Introducing.....Adam James Rhodes born 5-28-98
From:
michelle <michelle@tx3.com>
Date: Mon, 1 Jun 1998 20:53:16
Subject: june: AJ's Birth Story
On Wednesday I posted that I was just feeling yucky and irritated with
everyone, kinda like a bad case of PMS. Also that I thought I'd be having
the baby really soon and didn't want it to be the 29 so I thought I'd try
Castor Oil to get things moving. Well turned out I didn't need to! Because
I thought labor was going to be in the next couple days I did a bunch of
running around doing errands all day Wednesday and got everything set up
for the weekend. Late wednesday afternoon I had Daisy's Kindermusik class
and I was starting to feel some contrax that felt like BH. I just kept
having them all evening and didn't feel like having dinner. At about 9pm
I called Toni my midwife and told her what was going on and she said to
come over and have check me. Now when I'm in labor I don't really communicate
well with DH or family because I don't want to get their hopes up that
it's really it if it is false labor. So I hadn't told DH much anyway he
wasn't feeling good and had taken two tylenol PMs. I still made him take
me to Toni's and she checked me and said I was at a good 5cm. She sent
us home me to get in the shower and David to take a nap. My contractions
continued and by midnight they were 2minutes apart but still only uncomfortable
not painful. I decided I wanted to go to the hospital because with everyone
asleep at the house I couldn't really labor like I wanted to I had to just
stay downstairs and be quiet. I called Toni and she said she would let
the hospital know I was coming and for them to call her when I got there.
I woke David up and we headed out. Got to the hospital at 1am still wasn't
sure if they would keep me or send me home. The nurse hooked me up to the
monitors and went to call Toni. Then she checked me but didn't say anything.
When Toni got there she said I was almost to a 6 but cervix was still posterior
she could pull it forward. Anyway after an hr on the monitor where contractions
remained at 2minutes apart they let me up and I got in the shower. David
layed on the bed and fell asleep. In the shower I did squats with every
contraction trying to move baby's head down. After and about 45mins in
the shower I got out and started walking the halls(ok I did get dressed!:))
I made a little route down the hall, down the stairs(Toni said stairs really
open up your pelvis), up the stairs, around the corner, back to my room,
sit backwards on the toilet for two contractions, and repeat. Toni had
David move to what would be my room later to sleep. They checked me again
and baby's head was way down so she had me get back in the shower to squat
and push to try to break my water. Did that for about half hour came back
out and baby's head had floated back up! ARGH! Got on the bed on all fours
with the head of the bed raised up and with each contraction layed back
on my ankles and pushed! Finally got baby's head down enough and Toni broke
my water, I was now at an 8 and contractions were still only mildly uncomfortable.
Had Toni call my mom and woke David up since she said once my water broke
and baby's head was applied to the cervix things would go fast. Got back
in the shower for awhile still did the squat and push thing. When I got
out they checked me again and Toni said she thought baby would be here
by 6:30am it was about 5:45. Now the pushing was starting to hurt! Baby
was trying to get through my pelvis and being the little posterior bugger
it hurt bad! My contraction still weren't lasting very long and I couldn't
really tell when one was coming to push. Toni called the Doctor since she
thought birth was eminent. 5minutes later he was there and they started
to set up for delivery, lights, instruments and all. Then he checked me,
said"Not yet, still a lip of cervix, I'm going to do some paper work."
Ok not quite that coldly, but it felt like it. Now this is when I got really
discouraged and lost it for a little bit. Since I was starting to feel
like this was Daisy's birth all over again and I didn't think I could push
for 5.5hrs again like with her. They sent me back to the bathroom to try
the backwards toilet seat thing again, I really didn't feel like I was
pushing all that affectively and I felt like I was doing it all wrong.
Got back on the bed, at 7:20am Toni and Doc confer and ask me if I want
to try pitocin. Now before the pitocin pusher police start yelling, both
the Doctor and Toni said baby would still come out if I didn't have it
and that it was totally up to me. Doctor said really just a whiff of the
open bottle and probably 3more contractions and baby would be out. I decided
I wanted the pitocin since I really felt my contractions were ineffective.
They went to get it and started trying to find a good vein on me, which
there was none! Toni got the needle in my arm, not even in the right place
and BOOM, contractions changed. I definetly had to push felt baby move
passed my pelvis, I was yelling"This hurts, this ones not stopping!"
4more contractions like that and Adam was out. David said it was kinda
funny to see the Doctor race in after all. I was sitting up enough to see
him come out and that he was a boy, I even cut the cord! They laid him
right on my stomache and I held him the whole time I got stitched up, very
small episiotomy, and that I pushed out the placenta, and Doc massaged
my tummy. Then they weighed and measured him right there in the room. 8pds
12oz 22.5inches long. Toni measured him 3times she couldn't believe how
long he was. Then David held him and my mom held him, then I got to nurse
him. Which he did for about an hour and I started to fall asleep. I feel
pretty good about this labor, but don't want to repeat it anytime soon!
Michelle Elaine Rhodes
Daisy 11/28/95
Joey 2/12/97
Adam James 5/28/98
