Hi everyone! This post is a compilation of my postpartum experiences thus far and the birth story.
How far along? 40 Weeks and 4 Weeks Postpartum - Labor and Delivery
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| 1 Day Postpartum |
Maternity clothes? Hang onto those maternity clothes! You will still wear them for a couple weeks. I'm still wearing the maternity capris, shorts and jeans. However, the dresses I bought at the end of the pregnancy are way too big now. I've been able to get into some of my pre-pregnancy clothes, which is awesome, it's like finding a whole new wardrobe without spending any money.
Stretch marks? No stretch marks! Phew! But I have a more defined linea nigra now that my belly is shrinking.
Sleep: Anthony so far has been a great sleeper, eater, pooper and pee-er. :) He has given me 2 to 31/2 hour stretches at night between feedings. I've been finding the longer I can keep him alert during the day, the longer stretches he gives me at night between feedings.
Miss Anything? I don't miss being pregnant, but it's all very surreal that within a day, boom, it's over. No longer pregnant, no more tiny feet kicking my ribs, the urge to pee every 5 minutes is gone. I do miss sleeping through the night, but I haven't done that while I was pregnant either because I was getting up to pee so frequently.
Food cravings: I cannot believe the amount of food I am consuming, but no true cravings. It's true what they say about breastfeeding burning a ton of calories. I'm eating a lot, and losing weight which is AWESOME!
Anything making you queasy or sick: No I've been feeling really great, other than pangs of extreme thirst while breastfeeding. While he drinks, I drink lots of water, almost 10oz. every feeding.
Special things I'm focusing on: Eating healthy, fueling my body for both myself, my milk production and feeding Anthony as healthy as possible through my daily choices.
Belly Button in or out? It has started to go back in! Hooray!!
Wedding rings on or off? The wedding rings have been off since 38 weeks, I've been more swollen postpartum in the fingers than I have been my entire pregnancy, but within in the last week, they are fitting better and I've started wearing my wedding band. I've been skipping the engagement ring to avoid scratching Anthony with it.
Happy or Moody most of the time: I had some days of the "baby blues" following Anthony's birth around day 4 postpartum. The placenta encapsulator I hired, had come to the rescue with that. As soon as I started taking the placenta capsules, within an hour I started feeling myself again. Having an infant for the first time has been a bit overwhelming and your mind can take a downward spiral rather quickly with the change of hormones after birth. Day 4 postpartum was the most extreme hormonal dump I've ever experienced. Whether eating my placenta is a placebo effect or not...it works for me. I have restored energy, my mood lifts and overall I feel really great. I highly recommend the placenta encapsulation to anyone considering it.
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| 39 Weeks |
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| 4 weeks postpartum |
This is the birth story how I remember it...
6.23.2014 ~ 11:45pm
I woke up with cramping and diarrhea then went back to bed. At 12:45am, again, cramping and diarrhea, went back to bed. At 1:45am, cramping and still feeling sick to my stomach, I decided to get up...is this it, I wondered?? All this cramping and feeling sick? I went downstairs to avoid waking Eddie just yet in case it was a false alarm.
I started pacing and walking in the living room, sitting on the exercise ball to stretch out my hips in between having the urge to go to the bathroom with a few more episodes of diarrhea which eventually stopped, but the feeling I had to go continued, so I started drinking water to avoid becoming dehydrated. When I got off the toilet and started gripping the sides of the sink from the discomfort while I washed my hands, I realized those cramps, weren't cramps, they were contractions. I decided to start timing them. I used an app on my phone that I downloaded rather quickly...I can't even remember what it's called, but it showed that my contractions were very sporadic. Every 7 minutes, then it switched to every 3 minutes. They were not terrible, only lasting about 30 seconds at the most and I'm pretty sure I'd had period cramps worse than this. I remember thinking...I've got this...this isn't that bad! :)
By 3am I continued my pacing in the living room and trips to the bathroom and sitting on the exercise ball, then Buddy started barking randomly, which woke Eddie. He came downstairs and said, "What are you doing? Why is Buddy barking?" I replied, "I don't know why Buddy is barking, but I think I'm having contractions!" "You are? What should I do?", he asked. "Just go back to bed, there really is no consistency yet, so it might be a false alarm, I'll holler for you if I need you." So Eddie went back to bed for probably about half an hour, then my mind started racing....what do I know? This could be it, after all, 6/23/2014 was my due date... so I called for Eddie and asked him to call the doctor. Since in the middle of the night called the emergency number, where he was directed to an answering service to take a message and the doctor would call us right back. Within 3 minutes the doctor called right back. We told her the contractions were kind of sporadic still but the contractions were lasting 30 to 60 seconds. She told us we could probably wait a little bit longer before coming in or to come in and they would see where I was at in dilation. We hung up with the doctor and decided that waiting to go may not be the best option considering the travel to downtown Baltimore and rush hour would soon be approaching. We were at the hospital no later than I think, 4:15am.
6.24.2014 ~ Hospital Registration and Admittance
The car ride to the hospital was uneventful, but I quickly came to the conclusion that sitting during contractions was extremely uncomfortable. We registered into the Labor and Delivery Ward and were shown into a small room with a bed and bathroom where they took my blood pressure and made me give a urine sample. They hooked me up to the fetal monitor to monitor baby's heart rate and measure my contractions. The midwife on duty came in to check my progress on dilation. That was extremely painful!! More painful than any of the contractions I had had thus far. It made me cry. I was 4 1/2 cm dilated, so they decided to admit me since my contractions were pretty consistent and close together. Upon admittance, I was given a hep-lock, but requested that I not be hooked up to an IV or the monitors. So they agreed to intermittent monitoring. So every hour for 20 minutes they would hook me up to the fetal monitor and track contractions which required me to be still and not walking around so I had the option of either lie in the bed or sit on an exercise, I eventually stuck to the exercise ball during the monitoring, because lying or sitting was still extremely uncomfortable from all the pressure. The IV they agreed to wait on as well, as long as they saw that I kept hydrated, which Eddie was very good about making me drink some water just about after every contraction.
Contractions and Labor
Now I know for me, prior to experiencing labor I googled and asked everyone who ever had a baby before what do contractions feel like? How painful is child birth really? Although I received some great answers, it still didn't put it in perspective til I was actually going through it. I'll be honest, the pain was indescribable. Yes, a contraction felt like a period cramp...a very, very, strong, long cramp. Some of my contractions lasted over two minutes. After reading Ina May's book, and pretty dedicated to experience childbirth naturally without any drugs, I knew that after every contraction I'd have a break. Which was true. The pain subsided after each and every one... my head could clear and I could actually focus on the conversations that were happening around me. But during the contractions, I found a focal point (which happened to be a church bell tower in the Baltimore skyline that I could see from our awesome delivery room), I had Eddie and my friend Kristin coaching me on breathing while they alternated doing hip squeezes while I stood beside the bed leaning over it a majority of the time through the labor.
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| Eddie reading to me during one of my contractions while being monitored. |
Around 9am my doctor came in to check on me. I couldn't believe it was already 9am! (I had imagined labor feeling like time was standing still) I was afraid to be checked on how much further I had dilated. After all, this baby was coming out one way or another and I figured, why go through that pain again, so I opted out of being checked for quite some time. The doctor told me no problem...keep on doing what I am doing and call them if I need them. I didn't want to know where I was...I was afraid it would only be one more centimeter...or worse, I had back tracked and closed up since the last cervix check. Fortunately, my contractions started getting stronger and longer. These were the two minute ones....with only about a 15-20 seconds break before another one started. The doctor revisited about 11:45am and suggested this time that I should be checked with the contractions being so close. I was scared, exhausted and feeling like I couldn't do this. Pain medication at this point did enter my mind. Eddie helped me get on the bed in between at least two contractions. I am completely grateful for the patience of these doctors and my nurse...they were incredible. Once I was on the bed I remember how uncomfortable I was, and the doctor inserted what felt like her whole hand to check my progress. It was still very painful, but the outcome was great. I was 9 1/2 cm dilated!! OMG! That made me feel like a million bucks! The doctor said that last 1/2 cm she could probably stretch out herself but instead she said, "Lets try pushing!" I remember feeling shocked to hear her say this. My water was still unbroken, and pushing is for the end of labor I thought...."Already?" I questioned. She explained that by pushing during the contraction would force the baby down on the cervix a little further to open that last 1/2 cm. "We can have this baby within the next hour!" she said.
So on the next contraction, I pushed. Or, so I thought I did. For the last 9 hours I had been coached on breathing to manage the pain of every contraction. But now I was suppose to hold my breath during those contractions and push like I was pooping. Needless to say it took me many tries to figure out exactly just how to do that with the pain when all I wanted to do was stand back up, look at my church bell tower and breath.
Probably by the third real push that I was able to manage...(I felt like I had pushed like ten times) my water broke. It was the most relief I had had in hours. Over the next 10 minutes I zoned out. I think I might have actually slept some. I did not have one contraction during that time, and I remember feeling concerned and asked the nurse why the contractions had stopped. She said, "Because your body is preparing for the hardest part. It's allowing you to rest to push his head out." Within moments the contractions started again and the pressure below intensified. The doctor told me again that I need to push like I was pooping and to not breath during the contractions but hold my breath to push.
I was in my own world at this point. I was aware of the conversations around me, but not focused on them. I moaned meditatively on each rest that I had and kept my eyes closed. Again, I may have napped during some of those breaks. Every time I felt a contraction approaching, I would say "Uh Oh!" which my audience found comical and they could then see on the monitor that a contraction was approaching. I also remember everyone cheering me on to "push! push! push!" which ended up annoying me and I told them all to stop telling me to push! "I know I have to push!" I barked, but all their cheering made me lose focus on how to push and I needed the silence.
By this point I just remember feeling a lot of pain, pressure and burning sensations. I have read that is called the "ring of fire" when the baby's head is crowning, however I didn't realize that was happening and I didn't think I was progressing that quickly at all until everyone said that his hair was showing and I just needed a few more good pushes to get him out...hence all the cheering that I shushed. HA!
With that news, I was determined and extremely motivated knowing this would all soon be over. I must have pushed another 8-10 times before I got anywhere all the while my eyes closed and taking a breaks from pushing and using the breathing techniques during a few contractions again and moaning a lot. I kept saying "It hurts, I can't push, I can't do it!" But everyone kept positive and encouraged me to keep going and the next thing I know during my next ambitious push I felt a painful burning sensation that felt like it was coming out of my urethra. The pain was so intense, my legs flailed out straight as arrows and I screamed out in agony...I felt a thud beside me and finally opened my eyes to see two nurses I didn't recognize on the sides of the bed with me, pushing the monitors off my belly to the side of me, shoving my legs into my armpits and pressing down on my belly very forcefully. It was a terrifying moment but the baby was out immediately after. Eddie cut the umbilical cord and they placed him on my chest. I always envisioned myself losing it emotionally and crying, but I was in such shock after what had just happened and my legs would not stop trembling I couldn't even believe this crying baby in front of me just came out of me.
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| 6/24/2014 1:09 pm |
The baby's shoulder got stuck on my pelvic bone, which is known as shoulder dystocia. The maneuver they performed to free the baby's shoulder from the pelvic bone is shown in the picture. However, the doctor said she was not convinced 100% that the baby actually got stuck. Because of the way my legs went out straight like arrows could have prevented him from coming out, because it's nearly impossible for the baby to pass through the birth canal with your legs straight. Thankfully, neither of us suffered any injury from this maneuver.
I had pushed for about an hour and a half. I suffered a 2nd degree tear. The nurses asked me if they could take the baby from me to get him cleaned up weighed and measured and I agreed and Eddie went over with them to the little baby table where Anthony peed on him and the nurse. I barely remember delivering the placenta, I was too busy looking at the crying baby on my chest even though I was still having contractions... I was still in shock that it was all over. They gave me pitocin to speed up the process of the placenta delivery, but I can't imagine it was more than 10 minutes after Anthony was born...everything happened so fast once he was out.
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| First family photo |
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| Holding Dad's hand |
So friends, that's our story. It was a wonderful day. I feel so empowered to have done it naturally, and even one month later, I can't believe it's already over. I spent 9 months prepping for one day reading books, watching documentaries, and researching online. 10 hard hours later that flew right by... I just have no words. It was extraordinary...primal in every way. Exactly how I wanted it.
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| This photo was taken about an hour after delivery right before we were shown to our recovery room where we stayed for two nights. |
Welcome to the world Baby Anthony!
