Annabelle Lynne Ballif was born May 5th, 2008 shortly before 2:15. We're not exactly sure of the time because she came at home and looking at the clock was low down on the priority list. But I did happen to notice that the placenta was delivered at 2:25.
Here's the story:
For an entire week I was in labor off and on. On 3 separate nights I woke up around 1:00 in the morning with contractions; After 2 hours of regular contractions that were about 5 minutes apart I would eat and then they would go to 10 or 20 minutes apart, decrease in intensity, and then stop all together. I also had 4 different days where I had contractions start during the day that would be regular. Each time whenever we started to discuss calling the hospital, they would peter out and stop.
I really thought that we were having our baby on May 4th. I had about 5 hours of labor that morning and afternoon where the contractions were more intense than any I had had previously. We went to church and I had contractions 5 minutes apart all through Sacrament Meeting. I ended up pacing in the back of the chapel and felt like I wanted to be leaning over or even on my hands and knees during them. I could talk through them still, but they were uncomfortable. We left after sacrament meeting and when we got home I had an abrupt mood change and became quite grumpy and particular about odd things for a couple hours. I also had an urge to push with a few of the contractions. I told Serge that things felt like transition, and we talked about calling the midwife, but after so many false alarms we decided to give things 30 more minutes before calling. In that 30 minutes the contractions really slowed down, and then they stopped. I was disappointed. My favorite midwife was not going to be on call anymore and I had expected that this was it. In hindsight, I should have trusted my instinct that I thought I was in transition-- but who has labor that stops in transition? I started to wonder if I was ever going to have the baby.
I was pretty tired after Sunday's labor and took a short nap, then we ate dinner and went to bed. Serge had his Analysis final first thing May 5th, and then had to give a final for the class he teaches. We talked about his upcoming day and agreed that if I woke up with labor pains, I would eat something right away and then hopefully the contractions would stop and Serge could get a good night's rest before his finals.
Why we didn't go to the hospital Sunday to get checked? I was fairly certain that I was dilated beyond the 3 cm I had been at the beginning of the week, and I really didn't want to get to the hospital and have the contractions stop. Then they would want to do something to get things going again, and I didn't want to have our water broken or be given pitocin. I also had (and have) a terrible negative association and fear of IVs. If I were beyond 4 cm I didn't think they would let me just go home again. I was also eating every few hours and I got hungrier when I was having contractions- I knew I wouldn't be able to eat at the hospital and I didn't want to be unable to eat for too long.
Sure enough, around 1:00 Sunday morning I woke up with a really decent contraction. I got out of bed quietly, went downstairs and at two bowls of cereal. I had a few more contractions- they were coming about every 15 minutes. At 1:45 I woke up my sister and then the contractions started to get more intense. She timed 5 contractions, and there was no doubt that these were the "furrowed brow" contractions that I wasn't able to talk through: the ones we had decided would be the true indication of "real labor". She timed them being 8 minutes apart, to 3, then the last two were two minutes apart and nearly a minute long. The time she wrote for when the last one started was 1:55. It was at this point that I gave up any notions of this round of labor slowing or stopping. It was time to get to the hospital and I knew we had to hurry!
I told Christina to wake up Serge, then I called our doula (and next door neighbor) Paulina and announced that this time it was for real. She asked how I was feeling and I said "Great when I'm not having a contraction". I called the hospital and talked with the midwife, I told her we were coming in and asked when she could meet us at the hospital. She said it would take her a little over a half hour and I told her I thought she had better hurry because the baby was going to be coming soon. Then there was a bit of a hustle and bustle as I got changed into a bathrobe and we got things situated with neighbors watching our two year old.
I was pretty tired after Sunday's labor and took a short nap, then we ate dinner and went to bed. Serge had his Analysis final first thing May 5th, and then had to give a final for the class he teaches. We talked about his upcoming day and agreed that if I woke up with labor pains, I would eat something right away and then hopefully the contractions would stop and Serge could get a good night's rest before his finals.
Why we didn't go to the hospital Sunday to get checked? I was fairly certain that I was dilated beyond the 3 cm I had been at the beginning of the week, and I really didn't want to get to the hospital and have the contractions stop. Then they would want to do something to get things going again, and I didn't want to have our water broken or be given pitocin. I also had (and have) a terrible negative association and fear of IVs. If I were beyond 4 cm I didn't think they would let me just go home again. I was also eating every few hours and I got hungrier when I was having contractions- I knew I wouldn't be able to eat at the hospital and I didn't want to be unable to eat for too long.
Sure enough, around 1:00 Sunday morning I woke up with a really decent contraction. I got out of bed quietly, went downstairs and at two bowls of cereal. I had a few more contractions- they were coming about every 15 minutes. At 1:45 I woke up my sister and then the contractions started to get more intense. She timed 5 contractions, and there was no doubt that these were the "furrowed brow" contractions that I wasn't able to talk through: the ones we had decided would be the true indication of "real labor". She timed them being 8 minutes apart, to 3, then the last two were two minutes apart and nearly a minute long. The time she wrote for when the last one started was 1:55. It was at this point that I gave up any notions of this round of labor slowing or stopping. It was time to get to the hospital and I knew we had to hurry!
I told Christina to wake up Serge, then I called our doula (and next door neighbor) Paulina and announced that this time it was for real. She asked how I was feeling and I said "Great when I'm not having a contraction". I called the hospital and talked with the midwife, I told her we were coming in and asked when she could meet us at the hospital. She said it would take her a little over a half hour and I told her I thought she had better hurry because the baby was going to be coming soon. Then there was a bit of a hustle and bustle as I got changed into a bathrobe and we got things situated with neighbors watching our two year old. 
Right after all this I had powerful contraction with quite the urge to push, and my water broke (slight trickle). I reached my hand down and I could feel the baby's head only an inch or two away from crowning. So I announced to Serge that we could either have the baby in the car, or at home, and that I was not getting in the car. I walked into the living room and knelt down in front of the couch- and the next three contractions (and birth) were done with me kneeling at the couch leaning forward (sort of a modified hands and knees position- it just felt best at the time).The commotion surrounding these 3 or 4 contractions after I announced we were having the baby in the living room and birth included the following: Someone said "call an ambulance" and I said "DON'T make any phone calls". I asked Christina to get the camera and start filming. Serge asked Paulina and Christina to grab towels. I asked Serge to apply counter pressure to the perineum. The head crowned and during those three contractions I had a little debate about pushing: I knew that if I could avoid pushing during the contraction and perhaps push in between instead that we could ease the head out slowly and avoid a tear. On the other hand, I sure felt like I wanted to push, and if I pushed then the baby would be out sooner and I wouldn't have to have as many contractions. I ended up pushing- and did have a tear along where I had torn with Andrew. But it was superficial and less severe than his second degree tear (and a second degree tear isn't all that bad anyway). The midwife said that there were only 2 or 3 stitches needed in the muscle tissue, the rest of the tear was just in the skin.
Back to the delivery: Serge eased our little girl down to the floor- she came out really fast. And pink. I've seen maybe a couple dozen births in birthing videos, and one real life birth. I had never seen a baby born as pink as Annabelle was. She was a bright pink from the moment she crowned, and started to squawk and sputter before her legs were even delivered. Serge said that it was a girl; I turned around and he put her on my belly and covered her in a towel. (By the way, we soiled every single towel we owned in the process of our unplanned homebirth. Fortunately, with quite a bit of work from my sister, everything has come out clean besides some rags and a pillow that we decided to throw away. And we definitely wouldn't have made it to the hospital- from when I announced that I could feel the baby's head to when she was born was only about 7 minutes.)
I didn't realize till I watched the video several days later that Annabelle was born posterior. She never turned around the right way- she was born facing the wrong direction ("sunny side up"). So that explains the start and stop labor and also why I always wanted to lean forward during the contractions and gave birth on my hands and knees.
Then we started talking about what to do next. Since Annabelle was looking so great and I felt so good- I just wanted to stay put until the placenta came on it's own. Paulina grabbed one of our soup pots to catch the placenta in. Serge asked if I wanted anything, and I said "Yeah, a shake!". He made one and then I ate two bowls of soup. (I was impressively hungry and ate a huge amount of food the day following her birth.) A few minutes after the birth we had a knock on the door, and our neighbor Carrie (who we had given the baby monitor to so she could listen for our toddler) said "So, I heard you didn't make it to the hospital. Do you need anything?" Our midwife called and asked if we were coming, we said we were on our way soon but we'd already had the baby
I finished eating and Annabelle nursed for about 10 minutes. The placenta fell out at 2:25, we put it in our pot and Serge and Christina linked arms underneath me to carry me to the car. I held the baby, Paulina held the soup pot with the placenta, and Carrie opened doors as our funny-looking procession made it's way out to the car. Checking into the hospital was less hectic that I would have expected- but I guess there's not much to worry about if the mom and baby are both happy. Everyone was calm.
We met our midwife and she 
stitched me up, I was still bleeding a bit and she suggested a shot of Pitocin. At the same time the nurses were commenting that Annabelle was just a little shaky and they thought her blood sugar might be low. I asked if I could hold Annabelle (who had now been separated from the placenta) and try nursing first. Annabelle latched on well and nursed like a champ for 45 minutes. That took care of the bleeding for me and the low blood sugar for her (Hurray for nursing!). Our doula Paulina is also a La Leche League leader and it was fantastic having her help with nursing.
stitched me up, I was still bleeding a bit and she suggested a shot of Pitocin. At the same time the nurses were commenting that Annabelle was just a little shaky and they thought her blood sugar might be low. I asked if I could hold Annabelle (who had now been separated from the placenta) and try nursing first. Annabelle latched on well and nursed like a champ for 45 minutes. That took care of the bleeding for me and the low blood sugar for her (Hurray for nursing!). Our doula Paulina is also a La Leche League leader and it was fantastic having her help with nursing.I feel very happy and grateful for how thing have gone with this birth. We are so blessed. I am once again amazed at the miracle of birth and life- It's incredible that this is the way we all arrive. Annabelle is so beautiful- and very sweet. Oh, she weighed 6 lbs 13 oz and was 20 inches long.
No comments:
Post a Comment