Jarid and I found out we were expecting baby number 2 (Deuce) on July 1, 2010! The pregnancy was pretty uneventful until 35.5 weeks when my blood pressure starting to rise. My midwife decided with my history of pre-eclampsia, suspected IUGR and post partum pre-eclampsia it was best to put me on bedrest for the duration of the pregnancy. Bedrest worked well for me until the weekend I turned 37 weeks when my pressures started to get worse. I went into the midwife on February 21st and a check showed I was “soft” and 1cm so she stripped my membranes. I went back the next day and I was a “possible 2” but not much had changed and my pressure was up. We decided to go ahead and use Cytotec to help try to jump start labor. I went home for a few hours to see what was going to happen. Jarid and I went on a walk in our neighborhood which was nice since I’d been cooped up in the house for so long and it was so nice outside. I went back to the center that afternoon, took a walk in the park next door with Jarid and was put onto the monitor. While I was definitely feeling what I called minor contractions with a lot of pressure/pain in my thighs, hips and back they were only registering as “uterine irritability.” They stripped my membranes again and sent me home at 3cm around 5pm.
That night (February 22nd) I took a nap and kept feeling the minor contractions with most of my pain in the same place but they weren’t completely consistent. I took a hot bath which helped and tried to go to sleep. I slept off and on from about 10pm-2:30am with rice packs on my back and hips. At 2:30 I just couldn’t sleep anymore and got in the bath again – Jarid was up to help with anything but I wasn’t sure what I wanted. He asked me if the contractions felt different and honestly I wasn’t sure – my belly was hard from the medication and when I was on the monitor I *thought* I was having them but when they told me I wasn’t I started to doubt myself. At 5:15am we called the on-call midwife, B, and told her what was going on. She wanted to talk to me and I started to cry (very unusual for me) and I told her that I didn’t feel like I was coping very well and was doubting what I was feeling. Jarid talked to her and reminded her that last time I was in labor I was calm and also wasn’t positive I was in labor. She told us to come into the center.
We met her there around 6am, February 23rd, and she told me I had two options – either take meds to stop the contractions to give me time to rest or try to get labor started. I wasn’t interested in taking any medication since that’s the reason I was at the birthing center (to avoid passing meds onto the baby). She said we could either take a walk in the park next door or get on the monitor and try to rest first. I told her I’d rather rest so we went into one of the birth rooms. I was finally able to nap – I think just being at the center and knowing we wouldn’t have to rush to get there like last time helped calm me down and also hearing the baby’s heartbeat helped since I hadn’t felt him/her since the morning before because of my hard belly. We laid there and when I was having a contraction Jarid would put a rice pillow on my back and then we’d rest again.
At 7:50 I felt and heard (on the monitor) this very LOUD pop. I jumped up and told Jarid to get the monitors off of me and in the bathroom. My water broke everywhere and while I felt some immediate relief it was quickly followed by extreme pressure; especially in my back, hips and thighs. B checked me and said the baby was pushing down on my cervix and that I was most definitely in transition. I broke out into a sweat and was having a hard time focusing. Jarid was reminding me to breath brought me water. They helped me to the downstairs birthing room and I asked on the way down if I could get into the bath. I got into the tub and it helped with dealing with my contractions but the pain in my back, hips and thighs was so intense during each one that I started humming through them. Jarid held my hand through them all and I didn’t want to talk or be talked to. I felt the need to push and yelled out “I’m pushing!” – B came back in and told me to just breathe, not push and that after the next contraction I needed to get out of the tub. Since the baby was only 37 wks, 4 days they didn’t want me to deliver in the water (with the likelihood of some temp issues, ect). Getting out was hard just to step over the side but they all worked together to wipe me down while I walked to the bed. I remember asking them to hurry so I could just get there. B also told me to take my sports bra off since it was wet but I was pretty insistent that I keep it on “for pictures.”
This was around 8:15 and the only other person at the center was S the officer manager/hands on birth assistant whenever necessary. The two midwives later told us that they were planning on sending us home before my water broke because I was just resting quietly in the room and didn’t seem like I was in labor. The on call post partum nurse was also waiting to see if she should come in but they didn’t expect me to go into “real labor” anytime soon. B told me to go ahead and push with my next contraction if I needed to and I did. She slowed me down to avoid any tearing and told me to keep calm and quiet enough to listen to her. I was being much louder than I expected of myself and had to really concentrate to stay calm. I felt the baby slip back up and told them that. I pushed and the baby crowned – they lifted up the mirror and I so elegantly said “Gross!” She told me I needed to keep breathing and wait for the next contraction to push and while it was probably a minute or two it felt like hours. B said the cord was around the baby’s neck and had a hand right by his face. S got pictures of it and wow, it was amazing to see. Jarid was by me the entire time holding my hand and reassuring me I was doing great and reminding me how to breathe. They slipped the cord off the neck and I was able to push the rest of the baby out finally. At 8:31am Jarid caught the baby and announced it was a BOY. I immediately started calling him Owen and got to hold him on my chest. I was so excited to meet him and see his beautiful face. He wasn’t crying or breathing so they took him to the incubator and suctioned out his mouth and put him on oxygen. Jarid stayed with him (in the same room) while the post partum nurse, D, (who got there as soon as I delivered him) was with me and helped me deliver the placenta. They weighed him and he was 7 lbs even and 19.5 inches long and strong!
Owen had swallowed a lot of mucous on his way out and both the midwife and pediatrician think he didn’t get enough “squeezes” in the birth canal since he was born so quickly. For the first few hours we cuddled him in between him getting more mucous sucked out or being turned over to try to help it out. He made so many soft little noises and just wanted to be held close. He looked exactly like Morgan did when he was born with a sweet little nose and bright red lips. He wasn’t very interested in nursing since he was having trouble breathing effectively. Jarid took him to the pediatrician’s office around 1pm and she thought he was doing great by that time. She wanted us to keep checking his blood sugar over night and bring him back in the next day. We were discharged from the center around 2:30pm after ordering a pizza and getting pampered by D and resting as a family.
When we got home Morgan was asleep and when she (and we!) woke up from our naps Jarid carried Owen down and I videotaped them meeting for the first time. She was so sweet and gentle with him right away and wanted to give him hugs and kisses. We’re so lucky to have two amazing children – a daughter and a son! The next day Owen got a clean bill of health from the pediatrician and even though we’ve had a rough start to breastfeeding it’s getting better each day.
It’s hard to say when active labor really began for me or to know how many hours I was in true labor. The hip, back and thigh pain was intense for the better part of 24 hrs but it wasn’t until my water broke that I really felt like I was in labor. One of the midwives told me that she thinks I’m just one of those women who doesn’t have a lot of intense pain during labor until it’s time to transition…I guess that may be the case!
I would never ever have attempted natural birth (twice!) without my amazing labor coach, Jarid. He kept saying (both times) that he didn't do anything but his support was what got me through it all. He's an awesome daddy and husband and his being there every moment with me made all the difference in the world.
We've already fallen in love with little Owen...his noises and mushy cheeks and sweet little toes. Oh so fun!
 |
| 37 weeks |
 |
| seconds after his birth |
 |
| Meeting Owen for the first time! It's a BOY!!! |
 |
| all 7 lbs, 19.5 inches of him |
 |
| Holding our precious son |
 |
| one happy mommy |
 |
| daddy loves you! |
 |
| Morgan giving him the birthday cake she and Sugar made him |
 |
| Daddy and his two beautiful children |
