Birth

So sorry for lack of updates! Blogger was acting super-weird for the past few days and hasn't let me publish a thing. It seems to be up and running again now, so I will grab a rare moment.

Our birth was amazing. I went into labour as I wrote to you all. I read for a while, wrote a letter. I finally woke D two hours later as the pains were more frequent. We went for a walk - I was determined to be in a position to call the midwives when we got back, that is to have contractions that were five minutes apart and one minute long. On the walk they got 2-3 minutes apart but were still 30 or 45 seconds long.

I came back home and we called our doula, as there was a fair amount of blood and the "Birth Partner" book was pretty frightening about what that meant. Our doula assured us it was normal and got ready to come over. A little while later, my contractions were a minute long, and D called the midwife. She was at another birth, so she sounded a bit anxious. But the midwife coming on call the next morning was able to come so she arrived at the same time as the doula.

When they arrived they watched and waited a bit. The doula took over and D was able to get our place ready. The midwife offered an exam and it turned out I was 10 cm dilated!

I was positive for a bacteria called Group B Strep, which is very common, but in very rare situations can cause serious issues in newborns. I was still deciding whether or not to treat only if risk factors presented themselves (i.e. if my water was broken for a long time), or to treat with antibiotics regardless. woops moving to one-handed typing as baby nurses. but since the antibiotics have to be in your system for 4, or preferable 8 hours before birth, it became an impossibility to treat, since baby was only a couple of hours away. thankfully, my water was still not broken, and in fact broke only 1/2 an hour or so before birth.

At that point i got in the bath, which was great; Our doula and D had been careful to keep me hydrated, so after a while in the tub, everyone thought it might be a good idea if I peed. I moved to the toilet where my water finally broke, and just sat there for a while, biting down on a towel as I had more and more contractions. Someone suggested I feel for the head and I reached down and there it was. That gave me lots of incentive to push and bear down, though I will say the pushing is almost involuntary. My whole body was in eject mode, and I was throwing up and pushing. But I did bear down a lot. The midwife suggested I get back in the bath, which I did. Not 5 minutes later, his head was born; then another few minutes passed and I pushed again and his body was born.

They passed him to me through the water, grey and slithering, with a long head and the bluest little hands. I have to say, I knew he would look odd, but it was almost as if someone was handing me a completely different baby. But I just wanted to hold him so close. He didn't breathe immediately, but after a while, he took out a great yell and kept doing that. The midwives said he was "very passionate!"

I was really expecting quite a bit of direction, and coaching through labour. But the midwife who arrived was really laidback, and just watched, listened, answered questions and made the odd suggestion. Now I realise that's exactly what worked best for us, and I'm so happy it was that way. Basically it implied to me that everything I was doing was right, and it gave me the confidence to keep going. Our doula was seamless, at times I didn't even know if it was her or D pushing on my back or squeezing my hand.

Did it hurt? Yeah - a lot. At times I was thinking "we are only having one child" or "I wish I'd had a cesarean." But 20 minutes later, all the pain seemed a distant memory and I was high as a kite and full of energy and life.

We are now coming down off the high, and off a slew of visitors, and are preparing to cocoon for a few days and turn off the ringer on the phone.