How did it feel to hold your baby for the first time?
I felt SO accomplished and proud that I did it all by myself
As I was nearing week 37, I had a feeling that this baby would be very similar to my first babe. Boy was I right!
I had done some reading on how eating 6 dates a day in the last 4 weeks of pregnancy helps with an easier and faster birth. So at week 36, I started eating them... only they taste gross so I could get 3-4 down before gagging. I can't say for sure if they had a hand in what came next.
Two days before I hit week 37, I started losing part of my mucus plug. This happened with my daughter about a week before I had her, so I knew it would be soon. On the day I hit 37 weeks, I started with pinkish, blood streaked mucus and I thought ok, well I guess a week is out. It'll be the next couple of days. So I called my husband to let him know it could be any time since he was working. And let my girlfriends know that it would be soon so they should be ready.
The next day, 37+1, I had my OB appointment and was 3cm dilated. By the time I got home from running a couple errands, I used the restroom and had straight blood. This is it, I knew I would be going into labor that night. I vacuumed and cleaned my floors, got every dish washed in the house, made sure the car seat was put back together (from washing) and ready to go, checked my hospital bag one more time... and relaxed.
We ended up getting take out because I didn't want to dirty dishes (that were for once, ALL washed). We ended up eating kind of late so by the time we went to bed, it was about 10. My daughter wanted to watch Cinderella so it was about 10:30 when I turned off the tv to go to sleep myself.
Here starts contractions right around then. They weren't intense at all but I decided to count them to be safe. Not even 1 minute long... I was going to sleep.
I woke up at 12 midnight with some pretty painful contractions, so I turned my timer back on and it said I was 4 min apart. I didn't believe it, so I waited... stronger and stronger to the point I was sweating profusely from the pain, I got up, woke my husband and told him I'm going to take a quick shower, call the doctor and it's going to be time to go.
So I jump in the shower, call the doc who is amazed I haven't gotten to the hospital yet, and he said he'd meet us there. Of course I still had to get my makeup, toothbrush and tooth paste (why I didn't do this yesterday is beyond me) and hubby had to wake our daughter to get her dressed.
Off we go to the hospital.. it had just rained so I told my husband he didn't need to drive fast. We got about 3 miles from the hospital and I said you need to get us there NOW. We check in with security and I get to the room. Immediately change into a gown which I almost immediately threw back off because I was so hot. The doctor checked me as soon as I hit the bed and I was 8cm, 100% effaced and he said my water was ready to break any minute. First thing I asked for was epidural... and guess what. TOO LATE! They didn't even have time to get my platelet count checked before my guy came.
I was not mentally prepared for this but I had been saying I wanted to "try" without epidural this time.
I'm laying there in so much pain. Breathing, feeling like I needed to get up, or squeeze something or I don't know what.. just something. The doctor said "let me know if you feel like you need to push" and I said "I don't know..." thinking is this really about to happen??? And then I yelled "I NEED TO PUSH!" As soon as I rolled to my back, my water broke and splashed everywhere. The doctor ducked out of the way just in time and then they removed the bottom of the bed an he said "ok next contraction, push.. " I was thinking I'm not ready, but I had to push. So here I have a couple nurses putting up these leg holder things (I didn't use with my daughter) and they tell me I need to use the oxygen when each contraction was over because the baby's heart rate was dropping from my non breathing self panting in pain. Once I felt like I had it together I grabbed my legs and got to pushing (Which all happened in a matter of 1 minute).
I pushed once (yes, I pooped. I felt it and I didn't care) and doc said 1-2 more an he's here.. I was thinking OK, I CAN do this... so I gave what I thought was 2 more (I think it only counted as 1 Bc I was still having a contraction) and I felt like I could NOT do it anymore. "I can't!!!" I yelled, but everyone assured me that I could. After one or a couple more pushes, all I could feel was the doctors hand up my butt! So I yelled "that hurts my butt!" And gave everyone a good laugh... it makes sense to help pull out baby's head, but seriously... who knew they do that?? NOT ME.
Finally his head was out and it was a big relief. The cord was wrapped around my babes neck, so the doctor had to cut it immediately and they suctioned the baby. Then I think he just pulled baby out, or maybe had me push one more time after a break and then pulled him. But once I felt his shoulders come out, I felt so much relief. It was all over. I actually did it. No medication, just me. The doctor just let the contractions push out the placenta and then he just had to stitch up a small tear (I felt it when it ripped but it was NOTHING compared to pushing a baby out).
After they brought my babe to the table I noticed he wasn't crying so I asked "why isn't he crying????" The nurse told me he was just in shock from such a quick birth. Nobody told me the cord had been around his neck until later. There were 2 what looked like paramedics come in and had to pump oxygen to him (I didn't see Bc they were standing in the way) I told my husband to go over but he said he'd be in the way.
I finally got to hold my guy what seemed like 20 min later.. I really don't know how long it took. But he was OK, and he started nursing almost right away. Tiny little guy. They handed him to me and I asked how much did he weigh? Because he just looked so, so tiny. They hadn't gotten his weight yet, because they wanted to give him right to me.
The crazy part is, my entire second birth lasted about 15 minutes. Hubby said I pushed about 4 times but I felt like it was 255344468855.
When I had the epidural with my daughter, when I was done giving birth I was in A LOT of pain. Could barely walk for at least a week. My vagina stayed so swollen it was unrecognizable. Without the epidural, the pain was gone when the baby was out. My body shook for probably 30 minutes afterwards from the adrenaline. That's about it. I was fine to walk, I took I think 3 ibuprofen. One right after birth, one for a headache and one for cramps.
We are done having kids, but I am happy to say I got to do what I wanted (only because of time constraints, let's be real) but I did it.
The doctor did yell at me for waiting so long but I said well if I'd come earlier I would have got the epidural(Depending on my platelet count)!
Anyway, we got to go home the next day with our beautiful baby boy, and we are both doing well. :)