Jul 31, 2006

I woke up this morning at 8:30 am having contractions. From the start they were 5 minutes apart, and I just knew, today's the day, here we go...

My dream was originally to have the baby at home alone with my husband Don, but as you all know, that dream got shattered to bits. So after two widwives offered their services for free, I figured that was the route I would take. But I couldn't get over my disappointment at not having the unassisted birth with DH that I wanted, so I decided like 2 weeks ago to just try and go it alone, with Donny watching over me from his place on the mantel.

So this morning I'm puttering around, laying out a shower curtain on the floor beneath the mantel, then a sheet over it, then towels and chux pads to absorb everything. I sat on the toilet for a while and contracted there, while Catty explored the birthing area.

Then I decided to try laboring in the shower and rubbing my belly while I contracted, because that helped a lot last time. Not this time. We got out of the shower pretty quickly, and brushed our teeth and I put a diaper on Catty, contracting all the while.

Now it was 9:30, I'd been in labor one hour, and nothing seemed to be helping. After my last labor which took 62 hours, I was starting to panic about how bad the contractions were getting this early in the game. So I ate half a piece of bread, and drank a protein shake for energy, then I struggled into my bikini and headed outside to get the cover off the pool. I climbed into the water, and WTF?? It was COLD!! Not relaxing at all!!

I settled down to see what contractions in the water felt like, and the answer was "not good". I clawed at the edge of the pool and nearly bit a hole in the plastic. Catty climbed into the pool with me, fully dressed, diaper and all, so I had to try to undress her and make sure she didn't drown while I kept contracting. Ugh. Ok, pool didn't work, shower didn't work, toilet didn't work, I was in pain, and I wanted an epidural!! NOW!!

I managed to drag myself inside to the phone, where I called the midwife's cellphone. She didn't answer. Panic! I called her home number, finally her son answered and I was shouting at Catty to quit crawling all over me so she's crying and I'm moaning and panting, and the midwife gets on the phone and hears us, and says "I'll be right over!"

So my plan now is for the midwife to take Catty to her babysitter's place, and then take me to the hospital. I crawl around gathering up Catty's things, get her dressed in dry clothes, fill up a sippy cup, all the while stopping to bend over and howl every 3 minutes.

Then I feel like I have to use the toilet again, so I sit there and contract, but I'm pushing at the same time - great pressure in the butt region, like I'm taking the world's biggest poo. I wipe with some T.P. and check, there's no poo - something tells me to get back to my birthing area under the mantel, so I do.

It's now 10:30, I've been in labor for 2 hours. Where's the !@?#$@( midwife??? I kneel over my birthing area and no doubt about it, each contraction is making me push for real. Baby on the way! Then there was a pop! and fluid gushed out of me. I looked down, my water had broken all over the towels. It wasn't clear fluid, but not much I could do about that now! Baby moving down inside me...

For an instant I'm scared, as I feel the head crowning, but I shouted, "Donny, give me strength!" and he did! Two contractions and the head was out! Then I thought to myself, isn't this the part where the rest of it just "slips out real easy"? But no such luck.

The baby's head was there wiggling, I could feel it, but it wasn't just "slipping out", he was stopping to rotate, which is normal, but I couldn't see down there, so I started thinking he was stuck for a panicky minute or two. And it really only was a minute before the next contraction came, and SQUIP! Out came the baby!

And there I was, sitting there in my living room, holding a little baby boy I had just delivered all by myself. With Donny watching down over us, of course.

The baby sounded like he had some fluid still in him, so I used my mouth and sucked out his nose and mouth so he could breathe. I turned him upside down and thumped his back, then sucked again. And viola! He said, "Waaaaahhhh!"

Catty came running in from the TV room when she heard the squawky little cries of the baby. She stopped in her tracks and stared. Then she said "baby! baby!" and came running up to examine him closer. I wrapped the little guy up in a blanket and then took some pics of Catty and the baby checking each other out, and then the doorbell rang.

I stuffed a towel between my legs, went to the front door, peeped my head around at the midwife, and said, "I don't need you anymore, you can go home!" And she was like, "well at least let me check you..." Then I threw open the door and there's me, Catty, and Baby Donny in my arms! She nearly fell over in shock! LOL!

So the midwife cleaned up most of the mess and gave the baby a bath while I took a shower. I got on the scale and I weighed 3 pounds less than my PP weight! Heh!! Then I came downstairs and we weighed and measured the baby. I only gained 7 pounds this pregnancy, but baby Donny weighed 8 pounds, 10 oz! The same exact weight that Catty was! (and I gained 40 pounds with her!) If this kid had been born on his due date, or 6 days late like Catty was, I would have had the 9-lb baby I was hoping for, darnit! Oh well, close enough, eh?

Just like last time, I'm healthy as an ox, no complaints. No tears or any damage down below, either. The midwife took Catty to the babysitter she uses for her kids, and Catty will spend the day there while I get some down time. I'll go pick Catty up tonight, I guess.

No, I don't have anyone here with me, as we weren't expecting him until the 11th, but I'm glad I'm all alone. It will give me some time to see whether I can handle the newborn and Catty together by myself or not.

Right now, I feel like a million bucks. Right now, I feel like I can take on the world! Hell, I delivered a baby all by myself, and I feel great! Now if only raising the baby can be as easy as having it... wish me luck - I'm gonna need it!

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Catty's first view of the suspicious new character in the house...

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Mommy's first pic after the midwife arrived...

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Catty slyly tries to eliminate the competition when no one's looking...

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Mommy's back at her computer with the little guy, 2 hours after giving birth (that's breast milk in the bottle, fresh thawed from the freezer LOL)

The placenta should never be ripped out. That can cause severe bleeding and hemorraging, as you already know now. Damn doctors are always in such a hurry to get out of there; they rush things along however they can.

I was kneeling when Devin was born. I'd been sitting on the toilet for a while, but then something told me to go to my sheeted area in the computer room, and I kneeled there as he came down, my water broke, and then he crowned.

I reached down and felt just his head sticking out of me for a full contraction, and I had time to think "Eek! There's this alien thing sticking out of me, and it's MOVING!!" and then "Oh dear god I hope he's not STUCK!"

But the next contraction he slid out, and I caught him. It was easy and natural.

His face had some gunk on it, especially around the mouth/nose, so I instinctively put my mouth over his mouth/nose and sucked the gunk away and spit it out. He was able to breathe fine after that.

I laid him down on the sheets and took some pics of him while he was still attached to the cord going inside me. (Haha, not only am I the midwife and doctor, but the photographer as well!) I called Catty into the room and got pics of her first impressions of the weird little baby-thing on the floor. When the midwife finally arrived and rang the doorbell, I wrapped Dev up in some blankets and walked over to the door with him, leaving a nice long trail of blood splats across the carpet. Oops!

We didn't cut the cord until after the placenta came out (just used scissors, no big deal). We waited maybe 20-30 minutes for that. We looked at the placenta to make sure it looked healthy (yup!) and I took some pics of it, and then we put it in a garbage bag and tossed it in the trash. No placenta lasagnas for me, thanks!

This is the first pic the midwife took when she got to the house. Dev is having his first nursing, and he's still attached to the cord, and to me. You'll see that my right hand, which I caught him with, is covered in blood.



It makes a good story for telling, but it wasn't really that big a deal. After I delivered the placenta and cut the cord, I let the midwife wash Devin off in the sink while I (literally) sprinted up the stairs to take a shower. It was easy! I felt great!

The very next day I was shopping at Wal-Mart with both kids - pushing Catty in the cart, and carrying Dev in the Baby Bjorn. Delivering babies is what we're made to do. It shouldn't have us laid up in a hospital for days. That's not what nature ever intended for us!
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