Wednesday, October 2, 2013

My second home birth after cesarean- The birth of Azalea "Azzie"

October 1st-
5pm- Extremely frustrated at the idea of being 5 days past my "due" date. That night before I had several hours of contractions, mildly intense, every 10 min, and thought for sure I was in early labor  but at roughly 7 am that morning everything stopped, so I was a little grumpy. I reluctantly called my midwife and let her know that I would be there at my 7pm appointment and agreed to meet with Greg to be adjusted.

7pm- I melted down at my appointment. There was cervical change, I was a good 4cm baby was at 0 station and cervix was favorable for labor BUT no contractions... I was so frustrated! I also expressed my fears to them. After a 29 hour labor and hard recovery with Asher I was a little less than thrilled at the idea of going through all of that again...

7:30pm- Went down and got adjusted by Greg. It felt ah-mazing to have some of the pressure in my back released and my pelvis put back into place after weeks of being in pain. Why didn't I get adjusted sooner?!

8pm- Hour drive home... I focused on releasing my fears of giving birth again. I focused on the joy not the pain and knew that no matter what she was coming out so I needed to just let go and deal with it. I felt much better when I got home.

9:15pm I ate half a PB&J some cottage cheese, and a little vitajuice and headed to bed. I was exhausted from the day.

10:45pm Hubby and baby come join me in bed. I was less than thrilled, I was finally sleeping soundly and they came in and took over the bed... I kicked them out. As I was trying to go back to sleep I started having some of those same annoying mild contractions roughly every 10 min and I stayed in a half sleep state through them for about and hour and a half.

October 2nd- 

12:30pm I decided I could not sleep anymore. I felt sort of yucky so I decided to take a shower.While in the shower contractions intensified slightly but were still 9-10 minutes apart and not unbearable.

1:15am I decided to call Jill and let her know I was having some mild contractions and that I AGAIN might be in early labor. She told me to either rest up or shower I told her I was already ahead of her and that I would let her know if anything changed.

1:17am- AS SOON as I hung up the phone the next contraction hit me hard... I decided at that point to start timing them when I could...  the next few contractions were 4-5 minutes apart and HARD to bear. I felt wet and when I went to see why I found lots of cervix and bloody show.

1:45am(ish) I called Jill back, I told her she needed to come.

2:30am- Jill arrives, At this point my contractions are very hard and I am hollering mildly through them. They were getting bad and the tub was just finishing up. Jill asked me if I wanted to be checked. I said yes. I assumed at this point (seeing I was only in "active" labor for roughly an hour) I expected to be at roughly 6 cm dilated. Jill checked. I was at 8! 8!!!  I could not believe what she was telling me! How the heck was this going so fast?! Jill instantly called Amy, " You need to come!"

2:40am- I got into the birth tub. the water was a little too cool so we started boiling water to add to it.  I found my sweet spot against the heating element in the tub and the next few contractions were bearable and had a little more of a break between them. I enjoyed the short rest period.




3:10am- Amy arrives (I'm convinced she sped... tisk tisk) and my contractions start hitting hard again. Really hard with very little break in between. I told Jill I was feeling a bit pushy and I could feel Azzie's head half a finger away from the opening. There was a tiny bit of cervix left but that was gone in the next contraction.

3:23am I could no longer control myself. I was pushing. Contractions felt almost back to back and the pain of her coming down and out was intense! I could not help but scream. First she crowned, then her whole head... a small break ( which I FORCED myself to try to breathe and not scream through) and finally the last push of relief.

3:33am Azzie was born. It took a little somersaulting to get her up and out seeing as she had herself all wrapped up in her cord, but she was lifted up to me and I greeted my new baby girl. I was over flowed with joy and relief.


3:36am- I stand up to get out of the birth tub and head to my bed and my placenta "falls" out... *splash* Well that was easy....









3:40am- I begin to spend my golden hour with Azzie. She still had lots of vernix, a tiny bit of hair, a beautiful face... pure perfection. Within minutes she was latched on and nursing! She has quite a strong suck reflex for someone so new! while I was enjoying my new one the midwives began clean up and occasionally came in to check my bleeding and uterus. Only 1 1/2 cups blood loss! A huge difference in comparison to Asher's birth where I lost 3 1/2!


4:40am- Midwives came in and began to check up on Azzie. She wieghed in at 7 pounds 1 ounce and 19 1/4" long. 10 fingers, 10 toes, perfection!
 

Aiden helped cut the cord and investigate the placenta. He was fascinated with the entire thing. :)
Asher somehow managed to sleep through the whole ordeal... After the midwives were done checking out Azzie, she went to meet daddy while midwives checked me... NO tears! I barely had any swelling! I was able to use the bathroom with NO pain. This momma then soaked her bottom real quick in an Epsom salt bath and cleaned off any ickies. I came back to a freshly made bed. and the midwives made their leave around 5:45 am.



I am still in shock at how quickly and smooth this birth went and how good I still feel. After a previous 29 hour, prolonged labor, tearing, and blood loss, Azzie's birth was more than what I could have hoped for!

Birth Stats-
Total time in Active labor- 2 hours 10 min
Total time pushing- 8 minutes
Time till delivery of placenta- 3 minutes
Total- 2 hours 21 minutes

Wanted to get this written before any more of the details faded! Now I am off to continue enjoying my babymoon.

<3
Cassie


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