Birth Story of C
Born March 21, 1999 7lb’s 10 oz. 20 inches
I found out I was pregnant the day of my missed period. I had been off my birth control for a whole month. I thought it would take a lot longer to get pregnant because of the problems my sisters had. But nope, not me, I got pregnant right after I was gone for a week visiting my sister who had just had a baby. I had a good pregnancy no major problems I barely had any morning sickness or I was just to busy working to notice. The rest of the pregnancy went well J and I took Bradley Method childbirth classes which were very informative and gave me the confidence to deliver the baby naturally. I learned about the classes in a massage class and that there are dangers to using the drugs during labor and there were natural ways to ease the pain that are safe for the baby and the mom. So I signed up for classes even though we did not have much money to pay for the classes and the whole birth was being paid for with cash because we had no insurance and did not qualify for Medicare. My brother in law even offered to pay for the epidural because no one could understand why I would not want it and thought it was because of the money. But I thought it was the best thing for me and was more afraid of the drugs than having a baby. I am so glad I made that decision it has affected so much of my life. Childbirth and birthing is a very important part of my life. I used a midwife named Diane Heubush and had the baby at St. Marks Hospital.
I went into labor at about 5:30 Am on Saturday March 19th, this was my due date. I had slow and light labor for most of the day and spent it at home trying to get J to get off work, but I was not far enough along to make him come home so he finished his day at work and came home at about 5 PM. I was ready to go to the hospital by then, I had spent the day alone and it was hard not having anyone to encourage me to move and try to get labor going. So I sat most of the day and was kneeling over my rocking ottoman during a lot of the contractions that helped but they did not really hurt just were a very different sensation. I got to the hospital and was only 2 cm when they checked me so Jason and I were sent on a walk. Walking was hard as it made my contraction longer and was not easy to keep walking through. We went back after an hour and I had dilated to a 4 so they kept me at the hospital. I continued to walk still having what did not seem like hard contractions to me. I did not want an I. V. and did not have continual monitoring so I had the freedom to move around. My brother was in the area and came by while I was in labor so that made a change for a few minutes but I wasn’t up to a long visit.
Around 9 pm I decided to get into the Jacuzzi tub that was in my room. I did not want the bubbles but just relaxed, it was great I even was reading a little. I no longer wanted any clothes on (a gown) when the tried to put them on me when I got in the tub. I just did not want any clothes. I now know that that means I am nearing transition. So I labored in the tub until I felt the urge to push. Got out and threw up my apple juice that they had given me (I did not want apple juice for a long time after that). So for some reason that was a sign to not give me any more fluid except ice chips which was bad because I needed the water even if I threw it up again. They broke my water at this point about 10 PM (standard practice to check for meconium there was just a slight tint). So; I pushed for about 2 ½ hours and was very tired. I got mad at Jason when he was just giving me the ice and told him to give me the water in the bottom of the cup, I was getting dehydrated by then ( I found out later that is why my pushing stage took so long and the baby was so sleepy when he came out we were both dehydrated). My Midwife had me get up and walk after I had been in the pushing stage for a while. Walking made it so hard to stand, the contraction were one after another with no break, I made to the toilet and back than wanted to go back to the bed so I could rest during contractions. My midwife was very helpful during the hard labor contractions and gave me great advice to just let the contractions just flow through me. They asked if I wanted to have a mirror to see the baby come out and decided I did I am glad it was neat to see. The head kept crowning than slipping back inside when I stopped pushing, My midwife tried to get me to do a full squat but I did not have the energy to do it so I had the baby in a sitting squat with J holding one leg and my midwife holding the other I had an apprentice midwife actually deliver me. I finally got the head to stay after the third time. Than I got the ring of fire that was the only time I wanted the drugs that really hurt. But I managed to get the head out, the cord was wrapped around his neck once but it was easily removed and he was put on my stomach skin to skin. I did get a tear; the babies hand was by his head and pulled down as he came out. C was born Sunday Morning. The cord was cut later after it stopped pulsing and J cut the cord. I had the baby for a little while than they took him and did his vitals.
When it was time for his bath I wanted to go with J who was going to give the bath but my blood pressure was so low and my heart rate so high that they said I had to drink picture of water before I could go with them or I would be given an I.V. (I would not have had this problem if they had given me the water during delivery). But I drank a lot and went with them to bathe the baby. When we got back to our room I was so tired it was about 3 Am by then and J too that we had to sleep but the hospital had a no rooming in policy unless some one was awake so the baby went to the nursery. I kept waking up and asking for the baby because hours went by and they did not bring him into nurse. They said he just wasn’t waking up and was sleeping when they did finally bring him in later in the morning (he had never nursed) I tried to feed him but not a lot happened. I tried trough out the day still having to ask the nurses to bring him into me. And he sort of latched on but never very well when we went home on Monday morning.
We had a hard time I could not get him to nurse and he was still very sleepy. I finally gave him expressed milk in a cup he took that a little bit. By Wednesday I was just panicked he still had not nursed well and I was afraid he wasn’t going to he still slept a lot and I called my Bradley teacher Andrea and she came to my house and helped me with latch on and told me to just do skin to skin all day the next day and just offer the breast every time he woke up. That finally worked by the end of the day he was nursing very well and we did great from that time on. I attribute the no rooming in policy for our bad start nursing if he had been in the room with me I could have had a lot more bonding time and done the skin to skin contact from the start. I learned three important lessons this first birth drink a lot, walk during early labor, and baby is always with me. We did not circumcise the baby and did not want to, but he actually did not have much to cut he was born partially circumcised so I did not have to fight over that issue. It was a great learning experience for me and I am so glad I had the baby with out any drugs he was tired enough as it was drugs would have made him comatose. I learned a lot about my body and what it can do that labor was not as hard as I feared. That I can trust my body and that the lord created women as perfect vessels to deliver babies and that labor is not a punishment and with a little bit of knowledge can be a rewarding and beautiful experience.
Born March 21, 1999 7lb’s 10 oz. 20 inches
I found out I was pregnant the day of my missed period. I had been off my birth control for a whole month. I thought it would take a lot longer to get pregnant because of the problems my sisters had. But nope, not me, I got pregnant right after I was gone for a week visiting my sister who had just had a baby. I had a good pregnancy no major problems I barely had any morning sickness or I was just to busy working to notice. The rest of the pregnancy went well J and I took Bradley Method childbirth classes which were very informative and gave me the confidence to deliver the baby naturally. I learned about the classes in a massage class and that there are dangers to using the drugs during labor and there were natural ways to ease the pain that are safe for the baby and the mom. So I signed up for classes even though we did not have much money to pay for the classes and the whole birth was being paid for with cash because we had no insurance and did not qualify for Medicare. My brother in law even offered to pay for the epidural because no one could understand why I would not want it and thought it was because of the money. But I thought it was the best thing for me and was more afraid of the drugs than having a baby. I am so glad I made that decision it has affected so much of my life. Childbirth and birthing is a very important part of my life. I used a midwife named Diane Heubush and had the baby at St. Marks Hospital.
I went into labor at about 5:30 Am on Saturday March 19th, this was my due date. I had slow and light labor for most of the day and spent it at home trying to get J to get off work, but I was not far enough along to make him come home so he finished his day at work and came home at about 5 PM. I was ready to go to the hospital by then, I had spent the day alone and it was hard not having anyone to encourage me to move and try to get labor going. So I sat most of the day and was kneeling over my rocking ottoman during a lot of the contractions that helped but they did not really hurt just were a very different sensation. I got to the hospital and was only 2 cm when they checked me so Jason and I were sent on a walk. Walking was hard as it made my contraction longer and was not easy to keep walking through. We went back after an hour and I had dilated to a 4 so they kept me at the hospital. I continued to walk still having what did not seem like hard contractions to me. I did not want an I. V. and did not have continual monitoring so I had the freedom to move around. My brother was in the area and came by while I was in labor so that made a change for a few minutes but I wasn’t up to a long visit.
Around 9 pm I decided to get into the Jacuzzi tub that was in my room. I did not want the bubbles but just relaxed, it was great I even was reading a little. I no longer wanted any clothes on (a gown) when the tried to put them on me when I got in the tub. I just did not want any clothes. I now know that that means I am nearing transition. So I labored in the tub until I felt the urge to push. Got out and threw up my apple juice that they had given me (I did not want apple juice for a long time after that). So for some reason that was a sign to not give me any more fluid except ice chips which was bad because I needed the water even if I threw it up again. They broke my water at this point about 10 PM (standard practice to check for meconium there was just a slight tint). So; I pushed for about 2 ½ hours and was very tired. I got mad at Jason when he was just giving me the ice and told him to give me the water in the bottom of the cup, I was getting dehydrated by then ( I found out later that is why my pushing stage took so long and the baby was so sleepy when he came out we were both dehydrated). My Midwife had me get up and walk after I had been in the pushing stage for a while. Walking made it so hard to stand, the contraction were one after another with no break, I made to the toilet and back than wanted to go back to the bed so I could rest during contractions. My midwife was very helpful during the hard labor contractions and gave me great advice to just let the contractions just flow through me. They asked if I wanted to have a mirror to see the baby come out and decided I did I am glad it was neat to see. The head kept crowning than slipping back inside when I stopped pushing, My midwife tried to get me to do a full squat but I did not have the energy to do it so I had the baby in a sitting squat with J holding one leg and my midwife holding the other I had an apprentice midwife actually deliver me. I finally got the head to stay after the third time. Than I got the ring of fire that was the only time I wanted the drugs that really hurt. But I managed to get the head out, the cord was wrapped around his neck once but it was easily removed and he was put on my stomach skin to skin. I did get a tear; the babies hand was by his head and pulled down as he came out. C was born Sunday Morning. The cord was cut later after it stopped pulsing and J cut the cord. I had the baby for a little while than they took him and did his vitals.
When it was time for his bath I wanted to go with J who was going to give the bath but my blood pressure was so low and my heart rate so high that they said I had to drink picture of water before I could go with them or I would be given an I.V. (I would not have had this problem if they had given me the water during delivery). But I drank a lot and went with them to bathe the baby. When we got back to our room I was so tired it was about 3 Am by then and J too that we had to sleep but the hospital had a no rooming in policy unless some one was awake so the baby went to the nursery. I kept waking up and asking for the baby because hours went by and they did not bring him into nurse. They said he just wasn’t waking up and was sleeping when they did finally bring him in later in the morning (he had never nursed) I tried to feed him but not a lot happened. I tried trough out the day still having to ask the nurses to bring him into me. And he sort of latched on but never very well when we went home on Monday morning.
We had a hard time I could not get him to nurse and he was still very sleepy. I finally gave him expressed milk in a cup he took that a little bit. By Wednesday I was just panicked he still had not nursed well and I was afraid he wasn’t going to he still slept a lot and I called my Bradley teacher Andrea and she came to my house and helped me with latch on and told me to just do skin to skin all day the next day and just offer the breast every time he woke up. That finally worked by the end of the day he was nursing very well and we did great from that time on. I attribute the no rooming in policy for our bad start nursing if he had been in the room with me I could have had a lot more bonding time and done the skin to skin contact from the start. I learned three important lessons this first birth drink a lot, walk during early labor, and baby is always with me. We did not circumcise the baby and did not want to, but he actually did not have much to cut he was born partially circumcised so I did not have to fight over that issue. It was a great learning experience for me and I am so glad I had the baby with out any drugs he was tired enough as it was drugs would have made him comatose. I learned a lot about my body and what it can do that labor was not as hard as I feared. That I can trust my body and that the lord created women as perfect vessels to deliver babies and that labor is not a punishment and with a little bit of knowledge can be a rewarding and beautiful experience.