Congratulations MIAQ!!
Yay Homemama - what a relief!!
Have been off for a while; have been having a baby.
Jameson Alexander, 7 lbs 11 oz, 20 in (51 cm to you ), born 6:43 pm last night. Was slightly turned, so at first his face was a bit flat.
He looks much like DS1 did at this point! Mom helping a great deal. I?m tired, but happy.
Gory details:
5:40 pm: water breaks. Hear one pop, from my hip, thought: ?Oh, that's happened to 2 people on Mumsnet; I know what that is" - then felt rather than heard another pop, like a water balloon inside breaking ? sat on toilet & clear odorless liquid ? But still not sure what we were dealing with (as I?d had 2 L of tea, chamomile & raspberry leaf, day before yesterday).
Better safe than sorry, thinking we might be making a dry run (no pun intended), went to hospital?s ER (empty ? on a holiday weekend! That?s how safe it is here) & admitted to hospital. Ate constantly all morning: apples, milk, protein bar, peanut butter cookies ? walked halls to try to get dilated past 3 cm ? read a novel ? not really feeling any contractions too much past ?annoying? at this point.
Unfortunately, since water broke, had only an 18-hour window to work with. So ? they started me on pitocin (syntocynon in UK?) at 1:30 pm. Dilated from 4 to 7 cm in 1 hour. Dilated only to 8 cm the next hour so they upped the pitocin. Went to 9 cm by 4:30 pm; they upped the pitocin again. Received 1 / 2 dose promethazine (Phenergan) at 5:30 pm, just to take the edge off, as contractions had been definitely painful since they?d started me on Pitocin ? Phenergan worked well for the duration; began to push at 6:10 ? Jameson born 6:43! I did tear into perineum & tiny bit the other way , but already healing well. Some of y?all will be thrilled to hear there was no vomiting or poo involved. At all. And everything is much less embarrassing when you know where you are - you?re not hungry-tired-delirious from a 48-hour labor (like my previous).
One of the nurses had been a midwife in the UK for 11 years. You lost one of your good ones; she had an excellent bedside manner. Said she could?ve been a mw in US by taking a 16-week course in Florida when they?d first moved here, but she had a 6-year-old at the time she didn?t want to leave. Said her first love was taking care of the women though ? which is what she?s still doing; nurses are on the front line during labor; doctor practically just comes in to ?catch? the baby. (At least, at this hospital; my Dr. in Houston was with me much more of the time.)
I was one of this hospital?s few non-epidural births, and we were hearing some amazing crapola from one of the nurses ? ?see, we can stop an episiotomy with our thumb and control it, unlike a tear, so you might consider having one? ? DH was prepared to have to defend me on many points. But then, the head nurse, who became my attending nurse, told us she was from Boulder, Colorado ?where we?re all a bunch of hippies, you know? We love natural birth ? I?m so glad you?re planning on delivering this way.?
Well - I thought - Thank God for hippies.