I woke up around 12:30 and had to pee (of course!). I went right back to sleep and then at 1:08 AM a contraction woke me up. I was thinking great, I'm going to have these for an hour and then they will stop and I'm going to be exhausted tomorrow. About 8 minutes later I had another one. I changed positions and went back to sleep. The next one woke me up again and I decided to time them. Around 2:15 I decided I would take a bath and see if that would make them stop and shave my legs just in case I ended up at the hospital. The bath didn't help and they were getting closer together. Jason woke up around 3:30 and came upstairs to see what was going on. He said he saw the kitchen lights on thought what is Bella doing up and then he remembered that she was at her friends house and he rolled over to ask me why the light was on a realized I wasn't in the bed. I was listening to my Hypnobabies tracks and they truly helped at the beginning. I timed my contractions again around 4:00 and they were 3-4 minutes apart. I called the doctor and he told me to go in and get checked and see what kind of progress I was making. We packed the rest of our stuff, told Tyler we were leaving for the hospital (he was awake playing video games! He said he woke up and couldn't go back to sleep.) and gave him the monitor so he could listen for Finley.
I want to say this about my labor-it is weird! The contractions don't hurt on my stomach or my back, just my pubic bone! I thought maybe that was just with Finley since she was face up, but it was the same with Huck so I guess that is just what my body does. That is why I'm never 100% sure if I'm in labor because I've never ever heard anyone say that all that hurt was their pubic bone. It is just strange.
We got to the hospital around 5:15 and you know it takes a year for them to get you checked in and ask the 1000 questions that they ask, but when all that was done and I was checked I was 5 centimeters so halfway there. I think I was a little disappointed because I was thinking it was going to take forever and I just wanted it to be fast. I had signed the papers for a water birth so they moved me to the room with the tub and filled it up so I could get in when I was ready. I wanted to wait until the pain got bad so I used the birthing ball and walked around for a bit. At about 6:45 the nurse wanted to monitor the baby for a few minutes to make sure his heart rate was still where it should be. She noticed some changes so she asked to check me because she thought they were from head compressions so he had probably moved down into the birth canal. I was 8-9 centimeters and I was ready to get in the water. The nurse called the doctor and told him how far I was. It was now 7:10 AM and as I sat up my water broke and then I stood up and had a huge contraction! The nurse called the doctor again and told him my water just broke and that he needed to hurry. The nurse said I don't think you can make it into the water and then I had to climb back into the bed. She checked me again and he was coming out. She called the doctor again and said she needed him now. I had to breathe through a few contractions while waiting on the doctor and they were STRONG! It's amazing what a difference the bag of water makes. When the doctor finally got there my body was going to push no matter what anyone said. I remember the doctor saying that I was going to have to push through the burn (the dreaded Ring of Fire!) but I didn't even feel it, all I felt was that if I didn't push I was going to explode. I pushed ONE time and he was out at 7:24! What is so weird was that my body was doing the pushing. It was totally different than when I had an epidural.
Huxley Ronin Carter was born on April 7, 2012 at 7:24 AM. He weighed 8 pounds and was 21 inches long. His head was 14 1/8 inches. He has brown hair, but I can see some blond in there and right now his eyes are gray. He is just perfect and beautiful!
My labor was just a little over 6 hours from start to finish. It was a lot like Finley's, but with her I had some indications during the day that it was close. I had none of those with Huck.
My labor and delivery nurses at Brookwood were awesome! I can't say enough about how nice and supportive they were through out my labor. The postpartum nurses were great too. I'm still not 100% sure about the group of doctors I went with. There are a few I really liked and a couple I didn't. Of course, one of the ones I didn't really like ended up being there for my delivery and it was fine, but he is just not the one I would have chosen to be there.
Hypnobabies definitely helped while I was in labor. While I was still at home and listening to the tracks I can honestly say that I had very little pain. It's different when you get to the hospital, but I was more relaxed and able to breathe through the contractions and not tense up. Everything happened so fast at the end that I did tense up and I forgot to breathe, but luckily it was fast!
I can honestly say that labor was really not that bad until my water broke. Thank God my body kept the bag in tact until he was ready to make his appearance. After my water broke it was intense. I feel like I handled it pretty well, although I did yell out once when I pushed. I did have to get one stitch, but it was not bad at all. I was really sore the day I had him, but I felt much better the next day.
The only thing I regret is that since everything happened so fast we didn't get to video or take any pictures during his birth.
Over the last two years I have read and researched and read some more on birth. I decided to go natural because it is best for me and the baby and because that is what my body was made to do so I knew I could. I've had 3 epidurals and I know how great they are, I remember thinking about 3 minutes before I had Huck how nice one would have been at that moment. The biggest perk I can say for going drug free (besides the ones stated above) is the "Natural Birth High". I don't remember with Tyler, but I know with Bella and Finley I had postpartum blues for several days. I have felt great this time and just because of that I would try and go natural again if we have another baby.
I'm not sure if it was the full moon, sitting on the birthing ball most of the day, or eating Mexican food that started my labor or maybe he was just ready to come. I guess it could have been a combination of all four ;)
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