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Baby #5 is here!
After being 4 cm dilated on Thursday morning, I went to the hospital on Thursday night with contractions every 10 minutes apart or so. I had extended to 5-6 cm dilated and was put on the monitors but ended up being sent home with the diagnosis that I was probably just dehydrated. Disappointed, I went home and drank lots of water.
Next morning DH and I DTD to try to get things moving along, then went with my mother to visit my grandmother who is currently in the nursing home. The walking did bring the contractions down to 3-4 minutes apart. Finally thinking this was it but didn't want to be sent home again, I went to bed. "Next morning" I thought, "this will be it." But by morning I was let down to find that they had mostly stopped. I finally started feeling some tightenings by mid afternoon, so again we went to the hospital.
No change in dilation at the hospital and the baby was still high. I asked to try inducing me but the on call doctor told me that by law they wouldn't induce me before 39 weeks so again I was sent home. This was Saturday night. I was extremely frustrated. I wondered if the baby really was too big for my pelvis and would never move down to dilate me the rest of the way. C-section was stubbornly still on the cards.
I researched some exercises on Spinning Babies website to try to help baby engage. One of them I did alone, another I needed my husband's help. Amazingly afterwards I noticed a huge increase in contractions. They were now coming every 3-4 minutes again and were pretty strong. I started feeling intense pressure on my pubic bone, however I was reluctant to go back to the hospital only to be sent home again. While watching TV at midnight with DH, I felt a pop in my pelvis. I thought maybe my water broke but I didn't see a gush, so to bed we went.
At 5:30 in the morning I was having a dream that I had a sudden urge to push and went to lift my leg up. All of a sudden, the pressure intensified and I woke up in a flash. It was no dream. I could have recognized that pressure from anywhere. Immediately I remembered the pop I felt at midnight and wondered if that was the baby's head descending further into my pelvis? Suddenly I felt a strong urge to push. Aren't women's bodies amazing?
I woke up DH and told him it was time. He groggily looked at me, probably thinking that I'd been saying that all weekend, when I went to stand up to go get the kids out of bed to take to their grandmother's and nearly fell over from the pain. I couldn't walk. Every time I moved I felt an intense urge to push. DH immediately jumped up and started to get everyone to the car. In a panic I called my mother and told her we were on our way, that I felt like I had to push.
After we dropped off the kids and headed to the hospital, the pains were so intense I had to be wheeled up in a wheelchair. They didn't even hesitate to put me on the monitors. They put me straight into a delivery suite. I managed to get into a gown, answer all their health history questions, take an IV (required for me because I had postpartum hemorrhage with Grace) and fight through contractions all at once. The doctor came in to check me. I was 9 cm with a bulging bag. She went ahead and broke it. I felt some relief but not for long before the intense pains were back... this time with an even stronger urge to push.
The entire time I kept thinking about my midwife and how she didn't believe my pelvis could accomodate birthing a big baby. I kept thinking about how the doctors told me that I should as long as he was below 4500 grams. I remember that the nurses told me the first time I went to hospital to be put on the monitors that I didn't look big and looked to be carrying around an 8 pound baby, no more. I remembered a woman at my grandmother's nursing home that said I looked small compared to her pregnant niece, who was due in September. Lastly, I thought about my dad telling me that ultrasounds can be wrong and that he probably just wasn't ready yet. All these things flooded through my brain when the doctor told me to go ahead and start pushing.
I did one big push and baby was already through my cervix. Another push and he was crowning. A third push and his chin was out. This is where things started to get scary. The next push caught his shoulder on my pubic bone. I had no epidural so I felt EVERYTHING. Usually in previous births once those shoulders were through, the rest of the body came out. DH grabbed one leg back and a nurse grabbed the other. Together they went to push my legs back to try to open my pelvis more. I willed myself to fight through the pain and that shoulder did come out. Then the other got stuck.
OH. MY. GAWD.
The pain was the most intense I've ever felt during a birth. I was screaming that I couldn't do it, fighting the people holding my leg and kicked DH a couple times when a nurse came running up to me saying "Yes you can. You CAN do this." Having someone believe in me was all the strength I needed. DH was crying at this point. I got myself under control with this baby half hanging out of me when the nurse holding my other leg suddenly pounced on my belly with the next push... and he shot out like a cannon ball.
The pain suddenly went away. The doctor diagnosed him with mild shoulder dystocia. His shoulders were red on top and his face bruised from the trauma but in the end he ended up being ok. Everyone was waiting for a weight, so after they rubbed the vernix from his face, they flopped him on the scale. DH ran over with the camera to catch his weight.
9 lbs 15.5 oz!!!!
AKA 4515 grams. I felt so proud of myself for getting him out naturally with no epidural, no c-section and just a bit over the weight that they usually let women birth naturally here. Even more amazing was that I suffered no tearing. When no one believed in us, we did it together, and just in the nick of time. I would have turned 39 weeks on Tuesday according to the doctors when they talked of induction.
I think that this was probably my easiest recovery. I did end up with slight anemia after the birth but nothing that can't be cured with iron tablets. However I would take that over terrible SPD, hemorrhoids, tearing or needing a blood transfusion like with the others. I had always wanted to see how large of a baby we could make, crazy as that sounds, because all of our children were large for dates. To go almost to my due date and experience birthing a nearly 10 pounder was quite unique. I will say however that I NEVER want to do that again and that I feel satisfied to say our family is complete.
We went out with a BANG!
After being 4 cm dilated on Thursday morning, I went to the hospital on Thursday night with contractions every 10 minutes apart or so. I had extended to 5-6 cm dilated and was put on the monitors but ended up being sent home with the diagnosis that I was probably just dehydrated. Disappointed, I went home and drank lots of water.
Next morning DH and I DTD to try to get things moving along, then went with my mother to visit my grandmother who is currently in the nursing home. The walking did bring the contractions down to 3-4 minutes apart. Finally thinking this was it but didn't want to be sent home again, I went to bed. "Next morning" I thought, "this will be it." But by morning I was let down to find that they had mostly stopped. I finally started feeling some tightenings by mid afternoon, so again we went to the hospital.
No change in dilation at the hospital and the baby was still high. I asked to try inducing me but the on call doctor told me that by law they wouldn't induce me before 39 weeks so again I was sent home. This was Saturday night. I was extremely frustrated. I wondered if the baby really was too big for my pelvis and would never move down to dilate me the rest of the way. C-section was stubbornly still on the cards.
I researched some exercises on Spinning Babies website to try to help baby engage. One of them I did alone, another I needed my husband's help. Amazingly afterwards I noticed a huge increase in contractions. They were now coming every 3-4 minutes again and were pretty strong. I started feeling intense pressure on my pubic bone, however I was reluctant to go back to the hospital only to be sent home again. While watching TV at midnight with DH, I felt a pop in my pelvis. I thought maybe my water broke but I didn't see a gush, so to bed we went.
At 5:30 in the morning I was having a dream that I had a sudden urge to push and went to lift my leg up. All of a sudden, the pressure intensified and I woke up in a flash. It was no dream. I could have recognized that pressure from anywhere. Immediately I remembered the pop I felt at midnight and wondered if that was the baby's head descending further into my pelvis? Suddenly I felt a strong urge to push. Aren't women's bodies amazing?
I woke up DH and told him it was time. He groggily looked at me, probably thinking that I'd been saying that all weekend, when I went to stand up to go get the kids out of bed to take to their grandmother's and nearly fell over from the pain. I couldn't walk. Every time I moved I felt an intense urge to push. DH immediately jumped up and started to get everyone to the car. In a panic I called my mother and told her we were on our way, that I felt like I had to push.
After we dropped off the kids and headed to the hospital, the pains were so intense I had to be wheeled up in a wheelchair. They didn't even hesitate to put me on the monitors. They put me straight into a delivery suite. I managed to get into a gown, answer all their health history questions, take an IV (required for me because I had postpartum hemorrhage with Grace) and fight through contractions all at once. The doctor came in to check me. I was 9 cm with a bulging bag. She went ahead and broke it. I felt some relief but not for long before the intense pains were back... this time with an even stronger urge to push.
The entire time I kept thinking about my midwife and how she didn't believe my pelvis could accomodate birthing a big baby. I kept thinking about how the doctors told me that I should as long as he was below 4500 grams. I remember that the nurses told me the first time I went to hospital to be put on the monitors that I didn't look big and looked to be carrying around an 8 pound baby, no more. I remembered a woman at my grandmother's nursing home that said I looked small compared to her pregnant niece, who was due in September. Lastly, I thought about my dad telling me that ultrasounds can be wrong and that he probably just wasn't ready yet. All these things flooded through my brain when the doctor told me to go ahead and start pushing.
I did one big push and baby was already through my cervix. Another push and he was crowning. A third push and his chin was out. This is where things started to get scary. The next push caught his shoulder on my pubic bone. I had no epidural so I felt EVERYTHING. Usually in previous births once those shoulders were through, the rest of the body came out. DH grabbed one leg back and a nurse grabbed the other. Together they went to push my legs back to try to open my pelvis more. I willed myself to fight through the pain and that shoulder did come out. Then the other got stuck.
OH. MY. GAWD.
The pain was the most intense I've ever felt during a birth. I was screaming that I couldn't do it, fighting the people holding my leg and kicked DH a couple times when a nurse came running up to me saying "Yes you can. You CAN do this." Having someone believe in me was all the strength I needed. DH was crying at this point. I got myself under control with this baby half hanging out of me when the nurse holding my other leg suddenly pounced on my belly with the next push... and he shot out like a cannon ball.
The pain suddenly went away. The doctor diagnosed him with mild shoulder dystocia. His shoulders were red on top and his face bruised from the trauma but in the end he ended up being ok. Everyone was waiting for a weight, so after they rubbed the vernix from his face, they flopped him on the scale. DH ran over with the camera to catch his weight.
9 lbs 15.5 oz!!!!
AKA 4515 grams. I felt so proud of myself for getting him out naturally with no epidural, no c-section and just a bit over the weight that they usually let women birth naturally here. Even more amazing was that I suffered no tearing. When no one believed in us, we did it together, and just in the nick of time. I would have turned 39 weeks on Tuesday according to the doctors when they talked of induction.
I think that this was probably my easiest recovery. I did end up with slight anemia after the birth but nothing that can't be cured with iron tablets. However I would take that over terrible SPD, hemorrhoids, tearing or needing a blood transfusion like with the others. I had always wanted to see how large of a baby we could make, crazy as that sounds, because all of our children were large for dates. To go almost to my due date and experience birthing a nearly 10 pounder was quite unique. I will say however that I NEVER want to do that again and that I feel satisfied to say our family is complete.
We went out with a BANG!
