Birth Story Alert -- TMI
***Warning* Birth Story *Perhaps TMI***
Saturday January 21, DH was at work, just the kids and I as usual. I was kinda tired and my ankles were swollen again. I'd not had this with any other pregnancy now here I am, with this recurring deal. Argh! But anyway..I decided to lie on the couch to rest a bit. Shortly after I get there, I feel a bit of twinging. Sure, could be contractions, but not exactly *screaming*. I continue to rest. Then I get a phone call or whatever, kids, something called me up from the couch anyway, so, I gave up on my rest time. About time to start supper. It's about 5pm now I guess. I headed to the couch I think around 4. I'm feeling these "twinges" a bit more now. With some regularity. Whenever I am up, they're about 8 minutes apart and just strong enough to make me cringe once in a while. So, I'm thinking, if I stay up and about, this could be labor, right? LOL But darn I don't want to be UP, my ankles are still swollen and itchy.
Shortly thereafter, I decide to call DH. See if he can come home now with some pizza for supper. The contractions were just enough, that if I had to be up, I certainly didn't want to be standing around cooking supper. They were just strong enough that idea didn't appeal to me at all LOL Well, DH says he's right in the middle of delivering a car. Am I ok or does he need to come RIGHT now. No, no, it's fine. Nothing THAT intense or close. I was just 'uncomfortable' enough that I didn't want to fix supper and it really was time to eat. I had nothing quick n easy to throw the kids. Ok, he should be done in about 10 minutes, was that ok? Yes, that's fine. So, about 10 minutes later he calls me back. "Are you sure you're ok? I'm having a heart attack here!" LOL Yes, I'm fine, REALLY! So, he's on his way home. Orders pizza shortly upon entering the door. Now things start picking up. I am going to the bathroom repeatedly! It's driving me crazy quite frankly. Then...oh then...each time I go to the bathroom, the contractions intensify. Yeah, so, here I go to sit on the toilet and I'm in one continuous contraction. I get even the slightest relief and I get myself together and out of the bathroom.
Now, I find myself in this leaned over position. I stand then when a contraction hits I lean over and rest my hands on the arms of the chair, doing my little rocking and swaying bit. Back to the bathroom!! Ack!
This time, another long contraction. Each time I try to move off the toilet, another wave comes, so I'm rendered motionless, just dealing. I finally make my way a step past the toilet squat/hover. I am now leaning over the tub. Think, above, only not chair arms, instead, tub. Oooooook this is insane! I'm going to run some water in the tub. (I had DH clean that well after ordering pizza ;-) ) Thinking at least if I must be in this position, maybe it will be better in the water. I mean, at this point, I would pull up my pants, walk to the other room and have to go start all over again. And be in the bathroom for a good 5 minutes. SOMEthing had to change here. Well, DH hears the water running and comes rushing in to see if I'm ok. "Are you ready for that already?" he asks. So I explain my thoughts. Ok. So, water is running, I'm still pretty well in this continuous contraction. Oh and I've made it back to my toilet hover position now. I just leaned up to turn on water then back to the toilet to pee.
DH is still in there with me, he's just gotten the pizza, kids sat at the table eating I do believe. So, he's in there with me. I'm hovering over the toilet, trying to make my way to the tub *pop*. Uh, my water just broke. Not the big *POP* *gush* but a *pop* and some gush nonetheless. DH exclaims "uh, hon, you can't have this kid on the toilet" LOL I know, I'm working toward the tub, really, I'm moving in that direction. I'm in!!! Ok, water's a touch too hot..I can't reach up to cool it. I'm on hands and knees, not much water yet, I think it just came to my wrists, slightly above? Anyway, still dealing with contractions, can't reach up to cool the water. DH reaches up to turn it off..no..not off, just cool, keep it running, more water! Ok, fixed that. Water running again.
This whole time I have been doing this whole bathroom routine...I just kept telling myself "I can do this I can do this" "God is with me, He is my strength" "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me" I did NOT want to freak out and lose it all, but I could feel it lingering, just hovering in the background, waiting to strike! I was NOT going to let it. I was determined to keep my focus. Dealing one contraction at a time. Don't think about the next. Don't think about the time. Just focus on the now. Get through NOW. Lean on Him, trust in Him to give me the strength to do this. He is in control.
So, now I'm here in the tub, water rising to a more reasonable level. And I think at JUST that moment, when the water was 'high enough' to be considered birthing into the water .... I had a big contraction and pushed. I felt this little head come out. It felt like the bag was still around the baby. In another moment, another push..the baby slinks further out. Then one more big contraction and push and *baby*! DH actually got this one. I was on hands and knees so baby was delivering to the rear. He picked up the baby, awaited a cry. Good lusty cry, all clear! Kharissa (my 2yodd) hears from the other room "Baby!" Too cute, I tell ya hehe
I am still rather immobilized. I remember before, birthing in the tub even, I could return to a normal position and hold the baby. But I'm still *stuck* in this hands knees position. So, DH is behind me dealing with the baby. Finally he tells me it's another boy.
Then we drain the tub, as I am able to move again. We get the baby passed through so I can hold him. Wait a few more minutes to get myself together then we're off to the bed. DH has it all prepared for us. Once there, I still can't sit down and hold the baby. Just something about it, isn't working for me. It was weird, stuck in this hands and knees position still. I could lean back on my feet a bit, but I couldn't sit just yet. So I just stayed like that for a bit longer until the placenta was ready. I don't remember how long that took, not very long though. Maybe 15 minutes? Then once that was over I could sit..aaaah, much better. So I sit back and hold my little guy after daddy took care of the cord. He dabbles at nursing. Then really latches on!
Oh, then we stop and think about the time...anybody catch an approximate time? LOL Guessing on how long we'd been in the bedroom, we put his birth at around 7:30pm Saturday Jan. 21, 2006. Do you guys have ANY idea how crazy it drives folks to not have a time? Nor a name? Nor weight, etc. LOL I LOVE it LOL
Though, I do mean to measure his length and head, just haven't done so. I hopped on our scale to get a 'rough estimate' Rough indeed..I think our scale is dying, it has attitude at times. Anyway..we get "somewhere between 7 and 8 pounds" LOL Na, really a bit closer to 7.5 ?? I think we'll weigh him in the produce section when we go shopping this evening teehee
Oh and Sunday morning we settled on a name: Gabriel Stephen
I asked DH for names/suggestions that meant: God is my strength/redeemer/deliverer something like that. He came up with Gabriel or Isaiah. Now, I had already thought about Isaiah, I just wasn't certain yet. Nor did that just JUMP at me once he was born. So, we pondered the two names for a while. DH really liked Gabriel, Isaiah was fine too, but he was leaning to Gabriel. Then the more I looked at the baby, the more I liked Gabriel. Yep, that's good...Gabriel "God is my strength" Stephen (FIL's middle name) And we gave Him the glory \o/ \o/ He saw me through. He gave me the strength I needed. He answered my prayers. God IS my strength.