As I was going over my insurance statement this morning my eyes skimmed across this line and I thought, 'Wow, I had forgotten all about that.' Now, it wasn't erased from my memory or anything - but it isn't something I think about everyday.
My little guy, Scout, was born on Valentine's Day 2009.
(I have a more detailed birth story here - it's in sections so you can easily skip any if you want) Anyway, in short, my son wasn't breathing when he was born so he had to be resuscitated. Five pumps of oxygen if I remember correctly. I originally thought it was three, but I later found out it was more like five.
A shorter (not necessarily short, but shorter) version of what happened with the natural birth of my son: I had a healthy pregnancy without any problems with my baby. I did get a little low on iron toward the end - and that was purely my fault. I stopped doing
prenatal's because they made me nauseated. I switched to some food based
prenatal's from Vitamin Cottage and they didn't bother my stomach, but they gave me terrible headaches. Then I was doing children's
chewables, but they became too tart for my liking (can't stand them to begin with) and it got to the point where I couldn't even swallow them without gagging. Hence, I stopped and tried to have an iron rich diet instead. Other than that, my baby was as healthy as could be nestled inside my tummy.
At my appointment a week before my due date I was 6 cm and 80% effaced and he was engaged at station 1 (those of you not familiar with stations they are -4, -3, -2, -1, 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, then baby is out.) So as you can see he was LOW! I felt it too. The entire month before my pregnancy it was very uncomfortable and every time I sat down it felt like the little guy would come right out. Obvious why it felt like that - he was about to come out. When they checked me that Thursday (Feb 12), the midwife only got her fingers to about the 2
nd knuckle and she could feel his head. LOW, I tell ya! They told me I would be having a baby that weekend. Thank you, Lord!
This was the room I gave birth to Scout in at the midwifery. It's the Aspen Room.
That night I started having contractions, but they were more like minor menstrual cramps and I continued on with life as normal. When they were around 6 minutes apart consistently, we headed to the birthing center. They wanted me in asap since he was so low. We got there around 11:30 pm and they ended up being 3 min and 45 sec apart on the dot, but nothing changed and by 4:30 am we went back home to labor there. The contractions continued this way through the next day (Friday).
This is a photo of me at the midwifery the first night I went in - this was about 1:30am.
Friday afternoon they had me come in around 3:30 to check on me. Really no change except that I was almost 100% effaced now. Again, they said the baby would be here soon and we went home to wait. That evening around 8:00 the contractions just stopped. Frustrating, but it was what it was.
We went to bed and I slept pretty well. I woke up around 5am and called my parents to tell them we still hadn't gone in (they were watching our sweet Bella). After I hung up the phone with my dad, I went to the bathroom and went back to bed. No sooner did I lay down and it felt like lightening going through my body. It wasn't stopping. Wow - my mom was right when she said, 'You'll know the contractions are different and real. You'll just know'. I knew. I called the midwife on call and she told me to come on in. I phoned my dad and let him know we were on our way.
These contractions were very different and uncomfortable. Not painful, but uncomfortable. I moved freely about, leaning on the back of the rocking chair and swaying during contractions. After a while I got in the birthing pool to help ease the discomfort. I was not planning on a water birth, but wanted to use it as a comfort measure.
I got through the intense contractions very well. I leaned over the side of the pool and held onto my husbands hand (very tightly) - as he sat on a stool outside the pool. I was able to manage them through breathing alone and a few 'oh my goodness, that hurts' comments :o) Nancy, my midwife told me to let her know when I felt any burning, meaning the little head would begin it's way down. After a while I felt a little burning and she looked and said she saw a small amount of the head, but not that much, it was just starting. All of a sudden it felt like something was inflating in my lower back and it felt as heavy as a bowling ball. I started being more vocal because it hurt like nothing I had ever felt. She immediately looked and was amazed that his whole head was through the cervix already. In 3 pushes his head was out of me. I continued to push to get him out, but he wasn't coming. Nancy, Kate (on call nurse) and my husband all helped me get out of the pool in a heartbeat and laid me on the floor. Tracy, the other midwife there, came in and felt my tummy as I'm pushing and she could feel that his shoulders were stuck in my pelvis. She gave a good push on my tummy and out came the little guy. Three hours and 10 minutes after I felt that first lightening sensation.
Ahhhhh...That was the best feeling, seriously. And I just laid there, head back and eyes closed exhausted from just maybe 3-5 minutes of intensity. My husband kept saying, 'He's here hon. Scout's here.' I was so happy, but had no energy to look up. I felt them lay him on my chest and I hear my husband saying, 'Come on buddy. You can do it, buddy, come on!' I looked up and saw Tracy giving him oxygen and I kept asking if he was okay - in a nervous tone. They were all so calm and that helped me. After a couple pumps of oxygen, my little Scout cried the most beautiful cry. I held him close and kissed him. He came way too fast and didn't have time to rotate his shoulder's through my pelvic bone, so he got stuck and it was too stressful for him. They did monitor his heartbeat the entire time I was there and when the intense pain starting coming, I moved around too much for them to hear anything, which is one of the reasons why they got me out of the birthing pool. Good thing they did
My husband holding Scout a couple hours after he was born.
After a couple minutes they moved me to the bed and told me to ignore what was on the floor and not be worried by it. I looked and I wasn't concerned, but wow - I had lost a lot of blood. I didn't stop either. They had to give me a pitocin shot to help the uterus shrink faster to get the blood out. Soon after I almost fainted while holding my little guy. My husband said my eyes started fluttering and started to roll back in my head - not fun for him to see. I remember getting dizzy and my hearing going away. He got one of the nurses (Megan, a former ER nurse) and she came in as calm as could be - but worked like crazy to hook me up to a pitocin drip. I just lost and was losing too much blood.
Bella meeting and holding Scout a couple hours after he was born.
So, looking at the "Newborn Resuscitation - $250.00" on the statement brought back so many memories I had forgot about. To this day I am so thankful to God that they got my little guy breathing and that they had the knowledge to do all they needed to do to help me and Scout. They were wonderful!!! If I were to ever have another child (which I AM NOT) I would do it through the midwifery. They were just wonderful and they cared about me and my child.
Me holding Scout the night he was born. We were already back home and I was in my own bed.
That birth experience was intense. I did not have that with my daughter. This was intense - but I do have a beautiful son to show for it! A few things happened afterwards and talking to Nancy at my 6 week check up I found out some interesting things that I'll share in another post.
Thanks for stopping by today!
.JPG)
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