Wednesday, June 22, 2011

The Birth Story of Lucille Marie (02-02-08)

It was 10 days past my due date. On Friday night, my husband and I went out to dinner with my parents. The whole time we were at dinner I kept having to run to the bathroom to "pee", I was having these really intense contractions, which I assumed were just braxton hicks, and I thought the pressure was making me pee my pants a little. Well I had no idea my water had broke and that was what this liquid was.

When we got home I took off my dress, I wanted to check out what was going on, I was starting to wonder if it really was pee, right then a small gush of water trickled down my legs. I was so excited, I wrapped a towel around me and waddled into the living room to tell my parents and husband. I didn't call the midwife right away, I laid down first because I wanted to time my contractions. They started right away and were about 10 minutes apart. Around 9 PM I paged the midwife and waited for a call back. I was so happy when I learned that my favorite midwife, Amber, was on call that night. She was already at the birth center with another woman in labor, Amber told me to lay on my side and call her when my contractions were closer together. I laid in bed until the contractions became very strong, I don't know exactly how close together they were(maybe 3-5 minutes?) because I wasn't counting anymore, I was in "laborland". At 12 AM we called and said we were ready, she was very surprised and thought I wouldn't be in so quick, she asked me to come in an hour and the room would be ready. I didn't mind because I honestly wasn't looking forward to the car ride anyway. We hung out for about 45 minutes and then we left. When we got there it was a little after 1 AM and my contractions were about every 2 or 3 minutes. She checked me and said I was 6 cm! yay!

I was planning on having a water birth, the birth center has a nice tub. But the down side is there is only 2 rooms at the birth center and no guarantee you will get the one with a tub. And because a woman was already in labor, I did not get the tub room. They do have a birthing pool but it was being stored at someone's house a couple hours away, and it was the middle of the night, but I was going to have this baby before the pool would even arrive, let only be filled with water.

So I took a shower! Which felt amazing, but made my contractions much more intense because I was standing. So I got out and sat on the toilet, which is where I stayed until I felt an urge to push. I was in a lot of pain by now and I was trying to continue relaxing though my contractions, which was not working anymore because my body did not want to relax, it wanted to push. I told my husband Ed (who was by my side making me smile and laugh throughout my whole labor. Best husband ever!), that I could not do this anymore. He said we should go to the bed and have the midwife check me. She did and I was complete. 10cm and ready for pushing!

I started pushing on my back, which the baby wasn't liking, so I turned on my side. Pushing on my side was much more comfortable. Pushing was the most painful part for me, I was thinking it would be more relieving but it hurt so bad! I pushed for about 10 minutes and she started crowning, I reached down and touched my baby! I continued pushing with a couple more contractions and at 2:45am, on February 2nd 2008 her head popped out, the rest of her came too! She kind of flew out all at once while splashing water all over my poor midwife and her assistant. Ed helped catch her and put her on my chest. I think it was about 5 minutes after birth when I asked for the cord to be cut. Her cord was very short and I was trying to pull her up to my chest and it was very uncomfortable because it was rubbing against a small tear I had on my vagina. The placenta delivered about 15 minutes later. After that we tried breastfeeding for the first time, Lucy quickly latched on. Then they checked me for any tears, I did, I wasn't surprised, I was pushing too fast and wasn't allowing time to stretch. Plus Lucy's hand was up by her face the whole time(no wonder pushing hurt so bad!). Ed held the baby while Amber gave me a couple stitches. After that I showered and Lucy had her newborn examine. 6lbs 8oz and 20 in long! We nursed once more before heading back home around 6/6:30-ish AM. Best day of my life. :)

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12 comments:

  1. You and your husband look so young! Such a sweet story!

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  2. I know we look like babies here! Especially Eddie! Children sure age you. lol

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  3. Aw! I love your birth story. I can't wait to read the next one! :)
    Also, I didn't realize Lucy's full name was Lucille. Very cute.

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  4. Thank you. :) Yes Lucille. I love that name, I'll probably want to call her by that when she gets older. But she is a total 'Lucy' right now!

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  5. Aw, what a great birth story! So glad you posted this!

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  6. That last picture is to die for! She looks like one happy girl.

    Just found your blog and I am excited to follow.

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  7. Thank you! That is one of my favorite pictures of her ever. She is 2 days old in that one. :)

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  8. You make it sound easy! What a sweet story. And that picture is adorable--I don't think I've seen a baby smile so young...

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  9. I'm an official Toni stalker! I loved your recent post about miscarriage and now the birth of Lucy. I love your honesty and your raw forwardness to life. Thank you Toni!

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  10. Emily- Haha! Thanks! It was as easy as it sounds, except for the pushing part, that hurt like a mutha. I hope and pray this next birth is even half as simple as Lucy's. lol.
    Yup she was only 2 days old there! She would occasionally smile in her sleep, it was the cutest. :)

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  11. Thank you Carlee. That is one of the nicest things anyone has ever said to me! <3

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