Birth Story

Congratulations!

I saw the pic - she looks really cute! She has lots of hair like mine
does, and such beautiful fingers!

I had my baby on August 10th. She didn't want to come out, and the
people at the hospital told me that they would start inducing I didn't
start having contractions after 10 days. I didn't, so I was admitted
to the hospital, where they induced me once the first day, and twice
on the second day (I had painful contractions, but they didn't start
"my" contractions") I was really hoping it would start, but it didn't,
so they gave me something to stop the contractions. I couldn't stop
shaking all through the night and most of the morning. That day I
wasn't induced at all (very good, I thought). I even went out with my
Mom to a nearby cafè, which is frowned on at the hospital, since I was
an in-patient, but the hospital was getting me down, so phooey on
them. I was induced the next day (again), and it hardly did anything
(I thought), so they were going to do it again, but by the time I was
supposed to go down I had cramps so bad they prevented me from
standing. A nurse had to wheel me down to the kreissaal on a potty
chair because they didn't have a wheel chair.

I will spare you the gorey details (they are very unpalatable, even to
me) exept to say that the bath tub was a god-send, which I
unfortunately couldn't go back into after I left for a trip to the
bathroom, and the PDA the gave my was absolute bliss after all the
pain (I couldn't feel my contractions because I was constantly
cramped, so I was REALLY grateful the hebamme talked me into it). Zoe
Ann came as the PDA was wearing off, and they were checking to see if
they could give me another dose. I think it was all of five minutes
and she popped out (actually she stopped after the head crowned
because the contractions stopped, but after a last painful push she
finally came out).

I stayed there four days afterward, and was happy to go home. But I
had to go back after another four days for a d & c because there was
more material there, and I was supposed to be an out-patient, but
because it was a little infected I had to stay overnight, which also
turned in to three more days because of my fluctuating temperature. I
was so depressed on the last day, and so elated when the doctor came
in telling me I could leave, that I cried. It is really no fun in the
hospital after such a long stay. Things are going well now, although
it's a little chaotic still. At least she sleeps at night (usually).
But she cries all day - ok, not today, but usually. I used to have
trouble with my milk, because less came in after the op, but now I
feel like I'm going to burst mornings, and sometimes most of the day.
But this is all good compared to being at the hospital and cut off
from my husband and son.

Actually, I only wanted to congratulate you. I did want to share my
experience, but not in so many words. And I left out so much of it,
too! You inspired me, I suppose :-)
On Sep 3, 12:16 am, NL wrote:
Thank you for all the congratulations :-)

She's semi asleep right now, my friend's hanging out with her in bed I
don#t know how long I have to write this ;-)

Well, as you know, I was hanging out in m.k.p. till about 1 am Saturday,
freaking out about possible induction. Then I went to bed and actually
fell asleep really quickly. I woke up feeling a really strong pain in my
belly and thought "Kid! What are you doing?! This hurts!" because it
felt like she was sticking out every limb, this was at exactly 3 a.m.
(my watch beeps every hour) then I regained a bit more consciousness and
thought "Hey, this might actually be a contraction" and headed to the
bathroom because I needed to pee. 5 minutes later the next contraction
hit. I was feeling kind of excited but those contractions were no joke!
The next one came 2 minutes later, so I went and woke my two friends who
were staying with us to help with the birth and Sam.
Rosi and I grabbed my stuff (ok, she grabbed what I told her to), I said
bye to Sam (who didn't want me to go, but was ok when I told him we'd
call as soon as the baby was out). I also called my parents who
certainly appreciated being woken at about 3:30 at night ;-)
Then we took off, I called my brother from the car (I felt like I had to
tell my family, I'm not sure why). Contractions were ok in the car, I
definitely had to breathe through them, but they were ok. I was shaking
so much though! I guess it was a mixture of excitement anxiety and low
blood pressure ;-)

I don't know when exactly we were at the hospital but I think it would
have been about 4 a.m. The midwife was from the practice my midwife's
in, she knew about me and my weak contractions and since I was still
joking around (desperate attempts not to freak out) I don't think she
was too impressed by hearing I'd only had contractions for an hour. Rosi
managed all the reregistration while I kept having to go to the toilet.
I was feeling sick (hello again my little bucket) and had to pee and my
intestines were doing their pre labor clean up...
Finally the midwife was done checking us in and wanted to hook me up to
the monitors and could I please lay down on my back. Hmpf. She checked
my cervix which was 5cm and fully effaced. I was allowed to get back up
with the monitor hooked up. The next couple of contractions were painful
and I was bent over the bed and leaning my body against Rosi who had her
hand on my lower back, which helped me focus and breathe and relax
instead of clamp down and screech. I felt a little like pushing already,
but since I was only 5cm I tried my best not to. Then we moved into the
delivery room which is totally nice.
(http://www.alice-hospital.de/abteilungen/beleghebammen.html- Der
Kreißsaal) It's huge and all white, but not in the sterile hospital way
and airy. The midwife had one of the huge windows open which was nice
because I could feel a little breeze on my legs but was sweating due to
the fleece pullover I wasn't willing to take off.
Ok, I was hooked up to the monitors the entire time and I _liked_ it. I
heard the baby heartbeat and was able to focus on that regular sound. I
started "singing" my Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa's during contractions while
laying on my side holding on to Rosis hand and arm my head resting
against her (totally calming). We had a few minor problems with the bed
(electronically adjustable...) but found a position that was ok fairly
quickly. Then I was turned on my back again (protesting) and checked:
9cm with a lip remaining. I didn't hear her say I could push if I wanted
to, so I kept singing my a's and trying not to push. After two more
contractions she told me "Miss Landau, your baby is right there, if you
push now you'll have her out." The thing was I couldn't work out how to
close my mouth and still say aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa *lol* I don't
know whether it was Rosi or the midwife who told me I didn't need to say
a anymore but push instead. So the first push was kind of pointless
because I wasn't really pushing at all, but I could feel her head move
through my hip (totally strange feeling!) zhen I pushed another 2 or 3
times and the head was out (I was told, I had my eyes closed nearly the
entire time after moving into the delivery room) another two pushed and
the body was out and Rosi going "Oh, she's so beautiful!". It was
totally moving and nice. Totally the stats freak I wanted to know the
apgar right after snapping "Don't cut the cord until it's stopped
pulsating!"
There was a doctor present from some point before I was pushing for the
first time but I hardly noticed her, she kept in the background until it
became clear that the placenta wasn't going anywhere without help, she
put me on a drip and it took two oxytocin doses and an almighty push to
finally expel the placenta, which practically flew out and barely
stopped still on the bed. Rosi said it was quite a sight to see, the
midwife escaped being hit by a load of blood and amniotic fluid by
jumping sideways... The placenta was checked and declared complete, but
my womb wasn't contracting quickly enough so I was advised to stay
overnight or at least until evening.
Rosi went and called Sam and my brother and they came and saw us while
we were still in the delivery room. Sam loved his sister right away, my
brother looked totally taken by her, too and Holger was a little
overwhelmed by the blood *lol*.

She was on the boob right after the needle for the drip went in, she's
got a suck like an industrial vacuum cleaner and gave me a tiny blister
on my nipple right at the first go. her latch isn't perfect (she sucks
in her lower lip mostly, which I find hard to correct as her chin is in
the way every time I try to fix it so she pops off when I accidentally
move the chin down...) and I need to be more diligent about correcting
it, but it's only hurting a little and it's not doing any more harm, so
yay for that.
We stayed overnight and came home today. I feel like I was gone for
weeks not just a day.

The night in hospital was total crap, there was a stupid nurse who kept
coming in and letting the door slam when she went back out again, Sara
woke up every single time, then I had trouble getting her to go back to
sleep because comfort nursing is not working, I have too much
colostrum... So I walked around with her for a while and got the nurse
to sterilize our dummy (after a debate about nursing and the use of
pacifiers, which I generally agree with, but this time around I'd like
to not nurse 24/7 like I did with Sam.) Anyway, the stupid nurse cam in
for the last time when, after she saw I was awake she asked me "Oh, so
she's finally settled again" and I told her "Yes, I keep having to
settle her because some idiot keeps slamming our door and waking her up
again." she didn't say another word and turned around and left. Then we
finally got some undisturbed sleep.

So yeah, we're home, she's behaving like a good baby, I had her here on
my lap for most of the post and we're nursing and she's sleeping on
Holgers belly right now and I need to go to bed and catch some sleep
before she decides the night is over.
Sam loves her, but I think he's a little ****ed off with me because I
asked him not to sleep in my bed during the week at first because he
needs his sleep and I don't want him to be woken up by the baby every
five minutes. We'll see how that works out, if she's like this the rest
of the night I think having Sam in "our" bed won't be too difficult,
I'll just have to stay up with her until she settles down for the night
and then crawl into bed with her later.

Oh!http://fizban.hosting-paradise.de/wo...photos/IMGP171....
that's a picture of her, see the hair? Yep, she has hair and lots of it,
and nearly black and really long!

Thank you all again for the help, advice, labor vibes, commiserating and
congratulations!

cu
nicole

ncrist schrieb:

Actually, I only wanted to congratulate you. I did want to share my
experience, but not in so many words. And I left out so much of it,
too! You inspired me, I suppose :-)

That's fine :-) I'm glad you're home and all is going ok.

I had to go back to the doc again last week because apparently I had
some kind of internal bleeding (small, non dramatic, thankyouverymuch)
which means I had this "egg" right behind and slightly to the side of my
vagina.. He had to make a small cut and get the clotted blood out and
all was well after that, unfortunately the egg is coming back, so I'll
go back tomorrow and hopefully he won't have to cut again because my
Haushaltshilfe had her last day here yesterday and I have to bring Sam
to school and pick him up, and since we don't have a car I'll be
walking, and yeah, no way will I be walking after he cuts me, that hurt
afterwards! He's a great doc though, very patient and calm... I was kind
of panicking about the whole thing and he really made sure I didn't feel
anything before he started cutting, not like other doctors I've had
before...

Anyway, the baby's great, Sam's great and I'm mostly great, so YAY to
that :-)

Take care!
nicole

How are you feeling now? You must have seen your doctor by now. I know
how fun it is to be operated on. I'm sick of D & C's and I'm not
planning on having another baby. The last one I had (just after Zoe) I
had because I was passing huge blood clots. That's what made my
Hebamme suspicious about the condition of the uterus before she even
felt it.

Do you go to a mother/child group? Maybe someone there might know of a
baby sitter for future reference.

I don't know how you do it - being a single mother with TWO kids.
Hat's off to you (I'm showing you my admiration).

Noelle

On Sep 23, 12:11 pm, NL wrote:
ncrist schrieb:

Actually, I only wanted to congratulate you. I did want to share my
experience, but not in so many words. And I left out so much of it,
too! You inspired me, I suppose :-)

That's fine :-) I'm glad you're home and all is going ok.

I had to go back to the doc again last week because apparently I had
some kind of internal bleeding (small, non dramatic, thankyouverymuch)
which means I had this "egg" right behind and slightly to the side of my
vagina.. He had to make a small cut and get the clotted blood out and
all was well after that, unfortunately the egg is coming back, so I'll
go back tomorrow and hopefully he won't have to cut again because my
Haushaltshilfe had her last day here yesterday and I have to bring Sam
to school and pick him up, and since we don't have a car I'll be
walking, and yeah, no way will I be walking after he cuts me, that hurt
afterwards! He's a great doc though, very patient and calm... I was kind
of panicking about the whole thing and he really made sure I didn't feel
anything before he started cutting, not like other doctors I've had
before...

Anyway, the baby's great, Sam's great and I'm mostly great, so YAY to
that :-)

Take care!
nicole

ncrist schrieb:

Hey there :-)

How are you feeling now? You must have seen your doctor by now. I know
how fun it is to be operated on. I'm sick of D & C's and I'm not
planning on having another baby. The last one I had (just after Zoe) I
had because I was passing huge blood clots. That's what made my
Hebamme suspicious about the condition of the uterus before she even
felt it.

Ugh, I miscarried when I was 20 and had to have 2 d&c's. They didn't do
the first one properly and I kept bleeding and bleeding..

Anyway, the egg seems to be gone, I had so many appointments in the last
2 weeks I didn't go back yet, but Sara is 4 weeks old now (nearly 5
actually..) so my post natal checkup is due in another 1-3 weeks anyway.

Do you go to a mother/child group? Maybe someone there might know of a
baby sitter for future reference.

Not yet, but that's a great idea. I want to do a baby massage class with
my hebamme anyway (I just love this woman, she's so great, you can see
how happy her job makes her. Technically she's retired, but she's still
working a lot :-)

I don't know how you do it - being a single mother with TWO kids.
Hat's off to you (I'm showing you my admiration).

Honestly, Sara is a super easy baby *knockonwood* and Sam is 7 already,
so I have the mornings when he's at school to do my chores and spend
time with the baby and in the afternoon we do homework and then he goes
out to play with friends or we go to the playground.
I don't think being married to someone who works a lot is different really.

take care!
nicole