...and so my final pregnancy has come to an end. There's a certain emptiness that comes with that, and perhaps it would be easier to deal with if it had been decided another way..but, I was blessed with 1 day shy of 3 extra weeks of being pregnant with my last little love bug and those days I truly did cherish.
At my weekly midwife appointment my cervix was still very firm, but was dialated to 2. I was instructed to take 6 primrose capsules and to insert 2 each night. I am also instructed to take Calcuim Magnesium because my blood pressure is so high.
We had a midnight visitor....nope, not a new baby....just a 6 year old puker :/ ugh. The last thing we need is the horrific stomach virus going around. I decided operation eviction for baby was not the best idea until this virus moves thru.
That morning, I woke up to a message from our little man, that I had already handed control over to him, and it's his turn to call all the shots. I was greeted with the absense of my beautiful basketball belly and....bloody show.
I went on to have prodromal labor for another 4 days since my last post. The thing that sucks about prodromal labor, is that it feels real. Some contractions are so mild that your not even sure your contracting, but others leave you feeling like gripping for dear life just waiting for it to pass and though the patterns are not regular, the contractions do not stop. They last from 20 sec to more than a minute and they range from 2 min apart to 4, 5, 6, min apart. Then you think they stop and 15 min later they start again.
I asked my sister in law to come up last weekend. I had high hopes that our little man would make his appearance while she was here. My membranes were stripped, and I got somewhat aggressive with natural ways of trying to encourage his arrival, but it seems he just wasn't ready. On Sunday, I awoke with another bout of prodromal labor. This continued throughout the entire day. I nursed Dove to sleep at around 11 that night, and the contractions became quite intense. They were so intense and so clost together, that sleeping was not even much of an option. I went downstairs because Falcon was shaking the bed so much, tossing and turning in his sleep that I couldn't lay there. Hawk took good care of me, tucking me into his bed. I was able to rest off and on until about 3 am. When I got up, I thought my water broke...turns out, I just had peed, lol. I continued to contract into the following morning. Still having intense contractions, I was exhausted and wearing very thin. As I passed the 24 hour mark of having contractions I was ready to give up. I had extreme back pain and cramps and I knew that the baby was just in a terrible position. I asked my midwife to come over and check on us and try and help give suggestions to encourage him into a better position and I called upon my friend to come and offer some support. We had blown up the birth pool in hopes that the contractions had progressed things and Falcon seemed pulled in many directions trying to take care of both me and the kids.
One of my midwive's arrived around 12pm. She confirmed that I was not in labor and she checked my cervix at 12:10. I was between 3-4 cm dialated, 80% effaced and baby was still high at -2 station. We discussed different positions I could try during a contraction to encourage the baby to move down into the correct possition. My sister in law had found on spinning babies website a technique called The Abdominal Lift & Tuck. She also noticed that it had a disclaimer that if you have a history of fast labors, that you should not try it without your birth assistant. My midwife was going to leave after giving her suggestions but, I asked if we could try this technique while she was here because of my past history of once my kids are in the correct position, they do tend to come very fast. She warned it was a very excruciating painful technique and that most everyone she has attempted it with can not tollerate the pain. I agreed to still try and yes indeed it was intense! The technique had to be done during 10 contractions. I was still getting a break between contractions so at least I could recoup for a few minutes in between. After about the 5th one, I started getting the urge to push. For a few contractions this was more easily controlable but by about the 8th one she decided she should check my cervix. At 1:05 I was 6-7cm dialated, 100% effaced and baby was at 0+ station. This is when things kicked into high gear. The midwife called the main midwife and told her she needed to come NOW. I said "we aren't going to have time to fill the pool". My midwife suggested we could try, so my friend went to get Falcon who was just finishing fixing lunch for the kids. I fell to the floor and was stuck in that position because my contractions were so close together. The midwife helped me through another contraction or two but my urge to push was gettting too much to work through, so, she ran to her car to get her birth bag. Some of the kids wanted to be in the room when I had the baby, some did not want to come in until immediately after he was born. The only ones in the room at this time were Macaw, Emu and Duckling. Falcon helped me through my next contraction and the midwife was getting as much out of her birth bag as she could. At 1:20, I told her that he was coming out, so she then quickly assessed the baby. I had another contraction and my water broke. At this point, Macaw and Duckling decided they did not want to be in the room so they left but Macaw didn't even make it to the bottm of the srairs and he was out. Just 35 minutes after labor began and two pushes and at 1:23 my precious son was born. Before either of us were moved from that position all of the kids joined us. The baby and I were moved to my bed and everyone gathered around. The room was filled with so much love, joy and such a calmness I have never experienced in any of my other births. We all sat in bed for hours. There was no hussle and bussle of nurses whisking the baby away. No hurry to cut the cord, measure or weighing, no rush to clen him up despite the fact he was born covered in meconium. Most everyone got to hold him before he even got his bath. His first bath was "our bath", a special herb bath that our midwives prepared for us ...again so peaceful and calm. It's quite amazing how everyone gathered around. Normally, I'm extremely selfish with these bonding moments but being at home is just indescribable in so many ways. All of my kids, Falcon, and my dear friend all gathered around and shared the moment and there we all were without another care in the world other than that moment. It was was perfect, although a few people were missing...my sister in law who simply did not have time to get there. My main midwife was not there when he was born but arrived shortly after and another friend, a photographer who had planned on capturing all of these beautiful moments...honestly, things happened so fast, it didn't even enter my mind for anyone to call her, but chances are she would not have made it in those short minutes anyway. For all that matters, my kids from the basement didnt even make it, and the midwife that was here said...she thought she wasn't going to make it.
In all, I had 7 days (51 hours) of prodromal labor, 35 min of active labor and only 2 minutes of stage 2 labor consisting of just 2 pushes. I carried our little man for 42 weeks and 6 days. He was a tiny 7lb 4oz but so perfect!
I learned a hard lesson in not making decisions within the first 12 hours of giving birth. That birth high is comparable to being drunk...one should not make lifelong decisions while under the influence of new baby ;) and I hope I've learned to never feel pressured to make another decision I may later regret. Even though I have not been able to put my precious little man down, I do wish I could feel "better". This has by far been my worst postpartum period, I hope I can find peace and the same level of bliss I have always known.
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