We’re excited to welcome Jacob to our family!
He came on an eventful Friday, May 9th, 2008, at 6:48 pm, 8 lbs. 14.5 oz and 21.5 inches long after a few hours birthing at home and 2 1/2 hours at the hospital.
Here’s a timeline of the crazy day:
8:30 am – I drop Tom off for a TEE (trans-esophageal echocardiogram) to check that his heart valve is doing fine. They put a tube down his esophagus and look at his heart. Tom convinces the doctors to do the procedure with a small dose of Fentanyl instead of the full dose of Fentanyl and a dose of Versed. He doesn’t want to be ‘druggy’ for 24 hours just in case the baby comes. Thank you Tom!! I also coached him on some hypnosis techniques to try.
9 am – I have an OB visit. The Non-Stress Test is perfect, and I am dilated 2-3 cm, but Jacob is positioned very high. My midwife places a low dose of prostaglandin gel to help ‘encourage’ things over the next few days, since they will push for a full induction on my due date next Thursday because of the insulin-requiring gestational diabetes I’ve had since week 8 of pregnancy. I really don’t want a full induction!
11:30 pm – I pick up Tom from his TEE. He came up with his own coping technique by pushing against the tube in his throat with his tongue to always know where it was and anticipate when it would be moved. Overall, he’d rather do it that way than have drugs mess with his mind. He is a bit ‘happy’ but much less drugged than the TEE he had last year. He says it feels kind of like when you step on one of those moving walkways at the airport – things just seem to whiz by when he moves.
While checking him out, I feel a couple of birthing waves that are a bit more intense than my usual Braxton-Hicks ones. I ignore them, since I’ve had a few of these every day or so for the last week, and they never amount to anything.
12:30 pm – We’re home having lunch, and I have a few more of the stronger pressure waves. I still don’t have to stop and focus or anything, but they are definitely noticable.
1:00 pm – They are coming every 4 or 5 minutes, which is confusing, since that would usually put me towards the end of first stage birthing, but the intensity is no where near that. This is my 5th baby, so I kind of know how my body usually progresses. I decide to send the kids off to freinds – I can always pick them back up if this doesn’t continue. And I want to go sit in a warm tub, relax, and see if the birthing waves slow down or stop.
2 – 3 pm – The kids are finally off, but Tim (the 3-year-old) is sick with the runs and having a meltdown, so Tom’s mom, volunteers to stay home with him instead of coming to the hospital.
3-ish pm – Birthing waves are every 2 minutes or so and I start using my hypnosis to focus and relax with each one. They are definitely more intense and don’t go away with a warm bath. It’s a bit crazy though, since they are only 2 mins apart, which for me is usually the last hour or so of birthing. But these are not intense enough to be the end of birthing. I can’t judge where I am in the birthing process. I call my midwife and she says that frequent but short (30 seconds or so) contractions are a normal result of the prostaglandin gel, and that I probably have more time than I think. She says to call her when I decide to come in. I’m thinking to myself, “That’s why I’m calling you now.”
3:30 pm – Just to make sure, I have Tom time a series of birthing waves, and they are every 2 minutes and lasting 1 min plus. I call the my midwife back and say that we’re coming.
4 – ish pm – Arrive at the hospital. I’m swaying back and forth on my birthing ball in the waiting room. I don’t look like I’m in ‘labor’ at all. Hah. Little do they know.
4:40 pm – I am checked in triage, and measuring a 3 – 4 cm with the baby ‘pretty low’. Jacob still feels posterior to me, and I can feel each birthing wave in my back. I start doing the ‘belly lift’ (www.backlabornomore.com) to help change his angle during my pressure waves. I wrap my hands below my belly button, and then pull up during a wave, and it makes a TON of difference in the intensity of pressure in my back. I am listening to my early birth stage Hypnobabiesscript and I’m in a perfect zone, feeling pressure instead of pain, and excited about my baby coming.
During the next two hours, my birth waves are coming every minute or two without a break. Pretty soon the best position for me is standing, holding my belly up during a wave. This not only relieves the back pressure, but angles the baby better, so his head is pushing down on the cervix instead of back into my pelvic bone. It is reputed to help a back labor progress faster, and seems to be doing exactly that.
6:20 pm – I am 7 – 8 cm dilated, but it’s hard to tell, since all my midwife can feel is a big bulging bag of waters.
6:33 pm – Tom is out of the room warming up my rice pack for my back. I feel Jacob kick me really hard, and my waters break in a big gush.
I’m standing, holding onto the bed and everyone is ready to let me give birth that way (since I really didn’t want to be on my back like last time), but at the last minute the midwife asks if I would be ok going hands and knees on the bed, just in case. I get on the bed on all fours and after the most crazy, intense minutes, his head is out. I don’t realize this, and can’t figure out why everyone is getting urgent about my pushing more.
It turns out his cord is wrapped around his neck tight enough to keep the rest of his body from being able to come out, and he is a bit blue. My midwife has me flip to my back to help shift him, she cuts and clamps the cord so he can get out. and he is quickly born and up on my chest for just a second or two.
6:48 pm – Jacob is officially born, posterior or ’sunny side up’ (he never did turn). His 5 minute score is a healthy 9. It all happened so fast, and he’s wonderful.
We say a grateful prayer for our healthy baby boy. I also have to thank the Hypnobabies and Belly Lift techniques for helping him birth so quickly. From my water breaking to being born took exactly 15 minutes. I’m glad he’s doing so well!
He weighs in at 8 lbs 14.5 oz and measures 21.5 inches. He nurses easily, passes all his glucose tests, and we both spend the minimum required 24 hours at the hospital before coming home to be with our family. The rest of the kids are all amazed at the tiny little addition to our family.
