Farrah's Birth
Last pregnancy photo... taken two days before Farrah was born.
I had been having a lot of contractions and early labor starting on Wednesday 8/24 and continuing into Thursday 8/25. I was up all night Wednesday with contractions. There were several times when I though "this is it" only to have things slow down. This continued through the day on Thursday. I was feeling pretty miserable and discouraged by the time I went to bed on Thursday night.
I woke up around 1:00 AM with some pretty strong contractions. At 2:00 AM I decided if I wasn't going to be able to sleep I would get up and take a nice hot bath. I was feeling quite uncomfortable. I turned on my iPod and listened to some hypnobabies tracks. I felt very relaxed and an hour flew by. At 3:00 AM I was sure this was it. I woke Nick and told him to come in since I was almost positive I wouldn't be getting out of the tub again until after the baby was born:)
Nick thought I should call my midwife Stephanie right away. I was reluctant given the past two days of false alarms. I resisted for a few minutes. He kept reminded me that she lives and hour and a half away and telling me that it seemed like it was time to call her. I finally gave in and called her. After talking to her about how I was feeling she said she was calling her assistant Misty and they would be there as soon as they could.
Nick sat next to the tub and read his book while I labored. I was really able to relax while listening to my hypnobabies tracks. The time flew by and even though I could tell things were really progressing the pain was completely tolerable and I felt calm and in control. Misty arrived around 4:30 AM. She did have me jump out of the tub for one minute to listen to heart tones since she could't pick them up very well the first couple tries. The baby sounded great and so I rushed back into the tub and got my labor groove back:)
Stephanie arrived sometime between 4:45 and 5:00AM. I was still feeling really good and so other than using the doppler she and Misty hung out in the other room. Right in here somewhere I knew I was probably going through transition. The mental and physical cues were all there, although I never asked to be checked. I just kept listening to my iPod and was amazed that I was still able to relax through each contraction even when they were super intense.
Around 5:15AM I started feeling the urge to push. I called Stephanie and Misty in and decided to go ahead and start pushing. The longest I pushed with my other four births was about 30 minutes. SO I was expecting something similar this time. I pushed for 30 minutes and was shocked that the baby was still in there:) I was a little discouraged but everyone encouraged my and I kept going. Another half hour passed. The details are kind of blurry here. The contractions were getting so intense and I was really struggling mentally. The length of time that had passed since I started pushing was throwing me for a loop.
We came to the decision to break my water in hopes that was what was holding things back. Misty broke my water and I continued working hard to get my stubborn baby to come out:) At this point things got super intense. I asked Misty to see how close her head was. She checked ad told me she was right there. The pressure was so much that I was finding it difficult to stay in the zone. I finally gave up on the hypnobabies and took my headphones out. Instead I turned to Nick for support.
I tried many different positions to help things along. Stephanie talked to me about the fact that I had been pushing for awhile and I was getting tired. She encouraged me to go for it and so I did. At last the baby's head came out and I reached down for it. I pushed again and the rest of her came out. I caught her and lifted her up onto my chest. She was born at 6:45 AM on August 26th.
She had a ton of vernix, I thought, for a baby of her gestation. After all she came only two days before my due date. She also seemed a lot smaller than my last baby. Which, we found out later, she was! We sat in the tub and checked her out. I felt so good now that she was here. After awhile the cord stopped pulsing and we decided it was time to focus on getting the placenta out. Nick cut the cord and took the baby.
Now is where we ran into a glitch. I won't go into all the details here but the placenta wouldn't detach and I continued to bleed. I moved to the bathroom and finally the bed during the efforts. After a few emergency maneuvers Misty was able to get it out. I was ok but I had lost a significant amount of blood and was really weak for the first couple of days because of this.
Nick and I spent a little while admiring baby Farrah and texting family with the news while Stephanie and Misty cleaned up. I nursed her and we took some photos.
The kids had actually woken up before she was even born. Blythe even came in and hung out around the tub with everyone for while, but left before the main event to go watch a movie:) Now we had the kids come in and see her for the first time before the headed off to school.
After the kids left and everything calmed down Farrah was checked over, weighed, and dressed. She weighed 6 pounds 13 ounces and was 20 inches long.
I had been having a lot of contractions and early labor starting on Wednesday 8/24 and continuing into Thursday 8/25. I was up all night Wednesday with contractions. There were several times when I though "this is it" only to have things slow down. This continued through the day on Thursday. I was feeling pretty miserable and discouraged by the time I went to bed on Thursday night.
I woke up around 1:00 AM with some pretty strong contractions. At 2:00 AM I decided if I wasn't going to be able to sleep I would get up and take a nice hot bath. I was feeling quite uncomfortable. I turned on my iPod and listened to some hypnobabies tracks. I felt very relaxed and an hour flew by. At 3:00 AM I was sure this was it. I woke Nick and told him to come in since I was almost positive I wouldn't be getting out of the tub again until after the baby was born:)
Nick thought I should call my midwife Stephanie right away. I was reluctant given the past two days of false alarms. I resisted for a few minutes. He kept reminded me that she lives and hour and a half away and telling me that it seemed like it was time to call her. I finally gave in and called her. After talking to her about how I was feeling she said she was calling her assistant Misty and they would be there as soon as they could.
Nick sat next to the tub and read his book while I labored. I was really able to relax while listening to my hypnobabies tracks. The time flew by and even though I could tell things were really progressing the pain was completely tolerable and I felt calm and in control. Misty arrived around 4:30 AM. She did have me jump out of the tub for one minute to listen to heart tones since she could't pick them up very well the first couple tries. The baby sounded great and so I rushed back into the tub and got my labor groove back:)
Stephanie arrived sometime between 4:45 and 5:00AM. I was still feeling really good and so other than using the doppler she and Misty hung out in the other room. Right in here somewhere I knew I was probably going through transition. The mental and physical cues were all there, although I never asked to be checked. I just kept listening to my iPod and was amazed that I was still able to relax through each contraction even when they were super intense.
Around 5:15AM I started feeling the urge to push. I called Stephanie and Misty in and decided to go ahead and start pushing. The longest I pushed with my other four births was about 30 minutes. SO I was expecting something similar this time. I pushed for 30 minutes and was shocked that the baby was still in there:) I was a little discouraged but everyone encouraged my and I kept going. Another half hour passed. The details are kind of blurry here. The contractions were getting so intense and I was really struggling mentally. The length of time that had passed since I started pushing was throwing me for a loop.
We came to the decision to break my water in hopes that was what was holding things back. Misty broke my water and I continued working hard to get my stubborn baby to come out:) At this point things got super intense. I asked Misty to see how close her head was. She checked ad told me she was right there. The pressure was so much that I was finding it difficult to stay in the zone. I finally gave up on the hypnobabies and took my headphones out. Instead I turned to Nick for support.
I tried many different positions to help things along. Stephanie talked to me about the fact that I had been pushing for awhile and I was getting tired. She encouraged me to go for it and so I did. At last the baby's head came out and I reached down for it. I pushed again and the rest of her came out. I caught her and lifted her up onto my chest. She was born at 6:45 AM on August 26th.
She had a ton of vernix, I thought, for a baby of her gestation. After all she came only two days before my due date. She also seemed a lot smaller than my last baby. Which, we found out later, she was! We sat in the tub and checked her out. I felt so good now that she was here. After awhile the cord stopped pulsing and we decided it was time to focus on getting the placenta out. Nick cut the cord and took the baby.
Now is where we ran into a glitch. I won't go into all the details here but the placenta wouldn't detach and I continued to bleed. I moved to the bathroom and finally the bed during the efforts. After a few emergency maneuvers Misty was able to get it out. I was ok but I had lost a significant amount of blood and was really weak for the first couple of days because of this.
Nick and I spent a little while admiring baby Farrah and texting family with the news while Stephanie and Misty cleaned up. I nursed her and we took some photos.
The kids had actually woken up before she was even born. Blythe even came in and hung out around the tub with everyone for while, but left before the main event to go watch a movie:) Now we had the kids come in and see her for the first time before the headed off to school.
After the kids left and everything calmed down Farrah was checked over, weighed, and dressed. She weighed 6 pounds 13 ounces and was 20 inches long.
posted by Jacie at 9:48 AM
3 Comments:
What a lovely story:) And to think someone once said you were too small to go full term. Good job Jace, you are awesome!
YOU are amazing...seriously! What a beautiful baby! So happy for your family!
LOVE birth stories, especially homebirth! So glad you had a nice experience. Had some Post partum bleeding with my 3rd, and its the pits. Take care of yourself and don't overdo! I had no idea you were pregnant even though I follow your blog. Fun surprise!
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