I had been uncomfortable for a few weeks before the birth and was very anxious to go into labor. I even thought I was in labor a couple of times, but nothing happened. Around 4am on Saturday, April 5th I woke up to what felt like contractions, however with having experienced what I thought were contractions during the previous weeks I was paranoid that I would "cry wolf" about going into labor. By 4:30am I knew it was the real deal so I woke Greg up to let him know (and can I just add that he had stayed up until 3:30am playing video games online with his brothers!) At 5am we called our parents to let them know I was in labor and I got in the shower to wash my hair and shave my legs, because all you moms know it was probably going to be a while before I could shave again. I was only in the shower for a couple of minutes when I realized things were progressing very quickly.
Our friend Sara came over to stay with Alexis until my parents came through to pick her up, and Greg, my sister Brittney, and I began the 45 minute drive to Springfield. While laboring in the car was not ideal, it wasn't as bad as it could have been. We arrived at the birth center just before 7am and delivered our baby boy at 9:45am.
Labor was intense, to say the least. We wanted a natural birth like we had with Alexis, so pain medication/epidurals were not and option. I had terrible lower back pain the whole time and I wanted to throw in the towel several times (as if I had the choice). But seriously, I had moments throughout labor where I thought, "maybe they will need to rush me to the hospital to cut him out so I won't have to keep pushing..." Amazing what the pain of labor can do to a person. I was hooked up to oxygen for a while because I could not inhale through the contractions. The pain was so bad I could not get a breath in. Our midwife told us that baby boy was not turning, which caused me to have such painful back labor. With each push I gave, our midwife tried to help turn him. Unfortunately he did not cooperate and would later be born "sunny side up".
After laboring for an hour in the tub and another hour or so on the bed, our midwife suggested I move to the birthing stool and let gravity help things along. After my first push on the stool she asked if I wanted to reach down and feel his head, which I did, but all I could think was "we could see Alexis' head for three hours before she was finally born. I can NOT do this for another three hours!" Thank goodness that was not the case with our little man, after about five minutes on the birthing stool and a few good, solid pushes, he was born! I cannot even begin to describe the relief I felt when I pulled him up to my chest and into my arms.
Ryder Allen Teune was born on Saturday, April 5th 2014. He weighed in at 9lbs 6oz, 21 and 3/4 inches long, with a head circumference of 15 inches.
You did awesome! That is one big boy, no wonder you were in pain!! Congrats mama :)
ReplyDelete