The Birth Story

Hey!

Look at me posting again! : )

So my wonderful husband took care of the basics, but for those who have known me through a couple of babies (especially those who are far enough away to get everything by phone or email), you know how I am about birth stories. And for those who know me at all, you know how long-winded I am. Especially about my babies! lol So I've done this two ways; for those who want the really lengthy, all the details birth story, check Here.
If you don’t have an extra 6 1/2hrs, to read, here is the reader’s digest version. ; )

We had known for a week that Friday *could* be the day for Charlotte’s arrival, since my dr had offered an induction for that day if I still hadn’t gone on my own. Believe it or not, I was still debating on Thursday night if I really wanted to evict her or if I wanted to just wait it out. By the time I rolled myself out of bed on Friday morning and was contracting (although just mildly) on my own, I figured what the heck-let’s do this! The hospital was a bit occupied on Friday morning, so we had to wait a bit, and didn’t go in until 10am, which was fine as it gave us time to actually do the maternity portraits that we’d kept putting off. Gotta love last minute! My contractions were fairly regular when we arrived, and I was a “stretchy 3”/not quite 4cms dilated, so I had a good start to things and was fine with pitocin being started at that point. My dr had also asked that my water be broken to jump start things, but baby was pretty high and the resident was worried about a cord prolapse so we decided to hold off on that a bit.

Things didn’t change much for the next couple of hours, even with the pitocin being upped regularly. Contractions still stayed mild, and I still stayed about 4cms. At about 12:30, the resident was hoping to break my water, but she still felt baby was too floaty, so she called my dr to see if he wanted to come and do it himself or just wait. He was a bit delayed, but he came on over and did it himself, so at 1:52pm, there was officially no turning back! It took a little while still, but things finally kicked into gear and contractions started picking up. Aaron had been taking a nap for a bit after my water was broken, but by a little after 2:30 I woke him up knowing that I was going to need his help working through things before too long. I got up to use the bathroom (love IV fluids), and I guess my breathing through a contraction on the way there was enough to start a little spiral of events. Aaron-being the ever-vigilant and attentive husband that he is during labor-called the nurse in for a check thinking that we must be making some progress by the way I was walking. We waited things out a bit longer, but by 3 they wanted to check on my again. I was still only 4-5cms, but baby was ridiculously low. I was warned to call them in quickly if I felt any change at all in pressure. About 15 minutes later, Aaron was on back duty-kneading right into my tail bone where I tend to get all of my pressure during labor. I’m sure much to his relief this time around I preferred the heel of his hands in my back as opposed to his fist. Typically the poor guy feels like his hand is broken by the end of things-hopefully it wasn’t quite so bad this time! I was having to start relaxing through my contractions at this point, so we checked things again-only 6-7cms, but a panicky request to call the dr came with that check. I preferred to be up on my feet, so I got back up, but after just a few contractions could feel baby moving down more and started feeling a bit pushy so everyone sprang into action. I remember glancing at the clock as I was climbing up onto the bed-it was 3:30.

My dr did make it in time-which was nice as the resident whose shift had just started was a newbie and had never delivered before (and was a bit anxious!), so it was good to have his years of experience there to make sure everything was going well. He did a great job guiding her through the whole process without the whole thing feeling like a teaching moment.

My contractions stopped just before delivery, which gave me a nice break before it was time to actually deliver. I was glad for the break as I remember it being a nice change to just relax and catch my breath last time. Once things kicked back in there was no slowing down-my body began to push and with one push and kind of a half push after that her head was out, and it was immediately followed by one more little push that sent the rest of her flying out! Big sigh, complete relief, instant euphoria! The official time of arrival was 3:40pm, just about 5 hrs after I “officially” began. Not too bad! And definitely better than the last few times! Our little Charli came out just perfect, with apgar scores of 9 at one minute, and 10 and 5 minutes. She was bright-eyed and alert, and surprisingly cute for a “just popped out” baby! : ) She fits right in with the rest of them weighing in at 6lbs 9oz, but a little on the short size at 18 inches.

The delivery was wonderful, the baby is perfect, I have felt great-we couldn’t ask for more!