It gets a little graphic and it's really long so it's under the cut. :)
Piper Lynne
Born 10/4/2010
8 Pounds 5 ounces
Born at home
Two days before my due date I had a feeling that something was happening so I went to bed early to rest up. I woke up once at 1am with a couple contractions and again at 2:30 with contractions. After 2:30 rolled around I was only able to doze for a bit because the contractions were every ten minutes and intense enough that I couldn't sleep through them. I gave up on sleep about 4:30 and made myself an egg sandwich and stayed up.
I was trying to wait until the last possible moment to let the roommates know I was in labor because I didn't want them freaking out. Plus I knew early labor can last for several hours before active labor begins. I was doing some quiet vocalizations to get through the peaks. They stayed between 7 and ten minutes apart.
I called my mom and mom in law about 7:30 am their time to let them know things were starting. So I started getting text messages and phone calls and had to turn my phone off. I feel kind of bad for my husband.. I had coached him on a whole bunch of things he could do for me while I was in labor but I kept sending him away because I thought he was staring at me. :P I texted my midwife at about 3:30 what my progress was and got into a hands and knees position on my bed. I heard a distinct pop and had long enough to puzzle over what that was and stand up when I felt my water running down my legs and through the PJ pants I was wearing.
Since I was on carpet I hightailed it to the shower and jumped in. I called the midwife and let her know my water broke. Water was clear with no meconium. Woo! I had a contraction while on the phone and handed it off to Jason. Afterwards he gave it back and Sue, the midwife, warned me that things were going to get a lot more intense from here on out. Not two minutes after my last contraction I had another intense one while still on the phone. Sue reminded me to call her if they stayed at that intensity and that frequency for one hour. We let the roommates know what was going on and they chilled out in their rooms and listened to music for the remainder of the labor. I got off the phone and tried to head back to my room but realized I had to stay in the bathroom because not all the water had made it's exit. So I labored in the bathroom and had to start moaning through each contraction to get through it. I finished losing my plug. It started getting really intense so I asked Jason to set up our pool. I texted Sue after an hour that it would be a good idea to come over about 4:30. I was starting to struggle to get through the contractions a bit.
Sue arrived at about 5:30 and checked me but just as she was checking me a contraction came on and I had to stop her. She said I was between 6-7 centimeters. I admitted to her that I was having a hard time keeping negative thoughts out of my head while I was trying to cope. I couldn't bear to hear anyone talking while I was in a contraction. After about an hour I was nauseaus and trying to force my self to vocalize positive things instead of panicky things because the intensity was beginning to overwhelm me. Sue kept using the doppler to check the babies heartrate and Piper didn't seem to even notice I was in labor. :P Her heartbeat stayed steady and never wavered. Sue tried to coach me on handling contractions but I wasn't listening to her. I couldn't stand having someone tell me what to do but I was beginning to lose it. I had an extremely hard time taking advice and coaching. I started feeling pressure and got into the tub. I tried blowing raspberries with my mouth because I was told that helps keep you loose.
The tub.. was bliss! Sue mentioned to me that it seemed I was nearly transition and that these were just about as hard as they were going to get. I felt slight urges to bear down during each one so I started lightly pushing. I started saying some pretty negative things 'I can't do this! I was insane to attempt a natural birth! Don't make me do this anymore!' etc. I started crying and didn't stop for about twenty minutes. The back up midwife Adrian arrived a little after sunset and they checked me again. They said I was ten centimeters with a lip that was stuck at 8. For some reason all I heard was the number eight and I got really discouraged because I had been pushing for an hour. I took an immediate irrational dislike to Adrian and was pretty mean to her. I apologized later but I didn't want her anywhere near me. She kept touching my arms and trying to talk to me during contractions. I kept snapping at her and eventually told her 'I'm sorry but I don't want you anywhere near me. I just want Sue. I don't want to talk to you.' She backed off and stayed in the background for nearly the remainder of the time.
I needed to get out of the pool because I was getting too cold and I kept sliding around on the bottom. This is about 45 minutes after Adrian got there and I had been really struggling to cope. I started cursing a bit at this point and letting my vocalizations get too high pitched. I was just screaming to the ceiling how angry I was and how much it sucked and how I didn't want them to make me do it anymore. I started asking about transferring to a hospital so that I could get an epidural because I thought I couldn't handle anymore. I was exhausted. Sue reminded me that if I transfered I'd have to turn the lights on, drive there, let a ton of people poke and prod me and talk to me, fill out paperwork and that I was probably too far along and may have the baby in the car. I told her to stuff her logic. :P lol
I started trying to listen to their coaching. They suggested I try the shower and to force myself to say positive things out loud even if I didn't believe them. I tried and it ended up sounding like Gollum arguing with himself. :P "I can do this, I can do this.. NO! NO YOU CAN'T! I CAN'T HANDLE IT! Ohmmmm open open yesssssssss... NO! NO!!" xD The shower didn't last long and I ended up flinging the showerhead against the wall. Man I was a drama queen...
I got out and started standing through the contractions and leaning on Jason. I warned him not to let me get a hold of him too tight because I didn't want to hurt him. My legs were shaking really bad due to fatigue and tensing up. I figured out that I had been pushing the wrong way and had been letting everything tense up as if I were having a bowel movement. Sue told me that I needed to relax as much as possible and surrender into the contraction if I could. I couldn't figure out how to. I ended up leaning against the couch in the living room on my hands and knees and just rotating my hips with every contraction. Sue said that if I kept my hips in motion I was less likely to keep them tense.
Jason was really sweet and kept bringing me water and cool washcloths. I feel like I didn't really give him much to do and I was worried he was stressing out too much. I felt like I needed to start pushing again. I was doing my best to keep the vocalizations low and grunty because I could feel my stomach muscles tightening up to help push when I did. Sue checked me again and was monitoring the babies heartbeat nearly every other contraction. She said that she could feel the baby's head about three inches up and that she was right there. She got a mirror out to show Jei but I didn't want to see. I was using short rapid grunts to push for about 7-8 contraction and Sue suggested just letting one go really long and I got much more accomplished that way. I started being able to cope again and feeling like the end was in sight. My knees started hurting from being on the carpet and Adrian brought over the birth stool and suggested I try a contraction on it. I immediately shot it down then verbally reprimanded myself and told myself to try it. It was much more relaxing that my other position because I wasn't using energy to hold myself up anymore. I pushed for about three contractions before asking Jei to lean against my back so I could push against him.
I could feel her descending and it hurt but it was a bit different. It hurt just as much as the contractions before but somehow in a different way. Sue supported my perineum as I was pushing and I started to feel the ring of fire. Adrian got out a cooling gel for me and they applied it every other contraction. Her head was halfway out for what felt like 4-5 contractions. I eventually just forced myself through it and felt her headcome out. There was still a ton of pressure but it was a little less. I pushed her body out on the next two contractions and was shocked at how the pressure and pain immediately went away. I didn't tear at all. I found out that she had her hand by her head with her elbow up the entire time so that was what was making pushing that much more difficult for me.
They plopped her on my chest immediately and started bringing out the chux pads for me to lay back on. I moved backwards onto the futon mattress in our living room and layed down on my back with her on me while they performed their exams. They gave me a shot of pitocen to get my placenta moving. They didn't clamp the cord until it stopped pulsing. Piper started crying and pinking up right away and clearing the gurgles out of her lungs. About ten minutes later the placenta detached which was a really really weird feeling. O.O Jason got to cut the cord. The placenta came out whole and it looked kind of like the bad guy from Fern Gully, as odd as that sounds. They cleaned me up and moved me into my room. The midwives stayed and cleaned everything up and gave me a crash course on breastfeeding. They left about three hours later.
I didn't get much sleep last night because everytime she made a noise I was wide awake and trying to figure out what she needed. She still hasn't latched on correctly and I ended up expressing milk onto a baby spoon and giving her colostrum that way.
We're all just very sleepy but so glad it's over. Piper already has Jason wrapped around her finger. :)