Buddy's Birth Story

I know it's been over 3 weeks since the baby was born. Life has been hectic and I think the babe may have reflux, so please forgive me.

I've decided to call the newbie "Buddy" here on the blog, since that's what the kids call him most of the time here at home. :)

I'm feeling rather sheepish now about my last post. It seems as though we were probably off by a few days on our dates. Buddy came out with quite a bit of vernix on him, and looking at him and at my placenta, it doesn't look like he was a post-date baby after all. So my impatience was without merit. See why I hate "due dates"? I'm very glad now that we didn't try any aggressive natural induction tactics and just let him choose his own birthday.

Brent and I went to bed at around 11:30 on Thursday, Sept. 22. Contractions started at midnight. This had happened a couple of nights before, though, and only lasted a little while before stopping. So I kind of figured that's what would happen again. I tried to sleep between them for a couple of hours, but that was a little difficult. So at around 2, I turned on some Hypnobabies scripts and tried to use those to relax enough to sleep. That didn't work. So I decided to get up and change positions and walk around for a bit to see if they'd go away. They didn't. They were coming every 4-5 minutes, but weren't very strong, though they had intensified somewhat since they started. At around 4:30, I went back into the bedroom and sat on the birth ball and breathed through a few contractions. This woke Brent up and he realized what was happening. He helped me through each contraction for a while and then we decided to call my midwife, Cathy, at around 5. We told her what was happening and that there was no rush. She said she'd be here in about an hour. I asked Brent for a Priesthood blessing before she got here. We had to do it standing up since I couldn't handle sitting down. We swayed through the blessing, lol. It was great!

I was feeling the contractions quite strong in my back, so I was worried that Buddy was posterior. I was having Brent push on my back to provide counter-pressure during each contraction. That was very helpful. Cathy got here at around 6 and I had her check me just to make sure things were moving along. I was 5 cm and 80% effaced and Buddy was at -1 station. She confirmed that he was slightly posterior, so we talked about different positions I could take during contractions that would help him move into the correct position. Cathy then realized she forgot to bring my chart and asked if we'd be ok with her running home and getting it. Neither of us felt like things were going to take-off in the short amount of time that she'd be gone, so we told her that was fine. At some point during this time, Brent texted my sister, Emily, so she could come. Cathy got back around 6:45 and the other midwife, Joanna, got here shortly after that. I decided it was time to get in the tub. And I got into our jetted tub instead of filling the birth pool since I really wanted the jets on my back. That was quite nice and helped relieve the pressure in my back.



Sometime between 7 and 8, all the kids woke up and got breakfast with the help of my sister and AJ. AJ was so excited when she woke up and came downstairs and saw Cathy. She came running into the bathroom to see me. I got a little teary seeing her. I was so glad that she was there to experience this with me again. After the other kids ate, AJ took them all across the street to our awesome neighbor. I'd already talked to her about watching them while I was in labor and she was more than happy to help. (I should note that I'd offered Roo and Tink the option of being here for the birth or not. I'd shown them quite a few birth videos, so they knew what was in store and they both said they'd rather go play. I guess labor is kind of boring until right at the end, lol. I'd also contemplated having Lady and June here as well, but decided a few weeks ago that I just couldn't handle the distraction.)

I was feeling like things were progressing, but they were progressing kind of slowly. I was ok with that, but I wanted Cathy to check me again just to see where things were. So a few minutes after 7, I got out of the tub and she checked me again. I was now 100% effaced, dilated 7 cm, but Buddy was still at a -1 station and still somewhat posterior. I was a bit frustrated by that and wondered why. I realized that's what I felt was missing. I could feel that he wasn't descending. I was sure that if his head would just drop, things would go quite quickly. So I decided to stay out of the tub for a bit and get in some different positions to see if I could get him to move down. I think I lasted through 3 contractions out of the water. One on the bed, and 2 walking around.

Holy cow! This is where I'm going to go off on a tangent and give a virtual bow to all the women (including my sister) who have ever had a natural, dry land birth. Those 3 contractions were SO intense! And I could hardly concentrate on my hypnosis at all. It sure didn't feel like it was helping at all during those contractions! I looked at Brent after the 3rd one and said, "I can't handle this! I've got to get back in the tub!" Then I turned to Emily and said, "I have no idea how you did this on dry land!" She laughed and reminded me of how "vocal" she was at the end of her labor. I said, "No wonder!" I should also note that Emily managed to do it in a semi-reclined position on the hospital bed. That was the worst position of all for me! I am seriously amazed by her strength!

So I got back in the tub, but decided to try to stay up on my knees instead of sitting down. I was hoping that that position would be more favorable for Buddy turning anterior. Things were so much less intense in the tub. It was awesome. And the jets were still helpful on my back. The contractions were still coming probably every 3-4 minutes and I could tell they were starting to get stronger, but they were getting stronger slowly. I was fine with that and decided that this labor would just take as long as it needed to (I wasn't going to try to hurry things along) and I was going to enjoy my time off between contractions. I listened to some more Hypnobabies scripts during this time.

Somewhere around 9 things started to intensify more and I was needing Brent to give me my hypnosis cues during every contraction. I got rid of the ipod and was just relying on Brent, which was great since my body responds so well to him. As things got more intense and the contractions got closer together, I realized we were getting close to the end, but still felt like Buddy wasn't as low as he should be. I started to get the urge to push and tried to do gentle pushes with each contraction (as gentle as I can manage, lol). Each time I pushed, I could feel Buddy's head come down, but as soon as I stopped, it popped right back up. I looked at Brent and said, "He's not coming!" Joanna asked if she could feel where he was and I said yes. She reached up to feel his head and said, "He's still got quite a ways to come." That was very discouraging, but I think I took it as a challenge. I pushed fairly hard with the next couple of contractions and then told Brent, "I can't do this." He said, "Yes you can!" And that was all I needed. I looked at him and said, "You're right. I can." I was starting to hyperventilate, which was making my hands go numb. So between contractions, Cathy had me put my hands over my nose/mouth to breathe. That helped a lot. And during one contraction, she got my attention and had me do deep breaths along with her. Then the next contraction that came was really intense and I decided to use it to get Buddy's head out. I pushed SOOO hard. I think I worried Brent a little because I pushed so hard and for quite a while with that contraction. But I just couldn't handle the intensity of it anymore! I needed him to come out!



My goal was to get his head out, but suddenly his entire body shot right out and into the water in front of me. I scooped him up and brought him to my chest, but Joanna said, "Oh, his cord." I looked down and sure enough, his cord was wrapped around him a couple of times. It was around his neck once, and over one shoulder and under the opposite arm another time. We just gently unraveled him and it was all fine. (This is where I could go off on another tangent about nuchal cords (cords wrapped around babies' necks) and how they're not really scary 99% of the time (1 in 3 babies born has the cord around its neck) and how it's actually a very safe place for the cord to be since it can't get pinched off, but just know that most of the time it's not nearly the "emergency" that most people think it is.)

Buddy started making some noises right away and then was very quiet for a minute. Then he let out one short, but loud cry and settled back down again. I lifted a leg to check gender and said, "Yay! He's got a penis!" Then I sat back in the tub and just held him and waited for the placenta to come out. Brent will want me to tell you his favorite part.....right after Buddy came out and I'd picked him up, I kept repeating, "Thank you for coming out." over and over. He thought that was pretty funny.





I think that the chiropractic visits definitely paid off since he came out in one grand push. I'm pretty sure it was just his cord holding him up in there. Speaking of his cord, it was crazy-long. (Did you know that boys' cords are generally longer than girls'?) And it looked like a telephone cord. It was coiled really tight. Very cool!



I did get 2 "skid marks," probably from his shoulders since they didn't have time to rotate. The midwives debated putting a stitch in one, but I said that if there was any question, I'd just rather let it heal on its own. I hate stitches.

After the placenta came out, I handed Buddy over to Brent and the midwives helped me get out of the tub and onto the bed. I nursed Buddy for a bit and then when he was content we did the newborn exam. I cut the cord again (I cut it with June as well). He quickly became discontent because he wasn't being held. He did not like being naked or examined! He weighed 7 lb 14 oz. My 2nd biggest baby! And he was 21" long. My midwife had the coolest thing for clamping off the umbilical cord. Instead of that big plastic clamp that gets in the way and makes a really hard, sharp stub when taken off, it was a rubber tourniquet thing. Just a very small rubber circle that is much more comfortable and unobtrusive. His cord fell off after just 1 week.

Do you see his beautiful WHOLE penis? I'm so glad it's staying that way!!! No needless surgery for this baby!
And you can kind of see the rubber tourniquet on his cord in this picture too.

The rest of the day is honestly kind of a blur. The midwives got things cleaned up, chatted with us for a while, and then left. Emily left sometime around lunch. The kids came home just before lunch. They were SOOOOO excited to meet their new brother. The neighbor that had watched them told me that Roo had asked about a million times that morning: "Do you think my mom has had the baby yet?" And, "Do you think it's a boy? I think it's a boy." I'm so happy he has a brother now! And you should see how darling he is holding him.


Brent made everybody lunch and then put June and Lady down for their naps. The big kids took care of themselves while Brent and I slept with Buddy for a while through the afternoon. Brent's parents brought us dinner that night. And we went to bed early.


I think I'll end with that and try to play catch-up for the last 3 1/2 weeks in the next post. I'm sure I'm forgetting some things I wanted to have written down in this post, but I'm fairly certain my brain matter has been replaced with oatmeal, so I'm having a hard time recalling a lot of things. ;)