Genevieve's birth story

Ericka - thank you for sharing this :-)

Take care,
Elly
entered 3rd trimester today!
27 weeks + 1 day
EDD October 6th



"Ericka Kammerer" ha scritto nel messaggio
...

As I mentioned before, it was rather uneventful, but here
goes...

When I had the version on 6/21, I started having mild
contractions that pretty much just kept going. They were more
than BH contractions, but not all that serious either. I was
hoping that meant labor wasn't all that far off, though! Turns
out, I kept having them all that week and through the weekend.
On Monday morning (6/30) they seemed more serious and kept
coming every five minutes for hours on end, so I was hopeful
that maybe this was going to be a June baby after all. I called
the midwives and birth assistant to give them a heads up and
we agreed to keep in touch. I mentioned what was going on to
a few people who were planning to be at the birth as well, and
two came to stay next door with my parents in the hopes of
ensuring they wouldn't miss it. As it turned out, the contractions
kept coming regularly, but didn't get any more serious. That
night, they went away and I had a good night's sleep. The next
morning, more contractions, but they were more sporadic for that
day. Went away again at night, so another good night's sleep.
Wednesday was a repeat of Monday, but with more intensity ;-)
I'm getting tired of being played with by now, and two of the
people who were hoping to be at the birth have had to leave town :-(
Once again, contractions died down at night, so at least I'm still
getting sleep. Thursday was a repeat of Tuesday, with a few
contractions here and a few there throughout the day. I slept
Thursday night, but sleep started getting more fitful and uncomfortable.
I wasn't really feeling contractions that night (or maybe I was
too sleepy to care), but seems something was up.

On Friday morning, I got up around 7am and went downstairs.
I left Michael sleeping and the boys had spent the night with
my parents. Contractions got going, and they seemed to hang in
there around every five minutes (again), but more intensity.
They were getting to the point that rather than hoping the next
one would come sooner, I was hoping it would take it's time ;-)
Around 8:30 I decided that I'd call the midwives and birth
assistant again to give them a heads up. My favorite midwife
was on duty (yippee!). Knowing that my last labor went fast,
and knowing she had a good hour's drive, the midwife said we
should touch base again in an hour, but she was going to get
packed and ready. I went and took a shower and puttered around
a bit and contractions stayed at least as regular and intense,
so I figured that was a good sign. After an hour, I got back
in touch with the midwife, who said she was going to head out.
Then I called the birth assistant, who said she'd finish what
she was doing and head out as well.

A little bit later, I woke Michael and suggested *he*
get showered and ready before everyone arrived. He was a
little surprised, but managed to get going. The first to
arrive was the student midwife, who started charting around
10am. A little bit later the midwife arrived, and then the
birth assistant. Everyone was in place by around 10:30. They
got their stuff in order. They checked and figured me at
about 4cm and 50 percent effaced and suggested a walk. It
was downright hot outside, so I took my sister and the
baby-to-be's godmother and we took a little turn around
the block. It wasn't a lot walk, but it was rather challenging
as the contractions were almost non-stop.

Got back home around noon and everyone was there (Michael,
mom, dad, boys, sister, godmother-to-be, family friend, birth team).
We figured some lunch was in order, so Dad took the boys out
to lunch and Mom took sandwich orders and ran out to pick them
up. I was ready to be more quiet, so I went upstairs. I was
going to lie down a bit, but quickly gave up that idea as the
contractions were far too uncomfortable that way. So I sat
on the edge of the bed, which seemed to work okay.

By 12:45 I was starting to feel slightly pushy (generally
happens early for me). I was still on the edge of the bed and
the birth team (or some of them, anyway--I wasn't particularly
paying attention ;-) and Michael were around. Things were getting
much more intense and I was really in my own little world, rocking
on the edge of the bed. My feet were dangling, which was a bit
annoying, but I didn't really want to move. Somewhere before
1:30 the crowd moved in, and I recall being relieved that Mom,
Dad, and the boys had made it back in time. By then I couldn't
help pushing (and didn't really care to stop anyway ;-) My
membranes ruptured then, and there was light meconium staining
so the midwives told me that they wanted to suction as soon as
the head was out and that I should hold off pushing the rest of
the baby out.

Shortly after that, I tried side-lying. They checked
me and I was 8cm/100 percent effaced, but having been warned
that I was going to push when I was going to push, they didn't
give me much fuss about not pushing (they suggested it, but
clearly without a whole lot of hope ;-) The biggest trouble
I was having throughout this was that the symphisis pubis pain
I'd had through the last half of pregnancy was wreaking havoc
on my ability to find any sort of comfortable position. Side
lying put unequal pressure on my hips and I just couldn't bear
it for long. I couldn't be on my back (that was worse). I
didn't want to stand. So I flipped to all fours by 1:45, which
also wasn't great and my arms were tiring, but it was the best
I could manage at the time. (I wasn't particularly interested
in anyone else touching me, so there wasn't a whole lot anyone
else could do either.) By then I was really pushing hard.
At 1:50, I could feel that the baby was starting to descend,
and I remember being glad it was nearly done. At 1:55 the
head was out and they were asking me to hold off so they
could suction. I didn't particularly want to, but did my
best. I knew when I had flipped to all fours, knowing that
they were going to suction as soon as the head was out, that
things weren't looking good for Mom catching the baby, as we'd
intended--and sure enough, that's what happened. I waited as
long as I could handle for them to suction, and then I just
had to push the rest out. I didn't really know at the time if
they were done or not, but no one screeched, so I figured it
was okay ;-) I managed to wait a whopping whole minute, and
the rest of her was born at 1:56pm. It was just too fast for
Mom to get in there, but fortunately she wasn't too disappointed.

So then we called Colin over to check the sex. He
declared it was a boy and wanted to know who was going to go
with him to play video games now ;-) I couldn't see (I was
still on hands and knees and could just see the top half of the
baby), so I figured it *was* another boy! Someone else, though,
called Colin back and suggested he take another look. Apparently,
the umbilical cord confused him somewhat ;-) After a little
discussion, he allowed as how it might be a girl. She was
breathing well, but was a tad slow to pink up, so they annoyed
her a little into crying. I rolled over so I could finally
hold her and we cuddled. The godmother cut the cord after it
stopped pulsing, and I pushed the placenta out about 12 minutes
after she was born. The great news was that the godmother had
an absolute deadline that she had to be leaving to go back home
at 2:15, so we just *barely* got the birth in in time for her to
be there. We had to say goodbye right after she cut the cord,
but at least she got to do that! They gave her a few minutes
of blow by oxygen because her color was still a tad weak (Apgars
8/9--lost points for color), and she did pink right up then.

Next we cuddled some more while they cleaned me up and
checked for tears (hate that!). Fortunately, no tearing or
anything--not even a skid mark. She latched on easily and
nursed well. Meanwhile folks were boiling water for our
herbal bath. I got up and got in the bath around 3pm, which
was nice and soothing. After the water cooled down enough,
we brought the baby into the bath so she could swim a bit--
which she loved! Michael and I discussed the name issue
finally and ultimately decided we'd go with Genevieve Grace.
Then they took her out of the bath to do
her newborn exam (Adrian helped with that) while I rinsed
off and got dressed. Then, back in bed for more nursing and
cuddles--and the sandwich Mom had picked up for me that I
hadn't had time to eat earlier ;-)

Official stats: July 4th, 1:56pm, 8 lbs 2 oz,
20.5 inches, 13.75 inch head circumference, 13.5 inch chest
circumference.

Since then, everything's been just great. I feel
great--better than after the last two births. The afterpains
were bad the first day and a half, but I hardly notice them
now. I've had virtually no perineal swelling or pain, and
very little bleeding either (all things considered). My
worst pain is actually sore muscles, particularly my arms.
She nurses voraciously, and my milk came in Sunday afternoon.
Engorgement isn't *too* bad, but I'm certainly tender. I
have a feeling she'll get my supply evened out quickly, though.
She's an absolute delight--very calm and alert. She sleeps
well wherever she happens to be, and doesn't seem to have her
days and nights mixed up at all (knock on wood). She's obviously
already attuned to the ambient noise level associated with
having two older brothers, as she doesn't even bother to
startle when they come tearing through (though she startles
for other sudden noises ;-) She hardly ever cries.

I have a feeling she's going to be a tad jaundiced
(like her brothers were), so I'm hoping that we don't get too
much grief from the pediatrician. She's barely starting to
get a tad yellow. Bet the bloodwork shows her blood type is
A+ just like her brothers. My only slight area of concern
is that it doesn't seem like she's peeing as much as she
ought, but maybe it's just that it's too hard to tell with
those darned disposable diapers. She peed all over me as
soon as she was born, and she's soaked the changing pad
at least once, so we know the plumbing works. She also
doesn't seem in any way dehydrated and she's nursing well
and regularly. She just doesn't seem to put much in her
diapers. But perhaps now that my milk is in, we'll see
some more obvious evidence.

The boys are quite smitten with her. Adrian has to
be pried away from her with a crowbar and has obviously
appointed himself her protector and my assistant. He's
decided he's going to learn all there is about babies and
hangs on every word the midwife says. Colin coos over her
and holds her and such, but is equally clearly a bit nonplussed
about being displaced as the baby of the family. I think
we're going to struggle with that for a little while. At
the moment, he's a bit out of sorts and trying to monopolize
all of Daddy's time. As we get back closer to our normal
routine, though, I think things will get much better with
him. With everything going on, he's been too cooped up in
the house, which is never a good thing with him! Plus, he
stayed up to see fireworks that night, and it's also never
good when he misses his bedtime.

Well, this tome has gone on far too long--congratulations
if you made it this far!

Best wishes,
Ericka

What a great birth story! Congrats again, Ericka. :-)

-- Alpha
alphawave at earthlink dot net

Oh Ericka!!!! I knew it! I knew it would be a Genevieve! I'm so happy for you.

I'd love a picture, whenever you get a minute. Enjoy your precious sweet newborn.

Mary S.
mom to the Sproutkin, 16 months

Ericka Kammerer wrote in message ...
As I mentioned before, it was rather uneventful, but here
goes...


Congratulations Ericka!!!

I *knew* she was a girl! :-)

I'm so glad things went so well !

Karen