Saturday, April 18, 2009

Naomi's Birth Story

Here by popular demand, here's Naomi's birth story!


*Naomi's first picture*

Birth story:

Naomi Aroha
8lbs 2oz 20.5in long
Born 11:55am on 10 April 2009 (New Zealand time) 7:55pm on 9 April 2009 (EST)
A little bit of lighter brown hair (darkest of the babies so far) and dark slate gray/blue eyes. Chubby cheeks like her sister and an attachment to sucking her thumbs/hands.
Aroha is the New Zealand Maori word for "Love". Naomi means either "Pleasant" or "My delight".

On Tuesday (7th), my due date my midwife and her assistant, a student midwife came to the house to see me. Shirley (the midwife) did a *really good* stretch and sweep (stretching the cervix and separating the membranes inside the cervix) and I felt crampy and crappy from the moment she left at 3pm. I had some contractions overnight but they were 20min apart, and I slept through them for the most part.

I felt fine Wednesday (8th) and went out for the morning, went for a big walk with Oceana and then came home. I lost bits of mucous plug all day. Again, I felt crampy and crappy all day, but nothing timeable.

Thursday morning (9th), felt fine again, went out for lunch with my sister and took another walk. From 2pm that day I had contractions around 10-20min apart, but they were still sporadic, not very strong, and no more intense than they had been. I timed them before bed at 10min apart, but still not stronger. I sent Shirley a text message to warn her I might call in the night. I woke up at 4am rather ticked off that I wasn't in labor. But I was having some contractions. I got up and had another piece of plug (HOW MUCH IS THERE??!?) and a bloody show.

I tried to sleep after 4, but the contractions were coming regularly at 8-10 min and getting stronger. I dosed restlessly until 6am. From 6am, decided that I didn't want Oceana getting scared that I was in pain and had my sister drop her off at my mom's on the way to work (7:30am). The last half hour before Oceana left I was turning my face into pillows or pulling my hoodie over my face so she wouldn't worry about me. She's very sensitive to other people's pain and I didn't want her to start crying about my crunched up face.

I labored here on the living room couch for about an hour and then finally called Shirley to see if this was far enough along. My contractions were still slightly sporatic, varying between 4-8min apart, but never more than 8. I started doing stupid things like fold a load of laundry and hanging another on the drying rack. I had 3 contractions while doing the hanging up. I felt the need to pick up some clutter and clean up a bit.

Shirley came by 9:00 and started me pretty quickly on a homeopathic remedy to regulate the contractions and soften my cervix (she never did an internal exam until 9.5cm). The remedies were (sp?) cauldoplyllum every 15 min(ctx) and gepsemium 3-4x(cervix). They worked! :) I found out the next day the cauldophyllum was specifically for regulated contractions during occiput posterior labor (sunny side up).

I labored on my yoga ball, kneeling on floor and leaned over it. That was THE.BEST.$10.I.EVER.SPENT! I began to get annoyed that every time I did my puffy breathing during contractions. I could hear it echoing through the ball (haha for hormonal fits) and put Oceana's bright duvet over (I love it... it’s comforting to me). It worked great for letting me roll my hips without having to be on my feet. I laid or sat on the floor between contractions, Matt was watching the Master's Cup on the internet. Haha, we said maybe this baby will be his little golfer and he can be her caddy. :) (He did turn it off with the contractions got interesting around 10:30 – probably the beginning of transition).

The student midwife, Shona, also arrived and they just hung out. They did some dishes (LOL), made coffee, and did paperwork while they waited for me. They started to get their stuff sorted out and asked where I wanted to birth. I said probably upstairs in our bed. They went up to do that and very quickly came back downstairs and pointed out that a) I might not want to go up the stairs while in labor and b) the bathroom is at the other end of the house – did I really want to be that far away? So instead they pulled my sister's mattress off her bed (she's not grossed out that baby was born on it!) and put it in the middle of the living room floor. Very soon after they did that (maybe 10:30?) I got onto the mattress (had been across the room) and they wedged the yoga ball at the end of the bed so I could be comfy (knees were starting to hate me) while hugging the ball. It was at this point that I started moaning through most of the contractions and getting pretty miserable (Oh the joys of transition).

At this point I could not find a position that was comfortable. I had been on my knees, draped over the ball, but also tried sitting (that didn't last long) and laying on my left side. Left side was okay, but I hated feeling out of control. I must have been in transition at this point but it was different than my other two, so I didn't realize. I thought I had a fair while left. Shirley started telling me that I could probably push a bit if I felt the need. I was confused as I didn't feel pushy or "nearly done". She had a look, but no internal exam and said she could see the head. Again, I was shocked, as I didn't feel they baby's head yet. Turned out she saw a clot passing and felt bad for throwing me off when she realized it later.

A few minutes later she did an internal exam and told me that I needed to wait a bit. She tried stretching the last bit out over baby's head (Hoo baby did I feel that!). She said she felt Naomi’s head turning into position just as she did the exam. Pretty soon after that I had a contraction (had been on left side), sat bolt upright and flipped over onto my hands and knees (not sure how I did that) but started pushing like that just a bit. I felt like I was “testing it out” to see if I did actually need to push. I had a small trickle of amniotic fluid and they checked to confirm that's what it was. 10-15 min later my waters popped and nailed Shirley’s hair. LO!. She just laughed and made a hairtie out of a rubber glove... said something about getting a shower later. :) I delivered half sitting/half laying on left side. My pushing wasn't regulated or "ordered", they just had to keep reminding to push with my chin down, not lolling back (I kept forgetting). It was probably only 3 or 4 pushes, as it was only 15 min from water breaking to holding her. Her head came out and she started to cry. One more push and she had arrived! 11:55am on 10 April 2009.

Shirley made a point to say very quickly, WOW she's big! She had originally estimated (2wks before) that she was a tiny 6lber. A scan 2 weeks before to check my fluid levels had said 7lbs 2oz. I guess the scan must have been closer to the truth as she was 8lbs 2oz and 20.5in long. My biggest baby so far. No tearing or stitches. *Sigh of relief*






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28 comments:

  1. Wow -thanks for sharing! I pushed for 2 hours with my first, so I'm hoping the next one will be more along the lines of 15 minutes!!! :)

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  2. wow.. i felt like i was there, man u brought back to feelings of labor... i might just be having 2 kids now, lol.... yikes!!! haha.

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  3. I loved reading that. Homebirths are the most wonderful thing (to me!) so peaceful and calm. I am very glad you were able to experience such a wonderful birthing experience and might I add... WHOO-HOO for NO tearing!!

    So very happy that Naomi is here!

    -Andrea

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  4. That is so amazing that you could have her at home like that, you should be so proud!! Congrats to your family, Susie.

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  5. What an awesome birth story! Congratulations!! :)
    I have had three children weighing 8 lb. 1 oz., 8 lb 4 oz. and 6 lb. 11 oz. and I've never had stitches or tearing either. It's so awesome when that happens! :)
    I had been wondering if Oceana was at the birth. For my last baby, my two daughters were there. My second daughter was just shy of 3 years old at the time and it really freaked her out. I felt terrible afterwards. :(

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  6. I love birth stories!! So glad you got to have her at home, just like you wanted!! Sounds like everything went wonderfully!

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  7. birth stories are beautiful!

    thanks for sharing.

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  8. So beautiful, thanks for sharing with us.
    Chris in Iowa

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  9. HeatherinRochesterApril 18, 2009 at 8:14 PM

    YEA!!! What an AMAZING birth story! you are one STRONG mama! GO SUSIE! I have been waiting to hear since I knew it would be inspirational. im due with #2 in Sept, i LOVE reading successful natural child births. GREAT JOB!

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  10. Oh my gosh! What an amazing story! Tears, tears and more tears...tears of sorrow for your pain, tears of joy for her arrival...and just funny tears that my son was watching the Masters! Couldn't wait to tell his father that one. Thanks for sharing. Made it feel like I was a part of it all. Love you so much and thank you for such beautiful grandbabies.

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  11. Great story! So happy that things worked out so well for you!

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  12. I love Naomi's 1st photo.
    That is such a special Mommy-Daughter moment.

    So brand new.

    That is quite the story and you did very well. Little Mamma-Big baby. You had one wonderful midwife. I have seen a home birth on VHS. It was a friend that later became a midwife.

    Amazing to watch a home birth. All mine were hospital deliveries.

    Great job Susie!!!!

    ToOdLeS.ShEiLa

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  13. Can I ask a really personal, really naive question about this post?

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  14. What a BEAUTIFUL story! I just love it! Thanks for sharing it with us! And I love her first picture. She is beautiful and so are you!

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  15. And you survived with no drugs? Great! I can do it!!

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  16. What a great birth story! Sounds like she came perfectly!

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  17. i just happened on your blog, and loved reading the birth story! especially as i'm pregnant with my 4th, it is fun & encouraging to read other experiences...It is so nice to "meet" you, and hope that we can get to know each other better!

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  18. Kudos to you for having a natural home birth! I know it takes a lot of strength to do that.

    I got a laugh out of Matt watching the Masters - my husband got locked out of the hospital when I was getting ready to have our 1st baby - I ended up calling his cell phone and having to send security to let him in! HA!!

    Thanks for sharing such a real, personal experience!

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  19. Congratulations!!! You are the Woman!!! Thanks for sharing your birth story with all of us! Glad your sweet baby girl is healthy...I am sure Oceana adores her!!!

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  20. Sounds like it was just what you wanted, Suz, and I'm so happy for you.

    She had great colour! My kids tended to be a little on the purple side :)

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  21. Thank you so much for sharing. Being a Doula, a Prenatal Fitness Insturctor and Childbirth Educator in training....LOVED IT!!!!!
    Pam
    www.motheringthemotherinnc.com

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  22. Congratulations! What an adorable baby!
    BTW, always glad to find another Kiwi blogger on here, and yes, I did smile at the picture further down the page of Oceana with Marmite on her face. :D

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  23. Check out my blog Thursday - You are tagged....

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  24. Awww, she is soo pretty! What a cute pic. Thank you for sharing your birth story - I love it! I just had my first baby - 19.5 hour labour, very exhausting, but my little man came in weighing a healthy 7.7lbs. It was a nightmare delivery (tore both ways!) to be honest, maybe thats because he's my first! I had an epidural after 15 hours but his head wouldn't move down so they had to assist. I was pretty worried that he wouldn't latch on because of the epidural, but he seems to be feeding fine and I am a very proud and happy mother of Marlow. You should hare your story with all the other mummies at http://my.bounty.com/forums/ I know they would love it! xxx

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