Here is the birth story that I quickly typed up. I am sure I've left our many details but for now, here is what I can remember.
Christian Kai was born on Thursday, Sept 29 at 12:03 pm. He was born at 39 weeks.
Long birth story. I was determined to have a vaginal birth this time and it happened:) I couldn't be happier with my decision (given the outcome now).
I had my "bloody show" on Tuesday around 6:00 am, starting having contractions from about 6am until 9 am and then nothing until Wed. morning, again from 3 am till about 6 am. Later on Wed. evening they started to get more intense and they were about 5-7 minutes apart. Adam insisted we go in to L&D, but I was sure they were going to send me home. They did a quick weight, blood pressure check and hooked me up to monitors. I indeed was having contractions that were regular. The midwife came in to check me and I was 6 cm. This was around 10:45 pm Wed evening.
I'm not sure if it's because the midwife told me I was 6 cm or what, but all of a sudden the contractions were way more painful. Since baby was still at a station 0 I bounced on an exercise ball and labored on the toilet (most comfortable) for a few hours. Around 1:40 am, I asked for the epidural and I was 7 cm.
They checked me again around 2:25 am and baby had dropped a little but was still way high. A few hours later at 4:00 am, my midwife checked me again and felt my water bag bulging and was at 10 cm. Baby was still way higher than they wanted him to be and they wanted my bag of water to break on its own….it took forever for it to finally break…at 7:45 am. It was a gush like you see/hear about on tv.
Since baby was not descending, my midwife asked if I wouldn’t mind turning off the epidural to see if I could get into different positions to get him to settle down lower. I agreed. Since the epi was weaning off, I didn’t feel much pain (maybe around a 4-5 in pain)…I was checked again and it was finally time to push around 10:15 am.
It was an intense time and I wasn’t sure I had made the right decision to try for this vbac, I was in pain and I could feel everything. I had a really hard time getting him down through my pubic bone (took over an hour of pushing just to get him that far) and during this time, my midwife and nurse were coaching me in a calm manner and just reassuring me that I was pushing correctly, etc. They brought the mirror thinking it would help with my pushes, but it actually made it much harder for me to concentrate.
About 15 minutes before he was born, my midwife and nurse became a bit ‘harder’ on me during my pushes telling me that I needed to do better, etc. I was getting upset because I was pushing as hard as I possibly could. I was exhausted (up over 24 hours by then), I was emotional and in pain. I wanted him out just as much as they did. Once I got him over my pubic bone, I was that lady who was screaming (hello, ring of fire) and the relief I felt once he was out was amazing!
Christina Kai was born at 12:03 pm weighing 8 lbs (actually 7 lbs 15.9 oz) and was a hair shy of 20 inches in length. He has a head full of dark hair with a much smaller head that Ashton had (thank goodness)!!! I did have a 2nd degree tear to the muscle.
Christian didn’t come out screaming and was very, very limp. The NICU team was already in the room ready for him. I didn’t understand what was happening and of course the reason my midwife and nurse became so hard on me those last 15 minutes was because my placenta had ruptured. They knew I only had a few minutes to get him out and they knew that there was not enough time for an emergency c-section. Looking back, they kept me so calm and were so professional about it. I didn’t realize that I had a temperature during labor and there was a lot of blood Adam now remembers.
Christian was born with a fever and an infection and was taken to NICU. I did get to hold him for about 3 seconds but be was not crying and was limp. It took for them to ‘fix me’ up and Adam went with Christian while my mom stayed with me. I tried to keep thinking positive thoughts; I started to cry and asked my midwife if this would have happened if I had just went with a c-section. She said probably not, but to not look at it from that view. I felt selfish for wanting the birth that I wanted and not what was best for my baby. Knowing now, that was not the case and there was nothing that could have been done to know that would have happened. I made the right decision and I am happy with it. My midwife came to see me the next morning and again reassured me that I did make the right decision based on my reasons for wanting a vbac.
Around 3:00 pm, I was finally allowed to see Christian in the NICU. I am glad Adam was there since they were going to give him formula. Adam knew that was not what I wanted and he insisted that I be there to nurse him ASAP. Within a few minutes he was latched on and going to town. He is doing a great job latching on and it is all he wants to do Christian did get to come down and stay with me but had to have his antibiotics every 6 hours or so but they were able to do this in the room instead of the NICU. We did have to stay an extra day just to wait on his lab work to be sure the infection had cleared (or something like that). I feel I was left out of many details and am still fuzzy on a few things that I will ask his pedi during our 2 week visit. I hate not knowing the details and they why did this happen.
All in all, Christian is healthy little boy! He is almost back to his birth weight after only 3 days! Wahoo! Ashton is a great big brother. He was not very happy to see some other baby on his boobies though…it was funny. Ashton kept pulling my nipple out of Christian’s mouth! I had to do some explaining while trying not to laugh.
I feel much, much better than I did with my c-section and I thought my c-section was pretty textbook. I am up and moving much easier than I thought. Don’t get me wrong, I am sore but it gets much better each day.
If you’ve made it this far, thanks for reading.
More pictures to follow at a later time.
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