I was 40 weeks according to my midwife on Feb. 14th. According to my (entirely accurate, 100% positive) charting dates, I was 40 weeks on Feb. 16th. I was able to be fairly patient until the 16th, and at that point I was tired and sore and miserable and SO SICK OF PEOPLE TELLING ME HOW HUGE I WAS.

We had been using labor-inducing old wives tales for a couple weeks already, but I started taking a friend’s advice and sitting and bouncing on a labor ball to get more pressure on my cervix. I think it helped, or at least gave me something to feel like I was doing.

On Thursday night I was starting to feel suspiciously ouchy contractions, but nothing definitive, not really painful, just not totally painless. I figured it could be something, it could be nothing, might as well try to get some sleep.

On Friday morning, I was feeling the same thing, and timed them for a while. 7 minutes apart. Not rush-to-the-hospital time, but it was getting more and more suspicious. I asked Russ if he would stay home from work so he could drive me to my scheduled midwife appointment that morning at 11 (and help me with Dorrie). I texted Tricia, my doula, to let her know I was a bit suspicious, and we headed out to Oak Park. I was still not particularly sure it was for real, it wasn’t too annoying (except when I was in the middle of one and we hit potholes which happened on a regular basis. Thanks for nothing, Chicago-area suburbs.), and I was just hoping it wasn’t going to end up being nothing.

We got to the office and I went back for my non-stress-test. They do NSTs twice a week after you hit 40 weeks. Russ was trying to keep Dorrie entertained, and I was sitting in the chair. The NST was measuring significant contractions, but only every 10 min, and they still weren’t painful enough for me to give much notice to. After 20 minutes the nurse came back and read the strip and asked Russ to go get some orange juice so we could get more movements from the baby. He did, I sat there some more, drank the juice, he moved a little more, finally got let out of the chair after about half an hour. We then went into an exam room for the midwife to check me. She checked and said “Oh my goodness, you’re at 7 centimeters. How about if you guys go grab some lunch and I’ll meet you at the hospital in an hour?”

I was more than a little surprised!

So, we called Tricia to let her know, left there, went to Russell’s for a bbq beef sandwich, met Russ’s dad there for lunch and he took Dorrie with him to keep her overnight. By the end of lunch I was starting to have to consciously relax through the contractions and use the hypnobirthing skills I’d been practicing. We drove to the hospital (about 10 minutes) and hit a whole crapload of more potholes, which sucked a lot more now. But I was still doing ok if I stayed as relaxed as possible.

Once we got to the hospital I called Tricia again who said she was on her way. We headed in, and I had to stop and sit down or lean on some walls here and there. I had Russ get the hypnobirthing relaxation CD pulled up on his ipod and started listening, and it was like I had just taken pain relief meds. It was awesome. Still not completely painless, but such a major difference. We got to Triage and had to sit in the freaking purgatory of the triage room for what seemed like ages. I was still fine between contractions but had to completely go into my hypnobirthing zone during contractions. Tricia got there and was really helpful, she was also letting me know that it seemed like my contractions were for twice as long but longer apart, so it looked like I wasn’t in active labor but each contraction was much stronger because of that.

Finally the midwife got there and we were able to go into the ABC (Alternative Birthing Center) room. All I wanted at that point was to get into the tub, but the midwife kept saying I shouldn’t until I was “in active labor” (which I was! I was just having longer contractions farther apart instead of shorter ones close together. I also was silent during them so apparently that meant I wasn’t really in labor. (*eye roll*) Luckily Tricia kept reassuring me that everything was totally normal for a calm, peaceful, hypnobirthing labor.

I went to the bathroom a few times and sat on the birthing ball while Tricia did light touch massage and used her lavender aromatherapy lotions. Russ took some pictures (I had told him that I regretted not having any pictures from my labor/birth with Dorrie). I finally was getting overwhelming pressure in my pelvis and Tricia told me to start vocalizing with low “mooing” noises so that the midwife would realize I’m probably at the pushing stage and could go for some time in the tub. She heard that and immediately said I could get in the tub.

It was helpful, though not magically so. I was still at the pushing stage (no vaginal exams, though, the midwife was great keeping her hands out of my goodies unless necessary), and was finding it helpful to vocalize while “breathing down” the baby. I was pushing involuntarily but slowly with each contraction. Finally his head was coming out, but his shoulders got stuck. This is called shoulder dystocia and can be a dangerous complication, but the midwife was amazing. She had me stand and push leaning forward, and when that didnt’ work they got me out of the tub and onto the bed with my legs pushed back by my shoulders and out he popped. He was a bit purplish and got some suctioning. It was scary for Russ especially, I think, I was still in the zone and able to completely trust what Tricia was telling me about how he is fine and a gorgeous baby. She asked Russ and I to talk to him while he was getting suctioned so he knew we were there, and eventually he was handed to me breathing fine and looking around curiously. His apgars were 7 and 9, so he really was fine, it was just a bit more dramatic than anyone expected, with extra nurses getting called into the room and such.

Then I delivered the placenta and the midwife checked me and found no tearing at all! This was great since with Dorrie I had a 2nd degree tear and had a pretty long (like, 5-6 months) recovery until I felt ok again.

Russ went with Jonas to the nursery so he could get weighed (and he had to get glucose test heel pricks because he was macrosomatic – over 9 lbs 15 oz. Poor little guy) and he was 10 lbs 6 oz! I really didn’t expect that. I was saying all along I expected a 9ish pound baby like with Dorrie (9lbs 1oz), but I did NOT expect nearly a pound and a half bigger.

They came back and Jonas nursed and cuddled and barely cried at all (except during his glucose tests, poor guy). His glucose was low for his first test but right on for the next 3, so the colostrum was really helping him out. He is still just as sweet and cuddly and mellow as he was then, too.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 29th, 2009 at 11:52 am and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.