Oliver"s Birth
Updated April 17, 2014.
All my bags and stuff were still on the floor right where I was standing, so we had to kick everything out of the way. Kath and Aleisha laid down pillows and covered them with green surgical sheets and I realized we were nearly there. I was yelling a lot and apologised but Brendan the intern (who has seen lots of births but still had a stunned appearance on his face) told me not to worry and to yell even louder!
Rahoul just stood around smiling and looking cute. I was standing up, sometimes resting my elbows on the bed, holding Stu's hands over the bed (he was standing on the other side of it) and pushing. With Callum's birth I had a walking epidural and *thought* I felt everything, however this time I realised that I was *really* feeling everything when I felt the baby's head crown - absolutely AWESOME. Aleisha told me to push against her fingers while Kath was doing something to stop me from tearing. I pushed where I felt Aleisha's fingers and the head came out. She then checked for the cord around the neck and told me to go for it again with the next contraction. I felt his shoulders and body be born. Oliver was here! I began to do my now usual mantra of "Make him breathe, Kath! Make him breathe!" Kath and Aleisha did all this and caught him while kneeling on the floor behind me, I was still standing up. I looked and saw Kath cut the cord. I then started to haemorrhage slightly so (finally) got on the bed while Oliver was whisked over to the Ped (who was also named Oliver).
The Ped said that he was breathing fine and gave him apgars of 8 & 9. I had a quick cuddle but due to the blood loss I was too wasted to do much else but lie there, which I did for two hours, saying almost nothing. All I could do was lie there and stare, shake and cry. I don't think I have ever felt in such a state of shock in my life. I had a small tear from the shoulders as Oliver had his arm around them, hugging himself.
So all up, I was in labour in the hospital for one hour and 45 mins and at home for 3 hours 15 mins. However, the stuff at home was too easy to really even be called "labour"!
I was due to go home on the 9th, Thursday morning, but on my discharge check I had a raging fever. Oral antibiotics did nothing so I was then put on IV antibiotics. I have holes in my arms from the bloody canulas and all the blood they took. Even though I was tested for group b strep. a few weeks ago, I apparently had it anyway : / Thankfully Oliver is fine. They think I had a small piece of membrane retained. I don't remember much about the week in hospital except it was boring and all I wanted to do was go home, but it was too dangerous.
Oliver is easy to nurse. He can almost latch himself on! Callum adores him "my brovver, I love him, my brovver" and really enjoys nursing at the same time (we are still learning exactly how to achieve this!). Oliver hardly ever cries, sleeps 4 & 5 hour stretches and I can lie him down half awake and watch while he puts himself to sleep! IME this is BIZARRE!!!! Last night he slept from 11pm 'til 4am, nursed then slept 'til 9am. He usually nurses through 2-3 letdowns so I'm not worried that he's nursing too little.
I still can't believe I did it without drugs. It's even harder to believe that for me, the pain did not get any worse after the drugs were no longer feasible. It got a bit more difficult in a physical, energy level way, but the pain was the same.
I'm not sure what Stu meant by saying I was brave ; ) We were and are still overwhelmed by the whole experience. It was exhilarating, scary, loud, painful, powerful and gentle if all those words can go together. All in all it was a wild, wild ride.
All my bags and stuff were still on the floor right where I was standing, so we had to kick everything out of the way. Kath and Aleisha laid down pillows and covered them with green surgical sheets and I realized we were nearly there. I was yelling a lot and apologised but Brendan the intern (who has seen lots of births but still had a stunned appearance on his face) told me not to worry and to yell even louder!
Rahoul just stood around smiling and looking cute. I was standing up, sometimes resting my elbows on the bed, holding Stu's hands over the bed (he was standing on the other side of it) and pushing. With Callum's birth I had a walking epidural and *thought* I felt everything, however this time I realised that I was *really* feeling everything when I felt the baby's head crown - absolutely AWESOME. Aleisha told me to push against her fingers while Kath was doing something to stop me from tearing. I pushed where I felt Aleisha's fingers and the head came out. She then checked for the cord around the neck and told me to go for it again with the next contraction. I felt his shoulders and body be born. Oliver was here! I began to do my now usual mantra of "Make him breathe, Kath! Make him breathe!" Kath and Aleisha did all this and caught him while kneeling on the floor behind me, I was still standing up. I looked and saw Kath cut the cord. I then started to haemorrhage slightly so (finally) got on the bed while Oliver was whisked over to the Ped (who was also named Oliver).
The Ped said that he was breathing fine and gave him apgars of 8 & 9. I had a quick cuddle but due to the blood loss I was too wasted to do much else but lie there, which I did for two hours, saying almost nothing. All I could do was lie there and stare, shake and cry. I don't think I have ever felt in such a state of shock in my life. I had a small tear from the shoulders as Oliver had his arm around them, hugging himself.
So all up, I was in labour in the hospital for one hour and 45 mins and at home for 3 hours 15 mins. However, the stuff at home was too easy to really even be called "labour"!
I was due to go home on the 9th, Thursday morning, but on my discharge check I had a raging fever. Oral antibiotics did nothing so I was then put on IV antibiotics. I have holes in my arms from the bloody canulas and all the blood they took. Even though I was tested for group b strep. a few weeks ago, I apparently had it anyway : / Thankfully Oliver is fine. They think I had a small piece of membrane retained. I don't remember much about the week in hospital except it was boring and all I wanted to do was go home, but it was too dangerous.
Oliver is easy to nurse. He can almost latch himself on! Callum adores him "my brovver, I love him, my brovver" and really enjoys nursing at the same time (we are still learning exactly how to achieve this!). Oliver hardly ever cries, sleeps 4 & 5 hour stretches and I can lie him down half awake and watch while he puts himself to sleep! IME this is BIZARRE!!!! Last night he slept from 11pm 'til 4am, nursed then slept 'til 9am. He usually nurses through 2-3 letdowns so I'm not worried that he's nursing too little.
I still can't believe I did it without drugs. It's even harder to believe that for me, the pain did not get any worse after the drugs were no longer feasible. It got a bit more difficult in a physical, energy level way, but the pain was the same.
I'm not sure what Stu meant by saying I was brave ; ) We were and are still overwhelmed by the whole experience. It was exhilarating, scary, loud, painful, powerful and gentle if all those words can go together. All in all it was a wild, wild ride.
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