The story begins Tuesday night, when my midwife, Sarah, and her apprentice, Catherine, came over to do some natural induction methods. They burned herbs near energy points and massaged acupressure points and left me in a kind of trance on my bed. The herb they burned smells a lot like weed, and we had a thunder storm at the time. Sarah joked my birth story would start with "It was a dark and stormy night and we smoked pot in my room..."
And so it kind of did.
I really hoped (and so did they) that their good witch magic would put me to sleep, as I was fighting insomnia nightly. Instead, I got up at 10:30, ate, and then read. And then couldn't sleep. I took a shower at 3 am to relax, and did a bunch of squats and lunges (trying to break my water). I got out and was back in bed by 3:40. At 3:45 my water broke.
I texted Sarah, who responded that she was on her way and asked questions about the amniotic fluid (yes, it was clear and odorless).
This time, birth was more like what my Bradley classes said to expect (unlike Rory's). Contractions started slowly. Were totally manageable.
Ryan started boiling water and cleaning everything in sight. He figured I wouldn't want him around much, since I didn't during Rory's. Not the case this time.
The contractions started to get much closer together, and I was surprised when Sarah suggested I call my photographer at about 5 am. I didn't want Chrissy to have to sit around and be bored, but I did, and she was there pretty quickly, arriving as I was in the middle of throwing up (what is it about birth?).
By then I was in the tub, Catherine was there also, and I forgot Katharine Hepburn's name, which tells you just how in labor I was. Ryan was coming in and out doing things - getting coffee and tea for all the ladies, and generally keeping busy. I threw up
Everything gets kind of blurry then. I think I started whining about the pain. I held Ryan's hands, draped myself around him, might have bitten him at some point? I don't remember. I do remember looking into his eyes at one point and thinking I could focus on just him and I being in the room right now. It worked until the contraction was over.
And then I hit transition and I REALLY started to complain. Yelling that I couldn't do it, that it needed to stop, that they had to give me something for the pain, they had to get him out of me, just yank him, he's stuck. I leapt out of the tub (as well as one can leap when in labor) and back to the bed on my hands and knees.
I vaguely remember thinking that Chrissy, who had C-sections, must think this was all very barbaric, and that I could have had a C-section (unlikely my doc would schedule an elective c-sect), and that I should have gone to a hospital where they have meds and I was crazy.
Sarah said she didn't have meds, but did give me some homeopathic thing to help. Catherine, a yoga instructor and doula, whispered very nonintrusive things which somehow managed to break through the fog, and it's truly impressive that they worked. Normally people talking while I'm in pain makes me want to punch them in the face. But she whispered that my baby needed to get through the door, and he'd be in my arms soon, and it was all very soothing.
I suddenly wanted back in the tub, and then I experienced what I did not with Rory - the overwhelming need to push.
The women held my legs for me, I think Ryan held my hand, and I pushed when it felt good (and it somehow felt amazing). And I slept/rested in between pushes (I had also been begging for sleep during transition). And then there was that ring of fire, and I got more involved and used my hands to apply counter pressure around his head (I could feel his hair floating!). He got most of his head out, and Sarah told me to push again. But I couldn't feel anything to push, so I moved onto my knees with my arms over the side of the pool, and pushed a few more times, and out he came! All the pressure, pain, was just GONE, even my haziness about everything comes back to sharp clarity at that moment. I scooped him up, Ryan went to wake up Rory, and I asked what time it was.
6:43. In the morning.
The whole thing was less than 3 hours. I couldn't believe it. I was sure it was noon.
He screamed for 30 minutes, and I couldn't blame him, as I had been very vocal about my own discomfort so recently. We talked it out, I told him he made it, he was all done and he could relax. He and I had previously discussed his rough pregnancy, and then such a fast birth. He had some things to get out.
I was moved to the bed, Rory right next to me, Andrew on my lap, and Ryan on the other side of Rory. One of the midwives found meconium in the pool (thank goodness he waited). Upon inspecting him, he was VERY full term. Almost no vernix or lanugo left on him, and some truly impressive thigh chunk. He also has a calcaneovalgus foot, the one that's been sticking out of my right side for months. I had one, too. They generally work themselves out, and I'm sure our chiropractor will help it along.
Then it was time to push out the placenta (Sarah felt a clot starting in my uterus). I started pushing, and got most of it. Sarah let me rest and then asked for one more big push (it was difficult, because I couldn't feel where to push like I had when the giant kid was on his way out). But I pushed as big as I could. And the placenta came. And the clot followed and sort of exploded horror movie style. All over Sarah, and the bed, and the pool. Sarah sat there stunned for a second and said, "Well that's never happened before. I've been splashed with amniotic fluid, but not a clot." She changed into one of Ryan's t-shirts.
Andrew showed no interest in nursing. At all. He just wanted to snuggle in my chest. He was very alert, but calm, and we let him stay like that for quite a while as the midwives cleaned up and packed. He had his exam, Rory read the scale and announced his weight: 8 lbs, 10 oz. And he was 21.5 inches long. All fingers, toes, and testicles present (they check that. He did not appreciate it). He has a little "road" rash (my phrase) on his face from spinning on his way out (contributing to me not feeling him until I got up on my knees).
I got a shower and Ryan made me and Rory breakfast. Rory is head over. Last night at bedtime she kept requesting "six more minutes" of cuddle time before bed. Ryan read her bedtime story while she snuggled with him. Completely unprompted she said, "Goodnight Andrew, I love you" and kissed him on the forehead when she went to bed. We finally got her to stop whispering around him so we could hear her.
Today Ryan's parents came over to meet the new guy and take Rory off for her Spring Break. She was fine with going, even though Andrew was staying behind. We had a brief moment of learning to latch, but since then he's been eating like a champ. My chiropractor is coming to visit tonight and check him out (after all our breastfeeding drama with Rory, I want to make sure we're set up for success).
It's hard to tell in pictures, but he looks blue-eyed already. And as for me, I got six hours of sleep last night (thank goodness for my husband and a breast pump), so I am very refreshed and feeling great.
Mom. Can I hold him?
Already sleeping just like Daddy - with one arm over his eyes.
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