mamacas26's children

mamacas26
	Age: 26 Country: Province/region: City: Partner: Husband Kevin Children: Yes, 2 Pregnant: Not anymore Due date: 30 Dec ,2007 Occupation: clerical
	Online: 7 hours ago. Last updated: 27 days ago. Member since: 153 days
\| Profile \| Photos (9) \| Children (2) \| Blog (1) \| Polls (0) \| Agenda (0) \| Comments added (182) \| Notepad

Members

Emma
Sex: girl
Born: 14 January, 2001
Age: 7 years & 193 days
Birthday in: 172 days
Starsign: Capricorn
Development: See the 32 months page.
Biggest achievement so far:
finishing 1st grade!

Joseph
Sex: boy
Born: 04 January, 2008
Age: 0 years & 202 days
Birthday in: 163 days
Starsign: Capricorn
Development: See the 6 months page.
Biggest achievement so far:
warming the hearts of all...

Dull, pulling, achy contractions woke me up around 3. I would fall back to sleep in between and wake up moaning when they'd come back..they were about 10 minutes apart. My husband woke up (sort of) and I told him I thought I was in labor but to go back to sleep and not bother me! He learned from all the "false labor" that we went through before to not get too excited because I thought it would jinx us! I did the sleep/contract thing until 5 and then got up. I made coffee, folded laundry, timed contractions and called into work. I told nobody to call the house because we were having a home-birth and the last thing I wanted were distractions. I got my daughter up from bed, got her ready and sent her off to school..then I called my midwife. Something told me that labor was going to take awhile so I told my midwife not to hurry or anything because the baby probably wouldn't come until late night or early the next morning...We were going to make a day of it! She came over, I opened the door smiling and eating an apple! She checked me and said I was at 4 and defininatly in labor. Yay! She left, and my husband and I decided to go to Target to get last minute items. It was the strangest thing, I remember standing in the isle with the energy bars and having a contraction and trying to play it off because there was an employee in the isle and I didn't want him to catch on! We hurried out of there, the bright lights and people were too much. Next we went to pizza, It was about11 and I was HUNGRY! The nice thing about having a home-birth is that they don't starve you, and I was liking that. So I got a slice of cheese pizza and a spinach salad and LOVED IT. Then we went to the park to try to hike on some trails and speed up the contractions. It was so nice to be at that park, by the beach, having contractions and taking deep breaths outside. After about an hour of contractions coming about every 7 minutes, we decided to go home. We called my mother who was planning on coming over and staying for as long as she could but she had cancer at the time and was going through chemo and would get very ill. The contractions were coming stronger and longer and closer together and I was working through them well. After my mother arrived, my daughter Emma came home from school. She did not know when she left that morning that I was in labor. But when she got home she figured it out. We had talked a lot prior to labor that she would have to be quiet as a mouse when I'd have “tummy squeezes” and that even though I would have pain, they were good pains because it meant the baby would come. Emma settled into watching TV and the midwife came back. She saw how I was doing, listened to the Joseph's heartbeat and talked to me a little. I told her she could leave again if she wanted...it still felt like it would be awhile. Labor must have picked up quite well soon after because this is where things get fuzzy and I don't remember much detail. I remember my sister coming over, she was to take pictures. When she walked in the house she was talking really loud and telling us all about her drive and I remember telling her “please, please keep it quiet, it makes it harder with noise”. She did, and it was better. During contractions I would lean over onto Joseph's changing table and moan and my mother would caress my back softly..Once I had to go to the bathroom and I got stuck on the toilet with a contraction, it freaked me out cause it hurt way worse. I said “I can't relax through this one!” and I clutched my mothers shoulders as she kneeled in front of me and said, “it's okay, you don't have to”. That was nice to hear. I t was nice to know that I didn't have to be perfect! I hated that toilet though! I was scared to go the bathroom after that! The midwife gave me an IV of antibiotics while I lay on the bed as I was strep-b positive. Boy contractions hurt at that point! I called my doula and told her that we would call her over when we needed her. That was about 8pm. My memory gets even fuzzier at this point. I know my daughter put on her lullaby CD for me to listen to while I tried to rest. I lay on the bed on my side with my husband behind me, spooning me and I'd drift off only to be brought to with another wave of tightening and then a deep pulling really low down there and I would start to moan and the moan would get louder with the peek of the contraction and softer with it's release. I call it my birth song. I can't tell you how long I layed there. Somehow my daughter went to bed....I know I ate some more food before I lay down with my husband....some roasted carrots, celery and potatoes. I rode those contractions like a champ! I kept as relaxed as I could, bottom loose, mouth loose, and vagina loose. Next thing I know I'm up from the bed and I'm on the floor leaning on the birth ball telling my husband to call the midwife and doula and tell them to hurry cause it was getting very intense and I want to ”get into the fucking tub”. That was at about 2am. Next memory, my doula walks in the room really quiet like and saying something like “hi, how are you doing?” Not long before I could answer I had another rolling and tightening and pulling contraction...and I got loud with that moan. My midwife came in and said, “So I heard you want to get into the fucking tub”. She giggled, and I tried to, kind of embarrassed by what I had said! Oh but yes, I wanted in the tub! Oh. my. god. The water took a lot of weight off my tummy. The contractions picked up and seemed almost unbearable. I rode them out moaning and resting my head on the side of the tub while my midwife gave me another IV of antibiotics.

After holding it together for so long and being such a champ for hours and hours, when the contractions started one on top of the other, I started getting whiny. I just said, “Stacey (our doula), I can't do this anymore.” She would say gently that I could and I was and I was doing great...and I'd go through another contraction and then I started to say “I think i need to go to the hospital” and she'd say, “oh but you don't want to leave the comfort of your home and get in the cold car and wait in the bright lights of the hospital, by then you'd be ready to have your baby and you wouldn't have time for medication anyway” She was right, and I knew it. But I kept saying it. In fact, after awhile I asked if an ambulance could come and give me a shot of something to take away the pain. I knew that wouldn't happen either but I think the fantasy of relief really got me through each contraction one by one. I said things like “Stacey, I can't do this! I am not a super hero!” And she said “I know you're not a super hero”. She was so calm and reassuring. I can remember getting this contraction that felt like my cervix was being stretched apart so hard that I gripped the side of the tub and stared deep into her eyes with a silent pleading. Her eyes looked right back into my face, and I remember thinking how strange it was that my face was so close to hers and she didn't mind. So next the not so pretty things started to happen, like...the farts. They were awful! Something about being in a big tub of water with people around you watching, while you let huge rippers under the water that send billows of air bubbles up to the surface and explode into a nasty fume...not so flattering. I kept apologizing and they acted like it was no big deal! I was grossing myself out, those poor people. And then I had to pee, but the thought of the toilet was terrifying so the told me to pee in the tub. I'd never been told to pee in a tub before, in fact I've been told the opposite! But it was either that or the toilet. I pissed myself several times in that tub...and it was awesome. I told my midwife that I was so tired and all I wanted to do was sleep...so she suggested that she break my water and then rest. I got out of the tub and layed on my bed again, she broke my water and I drifted in and out of a sleep like state, roaring with a thunderous moan during each contraction. I'm not sure how long that went on...next my midwife said she was going to check me. I told her “I mean it, if I'm not at least a 9 we are going to the hospital” She agreed, and checked me, and I was a 9. My doula said “good knowing your body!”. Turns out I had a cervical lip that was keeping me from dilating all the way, so she had me push while she supported the “lip”. My husband let me lay between his knees. It seems that as soon as I started pushing the contractions didn't hurt anymore...we got into a whole new sensation. I wouldn't say painful at first, just heavy and big and full and hot. Stacy told me that just when I thought the pain was too much to push past that and it would be better. Strange as it sounds, she was right. When I'd push and it hurt, I'd push harder and it hurt less.....until his head started crowning. That was different. I can't really put into words how that felt, but I felt it. So the correct way to push is like you are having a bowel movement. So I did. And guess what! I had a bowel movement! A big one! And I peed. a lot. I said in a growling during my pushing “I'm pooping! I'm peeing!” The midwife said, “that's okay, that means your doing it right, keep going!” Next thing I know, his head is out, my sister snapped a gazillion shots of my vagina, I'm flipped over onto my hands and knees and the feeling is so intense I can't really comprehend anything...but the I hear “Casondra! Push that baby out now!” I said something like “I can't, pull him out!” And to my knowledge and what it felt like, they did. That moment when he left my body was unlike how I expected. You see those moments on tv, like, a baby story, where the moms are looking at their baby and crying and laughing and saying “oh my baby!”. That wasn't me. It felt so good to not be in the pain anymore, that I just closed my eyes and put my head down. They pushed him between my knees and when I saw him, I knew why everything was intense. He weighed 9lb 12 oz and was 20 ¾ inches long. I turned on my back and they layed him on my tummy and the weirdest thing happened. When I touched him for the first time, it was like touching a part of myself without feeling. Like if your arm were to go to sleep and you touched it expecting to feel something, but you couldn't. It was a point in which he was no longer a part of me, he was himself. It was amazing. For awhile after that I kept saying how I couldn't believe I did it and I didn't think that I could ever do that again. In fact, when I was pushing I told my midwife “No offense Constance, but the next time we have a baby, we'll come visit you, but I'm doing this at hospital!” Now, looking back, I know that is not true. The experience of giving birth to our son was so intense in every way. It was beautiful, fun, scary, painful, funny, sad and joyous. There is no way that I could ever want to numb any part of that. I've since let my midwife know that as well!

So that is the story...some parts I know I probably overlooked...but my highlights were leaning on my mom on the toilet and her telling me it was okay that I couldn't hold it together, looking into my doula's eyes in desperation and seeing such love looking back at me, and sleeping and contracting with my husband spooning me. The part where we didn't have to go home from the hospital was nice too. I forgot to mention that my daughter woke up at about 5 am and watched him be born....at 8:00 on the dot January 4^th, 2008. Just like God planned it, I'm sure.

Photos

This is what natural childbirth looks like! (2008, 06, 24)

This was a nice position...took pressure off back while I tried to relax... (2008, 06, 24)

11 weeks pregnant with boy (2008, 06, 24)

38 weeks pregnant...2 weeks 5 days before birth (2008, 06, 24)

5 months old, very sleepy (2008, 06, 24)

Emma and Joseph, 7 years and 5 months (2008, 06, 24)

Sleeping on daddy....pretty new here (2008, 06, 24)

Children

Latest blogs
01-7-2008 - Joseph is almost 6 months old!

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