All through this pregnancy, I had planned a home birth. I had one with my third baby, and DH and I both loved that experience. However, a kink got thrown into our plans at 37 weeks when we discovered I was group B strep positive. I hadn't thought too much about the swab, since I've always tested negative before. Our midwife offered to re-test after a week of probiotics, and I also tried the garlic clove idea (suggested by Alan) but unfortunately, I was still positive on the next swab. We could have ignored the result, but we decided to go the recommended route, and take the antibiotics in labour. Hence our home birth became a hospital birth.
Anyways, I'll start this birth story on the Wednesday before her birth. I was 37+6, and my sister and I took an all day shopping trip - stocking up the pantry and freezer, and getting a few clothes for the older girls, etc. By the end of that day, I felt like the baby's head was between my knees! I joked that she was going to fall out in the middle of the store. People were looking at me funny, because I was having a bit of trouble walking because I was so uncomfortable.
Thursday morning (38w) I woke up feeling a bit of a trickle, I thought. When I went to the bathroom, I was shocked to find I was bleeding - my underwear were soaked with bright pink-red blood! I called my midwife immediately, and she told me to come on in to the hospital to be checked. DH and I raced around to pack a bag and called his mum to watch the girls and in we went, expecting to be induced. But apparently it wasn't my water breaking, or anything wrong with baby - just a bloody show, completely unlike anything I'd had before with my other babies. I was 1cm, 50% effaced, and cervix well back still. We headed home again, exhausted, and DH went off to work.
Friday (38+1) I woke up at 3:00am or so with contractions. They were 5-8 minutes apart for about 3 hours, but died out when I got up at 6:30. I was so disappointed. And tired. And felt crappy. DH packed the girls up and brought them to his mother's again so I could rest. (MIL was SOOOO helpful during the last few days! What a blessing!)
Contractions came and went at random. 10 minutes, 15 minutes, 7 minutes, 20 minutes... no pattern. But they didn't go away either, and I could tell they were actually the real thing - they had that "working" feeling. I was losing bits of bloody mucous, and had the runs and felt nauseated. (TMI, I know. Sorry.)
Had my regular midwives appointment at 2:30, and they said I was likely going to have this baby in the next day or so. I was 2cm and about 50-75% effaced, cervix well forward now. This is also when I got the final GBS result and realized the planned-for homebirth was out of the picture. My midwife told me to come in to the hospital as soon as my water broke, or if contractions were 7 minutes apart, lasting about 45 seconds or so, so that we could be sure to get the required 4 hours of IV therapy in before the birth. (needs to be 4 hours between the antibiotics running through and baby being delivered to ensure that baby got a full dose before birth.)
Ran a couple of errands after the appointment, and headed home again. As soon as DH got home, the contractions picked up. (must have felt safe then, I guess.) By the time we were done supper, they were about 7-8 minutes apart, so I gave my midwife a heads-up, and we got everything ready to go.
By the time we got to the hospital, around 7:15 or so, they were 3-5 minutes apart! But slowed down a little as they hooked up my IV, and checked baby's heart rate, etc. We just made it in to one of the nicer birthing suites at the hospital - after we got there, the place filled right up and there were only the nasty cramped "labour rooms" left!
Anyways, the IV ran through by 8:00. I sat on the bed for a while, tired, and not really wanting to rush the labour too much, and not make the 4 hour treatment and have to stay for 48 hours of observation.
Around 9:00, I got up and slow-danced a little with DH. That immediately picked things up - contractions moved back to 3 min apart and 50-60 seconds long. I would stop and lean over the bed during a contraction, while DH pushed on my hips and lower back - that felt good!
After about 30 min of that, I decided to get into the shower. That was quite nice. (although nothing compared to my nice tub at home....) I sat on the birthing stool and DH held the shower head over my back and hips. Again, contractions slowed down, but baby moved well down because of the squatting position. I stayed in the shower for maybe 30 minutes or so, and then got out. I needed to move. As soon as I stood up, things became quite intense. I knelt down on the floor over the seat of the rocking chair and rocked through the contractions. They were becoming close and long, although I could still breathe through them. The midwives left us mostly alone, at our request, but were coming to check the heart rate about every 15 minutes or so by now. They asked if I wanted a vaginal exam, and I said no. Bad news at this point would just have been too disappointing!
I moved back on to the bed and began to get noisy. Hearing me, the midwives knew what they needed too know - I was getting close. It was now 11:30 or so. I told them I just wanted to be done! I was moaning and mangling DH's hand through the contractions, and they were not going away at this point - just rising and falling. The midwives agreed to break my water, and as they did, they discovered I was already fully dilated and ready to push. A warm gush with the next contraction, and baby moved down again. But they had trouble getting a good heart rate, and were a little worried about how baby was tolerating this last bit. They laid me back in the bed, put the oxygen mask on me and told me to grab my knees and hold them back and to push hard and get her out. And I did - in about 2-3 pushes, partly with and partly without contractions, yelling good and loud and feeling like I was stretched to the max, I pushed her out. 11:48 pm. 10 minutes to the 4 hour mark. Close enough.
WHAT A RELIEF!!!! Heard baby whimper a little, and felt her being put on my tummy. All done. Whew! Ow! Breathe. Baby's fine. You're fine. Relax. Breathe.
They checked me over and discovered that despite the very fast delivery, everything was intact - just a little bit of labial splitting. Placenta delivered quickly without issue.
What did you have? Oh yeah. I should check. Another little girl. Beautiful. Looks just like her big sisters. Tiny little thing though! What do you guess she weighs? Hmmm... maybe 7lb? Nope - this tiny princess was just 6lb 4oz! (2850g). (DH is 6'4" and I am 5'7" BTW, big-boned, blonde haired, northern European type people!) But she was healthy and well. Apgars 9 and 10.
Sophia latched on and nursed beautifully for about 45 min, and then down we went to our room around 2:30am. The ward was very busy, so they were content to let us go home early, thankfully! By 3:00pm that day, I was home again.
Sophia and I are doing very well. She's eating, sleeping, and pooping wonderfully, and I'm barely sore at all anywhere! So much to be thankful for!
Sophia's birth - 07/08/09
My midwife told me to come in to the hospital as soon as my water broke, or if contractions were 7 minutes apart, lasting about 45 seconds or so, so that we could be sure to get the required 4 hours of IV therapy in before the birth. (needs to be 4 hours between the antibiotics running through and baby being delivered to ensure that baby got a full dose before birth.)
Hearing me, the midwives knew what they needed too know - I was getting close. It was now 11:30 or so. I told them I just wanted to be done! I was moaning and mangling DH's hand through the contractions, and they were not going away at this point - just rising and falling. The midwives agreed to break my water, and as they did, they discovered I was already fully dilated and ready to push.
A warm gush with the next contraction, and baby moved down again. But they had trouble getting a good heart rate, and were a little worried about how baby was tolerating this last bit. They laid me back in the bed, put the oxygen mask on me and told me to grab my knees and hold them back and to push hard and get her out. And I did - in about 2-3 pushes, partly with and partly without contractions, yelling good and loud and feeling like I was stretched to the max, I pushed her out. 11:48 pm. 10 minutes to the 4 hour mark. Close enough.
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