kellyb
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Well, after going 12 days over my "guess date," Kylar Alton made it into this crazy world! It was quite a whirlwind of a week, but I'm happy to be back on here to share my story...WARNING--THIS IS A LONG ONE, LIKE NOVEL-LENGTH!
On Sat. the 12th, my mw had me go in for an ultrasound as I was 10 days "overdue." The scan showed that my placenta was starting to degrade (pretty normal), but the bad news was my fluid level was very low (3.7--midwife wanted it at 5+). So, my mw decided to get things going. We had planned a homebirth all along, so I was so happy to get on with it. She checked my cervix, and while I was almost completely effaced, I was only dilated to 2, which she stretched to a 3 during a cervical massage (not comfy at all!). Afterward, she had me pump each breast for 1 hour while bouncing on the ball. She also had me take Black Cohosh and Evening Primrose Oil (manually, and vaginally inserted). By about 4 o'clock, which was within the first hour and 15 minutes, I started to feel pretty good period pains--they didn't come and go, they were just constant. So, I thought MAYBE this was the start?
While I expected to start feeling short, 30 sec contractions at intervals of 10 to 20 minutes apart, my expectation did not come true. Instead, at around 5 pm, I did start to feel some intense tightening in my belly and back, but the contractions were lasting anywhere between about 1 min 15 sec, and 3 minutes. They would start up again every 7-10 minutes, and the worst part was during the "breaks" they wouldn't completely ease up. It was weird--I hadn't read much about contractions going like that--I always thought once they started I'd have time to bake cookies or something! Anyway, my hubby and I started timing for the next few hours, and I already had to be laying on the bed with him using our professional-grade massager (crazy hard vibrations) on my back. By 10 pm, the contractions were around 2-3 minutes long, about 6 minutes apart--I'd never heard anything like this! And it was not fun. My husband was great though--always ready with the massager, all the while trying to set up the birthing pool, and run around and get stuff in the house in between each contraction.
MW came over with her apprentice (who was our natural childbirth teacher) around midnight, and things continued on, just as intensely, and it was really tough, but I was managing to breathe through each one...I did lose it during a couple here and there, but overall, I was in control (as long as the massager was on my back). Finally, I got in the tub, which was SOOO nice. When the hose was on, I would use the heat on my belly and back, which was such a relief. BUT the tub slowed everything down. While it was a welcome relief, we didn't need to be going backward. I did refuse to get out for a while though--needed a break so bad. The 3 of them kept trying to get me to sip water or coconut water, or take a bite of food, but all of it was repulsive. I managed a few sips here and there.
Finally, by 4am, mw decided to check my dilation. I nearly died when she told me I was still basically at a 3. Holy crap, how could that be? She and the apprentice decided to go home for a rest, and told us to rest in the pool, as I needed to gather some new energy. Then she told us maybe the baby's head wasn't quite in the right position, so we were to start walking around and kneeling on all fours. By 8am-ish, after doing this for an hour or so, the contractions were insanely back, so strong and long. The mw came back around 10am and contractions were almost back to back. Most lasted 2-3 minutes, with 30 seconds in between. It was such hard work. The mw commented on this being a very hard labor, seeing as sometimes we were double and triple peaking. THE mega contraction lasted 10 minutes--yes, you read that right!
So it seemed we were in transition, and mw told me to try to push to see if that felt good (I didn't really feel like pushing, just kind of), and it only kind of felt good when I pushed). At around 11am, my water broke, and was filled with meconium. At around 2pm, I needed a break, got in the pool, and it slowed everything down--sweet relief, but bittersweet. At 4pm, mw did another check. I saw the look on her face--after 24 hours, we had progressed by 1 cm. It was time to make a decision. As bad as I wanted a homebirth, I couldn't take the thought that it may take another 24 hours to progress 1 cm, and we had the meconium issue.
I decided to get to the hospital where they were going to move things along with pitocin, and relieve my pain with an epidural. Strangely, I threw up before getting the epi. Weird! I kind of felt like I was giving in, but my body was shot--24 hours was like 2 regular-length labors. The epidural was pretty magical, and I could finally speak and smile. Instead of being bummed that the plan had changed, I just felt so happy that my baby would be here soon, so I enjoyed the ride.
By 11 am the next morning, guess how far we had progressed? Yup, 1 whopping centimeter. It was unbelievable! I couldn't imagine having labored at home to get that result. By this point, my uterus had basically given up, and the baby's heartrate kept getting affected by the contractions, and the water had been broken for 24 hours. We had just about no choice but to accept the c-section, but I did so with a smile on my face, because what's the point of getting upset?
At 12:25pm, on Nov. 14, my little boy joined us in the world--he did have to get intubated to pull out any potential meconium from his lungs, but he managed to have a clean bill of health--that's my boy! He was also larger than anyone had thought--7 lbs., 9 oz, 20 inches long. Everyone was guessing around 6 pounds because my belly was so compact and my size is small (pre-preg--5'6", 106 lbs.). Apparently, my boy's head was wedged so far into my pelvis (and had been for months), that the dr. struggled to pull him out--I even heard his grunting to pull on the baby. He had the nurses pushing from the vaginal canal to help him. So weird to hear all that going on. My poor vagina! Also apparently, my uterus was on the verge of rupturing. Lovely. Thankfully, the dr. said I would be perfectly capable of carrying a baby in the future, but we'd likely have to perform a c-section at around 39 weeks. I may be opting for adoption
So, that's it--Kylar Alton is finally here. If you've read this far, you are a trooper, and thank you. Just hoping my story can help anyone out!
We are all warriors, and we are doing beautiful things by bringing these amazing kidlets into the world!
On Sat. the 12th, my mw had me go in for an ultrasound as I was 10 days "overdue." The scan showed that my placenta was starting to degrade (pretty normal), but the bad news was my fluid level was very low (3.7--midwife wanted it at 5+). So, my mw decided to get things going. We had planned a homebirth all along, so I was so happy to get on with it. She checked my cervix, and while I was almost completely effaced, I was only dilated to 2, which she stretched to a 3 during a cervical massage (not comfy at all!). Afterward, she had me pump each breast for 1 hour while bouncing on the ball. She also had me take Black Cohosh and Evening Primrose Oil (manually, and vaginally inserted). By about 4 o'clock, which was within the first hour and 15 minutes, I started to feel pretty good period pains--they didn't come and go, they were just constant. So, I thought MAYBE this was the start?
While I expected to start feeling short, 30 sec contractions at intervals of 10 to 20 minutes apart, my expectation did not come true. Instead, at around 5 pm, I did start to feel some intense tightening in my belly and back, but the contractions were lasting anywhere between about 1 min 15 sec, and 3 minutes. They would start up again every 7-10 minutes, and the worst part was during the "breaks" they wouldn't completely ease up. It was weird--I hadn't read much about contractions going like that--I always thought once they started I'd have time to bake cookies or something! Anyway, my hubby and I started timing for the next few hours, and I already had to be laying on the bed with him using our professional-grade massager (crazy hard vibrations) on my back. By 10 pm, the contractions were around 2-3 minutes long, about 6 minutes apart--I'd never heard anything like this! And it was not fun. My husband was great though--always ready with the massager, all the while trying to set up the birthing pool, and run around and get stuff in the house in between each contraction.
MW came over with her apprentice (who was our natural childbirth teacher) around midnight, and things continued on, just as intensely, and it was really tough, but I was managing to breathe through each one...I did lose it during a couple here and there, but overall, I was in control (as long as the massager was on my back). Finally, I got in the tub, which was SOOO nice. When the hose was on, I would use the heat on my belly and back, which was such a relief. BUT the tub slowed everything down. While it was a welcome relief, we didn't need to be going backward. I did refuse to get out for a while though--needed a break so bad. The 3 of them kept trying to get me to sip water or coconut water, or take a bite of food, but all of it was repulsive. I managed a few sips here and there.
Finally, by 4am, mw decided to check my dilation. I nearly died when she told me I was still basically at a 3. Holy crap, how could that be? She and the apprentice decided to go home for a rest, and told us to rest in the pool, as I needed to gather some new energy. Then she told us maybe the baby's head wasn't quite in the right position, so we were to start walking around and kneeling on all fours. By 8am-ish, after doing this for an hour or so, the contractions were insanely back, so strong and long. The mw came back around 10am and contractions were almost back to back. Most lasted 2-3 minutes, with 30 seconds in between. It was such hard work. The mw commented on this being a very hard labor, seeing as sometimes we were double and triple peaking. THE mega contraction lasted 10 minutes--yes, you read that right!
So it seemed we were in transition, and mw told me to try to push to see if that felt good (I didn't really feel like pushing, just kind of), and it only kind of felt good when I pushed). At around 11am, my water broke, and was filled with meconium. At around 2pm, I needed a break, got in the pool, and it slowed everything down--sweet relief, but bittersweet. At 4pm, mw did another check. I saw the look on her face--after 24 hours, we had progressed by 1 cm. It was time to make a decision. As bad as I wanted a homebirth, I couldn't take the thought that it may take another 24 hours to progress 1 cm, and we had the meconium issue.
I decided to get to the hospital where they were going to move things along with pitocin, and relieve my pain with an epidural. Strangely, I threw up before getting the epi. Weird! I kind of felt like I was giving in, but my body was shot--24 hours was like 2 regular-length labors. The epidural was pretty magical, and I could finally speak and smile. Instead of being bummed that the plan had changed, I just felt so happy that my baby would be here soon, so I enjoyed the ride.
By 11 am the next morning, guess how far we had progressed? Yup, 1 whopping centimeter. It was unbelievable! I couldn't imagine having labored at home to get that result. By this point, my uterus had basically given up, and the baby's heartrate kept getting affected by the contractions, and the water had been broken for 24 hours. We had just about no choice but to accept the c-section, but I did so with a smile on my face, because what's the point of getting upset?
At 12:25pm, on Nov. 14, my little boy joined us in the world--he did have to get intubated to pull out any potential meconium from his lungs, but he managed to have a clean bill of health--that's my boy! He was also larger than anyone had thought--7 lbs., 9 oz, 20 inches long. Everyone was guessing around 6 pounds because my belly was so compact and my size is small (pre-preg--5'6", 106 lbs.). Apparently, my boy's head was wedged so far into my pelvis (and had been for months), that the dr. struggled to pull him out--I even heard his grunting to pull on the baby. He had the nurses pushing from the vaginal canal to help him. So weird to hear all that going on. My poor vagina! Also apparently, my uterus was on the verge of rupturing. Lovely. Thankfully, the dr. said I would be perfectly capable of carrying a baby in the future, but we'd likely have to perform a c-section at around 39 weeks. I may be opting for adoption
So, that's it--Kylar Alton is finally here. If you've read this far, you are a trooper, and thank you. Just hoping my story can help anyone out!
We are all warriors, and we are doing beautiful things by bringing these amazing kidlets into the world!
congratulations on a BEAUTIFUL boy! xxxxxxxxxxxxx
