birth · Monday February 1, 2010
I wrote two different accounts of labor & delivery, and people can choose to read whichever one they prefer: the short version, and the possibly-too-much-detail birth junkie version.
Here’s the short version:
Joshua was born one week ago, at 9:51 a.m. Monday, January 25, 2010. It was a pretty quick waterbirth, attended by the same certified nurse-midwife (CNM) who attended Caleb’s birth. He looks a lot like Caleb. I’m feeling great, since I got to keep most of my blood this time (in stark contrast to last time).
Here’s the longer version, if you wanted more detail:
Wow. So this is what it’s like to not have tons of blood loss during birth. I feel pretty good! I am, of course, tired and need lots of sleep, but I am not, for example, crawling on the floor to get to the bathroom, or walking but holding onto every solid object along the way. I’ve even changed lots of diapers! Last time I didn’t change any diapers until the Friday after Caleb was born (which was a Monday), and even that was quite difficult.
Interestingly, with both Caleb and Joshua, labor started around 1:00 a.m. on a Sunday night/Monday morning. This time, though, I hadn’t gone to bed yet. If I had, I probably wouldn’t have woken up for a little while. Since my midwife told me to call much sooner this time, I timed them for a while, and then called her around 2:00 in the morning. We talked, and I called back periodically to let her know how things were. I did get some sleep between 2:30 and 4:30, so that was good. I needed it.
We started filling the rented waterbirth tub around 5:00 a.m.; the midwife got here around 6 am. This time, there was plenty of time to inject me with antibiotics for Group Beta Strep (I tested positive again). Then she dozed upstairs while I quietly labored in the living room. Clint dozed on the couch nearby. I could feel it picking up a bit, so at 8:00 I had Clint get Caleb up and take him to a friends’ house for the day. This time, as last time, labor picked up in intensity again when Clint came back (last time it was when Clint came home from work). I heard the garage door opening, and it was immediately worse.
Not too long afterward, probably around 9:00 or so, I got to get in the warm waterbirth tub. This is the one we rented. Nice and roomy and deep. I was quite happy about this. Almost too happy — the midwife was pondering making me get out because contractions began to space further apart. The thing that kept her from making me was that contractions were still increasing in intensity. The funny thing about contractions is that, in between contractions, it’s like the contraction never happened and you feel completely normal (at least early on). In fact, the midwife commented that I was a bit too happy between contractions, and that it would probably be a little while. I would finish a contraction, and then join right back into the conversation.
I don’t remember exactly when, but at some point not too long afterward, I was no longer happy between contractions, and it was really irritating to me that conversation was being carried on during my contractions. I was thinking in my head, “You guys! Shut up!” I didn’t say it, though; I just yelled louder so I wouldn’t have to hear them. And somewhere in there, I commented that I was no longer happy between contractions. In retrospect, this was probably the stage known as Transition (this comes right before you get to push). I didn’t know it, and neither did anyone else, because during transition last time I was extraordinarily angry, and also thinking the stereotypical transition-y thoughts of “I can’t do this” and “Where are the drugs?” In fact, shortly before I ceased to be happy between contractions, I was wondering to myself, “I wonder when I’ll think about drugs, and not being able to do this. What will I be angry about this time?”
Well, none of those things happened, just not being happy anymore, and irritation that people were talking around me. Oh, and feeling like my insides were coming apart — but that goes without saying. Then, next thing I knew, I felt like pushing, which of course my midwife picked up on. Clint held my hands while I pushed.
Something I hadn’t really thought about, in preparing for this birth, is that when people talk of pushing for a shorter period of time, it’s not actually easier. It’s quite different. Caleb took two hours of pushing to come out. A baby who only takes ten minutes of pushing still has to travel that same distance, which means that those ten minutes of pushing are quite intense to be propelling the baby that far, that fast. With two hours of pushing, one wouldn’t feel a ton of progress from one push to the next. Everything went so slowly and steadily, up until the end. Having the baby move so fast this time was a shock.
The head came out, and in my mind, I was done. I sort of expected the rest of the baby to come out right away, but I still had to push his chest out, and I really didn’t want to. The contraction came, though, so I had to push with it, and then the legs came slipping out. Joshua was put in my arms, and when he came out of the water, he let out one good squawk, and was done. Caleb, on the other hand, cried a steady “waa waa waa” for a while. Waterbirthed babies, from what I hear, are often more peaceful. So we got to enjoy sitting in the water for a while. Clint and I got to feel the cord pulsing, and then Clint got to cut the cord (he didn’t get to do this last time, as things were a bit hectic).
They had me get out of the tub before the placenta came, and there was very little blood with it. Yay!
Joshua nursed really well — I didn’t feel like I really had to do anything to help him figure things out at all. After weighing and measuring him, they helped us get upstairs and into bed for a nice long nap.
Clint picked Caleb up from our friends’ house that evening, and we videoed the meeting of the brothers. Caleb liked looking at him, and showed off for him by bouncing on the bed.
— Jennifer
40 weeks · Tuesday January 19, 2010
Today’s appointment marked 40 weeks! I dropped a pound from last week, now weighing about 170, which my midwife says often happens. Also, my uterus measures smaller, since the baby has dropped further down — 37 cm. This baby is doing the same thing that Caleb did — was left occipital anterior for weeks and weeks, but has now rotated around so that he/she is right occipital transverse, i.e., is turned sideways from me, looking at my left side. As long as the baby doesn’t turn posterior, things should be fine.
My left hip flexor area pain is pretty much gone, but has been replaced by the more typical pelvic pain, which still makes it painful to roll over in bed, only in a different way than before.
What’s funny is feeling my belly — sometimes I will feel it and notice that my uterus is quite hard, but if I take my hand off, I can’t tell that it’s contracting. (These are not the dilation contractions of labor, but just more Braxton-Hicks “practice” contractions that tone the uterus for the real thing). I can feel Braxton-Hicks contractions when I’m walking, but otherwise I am unaware of them happening.
We inflated the waterbirth tub the other day, so it is sitting in our dining room, taking up most of the space.
Last week, my midwife had guessed that I would make it to today’s appointment, which I obviously did; this week she is guessing that I will not make it to next week’s appointment. If I do, I will start seeing her twice a week until the baby comes.
— Jennifer
Adjusting to a new house, or, Caleb locks himself in his room · Thursday January 14, 2010
This morning started off very well. Caleb ate just about all of his breakfast on his own, needing assistance only for the last two spoonfuls of oatmeal. We had our morning blanket time, a couple of stories, and then he and I headed to his room for his independent playtime. Independent playtime is where I put the baby gate up in his room, he plays in his room with his toys while I do other stuff. He didn’t complain when I left, and seemed quite happy playing in there. I went downstairs and ate breakfast, assembled dry granola ingredients, took care of some dishes, etc. It seemed awfully quiet up there, so I crept upstairs to see what he was up to. He had shut his door, and it sounded as though he was probably lying on his lambskin with his blanket, relaxing and possibly settling for a little catnap. Fine with me, I thought, so I went back downstairs and got my shopping list ready so we could go to the store in a little bit. He began to stir and talk in his room, and I was ready to go, so I went to fetch him from his room … and couldn’t. He had not only shut the door, but managed to lock it (our bedroom doors have the kind of lock where you turn the lock in the doorknob). There is a small hole in the middle of the doorknob, so I unbent a wire hanger to try to get it unlocked. It wasn’t working, and by this time, Caleb was fussing about the fact that he wasn’t being fetched from his room.
Long story short, Clint had to come home from work (thankfully only 5 minutes away) to rescue Caleb. I am accustomed to interior door locks of the push-button sort, and it turns out that with these, one needs a very small flathead screwdriver to turn the mechanism inside the little hole, rather than just flicking an internal catch with a coathanger.
The ironic thing is that just last night, as we were going to bed, Clint and I were talking about the fact that we had never unlocked these doors from the outside, and should probably make sure we knew how, before we had to. Yeah. Great idea.
— Jennifer
coconut lentil soup · Tuesday January 5, 2010
This turned out quite well for us (adapted from a recipe at allrecipes.com):
1 1/2 cups lentils, sorted and rinsed
2 1/2 cups water
1/2 an onion
1 clove garlic (or garlic powder)
1/2 inch piece of fresh ginger root, chopped (or use some powdered ginger)
1/2 cup shredded coconut
3/4 cup coconut milk
curry powder to taste
1 tsp black pepper
Bring the lentils and water to a boil. Add onion, garlic, and ginger, and simmer for 30 min or until lentils are tender. Blend coconut and coconut milk, and add to the soup. Add curry and pepper, and heat for another 15 min.
The recipe calls for 1 tbsp of curry powder, but I used much much less — we were given some fabulous curry powders from India, and they are a great deal stronger than the usual “curry powder” you buy here at the grocery store.
Serve over rice. Goes really really well with broccoli.
Lentils are such a great bean. I need to make them more often. The variety of soups alone — from lemon lentil soup, to lentil curry, to basic lentil vegetable soup — all are yummy.
— Jennifer
almost 38 weeks · Monday January 4, 2010
So, I haven’t posted in quite a while, and I haven’t been writing an update for every midwife appointment like I did last time. Part of this is probably because it’s not as new and unfamiliar; the other reason is that I wrote those updates largely for my own benefit, since I don’t keep a separate journal anymore (I know, I should, but I haven’t regularly kept a journal for several years now). The thing is, my midwife now gives her clients a little mini-chart that records the same information I had been sharing with you. I take it in, she fills in her chart, and then she fills in mine, and I get to have mine at home. It’s quite nice. However, that means I have little to no reason to re-write that information and post it to the blogosphere on the very regular basis that I did last time.
I suppose I should give an update, though:
I weigh about 170, which, oddly enough, is about the same as I weighed last time at this point with Caleb. My uterus is measuring smaller this time, though. Overall I feel smaller, too, so I don’t know where this weight is going.
Unfortunately, and not surprisingly, I am still positive for group beta strep, so I will need to plan on intravenous antibiotics again. (We planned on it last time, but there wasn’t actually time for it) We are also planning on a water birth again. Hopefully this time we will have gotten the tub filled.
My left hip hurts again, same as last time, though not quite as bad. It makes sleeping decidedly uncomfortable, and I wake up in pain whenever I start rolling over in my sleep. For whatever reason, it seems like some ligament or muscle in my left front hip area becomes particularly susceptible to injury during pregnancy, and then commences to not heal until after the baby is out.
Blood pressure is normal.
The baby is head down, and typically seems to be LOA (Left Occipital Anterior — this is good). Caleb was LOA for the most part until the very end when he kept threatening to rotate in a way that would have made labor harder. He also had his hand up by his face. Hopefully this one won’t, but I don’t think you can really do anything about it.
The most serious problem we have is that we have no names for this child. We have a little list of potential names, and we don’t particularly like any of the names on it. It feels pretty silly not to have a name. I can’t remember where, but I have heard this said: “I wouldn’t name a dog without seeing it; why should I name a child without having seen it?”
— Jennifer