I have been meaning to blog for a very long time.... I haven't been busy or anything... :)
Six weeks ago - July 12, 2011- my beautiful son Brecken Todd was born. It was an amazing day filled with so much emotion and joy (and pain!). I have been meaning to write his story for a very long time but time has been getting away from me so since it is his six week birthday, I thought I would try to finally blog!
So I made it past 40 weeks - that was the last post I wrote. I was feeling a little frustrated/sad/excited through the weekend and into the next week. I honestly thought I was going to have to get induced, even though I still had over a week to go before that would happen. I kept myself very busy to not think of it. Monday, July 11 I didn't realize it til later but I was "nesting" - I had been cleaning lots the week up to it so I thought nothing of it. I had organized the laundry room that day and started dismantling the storage closet and sorting through that. I had felt some contractions but I had been having them for a week or two prior so thought nothing of that either. I went to Target around 6ish and notices that the contractions felt like cramps and were a bit painful - but noticed no pattern but did that they came every so often.
It wasn't until I was eating pizza with Todd at 8:30 that I started to time them and noticed that there was a pattern and then were about 6 minutes apart or so- however they were only in my lower abdomen - like bad cramps. My pregnancy book talked about how real contractions would be in your lower and upper abdomen and back so I wasn't convinced that I was going into labor since mine were just in my lower abdomen. Todd continued to time the contractions as I moved boxes back into the storage closet that I had drug out hours earlier, stopping every couple minutes to rest from a contraction. Todd convinced me to call the hospital - they said to take a shower and try to go to bed and if I couldn't sleep - it was real. I didn't know if they were real or not- they were getting more painful - but still only like cramps.
I took a shower and halfway through the shower I was in alot more pain - so much that I had to lay down in the shower. I kept thinking that if this was fake labor - I didn't want to know what the real thing was because I was starting to get painful. I managed to get out of the shower and Todd called the hospital again. They advised me to come in since my contractions were now 3 -5 minutes apart. I finished packing and we headed to the hospital. My biggest fear at this point was that they were going to send me home because I hadn't progressed enough.
We got to the hospital around 11 pm and I got checked before getting admitted. They told me that I was dialated to 5- 6 cm. Woo hoo! I was at least half way there or more! I could do this. My ideal birth plan was to do it naturally - no drugs - so it helped me think that it was possible if I was halfway there!
We just got admitted in this photo - obviously I was feeling ok at this moment.
I got a room with a large tub to labor in and got into the tub as soon as I made it to the room. The water really helped the pain alot - I could still feel it though! It was peaceful in the room - the lights were dim, spa music was playing and I was sitting in a warm bath- too bad there was pain involved otherwise I would have felt like I was at a spa.
I started feeling like I was going to throw up at one point - but they gave me this amazing lavender smelling capsule to take that feeling away. It helped alot and I luckily didn't throw up. I probably looked pretty silly with my smelly capsule - I sniffed it - ALOT - but whatever helps. The last 45 minutes of being in the tub started to get brutal. Up til that point I layed in the tub and was fairly calm through the contractions - but the last 45 minutes I couldn't stay in one place when a contraction came. Someone later asked me to describe the pain at that point - I honestly can't remember if it was just my abdomen or if it was whole body pain - I just know it hurt - Really Bad.
They always tell you in your birth class that you know when you need to push. How would I know when to push when I haven't done this before? Believe me - you just know. I felt the urge to push and they got me out of the tub. I was at 10 cm and able to push.
The pushing was the worst pain - a burning feeling. When I asked my midwife how long this stage could last - she said up to two hours. I could not STAND this pain. I couldn't take the pain for that long so I pushed only about a half hour and my son was born! Brecken Todd was born at 4:13 am on July 12, 2011. He was 7 pounds, 14 ounces and 20 inches long. He was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen.
(Pardon these nasty pictures of me- I just love these photos because they show the pure emotion of the moment)
Family of Three now!
I did take a 41 week picture - but this one I am holding my son instead of carrying him in my belly.
So that is his birth story. I went into it wanting to do in naturally and went to the chiropractor twice a week while pregnant and used the midwife program to try to achieve this goal. I went into it with an open mind since I had no idea what to expect. I feel like I was blessed with more of an "easy" labor since it didn't go for too long. If it had gone for longer - I may have had an epidural - but fortunately didn't need it. It was alot of pain and I did have to have some stitches (ouch!) - But he was so worth it! I remember after thinking to myself, "How do people have more children?" - but then you see them grow so fast before your eyes and think "I can do that again." All that pain had a purpose and I am so blessed to have a beautiful, healthy son.
