January 13, 2010
It seems amazing to me that one week of your life outside the womb has come and gone. Just a week ago, I was working my hardest to get you to make an appearance into this world. This past week, you have generally been such a calm baby. You like to sleep and you like to eat. You did not lose much of your birth weight before we left the hospital. Your lowest was 8 pounds 2 ounces. At our first appointment with the pediatrician (which happened to be your first outing), you had gained back all your weight. You eat like a champ. You did try to pee on the pediatrician and you did not like to be weighed. You screamed! As soon as our visit was over and you got to eat again, you were content.
This week, after arriving home from the hospital on Saturday, you spent your sleep in the pack and play. Your bassinette had not arrived yet. You had numerous visitors like all your grandparents, aunts, and uncles. You also had your first bath at home, which you really did not like. Mommy and Daddy are doing their best at trying to meet your needs and show you love.
Sunday, January 24, 2010
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Welcome to the World
Hudson Micah
January 6, 2010
11:27 pm
Sunday night/Monday morning I woke up to some contractions, about 15 minutes apart and couldn’t fall back to sleep so I just hung out downstairs until it was time to get ready for work. I went in for what ended up being my last day of work. Monday night/Tuesday morning I woke up again around 2:30am with more contractions, about 10 minutes apart and couldn’t go back to sleep. It was all back pain. Rich kept trying to tell me to rest, but when I laid down, the pain that woke me up was unbearable, so I just stayed up and went downstairs, walked around. We had an appointment that day at 11 and I had a Non Stress Test. My contractions were still 10 minutes apart. I was 2 cm dilated and 80% effaced. My midwife said she expected that I’d be calling her that evening telling her I was in active labor. I was thrilled that our Baby Bug would be arriving soon!
Rich and I went to IKEA and Target and walked around. I had to stop a few times with contractions. They were pretty constant throughout the day, but not really close together. I did feel lots of rectal pressure though! I took a bath to relieve the pain, then a hot shower, and heat packs. My contractions were still all just in my back but I felt like I constantly need to go to the bathroom. The contractions never got close together, but I was in pain and crying saying I didn’t think I could do this drug free anymore since I knew it was going to get worse. We started timing contractions and they’d go from 7 to 3 to 5 to 10 to 2 to 4. Nothing consistent. I was exhausted. I called the midwife and was told to alternate heat and ice and take another bath. That last bath was the only thing that gave me comfort and I did fall asleep in between contractions……which ended up slowing down to about 7 minutes.
I was convinced I was leaking fluid at this point and called her again when I just couldn’t take the pain. I was trying to breathe and do “vocal toning” and kept thinking open cervix…..but I couldn’t focus. She told me she’d meet me at the hospital and we got there just before 7am. My contractions slowed to 10 minutes at this time and I was terrified they’d send me home. I started crying as soon as we pulled up because my emotions were all over the place.
I was checked and was 4 cm and 100% effaced and the baby was in +2 (I think that’s it) so he was really low…explains why I wanted to poo all the time. We tried to get my contractions to go to 2-3 minutes by walking, squatting, and nipple stimulation but nothing was working. Rich, the nurse, and the midwife would all help me through the back pain by pushing hard on my back. Finally, at 1, I was given Pitocin to speed up my contractions and I started crying because I felt like my body had failed me. I was convinced that meant I’d end up with an epidural, but she assured me it wouldn’t make the contractions worse, just closer. The kept upping it because I’d contract really good for a while and then it would slow back to 10. I was told my uterus was just exhausted (I hadn’t really slept in over 24 hours!)
Fast forward. I got Sterile Water Injections. AMAZING! My back labor stopped and I could feel the contraction in my pelvis but it was much more bearable. I think I was at 7 cm and we were trying everything to get me wider. Lots of manipulation. Shift change. I had 2 of my midwives there at the same time trying to help me out. I had a little bit of a lip left so I had to try to push it away and they’d try to move it. By this time, they’d really started to think he was sunny side up but they couldn’t be positive. I pushed forever, they had to call the OB in since I’d been in labor so long. He was pretty sure baby was facing up. We talked about forceps (out of the question since they couldn’t figure out the position positively), vacuum, he couldn’t try it yet, and C-Section which I really didn’t want. I pushed a ton more in literally every possible position you could think of. Tried to get a catheter thinking my bladder was in the way but I was too swollen. We could see his head and then he’d go back up.
My mother ended up showing up at the hospital and we let her in so she could help me push. I got an episiotomy, which my practice seldom does. It helped. I finally pushed him out and got a 4th degree laceration. He was put right on me and pooped but they took him away (same room) because the OB had to stitch me up because I was ripped so badly. I swear it took over an hour to stitch me up. Rich held the baby. He was face up and his head was tilted which is why it took forever for him to come out. I think I pushed 6 hours.
All the pain was worth it. Even though I didn’t have the delivery I thought I’d have, and Hudson came a week late, I wouldn’t change it. I truly feel like it made me realize I could do anything. For me, I never was in so much pain at the hospital that I wanted an epidural (and narcotics make me crazy so I didn’t want those). I was told that if I had an epidural, I almost definitely would have ended up with a C-Section…..so I’m REALLY glad that the sterile water injections worked for me (they don’t for everyone). I am so thankful that God gave me the strength to get through it and led me to choose the midwives that I had.
January 6, 2010
11:27 pm
Sunday night/Monday morning I woke up to some contractions, about 15 minutes apart and couldn’t fall back to sleep so I just hung out downstairs until it was time to get ready for work. I went in for what ended up being my last day of work. Monday night/Tuesday morning I woke up again around 2:30am with more contractions, about 10 minutes apart and couldn’t go back to sleep. It was all back pain. Rich kept trying to tell me to rest, but when I laid down, the pain that woke me up was unbearable, so I just stayed up and went downstairs, walked around. We had an appointment that day at 11 and I had a Non Stress Test. My contractions were still 10 minutes apart. I was 2 cm dilated and 80% effaced. My midwife said she expected that I’d be calling her that evening telling her I was in active labor. I was thrilled that our Baby Bug would be arriving soon!
Rich and I went to IKEA and Target and walked around. I had to stop a few times with contractions. They were pretty constant throughout the day, but not really close together. I did feel lots of rectal pressure though! I took a bath to relieve the pain, then a hot shower, and heat packs. My contractions were still all just in my back but I felt like I constantly need to go to the bathroom. The contractions never got close together, but I was in pain and crying saying I didn’t think I could do this drug free anymore since I knew it was going to get worse. We started timing contractions and they’d go from 7 to 3 to 5 to 10 to 2 to 4. Nothing consistent. I was exhausted. I called the midwife and was told to alternate heat and ice and take another bath. That last bath was the only thing that gave me comfort and I did fall asleep in between contractions……which ended up slowing down to about 7 minutes.
I was convinced I was leaking fluid at this point and called her again when I just couldn’t take the pain. I was trying to breathe and do “vocal toning” and kept thinking open cervix…..but I couldn’t focus. She told me she’d meet me at the hospital and we got there just before 7am. My contractions slowed to 10 minutes at this time and I was terrified they’d send me home. I started crying as soon as we pulled up because my emotions were all over the place.
I was checked and was 4 cm and 100% effaced and the baby was in +2 (I think that’s it) so he was really low…explains why I wanted to poo all the time. We tried to get my contractions to go to 2-3 minutes by walking, squatting, and nipple stimulation but nothing was working. Rich, the nurse, and the midwife would all help me through the back pain by pushing hard on my back. Finally, at 1, I was given Pitocin to speed up my contractions and I started crying because I felt like my body had failed me. I was convinced that meant I’d end up with an epidural, but she assured me it wouldn’t make the contractions worse, just closer. The kept upping it because I’d contract really good for a while and then it would slow back to 10. I was told my uterus was just exhausted (I hadn’t really slept in over 24 hours!)
Fast forward. I got Sterile Water Injections. AMAZING! My back labor stopped and I could feel the contraction in my pelvis but it was much more bearable. I think I was at 7 cm and we were trying everything to get me wider. Lots of manipulation. Shift change. I had 2 of my midwives there at the same time trying to help me out. I had a little bit of a lip left so I had to try to push it away and they’d try to move it. By this time, they’d really started to think he was sunny side up but they couldn’t be positive. I pushed forever, they had to call the OB in since I’d been in labor so long. He was pretty sure baby was facing up. We talked about forceps (out of the question since they couldn’t figure out the position positively), vacuum, he couldn’t try it yet, and C-Section which I really didn’t want. I pushed a ton more in literally every possible position you could think of. Tried to get a catheter thinking my bladder was in the way but I was too swollen. We could see his head and then he’d go back up.
My mother ended up showing up at the hospital and we let her in so she could help me push. I got an episiotomy, which my practice seldom does. It helped. I finally pushed him out and got a 4th degree laceration. He was put right on me and pooped but they took him away (same room) because the OB had to stitch me up because I was ripped so badly. I swear it took over an hour to stitch me up. Rich held the baby. He was face up and his head was tilted which is why it took forever for him to come out. I think I pushed 6 hours.
All the pain was worth it. Even though I didn’t have the delivery I thought I’d have, and Hudson came a week late, I wouldn’t change it. I truly feel like it made me realize I could do anything. For me, I never was in so much pain at the hospital that I wanted an epidural (and narcotics make me crazy so I didn’t want those). I was told that if I had an epidural, I almost definitely would have ended up with a C-Section…..so I’m REALLY glad that the sterile water injections worked for me (they don’t for everyone). I am so thankful that God gave me the strength to get through it and led me to choose the midwives that I had.
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