Tuesday, June 11, 2013

Welcome Otto

Otto is here! He arrived on June 9th at 10:21 am. That is the birth day of 6913. Really universe really?? 7 lbs 13 oz and 19 inches. A million photos and updates to come but I wanted to write about the birth while it was still fresh in my head. I'm a bit sleep deprived so it may be all over the place but this is my story......

I think I kinda had an idea it was coming. Saturday was a pretty normal day. We ran errands and got lunch out and I felt pretty good, just crampy. I started to lose my plug on friday so I knew something was coming just not how fast it would actually happen. Saturday night was a late one. Olive took a crazy late nap so she was up till almost 10pm. After dinner we made cupcakes and I felt pretty good. The sudden burst of energy is always a good indicator! Around 12:30am I started getting this crazy feeling like he was literally dropping down into my birth canal. It wasn't so much painful as it was weird and it wasn't anything I would call contractions. I think I finally went to sleep for about an hour and woke up around 3am. I started feeling contractions which for sure felt like the real deal. By about 3:30 I had already had 2 pretty strong ones so I came out to the living room so I could watch a movie and maybe start timing them. I put on a movie and was able to watch maybe 30 min all while stopping it to have a bunch of contractions. I didn't think it could be real as they were coming so fast and so so strong. By around 5am they were about 10 min apart going for almost exactly 1 min and I woke up Blake. Olive also decided to wake up. It was a labor party! I called my midwife around 6:30 while Blake's family was arriving and at that point the contractions were 5 min apart. We all decided to meet at the birth center at 7:30am. They were coming on so so strong but they would only last that min and stop which I never experienced with Olive. By the time we arrived at the birth center they were at 2 min apart. My midwife checked me and said I was only 3cm dilated and 90% effaced. Ummmmm major letdown considering I was in so much pain already. I have a high tolerance to pain and am a pretty tough cookie but this was a lot to handle and I wasn't even half way there. She told me to walk around for an hour and come back and we could go from there. You guys, I had visions of getting in my car and going to the hospital cause I could not for the life of me imagine being in labor all day with this much pain. I don't know exactly what a hospital would do but the thought crossed my mind. Blake was amazing and walked with me for the hour while stopping every 2 min so I could hang on him and work through the contraction. We came back inside and I just felt like everything was so much more intense. The contractions were now at least a min apart and so so so strong. I was getting into that primal moan scream mode. My midwife wanted to check me again since it has been an hour. 7 cm!!! She told me to get in the bath and have a baby. Talk about feeling so much better after being at 3 cm an hour before that. She was so reassuring the whole time and told me the walking would push him down and that I was having a baby this morning. All stuff you need to hear. My doula unfortunately couldn't make it but she had always told me to never listen to numbers only your body. That rang through my head the whole time.

Getting in the tub was life changing. I felt so much better and it for sure relaxed my body. I want to say I got in the tub around 9:30. I think this was the most intense part. I could feel my body start to get that pushing sensation but it was still not quite there and the pain was intense and strong and I was screaming pretty damn loud at this point. Moaning does help as silly and crazy as you sound it feels good. Around 10 I felt like it was time to start pushing. With each contraction I could bear down and pushing started to feel right. Pain aside this is one of the most amazing feelings and sensations ever, I mean your body is basically like ok its go time. You get this signal and it is clear as day that it's time to push. I want to say my first real pushes were a little after 10 as I remember my mother in law saying lets go for 10:11 cause that is her birthday. Otherwise I would have had no concept of time in there. The pushing was intense and crazy and being so aware and in touch with your body during this is just insane. My mom and mother in law were both next to me helping me with breathing which was honestly the best thing ever. The thing is the pain would kinda take over and I would just want to scream or give up but I had them telling me where to focus my breathing and I just tuned in on them and was able to really focus. This wouldn't work for some people but for me it gave me a focus. I think I was holding both of their hands so sorry as you are both probably sore as hell. Squeezing hands does help! I felt my water break after a few pushes and I could really feel him getting closer. He felt so tight in there like I could feel him against my bones in there. What a crazy crazy feeling. My midwife told me she could see hair and that some of the water bag was still intact so she asked if she could pop it. Um gladly. So with a few more pushes he was out. Super human mom strength kicked in at the end. I mean when you can feel that head sticking half way out you push and you push hard. Like you get to the point where you don't think you have anything in you but all the encouragement around me made it that much easier. Once his head was out I could see the cord was wrapped around his neck and he was a lovely purple color. Oddly I didn't panic which is so not like me and either did my midwife. She reached down casually took it off and placed him on my belly and  he started crying. Talk about feeling amazing. The pain of pushing and contractions are just gone and you feel light. Oh human body you are one crazy thing. So all in all I think I pushed for maybe 17 min but it felt much longer. I sat with him like that for awhile before Blake got to cut the cord. I love this part. Still being attached like this outside the womb is kinda crazy.

The best part was no tears. Let me tell you how much of a difference that makes. Ya I felt sore but it was no big deal compared to last time with I had one stitch and it felt like my insides were just going to fall out everywhere. He was perfect and totally healthy! Once he finally opened his eyes we could see they were blue and he has hair on his head!

This time around felt so much different and so much more intense. I don't know why but the pain was a lot harder to manage this time. I think since everything came on so much faster it was just more intense. As painful and crazy as it was I still totally loved the experience of being so aware and in touch with my body. Ya its kinda nuts and there were times I felt like I didn't know how I was going to handle another contraction but I did. My body did everything it was supposed to and even when I screamed and had tears in my eyes I trusted it was going to do its job and get this baby out. My mind was so clear after and I was able to totally focus on everything.

So this is my story. I'm a proud mama that I got a healthy baby out of all of this. I'm also hoping Blake will write his story for me on here. Will ya?? Stay tuned for me to blab all about Otto and post a billion photos.





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