)

How about a visual to start this story off?


I totally give myself props for being so positive and aspiring, but I'm glad to know I'm realistic about this whole record-the-birth-story trend I've started for myself.

So Jonah. Obviously.

check mah Pinterest, yo.
Um so when you name your son for Jonah and joke that he will come flying forth from the belly of the whale, I guess you shouldn't be surprised when you deliver, unassisted, on the ER stretch? Right.

Because yes that is my firstborn son's birth story in a nutshell. Wam-Bam-Thank-You-Ma'am!
Happy Birthday Jonah! My life is so blessed by your presence. You bring a peace, recollection, observation and laughter that all make me stop and consider the wonderment of God.
Day Two in this world.
Following Rita's entirely too painful and too long birth I was totally surprised the second time around. I kept waiting for it to get more painful. Crazy? Crazy.
Here is the timeline, same idea as Sassy Pant's birth story.
1:00am awake with contractions, waddle to bathroom 
spend next few hours with lots of bowel movements, contractions and doing cat-cows times infinity
3:00am I'm working hard, getting antsy but still don't want to get Tyler's (or my) hopes up. I had lots of practice labor for Rita and Jonah. SO I decided to call my cousin in North Carolina, who happens to be a midwife and is LOVING and SO GENEROUS to accept calls at any hour when I'm expecting. God bless her!
We were able to confirm that I was in fact dilating - maybe 3 cm?
I kept-up the work but around 
4:00am the contractions started dwindling. I was so so glad I let everyone (other than my cousin) sleep. I imagined Tyler would be at work for the day and I clearly remembered how my keeping him awake through everything with Rita was so so hard on him.
5:30 Waddled back to bed, contraction free
6:40 Tyler left for work. I was in semi-sleep-dream-land but clearly remember thinking "I should tell him I'm in labor...He's leaving and he doesn't know I'm in labor."
7:30 I called Tyler at work to tell him I thought I might be in labor. When he heard that I was cat-cowing for 4.5 hours he was quite convinced that my labor was true. I, on the other hand, thanks to the previous 30 hour labor, was not quite convinced.
9:00 Rita pooped and as I was trying to change her, well hello serious contractions. I surrendered and immediately called my mom because I had told myself that this time around, with two babies in under two years, I was not going to be supermom. So along came my mom. I don't remember too much about these couple of hours. I remember that around
10:30am my mom took Rita home with her so that I could rest/nap/sleep. I was terrified to be alone. I don't think I ever want that again during labor. I felt very helpless. But, being the people-pleaser I am, I attempted to sleep.
Birthday snuggles
11:45am I called Tyler at work. I was in tears, pain and it was all getting very intense very quickly and I just needed my man. And my baby girl.
12:30pm Tyler arrived and we labored together. My dad kept Rita and mom stayed with us, helping out, I'm sure she cleaned and washed and did all those wonderful tasks mommas do so well. I was just busy at work.
5:21pm (thanks to photo info)
Laboring on the yoga mat and receiving kisses for Jonah between contractions.
Rita, you are just the sweetest girl.
Sometime after Rita left...Called aforementioned cousin. Not sure if it was time to leave for the hospital. Contractions were still 6-9 minutes apart and I was talking and joking between contractions. But when my cousin asked Tyler if I could talk and he said, "Well she is crying and groaning through a contraction right now," well she assured him it was time to make our way to the hospital.
So my time stamps mostly end here. My labor is more of a stream of consciousness from here on out.
Mom arrived - in-between double-peaking contractions, for which she or Tyler had to support me, and I whispered "I think we waited too long," and she reassured me we were just fine (of course mentally and post-birth, she assured me that it was OBVIOUS it was time to go - from a lady who had four C-sections!!!!)

First picture with Dada!
We made our way slow slow slooooowly to my mom's vehicle. My neighbor ran outside and looked terrified. I think she was crying...and saying "poor baby!" about me. 
As we drove through lingering 5:00pm traffic, on the HORRID (yes they really are that bad - ask someone) Louisiana roads, well I was silently pushing the smallest bit for each contraction, but kept in mind that with Rita I had to wait a bit even though I felt like I was ready to push (Tyler and Mom apparently had no idea as to what I was doing). I kept requesting Tyler and Mom to lead me in prayers and have a vivid memory of saying (as we launched ourselves onto a main thoroughfare) "Tyler, I really want medicine now, but I know I can't even have any because we are in a car, but can you please just tell me I am ok and I don't need medicine and it will all be over before the medicine would help?" And he did. And He is wonderful - the best husband ever! As we drove I felt my mucus plug coming, warned Tyler and he said it really hadn't passed and then the verdict was changed as evidence came forth and I vaguely remember Mom swerving into traffic and Tyler assuring her she was doing a great job. Once that happened with every.single.bump I felt Jonah descending. He would also burrow his head down, in between contractions. Once we finally finally made it to the hospital, the ER nurses tried to get me to ride in a wheelchair after calmly explaining (where did I find patience and rational thought?!) four times that it was not anatomically possible to close my legs to sit in a chair, they rolled out a stretcher. I was so so relieved that no one was touching me or talking to me - the parking lot arguing was horrid. I tried to convince them to let me have the baby in my mom's car and then I would be able to ride in their (beloved?) wheelchair, but no deal there- so I just kept up my silent, but much more intentional pushes as we wheeled through the halls, up into the elevator, and out into the hall and just as the ER nurses were pushing me through the door frame of the L&D room, I announced in a non-annoucning sorta quiet voice, "Here he comes!" (In the background I remember hearing voices "What?" "What did she say?"And plop, into the boxer shorts I had borrowed from Tyler, fell my baby boy. ER peeps scattered like cockroaches and it was utter chaos. Suddenly I realized he was trapped and that trying to take your first breaths of air with wet cloth over your face could be a bad recipe, I wiggled my hips and Jonah, just as his namesake, fell into the world which God has called him (safely onto the padded stretcher, but if the kid has fears of heights at some point, we can all blame childbirth ;) )
And so I've been instructed to call my OBGYN promptly upon my contractions being real for over two hours. Can't imagine why, can you?
Jonah's birth certificate reads 
6:50pm...but only the good Lord really truly knows what time this boy was born (and I totally think it could have EASILY been 6:15pm)!
Meeting!
Rough patch: I LOVED the solo pushing. Loved loved loved it. I DID NOT like being deprived of immediate skin-to-skin with Jonah. It was nearing an hour before I held him. Granted, he had lots of fluid (I'm told) and he was suctioned a long time but he cried and cried that entire time and I just thought my heart could endure no more. Tyler and mom stayed with him and held his little feet and sang and talked to him. Nursing the first few times were WAY harder than with Rita, and I attribute that to the lack of immediate skin-to-skin, BUT I am glad he didn't aspirate on mucus, because, hello, way way WAY worse than a few tricky nursing sessions.

There you have it.


And God-willing we will have another story to tell before May 1st rolls around. April, here we come!

This is my Saturday post. Started it around 2pm and finished on Sunday early, but let's just stick with the Saturday aspect! 7 in 7...whew! Is there still one more? I think so.

3 comments:

  1. Oh my goodness, great story!

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    Replies
    1. Thank you Jen - not that I had much say in how it played-out ;-)

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  2. What a neat birth story! I know what you mean about not wanting to be alone. Sometime in late pregnancy, I get really antsy whenever Allen is away (even just at work) and I hated when he had to run to the car when I was in labor with Noah.

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