Saturday, August 6, 2011

And she's here!!

After I thought this day would never come, Little Miss has decided to join our family!! Aaraiha (pronounced a-rae-ah) Ryland Hope was born on Tuesday August 2nd at 11:55pm. She weighed in at a nice 7lbs 9oz and was 19.75 inches long. She is a very content and quiet baby (unless your changing her bum). 




Now onto the birth story for those who have asked for it. For some this may be a little of 'to much information' so feel free to stop reading if that is the case. Otherwise feel free to join us on our journey of Little Aaraiha's arrival. 


On Monday evening I was pretty sure my water had broken. It wasn't the movie style gush that everyone talks about (or you see on movies) but more so just a constant trickle. Bf and I went for a walk in the evening in hopes to get things started. And although I had a couple instances of minor gush's nothing was really starting. It seemed as though little A was quiet happy where she was as I could feel her moving around as normal. I decided to call it a night and see what happened. 

Come morning I'm still leaking, but no contractions. No cramping, no signs of anything happening at all to be honest. So decided to call the midwife and see what we should do. I was told that for most people labor will start within 24 hours of water breaking... but I should probably get checked and make sure it is my water and we can discuss what to do from there. I knew I couldn't get in 'right away' but would be able to later in the afternoon. The midwife assured me that coming to the clinic around end of day would be good and call if anything changed in the mean time. So what does a mom do when she finds out that there could be inducing in her near future. Well she packs the last minute things, makes arrangements to get into town and then goes out for lunch! Lol looking back it seems kind of funny now, but at the time all I could think was I want a good meal in me before we get this show on the road. So after lunch with a co-worker I got her to drop me off at the midwife office where BF met me. It was a bit of a sit and wait time while she finished up some appointments but it gave us a bit of time to talk and decide a bit before hand what we want and how we feel about things. Soon enough our Midwife brings us in and does a check to confirm that yes my water has broken. She does a cervix check and I'm already 3-4cm so I agree to let her stretch and sweep. Now we have to make a choice. Normally it is recommended that you induce after 24 hours as the possibility of infection can increase. But she is open to us waiting overnight if we want. We had already decided lets get this show on the road and start an induction. The midwife said she'd have to call and get an order for the medication, and she thought we should go for supper and that would give her a little bit to get a bite in herself and get everything ready. So off for supper we went. Yes I had just ate lunch, but a small snack worked. And we grabbed a few munchies for in the hospital and off for the induction. During this time I wasn't sure if I should be excited or nervous. But I knew things were soon about to change!



We got to the hospital shortly after 7 and it felt so weird walking in with all our stuff and being able to register and not be in a rush, not trying to walk through contractions. Once I got registered and into the room I got changed into a gown and bf got our stuff put away and organized. The midwife started an iv - which took a few attempts. For some reason I don't get IV's very well. And by 7:40pm the iv had started with the oxy. It didn't take long for contractions to start. But when they did they weren't strong at first. I was joking around with everyone and not really that uncomfortable until about 10pm. At that point I knew things were going to get moving quickly. By 10:30 I had informed Bf he needed to call in my other labor coach or she wasn't going to make it. She is a nurse in the hospital but wasn't due to be off work until 11:30pm. Fortunatly her co-workers like her and she was able to get out early and run over to be able to witness everything with us. By the time Bf hung up the phone I was demanding drugs lol. I knew going into this I would probably want the gas so I wasn't surprised at all (nor was BF) when all I could say through contractions was 'give me drugs' lol. The midwife was quiet co-operative in getting the gas set up for me and letting me use that while I tried a couple different possitions. Thought of standing up - that didn't last long lol. Then tried hands and knees which actually lasted much longer then I expected. Until finally the midwife asked how I felt and it was like a light bulb went off I need to push. So she check and said I'm 9cm but there is a small lip. Lets try moving around a bit and see what we can do to get rid of that lip. So we tried with BF behind me that worked for a bit - but not really long. Back onto my hands and knees I went it seemed to be the best position. I remember screaming through contractions and pushing a little through them. They were getting stronger but I still didn't think she was moving much. Finally the midwife said no more gas just try pushing through lets see if we can get her moving. I agreed but under MY terms lol I was not letting go of my gas. At this point I had the tube disconnected so no gas was actually coming to it, and the mask piece had come off so I couldn't actually use it - but you were not taking the medal piece out of my hand I don't care who you think you are. So with that settled we started pushing. I thought for sure she was never coming out. The mw recommended me moving to my side to see if that would help as it was obvious that although hands and knees were more comfortable it was defiantly not bringing her here any faster. So onto my side I went. Through each contraction I pushed. And squirmed and pushed and squirmed and finally we felt progress!! She was born with me half on my side half on my back (really weird to explain) but it worked! It felt like forever but she was here!! She got plopped on my stomach and I was so overwhelmed I had no idea what to do with her I just stared at her and held her for a while. Once the cord stopped pulsing BF cut it and we moved her into a better position for me to hold her and see her while everything else finished up. 


It was an amazing experience. I was so glad my second labor coach actually got to be there this time. She has been with me through my previous pregnancies as well. The first pregnancy she was able to be there for the labor but was unable to be there for the actual delivery. The second pregnancy she missed altogether. So this was the first time she got to be there with me to the end and it ment the world to me to have the extra support. Don't get me wrong BF did a great job figuring out what I needed and doing it for me (I was not good at stating what I did want - just at what I didn't. Ie: don't rub and shut up lol) She was able to do other things like grab ice chunks for me or help me get my gown off when I decided it was too hot to wear it but I couldn't get the words out. I must say as much as the gas was a necessity for me - that stuff tastes horrid. 


One moment I remember and can laugh at now - although at the time was sure I was going to hurt someone was towards the end I was laying half on my side half on my back - she was getting ready to crown and along comes a strong contraction. Since I had been on my hands/knees for so long just previously I felt the need to stretch out through this contraction. So legs straight out with my ankles cross I stretched. It felt right so that was what I was doing. BF being the thoughtful one he was states "you realize if you cross your legs she can't get you" which was politely and loudly answered with SHUT UP lol. 


I had some issues with iron levels going into this so I stayed on the iv overnight although after a couple hours it was able to be turned off. We just left it hooked up in case there was any further issues.


I feel everything went very well and am very happy with how things turned out. Switching to a midwife late in the pregnancy was the best decision I could have made!

1 comment:

DefinitionOfAWife said...

So happy to hear that everything went well! I have never had the experience of going to the hospital without the contractions so I can imagine how strange that would be! I have always thought that of planned c-sections too, strange that you would know ahead of time what day your baby will be born!

Welcome to baby A!! :)