 | Current mood:  blissfulHere's a link where I posted my story on the forums of mothering.com Mothering.com link to Carolina's birth story The Birth of Carolina Lee Ann Murray  I experienced BH contractions from about week 20 until labor started. I really believe this helped condition my body for labor day! The first pre-labor contraction hit me while in the car on the way back from a "vacation" in Atlanta during week 38. The first time I felt it, I had a little trouble breathing through it. I felt another about 15 minutes later and decided to count. They would happen about every 20 minutes or so. These contractions continued off and on for the next three weeks. My due date come and went and the anxiousness of it all began to take over. I really wanted to meet our little boy. - more about that later :) We tried a few "natural" induction techniques, but the bottom line was, this baby was waiting.....thank goodness! So, September 2nd we find out that Uncle Bud had a heart attack. We know that we HAVE to go to Savannah...no other option (i'm 6 days past due) Hold on baby..we need to have you in Charleston!! So we get to Savannah and spend Saturday night and all day Sunday with Bud. We knew that the next time we saw him we'd have a baby.. oh btw..The Bishop of Georgia came to visit Bud and pray for him. WE asked him to remember and pray for us and baby Blaise (our boy name) during Monday mass! We arrived home around 9:30 pm on Sunday and I immediately went to bed. I awoke around midnight and couldn't get back to sleep. I knew labor was approaching! I mean, it was Labor Day!! I decided to lay in bed and take it easy! 6:15 am---OUCH! I jumped out of bed doubled over in pain. This is it! I got out my birth necklace, put it on, and changed into my favorite kimono wrap! I tried to get comfortable. I walked around, got back in bed, sat on the toilet...nothing was helping! Contractions were about 7 minutes apart. I decided to let Will sleep until he awoke on his own. I'm going to need at least one of us to be well rested! I'd only had about 6 hours of sleep the past 2 nights! So Will wakes up around 8 Am and I let him know that I will in fact spend la bor day doing exactly that! We were both so excited! He started timing contractions while we had breakfast. 5-7 minutes apart. 8:30 Am - breakfast finds it way back up and into the toilet! man did that make me feel better immediately! The next 6 hours were mostly a blur of lots of movement, relaxation, and massages from my husband :) I enjoyed spending time on the toilet!! Contractions were so much more manageable there! I took two different baths during this period. They lasted about an hour each. I remember lying back almost completely submerged - Will holding my hand and reminding me to relax every muscle in my body--from my mouth, to my toes. The sunlight shining in the window was beautiful... Sometime during the day (i think around 1pm) the thunderstorm started. The rain and thunder really helped me relax. 2 pm- the urge to bare down...it's definately too soon to push! Most first time moms labor 18 hours on average!! I didn't tell Will that my body was pushing a little bit with each contraction. They were about 2-3 mintues apart by now....I checked my cervix---nothing. Within an hour, this urge to bare down was all consuming. It was so hard to not tense up! Will kept me relaxed. I finally told him that "I think I'm pushing a little." I checked my cervix one last time and I felt the head! "I think we're getting close." Once I fet the head, Will really wanted me off of the toilet. The thought of the baby being delivered in the toilet scared him :) I alternated between the living room and bathroom...mainly squatting or either on my hands and knees. The irony is that Will has owned an antique birth chair since before we met...I thought that it would come in handy, but that thing was the epitome of uncomfortable! 4pm - Will can now see the head. He thought it was the cord b/c it was "rubbery and blue" ---eeeek CORD PROLAPSE!! I flew to the knee chest position that I had memorized in case of emergency and demanded a mirror. I could see a little white buble...it was her amniotic sac---deep sigh of relief!! I assured the wonderful hubby that we're good to go. The head starts coming fast! I decided that I need something strong to support my squats. I held onto the bed frame of our pull out sofa while maintaining a squat. Will was lying on the floor under me! Will grabbed some hot wash cloths from the croc pot and supported my peri neum while I pushed. The ring of fire was the only part of labor that I would consider painful. I felt like I was ripping from the inside out... But we were almost there...The pain was so unexpected that I initially sucked her back in! DH reminded me that I was so close---all I need is to get that head out! With the next contraction, I was able to push her head out! Thank you God! Within seconds, I felt the strangest sensation and asked Will..."WHAT are you DOING to ME??" It felt like he had his hands inside of me trying to pull the baby out. She was simply turning inside of me so that her shoulders were free of my pubic bone! That was a really strange sensa tion! Within the next 30 seconds, I had my last contraction and managed to stretch enough to get her shoulders out and she slid right into Daddy's hands. She was still in the Caul. Will broke the bag and pulled it off of her. He handed her to me as I crawled in the pull out bed. 5pm - she let out a scream. She was so pink except for a little blue in her hands and feet. We wrapped her up and tried to help her clear her lunges. Notice I keep saying she---we j ust knew that we were having a boy!! I had dreamt that it was a boy - I had a "feeling" that it was a boy - and Will is one of four boys....so naturally, we were having a boy! "It's a girl- unless he just has a really small penis" -Hubby's quote of the day! We waited about 2 hours to cut the cord - I was waiting to pass the placenta. Finally, after no placenta, I really felt the need to go to the bathroom to see if I could help it along (I wasn't feeling very well) We cut the cord and I went to the toilet where I did a very light funda l massage and PLOP!!! Right into the toilet! We scooped it out and inspected it....How beautiful and miraculous! Baby girl and I sat on the couch and nursed for the first time while firecrackers were going off in the distance. Thank you River Dogs for setting off the Labor Day Fireworks just for us!!!! Happy birthday baby girl... No TEARS or skid marks (unless they were internal) Carolina Lee Ann Murray September 4th, 2006 5pm7lbs 5 oz 18" long born in the caul   |
