LONG home/birth center labor and delivery with pictures

Betty

I’ve been meaning to write all day! With my first son it took me a while to write my birth story because it was so hard. Little info: I had an anterior placenta with both my pregnancies and posterior babies with both my pregnancies. First son I went into labor Wednesday night (at 38 weeks 4 days)and didn’t have my son until Saturday morning (home birth so no epidural this entire time) I was stuck at 4cm for 12 hours and active labor for 37hrs pushing for three and a half. The back labor was horrible but I made it.

Fast forward two years. I’m 38 weeks 4 days again and I wake up with light contractions. I had false labor three times that would stop due to baby being posterior and not being able to engage so I said, “probably another false alarm” but as we were eating breakfast they began to regulate. I told my husband, “Let’s go to the farmers market and walk around. Maybe I can keep them going this time” we left at 11am and they were five minutes apart for 1 minute. While walking they were 2:30-3 minutes apart. They hurt but I just walked through them. We walked for about an hour. They slowed down to about 4 minutes apart on the car ride home, but they intensified in pain. But still nothing I couldn’t tolerate. I stopped timing them so I could relax and just enjoy the breaks between the peaks. I did laundry and little things around the house and for my toddler. My husband said, “You know your contractions are very close together right?” I said “Are they? I don’t know. I lost track of time” since baby was posterior I was doing exercises during contractions to spin him. My husband suggested we do the rebozo (you put a rebozo or a wrap around your belly and someone shakes or shimmies it during contractions to encourage baby to spin) I started to not be able to handle the rebozo during contractions and my husband said maybe we should call the midwife. It was 3pm at this time so I had only had contractions for a few hours. I felt almost silly contacting her because I wasn’t in THAT much pain. They were just close together. With my first son, when I was in horrible pain with back labor, I was crying and just a mess and I was barely at 4cm so I didn’t want to be discouraged again with my lack of dilation. I texted my midwife and said “My contractions are two minutes apart but I’m feeling really good in between. I want to wait until I get to the point where I can’t talk, just giving you a heads up.” She said, “If they’re a minute long, head to the birth center if you want to get in the tub because second babies don’t take long after this point.” So I timed a few and sure enough they were 1 minute long. I still was skeptical because, again, with my first I couldn’t walk or talk anymore at this point. My husband convinced me to go so we left our oldest with my SIL and got to the birth center. I told my midwife I DONT THINK I WANT TO BE CHECKED BECAUSE IM NOT IN THAT MUCH PAIN AND CONTRACTIONS BARELY STARTED. I DOUBT IVE DILATED MUCH she said she really wanted to check me but that she wouldn’t give me a number, just say yes you’re good or no go walk some more. I said okay, give me the number then lol I expected 2cm. She checked and she said OH YEAH! YOURE 7cm I said what???? I was smiling ear to ear. I couldn’t believe it. Where was the back labor??? She checked baby and he was LOA, which is perfect for delivery. I’m guessing my husbands rebozo suggestion turned him. That’s why I wasn’t in so much pain. What a difference baby’s position makes in labor! Within half an hour of being there my contractions were about 1 minute apart, some on top of each other for 10-12 minutes straight. But still, I was able to talk and laugh in between whatever little break I had. I kept a much more positive disposition this time. As hard as it was, I would smile through contractions and try to welcome them because I knew they weren’t hurting me. They were bringing my baby closer to me. I got in the tub for about an hour and it really helped but at this point I had no more breaks at all. I recognized the transitioning phase and waved at my husband (couldn’t talk at this point) to help me out. I got out and was walking and posing all over the place lol I had the urge to push, but nothing felt right. With my son, I squatted by the bed while my husband held me up and had him there so my midwife brought me the stool to sit on but it just didn’t feel right. I got on the bed, I squatted on the floor, I held on to my husband and nothing. Finally I said I wanted to sit on the toilet. Well, I pointed at it lol I sat there and the urge to push got REALLY STRONG. I was terrified of tearing so I was trying to just let my body naturally push him out instead of forcing it but after half an hour, my midwife told me to go ahead and push with the contraction since my body was involuntarily pushing anyways just to give it an extra help. I grunted like a wild animal. When I felt the ring of fire, I breathed heavily through them. My husband was in front of me and I clawed at him and used him to bare down. I was conscious to not scream because I knew that could pull baby back in. I slowed my breathing and held baby at each stage of him coming out to give my skin time to stretch and not tear (my midwife taught me this the first time) finally I got his head out after a few breaths. I took a tiny break and with the next contraction grunted then slowed down to hold my breath for a bit and focus everything on pushing and got his body out. Sweet relief! The pushing was the best part with my first birth because I was in so much pain. This time, I felt it was the hardest. My husband was/is amazing. He’s so supportive and involved. He said I made it look easy HA! if only. Leonardo was born at 7pm weighing 8lbs exactly and 20 inches. Perfectly healthy. We headed home after a couple hours and our toddler was asleep. When he woke up, brother was next to him and he was sooooo excited. He keeps kissing him and booping his nose and wanting to carry him. I can’t transfer my camera pictures to my phone right now, but I took pictures of my camera so that’s why they are a little blurry. Sooo don’t compare your first to your second lol I was gauging everything by that and had I not listened to my husband, I would’ve had my baby on the highway. Pictures are in order and some may be TMI for some but I tried to censor