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| Abbey was my second baby. I delivered both of my children with a midwife at an in hospital birth center. My first delivery turned out to be very difficult and needed a lot of intervention. It was also a 27 hour labor. As my due date with my second child approached, I became apprehensive. Maybe I just wasn't meant to have that birth that was in my head? For almost 2 weeks I woke up every night with contractions. My mother, who lives one hour away had come to stay with us since it was winter and she wanted to be there. The baby was very low, I was at 0 stations for quite some time! I was also dilated 2 inches at 1 appt. I was extremely happy, as I was never able to get to 2 on my own with my first baby. The midwife asked how I was handling these nightly contractions. I told her I was doing well, due to the fact that my first labor was so difficult, it took me a lot of hard, hard work to get to two, and with these I was still fairly comfortable. One night, I slept an entire night with no contractions and I had none all day. Maybe I wasn't going to have this baby for a while? That evening my husband, mother, 18 month old son and I sat down to a wonderful dinner of steak and baked potatos! Around 10:00 my husband and I went to bed and took our son, who fell asleep on the bed in the middle of us. We were laying in bed talking and laughing when I felt a trickle. Another trickle..."Ummm...Scott, I think I just peed, no, maybe my water broke... Yes, my water broke". We called a neighbor over to watch Brady and called the midwife to meet us at the hospital. I was strep b positive, so I was nervous about having to have that IV during labor. We got to the hospital and ran a brief monitoring strip. Sandy, my midwife checked to get an idea of where I was starting from. I was still a two. A few minutes later, I started having light contractions. We went out to the empty waiting room and walked. As each contraction came, I hung on my husband and relaxed my stomach muscles. Contractions started becoming more difficult. We headed for the shower. At one point, Sandy asked that I come out when I was able to have the short IV for the Strep B. I came out, had my iv, and then returned to the shower. I didn't feel it was helping anymore, so Sandy asked if I wouldl like to try leaning over the birth ball on the bed. Also, at this point, I remember hearing her tell my mother now would be a good time to start making calls for anyone i wanted to be there! I was shocked! I thought I'd have at least until morning! Well, I spent most of the rest of my labor over that birth ball on the bed. Sandy and my husband talked to me and helped me through. Occasionally sandy checked the Fetal heart rate with the fetoscope, and in whatever position I happened to be in. It was so unobtrusive. Between contractions I told sandy, my husband and mother, that I couldn't believe how easy this was, I was getting a break inbetween, just like I was supposed to! To handly contractions, I was using the bradley method of picturing the baby coming down and my cervix opening. I moaned through them. Sandy was so supportive of that. At one point when a stray nurse entered and remined me to breath, Sandy informed her that moaning was a completely valid method of labor management. Contractions were now becoming very difficult and I told her that I didnt' think I could do this much longer. She said, "You won't have to!" Going through my head was the fact that it had only been a few hours.
We headed back to the shower since she suggested it. I was having a very difficult time and started to vomit. (yes, transition, but it didn't occur to me at the time). Kneeling in the shower over a chair I told her and my husband that I had to go to the bathroom.(DUH...time to push) She checked and informed me that it was time to push. I headed back to the bed. As I gave one good push I realized my sister was not there! I sent my mother out to get her. A few more pushes and the head was out. Sandy asked for some gentle pushes as I reached down and touched my babies head! I gave a few more and Abbey arrived! She was layed on my stomache and I just held her in awe. Finally, my mother said, "Well, what is it?" It hadn't occured to us to check. It was a girl!My husband didn't feel he could cut the cord, so Sandy asked if my mother would like to. She did. That was really neat. The whole birth was so amazing and I got exactly the birth I'd hoped for! We spent the rest of our stay nursing and cuddling. The next morning my 18 month old came in to meet his little sister. He was in love. He immediately wanted to take her home, but due to the strep b, we had to stay 24 hours for her to be watched. Everything worked out so well. I couldn't have asked for anything more!
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teresav,
can also be found at: www.terrificdiapersbyteresa.homestead.com/home.html.
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