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Week by Week

Caylor's Birth!

This was my first pregnancy and everything was going great. I had loved every minute of it! At about 35 weeks I began taking PN6, an herbal supplement that is supposed to help soften the cervix and prepare it for birth. At 36 weeks I was 2cm and about 75% effaced. My OB was a little concerned because my uterus was only about 32 cm. long at that point so she did a sonogram just to make sure he was still thriving. He was fine. At 37 weeks I was 3 cm and about 80-90% effaced. I was having mild contractions but was still at work. I was on my feet all day so that helped. I was "due" on Jan.25th and I really was ready to have that baby, so I called in to work and said I would not be in. I started doing everything I could think of to help bring on labor. I took long walks, warm baths, did nipple stim, stayed on my feet, and took bumpy rides in the truck. That evening, immediately after making love, the contractions started. That was about 10:30. They were pretty strong and were coming 5 minutes or less apart. I got up and walked around, timed them, walked, rocked, drank water. Some were as little as 3 minutes apart so I called the medical exchange. The doc on call said to come in since we lived 35 minutes from the hospital. So at 3:00 in the morning I woke my husband who had put a pillow over his head to "drown out the moaning". He got up made coffee, ate breakfast,and got dressed while I was waiting to leave! We got to the hospital at about 5:30a.m. At about 7:00 they checked me and I was 4 cm and 100% effaced. So we started walking until they got the LDR ready for us. We had our Bradley teacher/friend/second coach there taking video, and my younger brother was there too. I was having contractions fairly regularly and at 8:30 I was at 5 cm. More walking, showering. At 10:00 I was at 6cm. More walking, showering, rocking,watching tv, reading magazines, eating ice chips. At 12:00 I was still at 6 cm. so my OB broke my water. This sent me pretty rapidly into transition. My contractions became much harder and much closer together. I just concentrated on relaxing and felt I was doing a good job. Another friend was there now helping with stuff. There was some picture taking happening. At about 4:30 I tried squatting but felt so dehydrated and overwhelmingly tired that I didn't do this for long. At 4:45 I turned around and sat back down on the bed and said, "I need to poop. I feel like pushing." They let me push some till my Ob got there. I didn't feel like I was pushing very effectively but I kept trying. Everybody was very supportive and kept telling me I was doing great. My husband held one leg and our second coach held the other. I remember that I was not really noticing the pain at that point because it felt so good to push. I finally gave in to an episiotomy bacause I felt like it was taking forever, even though it wasn't. I didn't feel that at all. My OB said to push once and the head came out. She said to push very gently but I just gave it all I had and pushed him out on the next one. It was 5:14 p.m. on January 26th, 1994. They didn't need to suction him because the sqeezing of the uterus and pelvic floor muscles. All those Kegel's paid off. He was put on my stomach and within a minute or two was contentedly nursing at my breast. I looked at everyone and said, "/that wasn't so bad!". And I really meant it. The placenta came out with the next contraction and all the nurses were marveling at it saying it was so big and healthy looking. Several nurses came in and out saying that they didn't get to see many natural childbirths. They weighed him, measured him, etc.. while they gave me 3 stitches. I didn't feel anything, I was just so excited to finally have my baby with me. We stayed overnight and went home the next morning. I thought the birth went really well even though it was a long labor. It was hard but definately worth every minute. I didn't think it was nearly as painful as I had always been told while growing up. I never once thought about having any meds.