Members

As a member you'll be able to receive and send messages, keep your own photobook, agenda, ask questions, participate in the chat, and make new friends. All is free and you don't need email.
Sign up (free & anonymous)

Name: Password:

---

Activity
• Now online | Member search | New members | Comment Spy
• New blogs & Questions | Recently updated profiles
• New photos: Pregnancy | Babies | Bellies | Ultrasound | Member pages
• Latest comments: Forums | Week by week | Baby development

Deklan Sex: boy Born: 27 July, 2004 Age: 7 years & 205 days Birthday in: 160 days Starsign: Leo Development: See the 32 months page. Biggest achievement so far: Learning my numbers and letters and counting so well!

---

Gavin Newton Robertson Sex: boy Born: 22 January, 2008 Age: 4 years & 26 days Birthday in: 339 days Starsign: Aquarius Development: See the 32 months page. Biggest achievement so far: -

Birth details

Type of delivery: Waterbirth
Duration of labor: 11 hours
Weight @ birth: 10 lb. 1oz
Length @ birth: 22 inches

Gavin-Newton-Robertson`s birthstory

Well, my water broke at a trickle at 7pm on Jan. 21st. After I was sure it was my water and not just me peeing myself (LOL...not going to miss THAT finer point of pregnancy!!), I called my midwife. Since I had not started having any contractions yet, she told me to go to bed and get some rest, and if I hadn't started contractions in 12 hours, then to come in and she'd get me started on some herbs to get me going. I woke up at 2:45am Jan. 22nd with contractions that weren't bad, but were enough to wake me up and not let me go back to sleep. So, at about 3:30am, I called my midwife back and said we were going to load up and head to the birthing home. We got there at around 5am. We settled in, and waited for my family so they could watch Deklan, then holed up in the birthing room. My contractions were painful, but I could easily breathe thru them. At about 8am, my midwife checked my cervix and saw that I was at 8cm already! She called in her birth assistant, who rushed to the birthing home, thinking it would be soon...well, my ornery little boy threw us all a curve ball!! I got into the birthing tub and relaxed a bit (by the way, I would TOTALLY recommend water birth to ANYONE!). But when she checked me again about 3 hours later, I had only progressed to 9 cm! And what's worse, at 2pm, I was STILL only 9cm! I was more discouraged than anything at that point. To me, that's always been the hardest part of labor...the last few centimeters. It's the most painful part. And I was stuck there for HOURS. The two things that made it bearable were alternating positions...I'd spend some time in the tub, then get up and sit on the bed, swaying and rocking my hips. My midwife was giving me herbs like mad to make my cervix finish dilating, which apparently worked. At one point, I also had a wave of nausea and threw up everything that I had been drinking. Since my labor had lasted so long, she asked if I wanted an IV of fluids, just to give me a little extra energy, and I said YES! I knew it would help. So, at about 2:40pm, I decided that I needed to get off the bed, go pee, then get back into the tub. My midwife was going to check me after I peed...but when I stood up, it hit me like a ton of bricks that I had to PUSH! I really wanted the tub to get filled in time, so I tried my hardest not to push, breathing out the contractions while bearing down instead of holding my breath and pushing. I had two big contractions like that at the bedside while waiting for the water to get going in the tub. Then I got in the tub, and the water was only about 4 inches deep, not deep enough to give birth yet, so I breathed thru another 2 contractions like that. FINALLY the water was deep enough and I could really bear down and push...the first push made him crown, the second pushed out his head, and the third pushed him all the way out! Three pushes this time, as opposed to 45 min. worth with Deklan! Not too shabby! I also had a 3rd degree tear with Deklan, and only ended up with a first degree tear and a couple of superficial lacerations this time. I think the perineal massage that my hubby did for me really helped a lot with that, and also, when he crowned and it really started burning, I tried to breathe and not push and let his head stretch the tissue rather than pushing his head right out. When his head was out, I had still not torn. But he had a little arm right up by his face, so with the next push it wasn't just his shoulders that popped out, but an arm too. That's when I tore. :( When I pushed him out, I caught him and pulled him up out of the water and held him to me...it was awesome! I held him in the bath until the cord stopped pulsing, then they cut the cord and gave him to my hubby while I birthed the placenta. Then I got out, climbed into bed, and started breastfeeding him. It was so cool. After he had nursed on both sides and I had eated some fruit and cheese and drank some fluids, my midwife took him to weigh and measure him. He weighed in at a whopping 10 lbs., 1 oz., and was 22 inches long! Big boy! It made sense then why my labor took so long. After he was checked and weighed and got dressed and all, I was taken back to get stitched up. After that, I took a shower, then went downstairs and had a bowl of soup and got my post-partum instructions. Then we went home! All in all, it was a long, hard birth, my labor was about 11 hours long. But it was worth every bit of it. At one point, I looked at my hubby and said "Next time I'm having a c-section!", and was only half kidding. Long labor can be so taxing, more mentally than physically. But my midwife helped ground me a little, and basically told me that if I wasted my energy whining, then I wouldn't have the energy for the rest of my labor...LOL. After that, I decided she was right, and found my focus again, and got back down to business. She did things for me that no Dr. would ever have done. Toward the end, she was in the bed with me, sitting behind me supporting my tummy with a Rebozo (like a scarf) and letting me lean back against her and rock...it was just a really unique experience. Even though I'd say that this labor was harder than my first, it was still better. I liked the whole birthing home/midwife experience, and wouldn't have traded it for the world.

---