As for the birth! I had been craving closeness and touch from my partner and on Sunday the 2nd we decided to have sex! It had been a long stretch without. Well afterwards I had some spotting and the rest of the day on Sunday I started having strong waves / cramping sensations until the evening. Since I had had lesser forms of that cramping before I thought it would just pass. At about 5 am on Monday they started up again but were not consistent or close together. I told Brad there was a chance baby was coming sooner than later and that these felt like contractions so he panicked a bit trying to prepare. I got a nap in during the day thankfully but by the evening when your blissborn class was starting it was just ethan and i and i was having to breath through some intense ones. ethan was really sweet about it and rubbing my back etc. i had my tens unit on.
brad got back and he was working on dinner and getting ethan to bed because my contractions although erratic in timing were intense! i asked my doula to come help me with the tub but she said she didnt want to stall my labor and that she would wait to hear what my midwife said when she came to check on me.
things got really intense and i was alone so i asked my neighbor to come over. she used to be a doula. she helped me stay more on top of timing my contractions and put plastic on the bed but she didnt know how to inflate the tub. she told me my contractions were 3 min apart! and about 30 secs long mostly. my midwife arrived and checked me and i was at an 8! she helped me mentally prepare that baby was coming SOON. she said we probably didnt have enough time to get the tub set up which was a total bummer!
because my contraction pattern was the way it was she suggested we break my water and deliver my baby versus waiting for it to break on its own. so! that was a lot to wrap my head around. brad got up and ethan was asleep and my midwife let him know baby was coming soon! doula arrived about 9 - contractions were too intense for me to stay on top of or even get into my hypnosis zone. I had it playing in the background but just couldnt access that part of me oddly.
we popped my water and soon after i was ready to start pushing! you were right having brad there felt most important. midwife helped coach me through pushing and i found a postition that worked. biting things helped, screaming "i don't want to do this!" helped and "i have to do this." as well ha. i pushed slow and panted once he was crowning and was able to birth him gently without tearing.
Since things moved so much faster this time i felt oddly present throughout it all. Metal music helped again for pushing. But damn THAT SHIT WAS HARD! :) 9:39 pm, we met our baby - and i instantly felt SO MUCH better and elated with joy. Adam was crying while he was still coming out of my body and has a healthy full set of lungs on him.
7lb 10 oz born at 38+4 weeks. Covered in the sweetest little fine baby hair.
We have been sleeping wonderfully together in 2 -3 hour chunks and I have been mostly just so blissed out.
Big brother is definitely adjusting , and him and Dad are figuring all this out.
I'm so grateful he is here and healthy! Birth is a TRIP. :)
thanks so much for all your wisdom. ive been typing this with one hand with my baby boy on skin to skin on my lap.
and thanks for asking for my story - i know this is long but it was therapeutic to write :)
life is good! <3