Birth story

At about 5:15pm Sunday night, I was cooking some eggs for dinner when I felt a tiny gush and then had a very consistent dripping. I thought it was my water, but couldn't be sure. I called the midwife, who said it was most likely either a high leak or liquefied mucus plug, both of which could be nothing or could be something.

About two hours later I got my first painful contraction, which was exactly how I remembered the first couple of contractions with Genesis. At first they were very far apart and sporadic, of course but by about midnight they were between 5 and 10 min apart and I was feeling a lot of pressure, so I called the midwife and told her to head out. She had a few things to do, and I wasn't in a big hurry, so it was close to 1:30am before her and the apprentice showed up.

When she got there, contractions were one and a half to two minutes apart, and I felt a little pushy, but they weren't all that intense. The MW immediately knew what was going on and said the baby was rotating around. Hands and knees was the best way to get him to turn, so that's how I went. At this point the MW said that after he was rotated, labor may stall out and it could be a few more days. I informed her that the kids would be awake between 6 and 7 am and this baby MUST be born before then.

At some point I started to fall asleep sitting up between contractions, so we moved to the bedroom where I laid down on my left side, also good for rotating babies, and slept between contractions. At about 4am the contractions changed and "real" labor started. I quickly felt pushy, but we were worried about a cervical lip, since I had one with the last two. The MW said that he was mostly rotated and as soon as he got all the way around that lip should go away. She said I could push if I wanted to, but if it hurt more, especially with a pinching feeling in front, then not to. Basically, I was to do whatever it took to hurt the least. Yay for less pain. I took most of these contractions on my hands and knees and some just kneeling, some I could push a little, some I couldn't.

A little after 5am, the contractions changed again, to definite pushing contractions. The MW checked for the baby's position with the doppler, declared him fully rotated, and said I could and should start really pushing. Pushing is not my favorite part of labor. I had done really well handling contractions up to this point, but now I lost it and declared I was not going to push the baby out. My body had other ideas and push I did. I changed positions regularly, with whatever felt right, some on all fours, some squatting, some kneeling, but most in a semi-squat. Sometimes I got downright mad at the contractions that always came too close together and never seemed to let up soon enough. I did my best pushing during those ones. Finally I could feel the extreme stretching that meant baby was getting closer. The last 3-4 contractions I was squatting next to the bed and just wanted that baby out NOW. When he finally started crowning I was yelling "Get out!!" while pushing. I was so done.

After 50 minutes of pushing, he was finally out. That is actually my shortest pushing time. It was 5:58am. The placenta was delivered just few minutes later. We got me sitting back down with babe in arms. We were surprised he was a boy, as both DH and I had fully felt we were having a girl. Not 15 minutes after he was born we heard the kids get up and come running. DH stopped them in the living room, giving us time to cover me up. They had heard the baby cry and DH said all their little faces were just lit up with excitment. We let them peak in for a few minutes, then DH got them some breakfast while we got me moved to the bed and the baby started nursing. He was a little snotty/mucusy at first and it took a while before he got it cleared out, but other than that, there were no problems.

We decided to leave the placenta attached until the cord dried out, about 24 hours later. He still has a few inches of cord , though we could trim it up more if we wanted. The whole thing should fall off in a couple more days. He his so beautiful. I was surprised at having a boy, which took a bit to get used to, but now I'm thrilled with another son. The original boy name we had picked out wasn't working for us anymore, so it took a few hours before we decided on his name. Now I look at him and just know that he is Solomon Russell. He's perfect.

I'm very happy with how the birth went. It was so natural to do it at home and the MW was everything I expected. I didn't plan much how the birth was going to go, though I wanted a night birth so the kids wouldn't have to go anywhere. With no expectations I had no let downs. Other than pushing, I felt like I did beautifully during labor. With Genesis I felt like I completely lost it, so I'm happy with how I did. Solomon's brothers and sister are already in love and can't get enough of him. He's a nursing champ, is wonderfully wide awake after eating and just so aware. I'm in love.