On Monday the 17th, I had extreme nesting; running around the house, cutting tags off of every single baby washcloth and pair of socks, organizing baby toys, leaving a trail of unfinished tasks throughout the house. After finishing everything, I realized that I'd have "nothing to do the next day" so I called up my family and asked if I could come visit to keep my mind busy and distracted from the wait. Starting that evening, I began having contractions, but I had been having regular contractions on and off for a week. However, those contractions usually only continued for 5-6 hours and then stopped. These kept coming, though very irregular.
On Tuesday the 18th, I went in for a 9 am check up with my doctor. Though I had been 80-90% effaced since Christmas, it has been very hard to check for dilation since baby's head was so far down ( a good "problem") :) However, last Tuesday, my doctor announced that I was 3-4 cm. She suggested I go home and take a nap, so i called my family and said that I wouldn't be coming to visit them after all. I caught a short nap and then around 11 am felt my first strong contraction. From 11-2ish, I fiddled around on Facebook and email, timing my contractions on contractionmaster.com. John I kept testing regarding my progress since he was at work.
By 3ish, I started kneeling against furniture and rocking during contractions. John got off of work and we made it to West Allis Hospital around 5ish. From 5ish-7 am, I slowly progressed from 3.5-6 cm. Because I was so tired going into labor, I started getting scared that I would not be able to handle transition and pushing. Reluctantly, I chose to sit, most of the time, either upright or semi-reclined so that I could sleep between my contractions instead of trying all the positions that I had planned. I had John hold my hand while I took deep breaths and gave low moans to cope with my contractions. John would stop me if my moans started getting higher in pitch and remind to go low and open.
The choice to sleep turned out for the best. By 7:30 a.m., my doctor was on call and broke my water. The nurse, Dawn, was fantastic and encouraged me to go through transition in a side lying position. It was painful but helped the progress. She encouraged me if I felt the urge to push to only do so gently and not bear down fully.
When I was fully dilated at 10 am, she had me stand and hold on to John and we pushed through several contractions. Then they had me back in the bed in a couple different positions. After 1 hour 45 minutes of pushing, out came baby! John got to announce it was a boy! Robert! We waited to cut and clamp the cord. Robert had kept one hand by his head when coming out which caused a little tearing. When it came time to weigh him, the nurses were all saying "I bet he'll be about 9 lbs." They put him on the scale and all stood gasping! I said, "What is it?" "10 lbs, 6 oz."!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! My doctor said that because of his size and his hand being by his head, I had just delivered the equivalent of an 11 pounder!
Overall, it was a very wonderful experience! The nurses never offered meds and took every part of our birth plan seriously! They kept saying that I was very focused (thank you, Coral!!!) I know the knowledge and the mental preparation from the class, as well as the wonderful pelvic rocks for positioning, helped this natural birth become a reality!
Julia, John and Robert Anthony, West Allis
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
Some Unexpected Bumps Along the Road
We're proud to announce that Caleb Mitchell was born on Tuesday, July 20th at 9:17 pm, weighing 8 lbs 3 oz. and measuring 21.5 inches long! Overall, Trevor and I are both extremely happy with our birth experience, although there were some unexpected bumps along the road. My due date was July 13th, and I had already been 60% effaced and 3 cm dilated for a couple of weeks before then, so both my doctor and I were surprised when my due date came and went without event.
I started feeling some light (not painful) contractions on Monday (July 19th) and tried to encourage them by going on several long walks--I don't know how many miles we covered that day! Disappointed with a lack of progress, we went to bed around 11 pm. Only a couple hours later, I woke up around 1:30 am to painful contractions occurring about six minutes apart. They very quickly progressed to three minutes apart. After a couple hours passed with minute-long contractions occurring three minutes apart, we headed to the hospital downtown, arriving at 5:15 am. At that point, I was told that I was 4-5 cm dilated. The first nurse I saw insisted I stay in bed with the fetal heart monitor on (despite my desire to move around) because the baby was not showing enough activity at that time. I was very relieved when a new nurse took over at 7:00 a.m and allowed me to walk around and try different positions freely without the monitor.
At 8:00 am I was 6 cm dilated and experiencing severe back pain. I remained active, hoping that my baby would change position and the back labor would subside... Around 10:30 am, I tried relaxing in the birthing tub for awhile. Although it felt good while I was in there, the contractions intensified tenfold when I got out! I was at 7 cm at that point and the pain was so intense that I had started vomiting. As a result, they had to give me an IV for fluids. I also received one dose of Stadol to "take the edge off" for about an hour. It made me very tired, but I could certainly still feel the pain of each contraction. The back pain was really indescribable. The nurse had commented that I was progressing well and she expected the baby to be born before her shift ended at 3:00 pm ... little did I know that my labor would go on more than six hours past her shift!
At 3:00 pm, I was 9 cm dilated with just a small anterior lip on my cervix remaining. There was an incredibly intense urge to push with each contraction, but Trevor really helped me to breathe through them and remain as relaxed as possible. Finally, at 5:00 pm, my ob/gyn told me that the baby's head had passed over the "lip" and I could start pushing. I began pushing with contractions and both the doctor and my nurse kept telling me they were "great pushes" and I was making progress... but it seemed to go on forever! it turns out that the baby had not turned and was still in the posterior position (facing up). As a result, his head kept hitting my pubic bone and although we could see him right there, he wouldn't come out. Apparently it is standard practice at St. Mary's to allow pushing for two hours. I had already passed the four hour mark (and was feeling quite desperate), when the doctor discussed the option of an episiotomy. She knew that was something I had hoped to avoid, but I was not tearing on my own and had been enduring intense back labor for 20 hours at that point. At 9:15 pm, she cut an episiotomy and used a vacuum--on the very next contraction I successfully pushed Caleb out at 9:17 pm! Despite being a week past his due date and enduring the prolonged pushing, he came out just perfect and was able to breastfeed immediately~ It was an amazing experience. Caleb stayed in our recovery room from the start and we all enjoyed the bonding time.
Not everything went according to our birth plan, but I was able to have a mostly natural and vaginal delivery with a week-overdue baby in the posterior position--which I consider a success. I am really grateful for the doctor's patience (waiting through four hours of pushing without encouraging any interventions) and all Trevor's support. I definitely couldn't have done this if he hadn't been by my side at every moment for all 20 hours!
We absolutely LOVE being parents and appreciate the preparation we received through the Bradley course that allowed us to feel informed and empowered during the unpredictable birth process.
Pam & Trevor, Franklin
I started feeling some light (not painful) contractions on Monday (July 19th) and tried to encourage them by going on several long walks--I don't know how many miles we covered that day! Disappointed with a lack of progress, we went to bed around 11 pm. Only a couple hours later, I woke up around 1:30 am to painful contractions occurring about six minutes apart. They very quickly progressed to three minutes apart. After a couple hours passed with minute-long contractions occurring three minutes apart, we headed to the hospital downtown, arriving at 5:15 am. At that point, I was told that I was 4-5 cm dilated. The first nurse I saw insisted I stay in bed with the fetal heart monitor on (despite my desire to move around) because the baby was not showing enough activity at that time. I was very relieved when a new nurse took over at 7:00 a.m and allowed me to walk around and try different positions freely without the monitor.
At 8:00 am I was 6 cm dilated and experiencing severe back pain. I remained active, hoping that my baby would change position and the back labor would subside... Around 10:30 am, I tried relaxing in the birthing tub for awhile. Although it felt good while I was in there, the contractions intensified tenfold when I got out! I was at 7 cm at that point and the pain was so intense that I had started vomiting. As a result, they had to give me an IV for fluids. I also received one dose of Stadol to "take the edge off" for about an hour. It made me very tired, but I could certainly still feel the pain of each contraction. The back pain was really indescribable. The nurse had commented that I was progressing well and she expected the baby to be born before her shift ended at 3:00 pm ... little did I know that my labor would go on more than six hours past her shift!
At 3:00 pm, I was 9 cm dilated with just a small anterior lip on my cervix remaining. There was an incredibly intense urge to push with each contraction, but Trevor really helped me to breathe through them and remain as relaxed as possible. Finally, at 5:00 pm, my ob/gyn told me that the baby's head had passed over the "lip" and I could start pushing. I began pushing with contractions and both the doctor and my nurse kept telling me they were "great pushes" and I was making progress... but it seemed to go on forever! it turns out that the baby had not turned and was still in the posterior position (facing up). As a result, his head kept hitting my pubic bone and although we could see him right there, he wouldn't come out. Apparently it is standard practice at St. Mary's to allow pushing for two hours. I had already passed the four hour mark (and was feeling quite desperate), when the doctor discussed the option of an episiotomy. She knew that was something I had hoped to avoid, but I was not tearing on my own and had been enduring intense back labor for 20 hours at that point. At 9:15 pm, she cut an episiotomy and used a vacuum--on the very next contraction I successfully pushed Caleb out at 9:17 pm! Despite being a week past his due date and enduring the prolonged pushing, he came out just perfect and was able to breastfeed immediately~ It was an amazing experience. Caleb stayed in our recovery room from the start and we all enjoyed the bonding time.
Not everything went according to our birth plan, but I was able to have a mostly natural and vaginal delivery with a week-overdue baby in the posterior position--which I consider a success. I am really grateful for the doctor's patience (waiting through four hours of pushing without encouraging any interventions) and all Trevor's support. I definitely couldn't have done this if he hadn't been by my side at every moment for all 20 hours!
We absolutely LOVE being parents and appreciate the preparation we received through the Bradley course that allowed us to feel informed and empowered during the unpredictable birth process.
Pam & Trevor, Franklin
Not a Storybook Birth
Well, like others, ours was not storybook and didn't go according to plan either. Birth plan went right out the window!!
I woke up the morning of my due date, June 29th at 3:47 am to potty. At 4:17 am I had my first contraction, followed by 4:27, 4:40 and 4:52. Paul called to let work know he was in a "holding pattern" and wouldn't leave without knowing if I was in labor or not (I had been contracting for two weeks before off and on). Well, consistent contractions kept coming all the way up 'til 6:13 am when I decided to go back to the potty. When I stood up... "GUSH!" my water broke all over the freshly cleaned carpet!
It took about 30 minutes for contractions to pick back up after my water broke, so I used the time to sit and relax in the living room while Paul got dressed. He wanted to head to the hospital earlier than we planned since my water broke much earlier than we thought it would. Around 11 am we checked into the hospital and the minute I stepped foot into my room, contractions stopped completely. So fours of walking and rocking on the birthing ball but only five contractions.
My doctor got there to check on me about 4 pm and did a sterile speculum exam looking for traces of amniotic fluid and found none. Since my contractions had slowed to about one per hour and the fact that I was trying to avoid pain meds, she sent us home. The thought is that what we thought was my water breaking that morning was some "other" kind of fluid that can build up around your uterus and since he's dropping deeper into my pelvis, it released those fluids. They discharged us and told us to come back when my water breaks for my contractions are back to six minutes apart. When we pulled up at home and I stood up getting out of the car, my water broke!! So we planned to continue to monitor throughout the next few hours and see where my contractions were and decide when to go back. Once they are less than five minutes apart for more than two hours then we'll go in. All the insanely intense contractions I had all morning before we checked into the hospital and the few I had there, and I only had all morning before we checked into the hospital and the few I had there, and I only dilated to 2 cm. So I wasn't going back until I was much further along into active labor, which we thought would be later that night or first thing the next morning.
Side note: It was so heartbreaking to leave the hospital. They had all his meds and towels, blankets, cap etc. all ready for him with his name on it in the room... I was just really frustrated to go through 16 hours of hard contractions and only be 2 cm, very discouraging to hear.
The good news is that I never stopped contracting the entire time we were home. So we decided to go to bed and get some sleep knowing full well in the middle of the night we'd be back at the hospital now that it appeared my water had broken for real this time. I slept in between contractions and by the time 11:30 pm rolled around, I was in too much pain to even walk. So I woke Paul up and said we needed to head back to L&D right then. So by 12:15 am we had been re-admitted right back to our same room. They checked me and guess what???? I was STILL 2 cm!!! and they claim my water still had not broken.
So, since my water "hadn't broken" according to them, and my contractions were not regular (one every 10-12 minutes lasting two minutes) they offered me a "cocktail" to get some sleep through the night and reassess in the morning. They gave me two shots of morphine (one in IV and one in butt), and one Ambien. I slept like a baby until 6 am. The on-call doctor came in at 6:30 am to do an exam and guess what!?!?!? STILL 2 cm!!! OMG! He seriously did not want to come out!
Doctor suggested I start Pitocin at lowest level to get contractions more consistent. Around 10:30 am the contraction were right on top of each other and I could not longer handle it without pain meds since at this point I had been in labor for 26 hours. So the RN offered a drug called Nubain, its an IV pain med to take the edge off contractions. IT DOES NOT WORK!! By noon I was screaming at the RN -- I needed an Epidural. From that point on I don't remember much, not even the anesthesiologist coming in to administer the Epidural. The Epidural on top of the Nubain had me in "la-la" land for the rest of labor and the delivery.
The most wonderful nurse in the world, Denice, came in to check me at 4 pm. I went from 2 cm to 10 in four hours. So she had me do a practice push to see how I did. Half way through the push she stopped me and said she needed to call the doctor because he was coming very quickly. The doctor came in at 4:20 pm still needed to change into scrubs, so we were still in a holding pattern for a few minutes. Meanwhile, family is out in the hallway and the RN's are prepping the room for delivery. After five pushes he was out!
So, in hindsight, our birth plan was a joke! But I did get the hour of skin to skin contact with him which made all the difference in the world. Sean Christian was born June 30, 2010 at 4:31 pm. 8 lbs., 2 oz., 20 inches and the best gift we could have ever asked for and received.
Tiffany & Paul, Brown Deer
I woke up the morning of my due date, June 29th at 3:47 am to potty. At 4:17 am I had my first contraction, followed by 4:27, 4:40 and 4:52. Paul called to let work know he was in a "holding pattern" and wouldn't leave without knowing if I was in labor or not (I had been contracting for two weeks before off and on). Well, consistent contractions kept coming all the way up 'til 6:13 am when I decided to go back to the potty. When I stood up... "GUSH!" my water broke all over the freshly cleaned carpet!
It took about 30 minutes for contractions to pick back up after my water broke, so I used the time to sit and relax in the living room while Paul got dressed. He wanted to head to the hospital earlier than we planned since my water broke much earlier than we thought it would. Around 11 am we checked into the hospital and the minute I stepped foot into my room, contractions stopped completely. So fours of walking and rocking on the birthing ball but only five contractions.
My doctor got there to check on me about 4 pm and did a sterile speculum exam looking for traces of amniotic fluid and found none. Since my contractions had slowed to about one per hour and the fact that I was trying to avoid pain meds, she sent us home. The thought is that what we thought was my water breaking that morning was some "other" kind of fluid that can build up around your uterus and since he's dropping deeper into my pelvis, it released those fluids. They discharged us and told us to come back when my water breaks for my contractions are back to six minutes apart. When we pulled up at home and I stood up getting out of the car, my water broke!! So we planned to continue to monitor throughout the next few hours and see where my contractions were and decide when to go back. Once they are less than five minutes apart for more than two hours then we'll go in. All the insanely intense contractions I had all morning before we checked into the hospital and the few I had there, and I only had all morning before we checked into the hospital and the few I had there, and I only dilated to 2 cm. So I wasn't going back until I was much further along into active labor, which we thought would be later that night or first thing the next morning.
Side note: It was so heartbreaking to leave the hospital. They had all his meds and towels, blankets, cap etc. all ready for him with his name on it in the room... I was just really frustrated to go through 16 hours of hard contractions and only be 2 cm, very discouraging to hear.
The good news is that I never stopped contracting the entire time we were home. So we decided to go to bed and get some sleep knowing full well in the middle of the night we'd be back at the hospital now that it appeared my water had broken for real this time. I slept in between contractions and by the time 11:30 pm rolled around, I was in too much pain to even walk. So I woke Paul up and said we needed to head back to L&D right then. So by 12:15 am we had been re-admitted right back to our same room. They checked me and guess what???? I was STILL 2 cm!!! and they claim my water still had not broken.
So, since my water "hadn't broken" according to them, and my contractions were not regular (one every 10-12 minutes lasting two minutes) they offered me a "cocktail" to get some sleep through the night and reassess in the morning. They gave me two shots of morphine (one in IV and one in butt), and one Ambien. I slept like a baby until 6 am. The on-call doctor came in at 6:30 am to do an exam and guess what!?!?!? STILL 2 cm!!! OMG! He seriously did not want to come out!
Doctor suggested I start Pitocin at lowest level to get contractions more consistent. Around 10:30 am the contraction were right on top of each other and I could not longer handle it without pain meds since at this point I had been in labor for 26 hours. So the RN offered a drug called Nubain, its an IV pain med to take the edge off contractions. IT DOES NOT WORK!! By noon I was screaming at the RN -- I needed an Epidural. From that point on I don't remember much, not even the anesthesiologist coming in to administer the Epidural. The Epidural on top of the Nubain had me in "la-la" land for the rest of labor and the delivery.
The most wonderful nurse in the world, Denice, came in to check me at 4 pm. I went from 2 cm to 10 in four hours. So she had me do a practice push to see how I did. Half way through the push she stopped me and said she needed to call the doctor because he was coming very quickly. The doctor came in at 4:20 pm still needed to change into scrubs, so we were still in a holding pattern for a few minutes. Meanwhile, family is out in the hallway and the RN's are prepping the room for delivery. After five pushes he was out!
So, in hindsight, our birth plan was a joke! But I did get the hour of skin to skin contact with him which made all the difference in the world. Sean Christian was born June 30, 2010 at 4:31 pm. 8 lbs., 2 oz., 20 inches and the best gift we could have ever asked for and received.
Tiffany & Paul, Brown Deer
Even the Midwife Was Skeptical!
On July 6th, 2010 at 9:41 am, Micah Russell was born! He was 21 inches long and weighted 8 lbs. 11 oz.
For the past two weeks, I had been having Braxton Hicks contractions that I noticed more than I felt. My belly would tense up and we would joke around that the baby was going to come early. On July 5th, Jason and I spent the day at home making crafts for the baby's room. After dinner, we went for a walk in the neighborhood (about 2 miles). It took about two hours: I was walking a little bit slower than I had been, but I figured I just hadn't gone for a walk in a while and we were taking pictures. On our walk, we talked about how it would be really convenient for the birth to start on Thursday evening, since we had a busy week wrapping up work stuff. When we got home, we had a bowl of mint chocolate chip ice cream with chocolate cookie crumbles on top (yum!) and sat on our balcony to watch the fireworks. Then we went to bed a bit later than usual.
I got up around 1:30 am, then again a little after 2 to go to the bathroom. A little after 3 am, I had to get up again. Usually, I only have to get up once or twice during the evening, so this seemed a tad unusual. At 3:30 am, I had what felt like a horrible menstrual cramp. I woke up Jason and said "I think we're going to have a baby today!" He sort of woke up and said "But what happened to the cleaning?" Both my mom and my sister had been stressing to us that we'll know because I will go on a mad cleaning frenzy...didn't really happen, evidently for me it's crafts! Jason started timing the contractions, which were 4-5 minutes apart and 60-75 seconds long. He timed two and called Jan, our midwife. Jan told us to keep timing the length of the contractions, since this came on so suddenly. She was somewhat skeptical that I was in active labor already. But after two more and another phone call, she was on her way!
The contractions were intense and at one point, I told Jason "This is really going to hurt!" to which he reminded me that I can do it and that I just needed to do some deep breaths and relax during the pain. I moved some of my houseplants into our living room, since that's where I planned to deliver and it felt like the right thing to do. I also turned on the ceiling fans and turned up the AC. We didn't have a bag packed and the car seat was still in the box... My due date was July 16th and we planned to get that done during the week. So between contractions Jason started packing the bag. He opened up the Bradley workbook for the list, but didn't get far before Jan arrived at 5:20 am. By then, our place was refrigerator and Jan needed a sweater. but the coolness of the air was quite a relief to me.
Jan did an exam right away and assessed that I was already 7 cm dilated. We hoped to use the birthing tub, but didn't have sufficient time to fill it... it takes three hours and Jan was not sure we'd make it before the delivery... but allowed us to make that decision. The other option was to fill our bathtub, which we decided to do. Around that time, Jan's fellow midwife, Pam, arrived to assist.
It was nice being in the water, having that warmth around me and some of the pressure relieved, yet the contractions kept intensifying. I was in for about a half an hour, then decided to lay down on our futon in the living room. This felt worse, but I was just looking for rest. During contractions, I would grab Jason. He rubbed my lower back and thighs between contractions which helped relieve muscle tension, and Pam held my hand and told me I can do this. Jason also kept giving me sips of ice water, which was really comforting. After a few contractions, Jan suggested I change positions; I decided to stand and Jason and I slow danced. Jan and Pam commented "oh, she's moving differently" and encouraged me to just go with it. During contractions, I would often press down on Jason's hands and lean my wight into him, which felt very secure. Honestly, from the very start of the contractions, Coral's advice of not wasting my energy played over in my head and when I found myself tensing up, I'd focus on relaxing and opening up my hands. I eventually got on my hands and knees and asked for the birthing ball, which I leaned my body over and rocked on. When I would get a contractions, I would roll and bear down. I don't remember when the birthing ball left, and my eyes were closed for most of the labor, but I ended up leaning over the futon on my hands and knees, with a pillow under my knees. My bag of waters did not break and I was getting the urge to push. I was waiting for it to break to push, but Jan said that if it felt good to push, then go with it, which I did. They saw Micah's head in the bag and told me he was crowning. I felt the "Ring of Fire" which lives up to its name... a burning sensation, but it does not last long at all. Jan slightly tore my bag. Two or three pushes later with a few guttural, primal screams, Micah was here and he was screaming too! I turned over and he was placed on my chest... I didn't even know if it was a boy or a girl yet. It was just nice holding him in my arms. From the start of contractions to his birth, it was 6 hours and 15 minutes. After some time, I delivered the placenta with some help from Jan. Jason cut the cord and then we named him.
Rebecca & Jason, Milwaukee
For the past two weeks, I had been having Braxton Hicks contractions that I noticed more than I felt. My belly would tense up and we would joke around that the baby was going to come early. On July 5th, Jason and I spent the day at home making crafts for the baby's room. After dinner, we went for a walk in the neighborhood (about 2 miles). It took about two hours: I was walking a little bit slower than I had been, but I figured I just hadn't gone for a walk in a while and we were taking pictures. On our walk, we talked about how it would be really convenient for the birth to start on Thursday evening, since we had a busy week wrapping up work stuff. When we got home, we had a bowl of mint chocolate chip ice cream with chocolate cookie crumbles on top (yum!) and sat on our balcony to watch the fireworks. Then we went to bed a bit later than usual.
I got up around 1:30 am, then again a little after 2 to go to the bathroom. A little after 3 am, I had to get up again. Usually, I only have to get up once or twice during the evening, so this seemed a tad unusual. At 3:30 am, I had what felt like a horrible menstrual cramp. I woke up Jason and said "I think we're going to have a baby today!" He sort of woke up and said "But what happened to the cleaning?" Both my mom and my sister had been stressing to us that we'll know because I will go on a mad cleaning frenzy...didn't really happen, evidently for me it's crafts! Jason started timing the contractions, which were 4-5 minutes apart and 60-75 seconds long. He timed two and called Jan, our midwife. Jan told us to keep timing the length of the contractions, since this came on so suddenly. She was somewhat skeptical that I was in active labor already. But after two more and another phone call, she was on her way!
The contractions were intense and at one point, I told Jason "This is really going to hurt!" to which he reminded me that I can do it and that I just needed to do some deep breaths and relax during the pain. I moved some of my houseplants into our living room, since that's where I planned to deliver and it felt like the right thing to do. I also turned on the ceiling fans and turned up the AC. We didn't have a bag packed and the car seat was still in the box... My due date was July 16th and we planned to get that done during the week. So between contractions Jason started packing the bag. He opened up the Bradley workbook for the list, but didn't get far before Jan arrived at 5:20 am. By then, our place was refrigerator and Jan needed a sweater. but the coolness of the air was quite a relief to me.
Jan did an exam right away and assessed that I was already 7 cm dilated. We hoped to use the birthing tub, but didn't have sufficient time to fill it... it takes three hours and Jan was not sure we'd make it before the delivery... but allowed us to make that decision. The other option was to fill our bathtub, which we decided to do. Around that time, Jan's fellow midwife, Pam, arrived to assist.
It was nice being in the water, having that warmth around me and some of the pressure relieved, yet the contractions kept intensifying. I was in for about a half an hour, then decided to lay down on our futon in the living room. This felt worse, but I was just looking for rest. During contractions, I would grab Jason. He rubbed my lower back and thighs between contractions which helped relieve muscle tension, and Pam held my hand and told me I can do this. Jason also kept giving me sips of ice water, which was really comforting. After a few contractions, Jan suggested I change positions; I decided to stand and Jason and I slow danced. Jan and Pam commented "oh, she's moving differently" and encouraged me to just go with it. During contractions, I would often press down on Jason's hands and lean my wight into him, which felt very secure. Honestly, from the very start of the contractions, Coral's advice of not wasting my energy played over in my head and when I found myself tensing up, I'd focus on relaxing and opening up my hands. I eventually got on my hands and knees and asked for the birthing ball, which I leaned my body over and rocked on. When I would get a contractions, I would roll and bear down. I don't remember when the birthing ball left, and my eyes were closed for most of the labor, but I ended up leaning over the futon on my hands and knees, with a pillow under my knees. My bag of waters did not break and I was getting the urge to push. I was waiting for it to break to push, but Jan said that if it felt good to push, then go with it, which I did. They saw Micah's head in the bag and told me he was crowning. I felt the "Ring of Fire" which lives up to its name... a burning sensation, but it does not last long at all. Jan slightly tore my bag. Two or three pushes later with a few guttural, primal screams, Micah was here and he was screaming too! I turned over and he was placed on my chest... I didn't even know if it was a boy or a girl yet. It was just nice holding him in my arms. From the start of contractions to his birth, it was 6 hours and 15 minutes. After some time, I delivered the placenta with some help from Jan. Jason cut the cord and then we named him.
Rebecca & Jason, Milwaukee
Praises From the Nurse
Adam and I are happy to announce our new baby girl, Lillian Jane. She was born on Dec. 31st at 11:45 pm. She was 7 lbs. 7 ox. and 20 inches long. We were quite surprised that she was born before the new year but happy to claim the child tax credit for 15 minutes of being parents.If you remember, it was really nice outside that day, so in the morning I was finishing up some yard work that I hadn't done before winter and then we took the dog for a long walk. Up to this point, i was trying all the tricks to get labor going, but nothing seemed to work. I had actually resigned to going back to work on Monday. After the walk I noticed that I was having some blooding and I thought maybe I was leaking fluid or something, so I called the clinic. Of course, it was closed because of the holiday so I was on hold for 20 minutes waiting to speak to the operator who then put my call into the on call doctor. The doctor suggested I go in to get checked, so we went to the hospital around 1:30. The monitor was showing contractions 3 minutes apart and I was 4 cm dilated. However, I was not feeling any contractions.
We walked around the hospital for an hour and then I could kind of identify a "cramp" but nothing strong. I was 4 1/2 cm and still having contractions 3 minutes apart. We thought for sure they would admit us, but they didn't and wanted us to walk around the hospital another hour. We didn't really see the point in this, so we decided to go home instead.
It was a little confusing because we didn't understand what was going on and what exactly they were looking for. They suggested breaking my water, but we declined and said we wanted to see what would happen naturally first. Adam was very adamant about not having my water broken. So, we went home and within 30 minutes the contractions became stronger and I could no longer talk through them. We stayed home for two hours and then went back (the hospital staff had bets that we'd be back in one hour).
I went in the tub for a good hour, but preferred the birthing ball for the majority of the time. I was side lying for a little bit, but then used the bar over the bed to have gravity on my side. Ultimately, she was born with me leaning over the b all. I found it most useful to push when my body felt the urge to push, which the nurse was very supportive of. We did have a great nurse who was very relaxing and supportive of our birthing plan. Not once was an intervention suggested or an IV ever given. Adam was also fantastic and was by my side the entire time either rubbing my back or talking me through the contractions. All in all, it was what we hoped it would be like. Our nurse said we were the first successful Bradley method birth she had seen in a long time, so we thank you Coral.
Susan and Adam Mildren, Milwaukee
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
Midwife & Doula Were Fantastic
Joshua David was born Friday September 10th at 1:29 am and is very healthy! I had a natural birth, a very fast, natural birth. Thursday morning I was already dilated to 4 cm. I had painless "Braxton Hicks" contractions all day that were regular and kept getting closer together. I stayed at work until the afternoon, took a nap, went on a long walk, etc. We stayed active...not sure if it was "realy labor" since the contractions were just like I had been feeling for months (non painful abdominal tightness, except they were coming regularly). Water borke at 10:30 pm and I pretty much entered right into transition with good contractions not more than 3 minutes apart or so. We got to the hospital at 12:50 am and he was born after a few pushes. Midwife Ann Ledbetter and doula Brandy Brey were fantastic. The Bradley method did help in helping me to relax between contractions and to stay moving! I'm very glad we took the class. Thanks, Coral
Labor Went Anything But According to Plan
After all was said and done, Eli and I are great and healthy, but my labor went anything but according to plan.
First of all I went 2 weeks past my due date which was becoming an issue because we were having a hospital birth and most hospitals want to induce you at 41 weeks 5 days or sooner. I REALLY REALLY didn't want that to happen so I tried everything: walking, sex, herbs, acupuncture, acupressure, hypnosis, stripped membranes, castor oil 3 times... NOTHING worked. Finally on June 16th I was to go in and be induced at 8 am. I went into labor naturally at 6:30 am. Go figure.
Paul and I labored at home until about 6 pm when our doula came over to help as things became more intense. At about 9 pm my contractions were about 3 minutes apart where they stayed for another 7 hours. At that point the pain was sooooo intense that I just couldn't take it any more and nothing was changing. At 4 am we finally went to the hospital.
I was having back labor, and when people say it hurts they are NOT kidding. It was like nothing I've ever felt before. After a stint in the hospital's tub to try and control my pain from the back labor I just couldn't take any more and I got an Epidural. After I got the Epidural I was able to rest for about 5 hours. I had already been in labor for quite a while and needed to get my energy back for the next phase of labor,.
At about 2 pm I was given Pitocin to get my contractions, which were still 3 minutes apart, closer together. It didn't take long for thing to get moving and then the Pushfest began. Eli was not only still posterior but in a military presentation which means his chin was not tucked down but was pointing up (face presentation). His forehead was pressing firmly on my tailbone and boy could I feel it. The Epidural had almost no effect other than to allow me enough relief to keep pushing.
After 4 hours of pushing he finally made his grand entrance. (After an Episiotomy, of course, because his shoulders were stuck and we didn't want him to have shoulder dystocia.) It was A LOT of work, but totally worth it.
I guess what I'll say is that my midwife Eileen told me at the beginning of my pregnancy that it is good to be flexible with your birth plan because you just don't know how things will turn out. I remember thinking that was just plain silly because I was going to be able to have a completely natural labor and delivery no matter what. Hmmmm, I guess I learned that people with over 20 years of experience might know what they are talking about!!!!
Corrine & Paul, Milwaukee
First of all I went 2 weeks past my due date which was becoming an issue because we were having a hospital birth and most hospitals want to induce you at 41 weeks 5 days or sooner. I REALLY REALLY didn't want that to happen so I tried everything: walking, sex, herbs, acupuncture, acupressure, hypnosis, stripped membranes, castor oil 3 times... NOTHING worked. Finally on June 16th I was to go in and be induced at 8 am. I went into labor naturally at 6:30 am. Go figure.
Paul and I labored at home until about 6 pm when our doula came over to help as things became more intense. At about 9 pm my contractions were about 3 minutes apart where they stayed for another 7 hours. At that point the pain was sooooo intense that I just couldn't take it any more and nothing was changing. At 4 am we finally went to the hospital.
I was having back labor, and when people say it hurts they are NOT kidding. It was like nothing I've ever felt before. After a stint in the hospital's tub to try and control my pain from the back labor I just couldn't take any more and I got an Epidural. After I got the Epidural I was able to rest for about 5 hours. I had already been in labor for quite a while and needed to get my energy back for the next phase of labor,.
At about 2 pm I was given Pitocin to get my contractions, which were still 3 minutes apart, closer together. It didn't take long for thing to get moving and then the Pushfest began. Eli was not only still posterior but in a military presentation which means his chin was not tucked down but was pointing up (face presentation). His forehead was pressing firmly on my tailbone and boy could I feel it. The Epidural had almost no effect other than to allow me enough relief to keep pushing.
After 4 hours of pushing he finally made his grand entrance. (After an Episiotomy, of course, because his shoulders were stuck and we didn't want him to have shoulder dystocia.) It was A LOT of work, but totally worth it.
I guess what I'll say is that my midwife Eileen told me at the beginning of my pregnancy that it is good to be flexible with your birth plan because you just don't know how things will turn out. I remember thinking that was just plain silly because I was going to be able to have a completely natural labor and delivery no matter what. Hmmmm, I guess I learned that people with over 20 years of experience might know what they are talking about!!!!
Corrine & Paul, Milwaukee
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