Birth Story

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/abteilu...ghebammen.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...s/IMGP1711.JPG
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

Sounds great, how on earth did you know it was time to go to the
hospital? I mean, the way you describe it, you sound like you were
absolutely certain it was time, yet the way you describe your behaviour
and emotions sounds like phase one (generally there are 3 emotional
phases, excitement, hard work and I can't do this - they seem to be much
better indicators of the progress of labour then actual dilation).

As a matter of interest, how long did the doctor wait before concluding
the placenta wasn't coming out on it's own? On a midwifery group I'm on,
it crops up fairly frequently, with the conclusion seeming to be, if
everything is fine, you can wait as long as it takes and someone will
mention a case where it's been several hours and still come ok. The one
caution that has been mentioned, but I've not seen documented anywhere
is when there is no blood, or very little and that could actually be a
sign of an attachment problem and that avoiding any drugs until this has
been checked might be a good idea, as it's the bleeding caused by a
partially detached placenta and the uterus not being able to clamp down
and slow the flow that can be a big problem in those kind of cases.
Fortunately, oxytocin alone has much less side effects than a combo they
use in the UK, syntometrine, which contains synthetic oxytocin and
ergomentrine, the ergometrine commonly has unpleasant side effects and
it seems so deeply ingrained to use it, that they'll stab that in your
thigh even if you're already attached to a syntocinon drip, which is
nuts if you ask me.

Cheers
Anne

NL wrote:
[...]
Oh!
http://fizban.hosting-paradise.de/wo...s/IMGP1711.JPG
that's a picture of her, see the hair? Yep, she has hair and lots of it,
and nearly black and really long!

She looks absolutely gorgeous! I'm so happy for you. Thank you for
sharing the birth story, and I'm glad it went well!


All the best,

Sarah
--
http://www.goodenoughmummy.typepad.com

"That which can be destroyed by the truth, should be" - P. C. Hodgell

Anne Rogers schrieb:
Sounds great, how on earth did you know it was time to go to the
hospital? I mean, the way you describe it, you sound like you were
absolutely certain it was time, yet the way you describe your behaviour
and emotions sounds like phase one (generally there are 3 emotional
phases, excitement, hard work and I can't do this - they seem to be much
better indicators of the progress of labour then actual dilation).

It just felt exactly like the start of labour with Sam. The first
contraction where I thought it was the baby doing something strange
rather than it being a contraction, plus the contractions coming so
close together when they had been a lot more spaced out and a lot less
painful during the day/weeks before.

As a matter of interest, how long did the doctor wait before concluding
the placenta wasn't coming out on it's own? On a midwifery group I'm on,
it crops up fairly frequently, with the conclusion seeming to be, if
everything is fine, you can wait as long as it takes and someone will
mention a case where it's been several hours and still come ok.

I really don't know. The midwife was pushing on the uterus and I guess
she felt something was not right, I think my cervix was also closing
fast, so she might have been worried about the placenta getting stuck?
I'm not sure, I just know she said I was losing a bit too much blood, so
I'm not sure.

cu
nicole

Oh what a lovely birth story and a stunning little girl you have well done.
Did you have any pain relieve or was it natural?

April
"NL" wrote in message
...
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/abteilu...ghebammen.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...s/IMGP1711.JPG
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

"NL" wrote:

Oh!
http://fizban.hosting-paradise.de/wo...s/IMGP1711.JPG
that's a picture of her, see the hair? Yep, she has hair and lots of it,
and nearly black and really long!

Congratulations. She is beautiful.

rj

april & co schrieb:
Oh what a lovely birth story and a stunning little girl you have well done.

Thank you :-)

Did you have any pain relieve or was it natural?

I had absolutely nothing, just my friend and my breathing/"singing". I
don't think we would have managed to get pain relief in time anyway, the
midwife was rushing around a little bit *lol*.

cu
nicole

Sarah Vaughan schrieb:
NL wrote:
[...]
Oh!
http://fizban.hosting-paradise.de/wo...s/IMGP1711.JPG

that's a picture of her, see the hair? Yep, she has hair and lots of
it, and nearly black and really long!

She looks absolutely gorgeous! I'm so happy for you. Thank you for
sharing the birth story, and I'm glad it went well!

Thank you. It went so totally well and fast. I guess my big hips do come
in handy for that *lol*

cu
nicole

Rebecca Jo schrieb:

Congratulations. She is beautiful.

Thank you :-)

cu
nicole

I had absolutely nothing, just my friend and my breathing/"singing". I
don't think we would have managed to get pain relief in time anyway, the
midwife was rushing around a little bit *lol*.

cu
nicole

How did you find it without pain relieve? I'm only asking as i'm trying for
number 4 and Joanna was born pretty naturally although I had gas and air but
it was an awful experience so was thinking of having it all this time.

april