Tuesday, May 6, 2008

Stone's Birth by Stormy

On February 19th, we had our second son, first homebirth. Everything started on Sunday morning with me waking up with some crampy contractions. Nothing really that was consistant, but enough discomfort to wake me up for about an hour. Then I went back to bed and when I woke up I had a little of the "bloody show." I continued to have some contractions throughout the day and began making sure everything was ready and in place for the birth and then resting. I was resting on the couch for the second time that day when the contractions got to be a bit too uncomfortable and seemed to be regulating themselves to a more steady 7-8 minutes apart. So I got myself in the shower to relax a little. Of course the shower seemed to speed things up a bit, but it felt less strong, so I stayed in there. I had the shaky legs and then suddenly started to sob. My doula had just called and talked with my husband David since I had given her and the midwives a "heads up" that morning, and she wanted to see how I was. David hadn't realized how serious things had become so fast, so he called her back and asked her what temperature the tub should be and how long I could stay in. She recommended that I get in and if the contractions slowed down to then rest. If not, it would most likely speed things up.

Honestly, I was thinking things would stall as my first labor was a very long 60+ hours. But, there was no stalling. My contractions pretty much immediately became 5 minutes apart and 2 minutes long. He called the team and let them know we were ready for them to come. (The team consisted of our midwives and our doula). They were all here within 30 minutes. Cannot say how long it was before I really felt I needed their support, but they were able to rest a little bit before I really felt the need to have someone with me. (My midwives had a birth the night before and were up all night.) What I really needed was someone to hold my hands up in the water so I could try to fully relax my body. It was oddly difficult for me to relax my body when my arms were just floating there, and having them on the sides of the aquadoula did not seem to work either. So having my hands held seemed to help. David also had the room dimly lit with a couple of my favorite little lamps, and he had one of the "Dead Can Dance" cds playing in the cd player. It was really the perfect music as it reminds me of our relaxing trips to Colorado and it is a very soothing yet somewhat upbeat.

Soon after the hand holding began, I felt the need to do some little pushes. It sort of felt right but wrong all at the same time. So I concentrated on breathing through them until I just could not help myself and I had to push. I seem to remember the pushing taking a long time, but everyone else said it was only 5 minutes or so. First came the bag of waters, still intact, then can the babies head, which broke the bag. His head stopped coming out just below his mouth, and I found out later that the midwives were worried about shoulder distocia. But then they saw his elbow pressing out by my rectum and then were worried that I was going to tear a huge tear and have to be transported for stitching. But I magically kept stretching and stretching and his head came out with an arm and I only had 3 little stitches, 2 in one place 1 in another. Anyway, the midwives asked me to get on my hands and knees once his head was partly out and I finished pushing him out quickly there (I heard the slower heartbeat on the doppler and saw the concerned looks and whispers, though they were very well hidden from me, a mother can notice stuff like this no matter how small...). I knew it had to be quick. I figure he had the cord around his neck, which he did. I also mentioned throughout the last couple months of the pregnancy that I swore my son had daggers for nails already or daggers for hair, but I swore I felt a hand moving around and something rubbing on my cervix often, so his presentation made sense. He came out, and I think one of the midwives passed him to me in the water through my legs and I scooped him up. In the end, my labor was just 6 hours of regular labor, but if you count it from the first crampy contraction, it was only 20 hours. Not bad!

Stone Maddox was born at 12:29 a.m. on Monday the 19th of February (oddly enough it was his e.d.d.). He weighed 10 pounds 1 ounce, was 21 inches long, and his head measured at 14 7/8. We kept the umbilical cord attached until 10 or 11 in the morning and then my husband did the cutting. Stone has been a real pleasure to have and his big brother Zane is in love with him too.

We are so blessed to have 2 beautiful little boys. And to have my parents here to help us. Though we are all doing well, I am much more sore than I expected to be. (I have seen so many people just bounce up on their second day after birthing their 2nd or 3rd kid, and I have yet to figure out how they do it, but then again, they all had 7 pound babies, and both of mine were closer to 10.) Zane is really enjoying having grandma and grandpa here and I get to really enjoy my new son, yet still get cuddle time with my eldest son. Very nice!

Thanks to everyone for all their help/support over the last few months and many thanks also to my midwives, Eileen, and my very supportive (and super-excited-that-we-had-a-homebirth) husband.


Stone Maddox was Stormy's second birth, first homebirth. He was born on February 19th and weighed 10lbs, 1oz.