William Bennett Cooper
delivered at 40 weeks & 4 days
Natural-drug free delivery
Background:
I had been at 3 cm and 70% effaced since my 37 week checkup. At 38 weeks, I started taking Evening Primrose Oil (2-1000mg tabs orally per day) and 1 RRL capsule per day, hoping to progress things along, if my body would allow. I was hoping to labor at home as long as possible once I went into labor and rush to the hospital. That is basically what happened.
Labor Day:
I woke up on Sunday, August 9th at 5:30am feeling "weird" down there, crampy and achy. I went to the bathroom and noticed some mucus in the toilet and a lot of brown tinged mucus on the toilet paper. I just felt different but wasn't really sure if it was the beginnings of labor or not because everything I had read said that I should be having labor pains in my lower back. I had an induction with my daughter 5 years ago with an epidural and didn't know what labor felt like. I just knew what I was feeling was completely different than what I had been. My doctor had told me that if I didn't go into labor he'd want to induce me within the next week. I got back into bed around 5:45 and started timing my contractions, they were coming 10-15 minutes apart. I came onto JM and posted that I was feeling different and just basically went through the house in a daze. DH woke up around 8am and I told him that I didn't think that we would be going to church. I didn't know if this was labor for sure but I didn't want to deal with the "you haven't had that baby yet" comments. Around 8:30am, I called my doula and gave her all my signs/symptoms. She said it sounded like I was in early labor. She asked me to start keeping an eye on my contractions for an hour so she could establish a pattern. She said that she was at church and would check in on me afterwards. I went into my bedroom where I had my ipod set to relaxing music and just sat on my birthing ball. Things were fine for a few hours. I called my mom at 10:30am and asked her to come watch dd. My doula told me to try to get in the bed and rest for an hour or so. I laid down but kept waking up from the contractions and couldn't rest. My doula showed up around 1pm after calling me several times to ask me how I was feeling. When she got to my house, I was still sitting on the ball, listening to my music. She said I was definately in labor. I told her I just didn't know how I was going to do this naturally. I was already feeling tired because I didn't rest well the night before and we didn't do dinner since we had pigged out on popcorn at the movies the night before. My doula said that everytime she goes into labor (she's had 6 babies at home) she feels like she won't be able to do it. I asked her when we could go to the hospital and she said she'd like me to be further along. She said maybe I could labor in the shower and she started running the water. I pulled my husband aside and told him I didn't want to shower and I was ready to go to the hospital. I also told him I wanted an epidural once we got there regardless of what my doula said...lol
We told my doula that we were ready to go to the hospital and she said fine. She tried to check me to see how far I was dilated but couldn't tell...only saying I was "extremely soft".
The ride to the hospital 3:00pm
Uhm, not sure how to describe this part. My husband was driving ever so sweetly but managed to find every pot hole in the road. I was literally sitting on the edge of my seat griping the hand hold thingy by the windshield. Once we got to the hospital and parked in the "maternity parking section", I got out and had another contraction. I had two more in the crosswalk, another as we walked in the door, one in the elevator and one at the nurses station. At this point, they were picking up in intensity and I was feeling pressure down there. We got into our room, which had a labor tub and was lucky enough to have a doula/nurse on duty. The nurse wanted to check me and I between at 6/7 cm but the nurse said "your cervix is so soft". My dh asked for an epidural
and the nurse said it'd take an hour to get and by then, I'd be pushing! I labored in the tub for a while and felt somewhat like a circus act
My husband was sitting on the outside of the tub holding me from the back and my doula was either pouring water on my stomach or helping to fan me. I was so hot and was having so much pressure in my rectum. I kept saying "so much pressure". They got me out of the tub and asked me to sit on the birthing ball which was super uncomfortable. Then, I was put on the bed and labored on my knees holding on to the top portion of the bed. I also labored leaning on the birthing ball while in the bed. I kept asking my doula "how much longer?" she kept saying calmly "you're one step closer to your baby". I kept feeling extreme pressure in my rectum and telling everyone how bad it hurt. I went to the bathroom because I felt like I needed to poo. I did in the toilet and did a couple more times while pushing (sorry, tmi). All I know is, it was a sensation I couldn't hold in. I got back in the tub and the doctor came. Imagine my surprise when I had never met the doctor who was in my room. I breezed out of the labor tub butt naked and looked into the eyes of a doctor I had never met
I heard him ask the nurse if I wanted a natural labor
He broke my water, which felt really weird, it was warm but meconium free. He checked me and I was a 9-10cm at this point with an anterior lip of the cervix.
Pushing the baby out
At this point, I was exhausted. Gone from my mind was the peaceful, serene calmness of welcoming Bennett into the world! I started freaking out somewhat. The pain down there was so intense that I would scream or yell with each contraction. They put me on my back and into the stirrups. At one point, the doctor told me to "scream out of my butt instead of my mouth...lol". I didn't know what that meant but I kept pushing. He told me to keep pushing and we would have a baby. I pushed for probably 5 minutes. The doctor was having to run his fingers around the anterior lip to help make room for baby. There was a burn but nothing like what I was feeling in my rectum.
Bennett was born at 7:20pm a healthy 8 lbs 14 oz and 21 & 1/4 inches long.
My placenta came after only about 5 minutes
The Aftermath:
At this point, my mom and dh's daughter came to see the baby. I wasn't feeling that well, shaking and teeth were chattering which is normal. I was extremely cold and my blood pressure dropped. I told the nurse I needed to go pee when everyone left the room. She got me out of the bed and when I stood up, I passed out. Luckily, I passed out on the bed. When I came to, there were 5 nurses around me and I said "have I pee'd yet?" They said no and told me about my bp dropping, etc. They hooked me up to an IV to give me fluids (later they said I was dehydrated) and also gave me Pitocin to help my uterus contract back down. Instead of staying in this labor/delivery room for 3 hours, it was more like 8. We got into our new room at 3am on Monday morning. We stayed at the hospital for 2 days.
My recovery:
My recovery has been great. I took pain meds because my butt was hurting so bad on Monday but didn't take anything on Tuesday. What was hurting in my butt/rectum come to find out was the lovely hemorroid that I got while birthing out dd. This has been the most difficult part for me by far. It hurts when I sit, lay down, etc. This is also part of why my delivery was so painful, I believe. All in all, I am thankful that I was able to have Bennett naturally. Looking back, with the hemmoroid pain, I possibly would have had an epidural but I'm not sure my recovery would have been as easy if I would have. I do wish that I would have been more hydrated (my fault...I was offered water but didn't drink much do to the painful contractions) and not had to have the IV AFTER the fact
JustMommies Message Boards
» 2009 Play Rooms
» August 2009 Playroom
» Fresh off the Vine
»
William Bennett Cooper 8/9/09 @ 7:20pm
Lee:39 DS:17 Daniel DD:13 Keri DSD:7 Taryn DSS:5 Treyven DD:15 mos Nahla FurBaby:8 Asani-MinPin
He who has hope has everything
Linear Mode
