We are planning our fifth UC, God-willing, in September. Our first was a miserable hospital birth experience. Our nurses were awful (except for one, she was amazing, saved me from a c-section) and the on-call doctor was a total jerk that cut me without asking permission and spent maybe a grand total of 30 minutes in my room. The recovery area was not any better and we had the meanest nurse that kept trying to force us to formula feed. I decided after that that I would rather give birth behind a bush than ever give birth in a hospital again (unless one of us were dying, obviously).
With #2, we were going to a birth center, but I did not mesh with any of the 5 midwives and they constantly talked about different reasons to transfer. I'm not sure if they were trying to make me feel at ease because they'd transfer if you blinked wrong, or what. But I did NOT feel at ease there and felt we would likely end up being transferred for some non-existent reason. And we were new to the area with an almost 3yo son, who they said could be present at the birth initially, but as the days got closer, they were more like, "you should leave him with a neighbor" which was NOT ok with me. I only started seeing them at 28 weeks, and by 31 weeks I knew it was not going to work out. I began researching and praying and praying and praying and at 35 weeks, I told my husband my deepest desire for a UC. He consented and I was just
Totally shocked.
By the time labor started at 39w3d, I was 5cm dilated (I checked myself) with a bulging bag of water. Labor was 4 1/2 hours and just a few minutes of pushing. I opted for hands and knees, and dh caught her.
Next baby was posterior. I had felt from the very beginning that there was going to be something different about this birth. I assumed breech and researched like crazy until our ultrasound at 18 weeks. He was posterior and my placenta draped to the front, and since babies like to face their placenta, I figured he'd probably stay that way. And he did! His foot was constantly poking straight out my belly button. I always knew he'd be early too, and that came true as well. On the night I was 35w3d, I felt him doing practice breathing, and I took that as a sign from God that he was good to go. I know they all do it in utero, but I had never been able to catch it happening before. Later that night contractions started. Labor lasted 4 days, which was exhausting, but completely ok with me since I know the complex chemical, hormonal, and physical changes that take place to ready a baby for the outside world are aided by contractions. So the more I had and the longer it lasted, the more my confidence grew that he was ready. He was born at 35w6d, completely perfect and much bigger than I expected! #1 was born at 37w6d (water broke) and 6lb15oz. #2 was 39w3d and 6lb12oz, and #3 was 6lb5oz. Not really that much smaller. His breathing was perfect and he ate just fine. His only issue was maintaining his temperature for the first 3 days. Something he surely would have been whisked away to the NICU for. But I wore him skin to skin in my shirt and he did perfect! I'm thankful that no one was there to interfere to take him from me. I gave birth to him squatting and caught him myself. It was the only position that didn't feel absolutely awful.
Baby #4 was also born at 39w3d. My water broke the day before with her, and labor finally started at the 20 hour mark. She was born right around the 24 hour mark. A privilege I didn't get with #1. They induced me "urgently" because my water had broken and we all know that if your water breaks, everyone dies if you don't get induced. It was really a lazy day waiting around for contractions. We ended up going to bed around 11:30 and woke up at 2:30 to contractions. I let my husband sleep while I labored, and by the time transition hit, all three of my kids were up, so I got him up and I went for solitude in the shower. I hit transition and didn't realize it, and told him (rather nasty) that I was taking a nap and wanted the bed made with a shower curtain under the sheet. A few minutes later I yelled that I needed a towel and that I was pushing.
He knew something was up when I said I wanted the bed made. He came in with the towel and I was hunched over the bathroom counter. I told him that he had to catch her while I worked on maintaining my skin down there. She came out with a hand in her face...such a sweet thing to do!!! She was 7lb14oz.
Baby #5's water broke too. I'm 3 for 5!!! What a rip off. This time contractions started right away, and that made me pretty mad. After 10 hours, things weren't really progressing. I had been handling the pain fine, until about then. She was posterior, and as the day went on, I was needing dh to squeeze my hips as hard as he could. I was on hands and knees on the couch and she rotated, which is probably the most painful thing I've ever felt! It was really awful. I decided to head for the shower and checked myself. I was only 4cm...after starting at 3cm. I was so disappointed and discouraged. I felt like I was in the peak of pain and had been certain I was in transition, but feeling such a small opening really crushed me. Then I swear, it was like God talking and He said, "just trust Me, push". I fought it for another hour. "No God! Don't You know that if you push at 4cm you'll swell your cervix shut and never give birth?!" In desperation, I finally decided to test push while checking and was surprised when my cervix melted away to fully dilated. She was born not much later. I pushed her head out and called dh in. I caught her standing up in the shower. It was a bit slippery, I'm thinking a towel in hand would have been a good idea. She was born at 40w5d and was also 7lb14oz. She also had a hand in her face too!
