Our family is complete! Baby Matthew arrived on Saturday, February 4th at 3:46 pm weighing in at 8 lbs 11 oz. Here is the birth and baby story as best I remember. . .
My water broke right at 8 am as I was about to get out of bed on Saturday. I had felt really uncomfortable the night before but never expected to go into the labor the next day. It always seems like such a surprise. . .
We called Mimi and she arrived at our house by 8:30. I had been warned to not linger at home to labor so (to my dismay) we headed to the hospital before labor had really even begun. We met Mia (my "doula") there around 9 am. We checked in - it was all very laid back and quite a different experience from my other births. I was about 4 cm upon arrival and absolutely no contractions were happening yet. Dr. Binford was on call for Dr. Gooch and we had a discussion about an epidural. I was really anxious about going through all of that pain again and decided to try an epidural this time around since I had never done so before. I was hoping that the delivery would be more controlled and less tearing would occur down there. Plus, I just wanted to have these "relaxing" births that everyone talks about!
Dr. Binford told me that if no contractions had started by 12:15 pm, they would start me on pitocin anyway. . . By about noon, my contractions had started on their own, and by 1 pm they placed the epidural. The rest of the birth was PAIN FREE - I never in the world expected it to be so great. They had to start me on pitocin after the epidural slowed things down. I felt pressure at the very end and it was when Matthew was crowning. I was able to give some very controlled pushes and he came out after about 2 pushes. I could feel the pressure but no pain at all. It was awesome. I am so glad I experienced birth both ways.
The only thing I missed with the epidural was the natural high that occurs after natural delivery - it is hard to describe, but is amazing. You feel like you can climb a mountain. With the epidural, I just wanted to go to sleep!
Here is the timeline:
8 am - water broke
9 am - arrival at hospital - 4 cm
12:05 pm - contractions started
1 pm - epidural placed
1:30 pm 5 cm dilated
2:30 pm pitocin started
3:46 pm - Matthew arrives! 8 lbs 11 oz
I am so thankful that the birth went well and most of all that Matthew is healthy. Next hospital procedure - vasectomy for Matt. Ha ha!
No comments:
Post a Comment