Samuel James entered this world on 11/11:-) I thought I would share his story for you.
11/09 - I was 40 weeks and 6 days pregnant. I was planning a homebirth...in a birthing pool, in my dining room, with two wonderful midwives. I woke up around 9, got my sneakers on, and went to pick up my best friend and cousin, Andrea. We were going to get coffee and donuts and go walk the causeway (3 mile walk)....definitely wanting to have this baby! I had pubic symphysis and had been in pain for weeks, often times, unable to sleep. I had also been having Braxton Hicks and "false labor" off and on for several weeks too...needless to say, I was very ready to have this child. After our walk, I went to the health food store to pick up some castor oil...it brought on my sister's labor, I was hoping it would start mine too! It was around 2 pm that I took the oil, then I took a warm epsom salt bath with clary sage, peppermint, and lavender essential oils. Clary sage and peppermint are supposed to be great for labor inducement...so I was hoping the walking, combined with the oils and the castor oil, I would get the labor going! (The castor oil DID work, but it may have been what sent me to the hospital also...I don't think I'll be doing it for the next baby...I rushed things because I wanted him out...I should have been more patient!)
Around 7 pm, I started getting a lot of contractions. At 7:45, my waters broke. This is VERY early for water to break, but it was a sign I was in labor, so I was pretty stoked! Also, I had a LOT of water....after having leaky waters 11 weeks prior, I was happy to see my body had definitely recovered!
My midwives showed up around 8:30pm to check me and stay with me...We were all ready for a Sunday delivery...right on Daniel and I's 2nd wedding anniversary. I was diffusing Balance essential oil right into my face as I contracted, it helped me keep focused and grounded in relaxing through the contractions!
11/10 I had labored most of the night(11-09)....my contractions were definitely getting stronger and more frequent! Well, around noon on Sunday, I got checked again...and I simply wasn't progressing. Not nearly fast enough. My waters had been broken for QUITE a while now, and I was barely 3cm and still very posterior.... Legally, my midwives were running out of time to treat me. They recommended I go to the hospital, get pitocin and an epidural (mind you, they are both VERY anti-medication...so my situation was serious enough to NEED those meds - pitocin would help me dilate, and the epidural would give me some much needed rest and allow my cervix to descend....which was just as needed as the dilation)
So, in tears and a panic, I got transferred to the hospital. I did NOT want antibiotics or a c-section(or to be at the hospital at all!!) And those were the two things I was bound to get in a hospital! Dr. Conrad, the on call OB, came in, told me I would be going on pitocin to speed labor up...mentioned I could get the epidural if I wanted one, and under my midwife's advisement, I decided to get one(He never once said the words c-section or antibiotics...God was listening to the prayers of the friends and family...I didn't want antibiotics because it damages the flora and fauna of both me and the baby, and opens the body up for later infections or illness...and I didn't want a c-section for the obvious reasons of it being a major surgery, with a lot of possible problems...yes, many are done safely, and are medically necessary, but I still wanted to avoid one if possible)...... Bear with me here...I do NOT like medicated births...If I hadn't been in labor for so long and it not progressing, I would NOT have gotten the epidural. It was medically necessary for me. If I wanted a vaginal birth, my cervix NEEDED to descend, I needed some rest, and the pitocin was going to put my body through the ringer! Doing that without the epidural, I was probably going to be looking at a c-section, simply from lack of energy. By the time the epidural was administered, I had been in labor over 24 hours. It was excruciatingly painful. The Dr. hit a nerve in my back...I screamed in pain with tears running down my face...Daniel was strong and steady...my rock...in my face telling me to focus on him! I was trembling remembering every negative side effect I was nervous about! Finally, the pain subsided, and I was ok...I got to sleep for a few hours off and on...they started my pitocin drip....I was hoping to meet my son sooner than later! Again, both of these things became medically necessary, and I had already been in "natural" labor for over 24 hours...I weighed the risks of the meds, but hopefully ending with a vaginal birth, with the risks of a c-section(which would still require some meds)...I was determined to give this birth my all and do as much naturally as I could!
11/11 - 1am...I woke up...in horrendous pain on my right side...only on my right side. My epidural had drained into my left leg, even with all the sleeping and shifting on different sides...So they checked me, I was at 8cm...getting closer! They decided to give me another dose of epidural to help with the last part of labor...off to sleep I went!
4am - again, I woke in terrible pain...I checked the monitor, I was definitely in transition phase! They checked me, I was too far along to give another dose of epidural to....I would have to do transition phase with pitocin and no epidural. (basically, I would do the worst part "naturally", but like times 10...) For the next hour, I experienced horrible back labor....and contractions about 30 seconds apart. It was so intense, I could barely breathe. I kept checking baby's heart rate on the monitor...it never faltered.(it dropped ONCE when I was sleeping, but it came back just fine!) His heart rate, through the whole labor, had been in the 140's and 150's....I was so thankful. He was still doing great even though I was going through all of this! My mom and Daniel held each of my hands while going through this horrible part of labor. My mom kept saying to control my breathing. Eventually, I started singing...it was the only way I knew that I could control my breathing and not think so much about the pain...and it worked. I highly recommend singing through transition phase for anyone who enjoys singing. Next baby, I will probably make a cd or playlist with songs I love singing so I can sing through the whole thing.
5am - checked me again...I was "complete"...a word I had been LONGING to hear! At this point, I have been in labor for 35 hours! They gave me the go ahead to start pushing...so me and my nurse, Colleen, and my mom, started the pushing phase...it was slow and steady for a long time....it felt like I wasn't progressing at all....but I was;-) ...my other nurse, Tracy came in, replaced Colleen, and helped me for a while longer... Because my epidural had drained, twice over, into my left leg, the leg was entirely useless. With each push, my mother lifted my leg into position so I could push properly...I still tear up knowing what a labor of love she did for me. Her arm was SHAKING by the end of it...my legs are pretty heavy...I couldn't imagine her lifting it every minute and holding it for 45 seconds for 3 and a half hours!
7am - Michelle, the next nurse came in...She was a bit more stern than the other two...which is what I needed at this point...She encouraged and coached me really well into pushing harder! I was at my wits end...exhausted beyond belief, frustrated at how difficult it was pushing him out, and a bit concerned now...my leg was still super numb...I know some people have permanent nerve damage because of epidurals...I thought I might lose some or all of my leg's function if I didn't start feeling something soon! (I still have some pain and back spasms, but my leg is functioning!)
8:30am - The doctor looked at me and my progress, and essentially nudged the baby out and caught his head, not 5 minutes after entering the room. He told me to "look up"...and I saw my sweet boy...full head of hair...and as I sat up a bit more, the rest of him just slid on out! I was so overjoyed!
8:34am - Samuel James was born...he was weighed 8lbs and 10oz, 20.5 inches long! He was shivering, but barely crying...so they tried to tick him off to get him to cry more(he was so peaceful and content, even just after birth). Then he was fine...but he was still shaking, so they were worried about his blood sugar...but that was perfect too... He had a temperature, so they rushed him to the nursery, Daniel went with him, where I feared they would give him antibiotics...but the Dr. realized it was just an epidural fever, and let it come down on its own...within about 2 hours, his temp was 98.6! :-D Whew! But Samuel didn't come back to me until 11am...I was so sad to miss out on those first couple of hours after birth! I only held him for 5 minutes before they rushed him away :-(
I declined the first bath, eye goo, hep B shot, and Vit K shot...several of the nurses and doctors tried to convince me or Daniel that we were making very "risky" decisions by doing this. So I will explain why I didn't do these things;
First bath - they have brand new, awesome skin, with a layer of vernix which has a lot of beneficial properties for his skin. And he didn't have much vernix or really anything on his skin...he was born very clean and they just wiped him off a bit...he didn't get his "first bath" until yesterday. Also, in the hospital here, they basically scrub the babies down with an exfoliator...and that is so unnecessary! It makes their beautiful baby skin raw and pink and at times, makes it look wrinkly! I saw other babies in the nursery, and all their skin looked very different than Samuel's...I was so glad I declined the bath!
Eye goop- or otherwise known as erythromycin. It is an antibiotic, put on the eyes, to prevent infection(and possible blindness) for babies born vaginally, to mothers to have certain STD's. I don't have those STD's, and I am very low risk for them, AND, if there IS a subsequent infection, you can always apply the oinment at a later time to prevent blindness. So, going with my low intervention birth, I opted out. (BTW, he is not blind, and has no infection) The doctor(pediatrician in the nursery) DID try to fear monger Daniel into it, even claiming falsely(lying), that it is FL law to get it...
Hep B vaccine - this is hugely controversial, so I'll try not to get too involved. Basically, babies don't have a blood-brain barrier for quite a while after birth...Hep B vaccine has a ton of toxins, like aluminum and formaldehyde, in it(and no blood brain barrier to protect the wee one's brain from said toxins), allergic reactions to it are fairly common, I do not have Hep B, and it is a disease only transferred BY BLOOD. So unless the hospital was planning a blood transfusion, with contaminated Hep B blood, the risk of him getting Hep B is 0%. I wouldn't let him EAT formaldehyde or aluminum, why would I inject him with it, when his risk for getting Hep B is so minimal!? I didn't get the Hep B vaccine until I went away to college...and the ONLY reason I did, was because it was required if I wanted to live on campus. (I am sure there is an exemption form, like most schools have, I just didn't know to ask for it.)
Vit K shot - It is only vitamins, Becca, you're a health nut who takes tons of vitamins, why wouldn't you get this?! There are definitely risks to it...and there are risks not getting it. Here's a great little info blog on it(or you could google "risks of Vit K shot...you'll get more than enough info on it!)...I have been taking Vit K (natural, whole food form) since about 37 or 38 weeks, and the protein shake I have used nearly every day of my pregnancy, also has a whole, natural form of Vit K 2. I encourage you to look up the risks yourself if you are expecting a baby or know someone who is....the rarity of the brain bleeding from lack of K2, is very unlikely...it is also a genetic disorder...chances are, you would know if you had that problem in your family. Being that neither Daniel or I have that genetic problem, we opted out of this shot. Something to be aware of is that babies start MAKING their own vit K2 at 7 days old...actually, the beneficial e. coli in their colons make it...but that's for a different blog!
So even though I didn't get my homebirth, I did labor for a long time at home, I had a very low intervention birth (save the epidural and the pitocin), and am so in love with my little boy! He's such a pleasant, content little baby....It is a joy to be his momma! I am so proud to be the wife of Daniel, who was so strong and steady for the whole birth...I'm pretty much the luckiest, most blessed woman, in the world...
<3
Becca H.
