Deanna's Birth of Madeline

Before I get started, things are kind of hectic in my mind and things might not be in chronological order but they did happen somewhere in the time frame from when my water broke to when she was born. For 2-3 weeks I drove a support group and a crochet group that I'm in, absolutely crazy, thinking I would miss the true signs of labor. As with my first, my water broke and then the epidural, my second, i was in denial because my husband and I were stationed 250 miles apart, both in the Army at the time, I wanted him there, and he wasn't. They wouldn't let him leave for some strange reason, he wasn't deployed, they just didn't do his paperwork like they said they would.

I had been having contractions very strong and regular for over a week, every other day it was yes today is the day, no guess not. Then...

 

December 30th, I had been having somewhat strong contractions, but then they completely stopped and I didn't have anymore. About 11pm-12 or so Faith and Jeremy are in the other room jamming with her ukulele and his guitar to some Metallica and other music, I'm on my birthing ball, playing the xbox 360, just a rocking back and forth chilling. I had already resigned myself to being pregnant forever with contractions that were killing me. Even though I wasn't due until Jan 7th, I had never been pregnant this long and it was driving me nuts. I even decided to take a FB break so that I could get away from the easy access of asking 2 million questions a day, and looking up all knids of crazy things.

 

December 31st: I move to the couch and just sit there. Thinking, I really need to get up and go pee, but I don't feel like moving, takes too much effort, LOL. This was about 0125 or so, at about 132, I felt something flow out of me. My first thought was, well great, I went from having issues controlling my bladder to now I can't control it at all. Then it hit me. MY WATER BROKE! I yelled for Jeremy, he didn't hear me, I just went into the bathroom. And it just poured out of me, but I had no contractions. I kept yelling for Jeremy because he needed to get me a towel so I could put it down there to keep from leaking through the house, so I yelled for Faith, she was in her room by then, and she ran to daddy and said, "mom's water broke." He comes in and gets me a towel and starts filling up our pool and heating water on the stove.

 

I still have no contractions. I told him, it could be many hours even a few days before she finally is born, so I resigned this was going to be a long labor (NEVER EVER assume that, LOL) I was positive her and I were back to back, and I'm sure we were for many weeks and she happened to rotate the day before. (If my figuring is correct, www.SPINNINGBABIES.com WORKS! USE IT!)  As with all the contractions I had been having for over a week were located mostly in my back, and hips, which is a sign of a posterior baby.  

 

So Jeremy gets the pool filled and then we are talking and he called the kids in there as we knew they weren't going to go to sleep anytime soon now, As soon as Faith heard my water broke, she went dancing through the house yelling, YES YES YES. Got fussed at dozens of times for asking millions of times how much longer SHE had to wait, what time was she gonna be born, and several other things.Jeremy put on Titan A.E. for them and we were just watching a movie, I started having contractions and started attempting to time them. It was POINTLESS. They were all over the place, 4 minutes 10 minutes, 2 minutes, 5 minutes, 8 minutes 12 minutes, even one that was like 15 minutes. Ranging from 20 seconds long to 90 seconds long. They weren't painful, just tightening of my stomach. So once again I ASSUMED, we had a long haul. I told Jeremy about 315 or so, this could go on for hours, I'm gonna go take a shower and clean up, I don't wanna feel icky and stinky when we do go into labor.

 

So I go get in the shower about 330ish, and wash up, while I'm in the shower, I realize they were starting to become painful. But absolutely no pain in my back, which I had attempted to prepare myself for mentally. Just felt like a really bad period cramp that came and went. I felt no tighteness in my stomach anymore, it was all located in my pelvis area. So I get out and go into the bedroom and get a clean towel to fold and put down there to pretect my house from my flowing river. I'm sitting on the bed attempting to get dressed, and managed to get a shirt one, Jeremy comes in and checks on me, I grab his hand, and said, I can't do this, it hurts. Looking back now, that was NOTHING! He said, do you think you should get in the pool, I said, yeah, it probably will help with the pain and I can relax some. HA So Faith had fallen asleep and he carried her to bed, and had Dekota go on to their bedroom. I get in the pool and the warm water feels great, didn't take away any pain at all, but it still felt great to just move around without gravity kicking my butt. Jeremy added more warm water for me.

 

This is around 4ish or so. Remember I was in excruciating pain with Faith for at least 3 hours, and my pain had just started 15 or so minutes ago, I wasn't worried and once again ASSUMED we were going to have a very long miserable pain filled night, that was all worth it in the end. Jeremy stayed with me, talking to me, changing music, telling me I was doing good, we had this. I had him check me and he said, I don't feel anything. So I checked and I felt something hard near the front of my pelvis, but she was not coming through yet. I felt my cervix opening, and it didn't feel very open to me.So he decides to go outside to get some air. It is around 425 now.

 

Right as he went outside, I had a contraction and felt this strong urge to push, but I ignored it. He said, is it safe for me to go outside, I said, yes, she isn't coming anytime soon (Don't assume anything, see the theme here? LOL) This is where my timing gets way off and I am not sure in which order things came in, so they all happened somewhere here between 430 and when she was born.He came back in, and I asked him once again (I also had decided I didn't want any checks, but I just felt something needed to be checked, I wanted to know what was going on down there) He felt and said it feels different like it is closed off or something.  So I felt and said, she has HAIR! So I have more contractions but ignore the urges to bear down and push as much as possible, NOT easy to do.

 

So I check again, I guess about 435, and I felt something soft and squishy and my contractions went to a stand still, and I got worried, he could see it in my face. I said, something is wrong. Something isn't right. I said, I don't think she is coming out the right way. So he felt, and said, no that is her head Deanna, that is her head. So I felt again, and here is where him and I have a disagreement, LOL. I felt and kept feeling for about 2 minutes or so, and said, that is part of the amniotic sac that got stuck between her head and my pelvic bone. He thinks it was part of my cervix. Suddenly after I realized she was head first, my contractions started right back up where they left off. I glance up at the clock, why I did that suddenly I don't know, but it was 438, and I felt the urge to push. I had all these plans, I was gonna birth squatting or on all fours. NOPE, I laid back where I was sitting, I reached up grabbed his thumbs and laid back my head, and screamed. Yes that is right, all that practicing my hypnobirthing didn't help when the ring of fire hit. Didn't help me one bit, I had done so well just breathing and concentrating the whole time during all my contractions, even laughing during some of them. But that ring of fire... took over me and I became a tiger. I laid my head back and roared. Holding on to his thumbs. (he was on the outside of the pool) and that contraction was over and the urge to push went away) Somewhere we had discussed not pushing because we couldn't agree to what that was, and didn't want to hurt my cervix if it wasn't ready, I knew/KNOW it was the amniotic sac. So the second urge to push came, and I start saying over and over again, "I'm not gonna push, just breath, I'm not gonna push, just breath." So I start attempting to breath. It didn't take me very long, like 3 seconds and I said, "I can't help it I have to push." I laid my head back again, holding on to his thumbs, sitting upright, and screamed and pushed as hard as I could push, I couldn't help it, I had to push, my body said to push, I MUST push. I hear him saying over and over, "Deanna it is her head, it is her head, I see her head..."  I felt something pop like pressure releasing, I say it was the amniotic sac breaking again, he says it was her head through my cervix. We will continue to have this debate as we will never truly know, LOLI look at him, and I wish I had a picture of his face,  He wasn't there with our daughter being born, and this was a moment that from the time we decided to TTC, I had been looking forward to. Seeing him seeing his baby be born, the look of pride, awe, and shock in his face. It was all there, so much emotion, he don't show his raw feelings often and when he does, it is special so very special. He looked as if he was about to cry, which is a very rare thing.Then another urge to push came and I had a sudden thought, I can't do this, I can't do this. He says he don't think I had time to think. We disagree. I laid back my head, and roared once again, and I let every single bit of my restraint go. Holding on to his thumbs like they were my life support, and now I think they were. hearing him talk to me, telling me what he seen, and how well I was doing, and even that little bit of contact between his hands and mine gave me the strength to push the hardest I have ever pushed in my life. I laid back and let it go. He says, "Her head is out!....", I felt it come out, and I relaxed, waiting for the next urge to push, but I didn't have time to really relax, I was trying to reach down there to feel her head, and before I even was able to take in a deep breath his exclamation of, "Her head is out!" was quickly followed by, "SHE IS OUT and she's BEAUTIFUL!" I look up at him, and the amazing awesome raw emotion in his face, it was what I had been wanting to see for over 7 years, it was so much and more. He was handing me our daughter. Telling me how wonderful she was, how wonderful and great I did. You could see the pride in his face. 

 

I look at the clock, it was 442, She was born in 3 pushes to get her head out and her body shot out like a rocket he says. I asked him what position did she come out in, he said it happened so fast, he don't know, he said, I seen her hair, then I seen a back, and I scooped her up. I don't know if she flipped in the water or not.I pull her up to me and he gets her a towel to cover her, her color came in so fast. She didn't cry right away, until I attempted to turn her on her belly, and then she wailed, the most precious sound to hear is your baby wailing their first time. She didn't care to nurse, she was and still is a very peaceful and quiet little thing. I'm sure that will change with time. We waited about 20 minutes or so, and cut the cord. We applied Tea Tree Oil on it and it is already drying up really fast. I had him cut it a bit longer so then tomorrow I might be able to trim it and it not have a cord clamp on it.I had him call his momma and she came right over, got there before the placenta came out, and I am glad she wasn't there for the birth, it was a very intimate moment for Jeremy and I. And she kept saying while she was here before it came out, I wish that would come out. It did... an hour after she was born.  

 

Madeline is amazing. She is very quiet, hardly cries, unless you change her diaper, then she gets very very mad at you, and starts kicking her little legs and swinging her arms. I tried several times today to get her to nurse, she latches on pretty good, but gets lazy or sleepy and goes right back out. But finally right after 1230 this morning, January 1, 2012, she nursed for a full 15 minutes, and now waking up every 30-45 minutes demanding to nurse, but only does for about 5-10 minutes and is back out. I'm sure we'll get on a regular schedule but I'm at her mercy and nurse on demand.So that is our birth story. Our first UC! 

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