March 11, 2010
I am pleased to announce that Dustin and I have welcomed the newest member of our family. Our son, Thorsten arrived on March 11, weighing 6 lbs 7 oz after a wonderful birth. Both of us are doing very well and we are all starting to settle into the new routine of parenthood.
As for the birth (since I know you will want at least a few details), my water broke at about 7:30 on Wednesday night, about ten seconds after I had said goodbye to some clients and just as I was letting the dog back into the house. I had been having “weird” feelings all day, but having my water break was a big surprise. AND contrary to what everyone has said, it really was like in the movies, with a huge gush that had me running to the bathroom!
Contractions didn’t start until about 11:00, but they were sporadic and not very painful at all, so Dustin and I went to bed. At about 1:45, I woke up with more painful contractions that were about six minutes apart. Things started to pick up from there and I could no longer sleep. We called Jen Pinch (doula) at about 3:30 and by the time she arrived, I was starting to have some good contractions that required a lot of deep breathing. By about 8:00 am, I started to lose my mind from everything. Some of the contractions were coming one on top of the other and I was feeling really deep pressure in my lower back and bowel, so we decided to go to the hospital. It was a bit of an ordeal getting me into the car, because it was too painful to sit or lay down, but Jen convinced me to get in the Escape by telling me I couldn’t have a baby in our garage!
By the time we arrived at the hospital, I felt like I was ready to push. I was in triage for about thirty seconds before they sent me off to my off to my own birthing room. Then I stood in the bathroom losing my mind for about another twenty minutes until I had one of those involuntary grunts that you told us about. The nurse was convinced that I wasn’t ready to push, so insisted that she check me again, only to find that Thorsten’s head was halfway down the birth canal! They gave me the green light to push immediately. I tried squatting, but since I had been standing for the past two and a half hours, my legs were quite shaky, so we did kind of a sitting/laying position with my feet against the squatting bar.
It took about eight contractions to push Thorsten out, but it was a wonderful feeling after the pain of contractions, and I was able to birth our son without any drugs or intervention at all, and without any tearing or other complications. He came out completely alert and immediately went looking for breakfast, just like you said.
Overall, the birth was a really great experience. The pain of the contractions was different than what I expected, and at one point I seriously considered asking someone to either cut or pull that baby out of me, but I am so happy that everything went as planned. Certainly I would do all of this over again, but I think next time we will do a home birth.
Anyway, somebody is ready for a feeding, so I had better run. Thanks again for telling me about your class, as it was really helpful in the moment and I am glad we were so prepared.
Talk to you later,
Kimberly.
