IrishOboe

The rest of the story, for those who like the details . . .

Unlike Joseph’s birth, it was hard to know when labor actually began.  I’d been having regular contractions for a number of weeks and they would sometimes intensify only to fade again.  As the due date (January 17^th) came and went I started to get more and more ready to get the show on the road (naturally!).  Friday the 20^th (the date I’d guessed the baby would come) I had a midwife appointment in the morning and let her “strip the membranes” which is a gentle way of stimulating labor.  She also did acupuncture a second time (the first was at an appointment on the 17^th), which is supposed to help with circulation and the opening of the cervix.  I don’t know how it works, but it feels good and certainly it was a faster birth this time!  Later that day I decided to throw all the natural labor inducers at once at the baby and see if I couldn’t get things rolling.  I was scheduled for an ultrasound in the hospital on Tuesday and didn’t want to get to that point since the longer past the due date the less likely I could have a home birth.  I took a long (for an over-nine-month pregnant lady) walk Friday after Joseph was in bed and started having stronger, regular contractions.  I decided to get some sleep but with waves coming less than five minutes apart I couldn’t sleep and decided to take a shower at 1:30am to see if things would intensify or dissipate.  They did neither, so I didn’t wake anybody up but I still couldn’t sleep because they were frequent and strong enough.  Finally around 3:30am they started to come less frequently and by the time Joseph was up at 6am I was only have them every 45 minutes or so.  So with a total of about 2 hours max sleep I started the day rather disappointed, but it didn’t last long.  Nursing Joseph in the morning (hoping we could all get more sleep) brought on contractions again and they soon started getting stronger.  I took a walk with Mom and Joseph and it took forever though it was a short distance because I kept stopping every 1 ½ to 2 minutes to breath through a contractions, but the contractions themselves were quite short: only 30 seconds.  Everything was so different this time it was hard to know if I was far in labor or not.  But it still seemed clear enough that today (Saturday, January 21^st) would be the day so we made some calls to get the prayers and people moving.  Stephan’s folks came to look after Joseph, the midwife came to check my progress and I labored mostly alone in the living room standing and walking as I found that if I sat the contractions would become less frequent.  At around 11am I was 5-6cm which thrilled me no end.  I was in pain, but still felt like I could handle it so I was afraid I’d only be 1-2cm like at Joseph’s birth.  I remember being ready to give up and thinking I was in transition with Joseph and then I was only 4cm!  So, I was thrilled to know I was that far along but soon things started to intensify and I requested that Stephan stay with me.  Soon after that my water broke.  I leaned against Stephan as he sat on the couch and soon started having some urges to push.  I wasn’t sure if I should make myself push through the pain or not so the midwife checked me so I wouldn’t waste my energy if it was too early.  I was at 8cm (at about 11:45), which meant I still had to wait through some contractions for who-knows-low-long before the pushing phase.  I started to feel overwhelmed.  With Joseph I had retreated in some fog or zone and found I didn’t even have the energy to express a thought, but I felt quite aware this time and was quite able to say “I can’t do it anymore” but this time I really was in transition by the time I hit that feeling and it wasn’t even six hours after the morning re-start of labor.  Sometimes I got a long break between contractions during transition, which was heavenly but other times they came right on top of each other.  It wasn’t nearly as horrible as getting through Joseph’s birth, but it was still quite something to ride through.  Your whole body is torn apart with pain and tension and you’re supposed to relax and make a deep open throat sound.  My noises were more like “OOOh, ow! Ow! Oooh, ow! Ow! Oooh” as I fought to stay relaxed and open.  About 10 minutes after noon the midwife suggested I move to hands and knees because there was just a lip of cervix still in the way and it would probably release better in the other position.  I had thought about moving for a while but didn’t know what position to move to nor did I have the strength, but with her help I got on my knees and rested on Stephan, who later reports I dug my elbows into his thighs, but was smart enough not to complain at the time.  Quite soon after the position change I felt the urge to really push and soon felt the head moving down.  The midwife said she could see the head coming down and I bellowed “I can feel the head moving down!” and she told Mom that Joseph should come in since we said we wanted him to see the birth.  Mommy roaring through the pushes was a bit too much for him and he clung to Grandma and cried a bit, but did a great job.  Fortunately, I only pushed for about two minutes and Vivienne was out!  The midwife asked if I wanted to reach down and touch the head as the baby was coming, but I sad “no!” because I felt I needed both my arms to support myself and I just wanted it over!  The midwife just guided Vivienne down to the floor where I could pick her up.  What relief!  What joy!  And I didn’t have the crazy pain right after like I did with Joseph so could just enjoy her.  I wasn’t sure if she was a boy or girl at the time because her anatomy was so swollen, but I didn’t care then I was just enjoying it all being over and being able to rest with my sweet baby.

I didn’t tear this time and part of the reason might be that Vivienne’s head was smaller than Joseph’s even though she was heavier and longer.  That plus a shorter birth (only six hours from the morning restart) and experience with breastfeeding have meant the recovery has gone a thousand times better than the last time.  Birth still really takes it out of you, and I was still pretty sure at the time I never wanted to do it ever again, but having Joseph’s birth to compare things to makes me ever so grateful for the way things are happening this time around.  Vivienne is a super sleeper, but I’m not sure most would think that way.  She wakes up less than every 2 hours for attention at night, but I’m so used to being woken up that it is not the trouble it was when Joseph was born.  I just changer her or feed her or settle her down and she goes back to sleep and so do I.  I am so grateful that Mom and Stephan are taking care of all the household chores and cooking, so I can just focus on resting and recovering and looking after my sweet children.  Joseph is adjusting quickly and he is so sweet to Vivienne, asking to see her and give her kisses and telling me that she needs mommy milk.  Joseph is also getting lots of attention from Grandma and is learning more about numbers as his favorite activities are still working with his alphabet and number puzzles!