Tuesday, January 09, 2007

Couple more pics and a quick birth story

I've yet to get my "notes" about the birth so will write something more organised later, but here is a quick story and some photos. Okay - blogger is having a hiccup so here are some links.

Just born

Not quite a day old


We went to church Sunday morning fully expecting to have a "normal" quiet Sunday and thinking I'd be induced the next day. After church we went to my folks (who were looking after Tim) and had lunch there and around 2.30pm after dessert I realised I'd sprung a leak...

We came home and I rang my sister who wanted to be there at the birth to come over. DH and I went for a walk in the hot sun around the block - my skirt got soaked from all the amniotic fluid... there was no doubt to anybody who we passed what was going on but frankly I didn't care. My sister arrived and we did another walk - cxs were around 5 mins apart but not very long. I decided to sit on the birth ball for a while and time some so we could inform the midwife what progress was happening. My main midwife K was off call this weekend so we called her backup B who for various reasons I'd never actually met. (This bothered me a bit before, but as it turned out B was great and I have to say I felt safe and secure in her care). We rang her first around 4.30pm (I think) and her advice was "when you not laughing anymore, give me another ring".

Around 6.30pm I had was starting to feel like I wanted to go to the delivery suite - things were getting painful, I had the TENs machine on and DH/my sister were doing acupressure to help me. I was also "vocalising" by this stage. We got to the delivery suite around 7.00pm and I was asking for an epidural. B checked me and said, "The good news is you're 9cm, the bad news is, it's too late for an epidural!" This wasn't exactly what I expected to hear & I really felt incapable of doing it all au naturel.

B bought in the gas for me which took some of the rawness out of the cxs but they were still very intense. After a bit, B had me get up on the bed leaning over the top part on my hands an knees. I wasn't there long and I started pushing involuntarily at the peak of the cxs. I'm not totally sure how long I was pushing before she crowned - it didn't seem that long. My sister and DH were encouraging me by telling me they could see the head etc which was great because I was starting to lose it. I got her head out and then her shoulders got a bit stuck so B got DH to pull the emergency cord ... things happened very quickly then. The room filled with at least 4 midwives, I got flipped onto my back, and that allowed her to come out at 8.19pm, an hour after our arrival to the hospital! Her cord was quickly cut and she was whipped over to the newborn station (DH called out "It's a girl!" as she went by) to have a bit of oxygen... but she pinked up within seconds and it was all okay.

I lay there totally stunned that I HAD DONE IT! With just gas, TENs and my support people. I still can hardly believe it. I can't help myself comparing it with DS's birth, and I have to say my recovery both mentally and physically has been so much easier.

I had 3 stitches.

Breastfeeding is going fine - she is a much mellower baby than DS and that combined with having done it before helps a lot. I'm at home now, and a little nervous but I have this confidence that we've done this before and while it won't be a cake walk necessarily, we'll get through these first 6 weeks.

Thanks for your well wishes I appreciate them. I'll post some more pics as we take them!

10 comments:

  1. Fantastic news. Congrats to you and your family and welcome to baby Lydia.

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  2. Wow - amazing. Welcome to the world, little Lydia. So pleased she arrived safely. Hope she brings you many years of joy.

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  3. Anonymous5:57 pm

    i said it on the SK board, but i'll say it here too - you did it, mama!!! congratulations! sounds like an amazing birth!!

    even though you are feeling good now, please be kind to yourself and rest whenever you can. take advantage of any help you have during the first few weeks.

    congratulations to you and the whole family. lydia is a beauty! :)

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  4. Anonymous6:23 pm

    Penny, she is simply gorgeous! Congratulations on the amazing NATURAL delivery - wow! Way to go, mama. :)

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  5. Anonymous1:40 pm

    oh she looks gorgeous! Well done Penny. Hope you manage to get some rest through the day.

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  6. wow Penny - Well done - aren't you amazing doing it by yourself!

    Congratulations.

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  7. Well done Penny! Pity the epidural wasnt happening but gee whizz you didnt need it ..good on you!
    Glad everythings going well with the breastfeeding too.

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  8. Huge congrats Penny on the safe arrival of little Lydia. Love the pic of you and her together.

    Look after yourself and enjoy this special time with your newly enlarged family.

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  9. Anonymous4:35 pm

    so happy to read that it was quick and so much better than your last experience! I could see you smiling all the way to Wellington.

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  10. Anonymous11:29 pm

    Congrats you for doing such a great job naturally. I'm so impressed. She looks perfect. Hope you are getting some rest now and things are settling down a bit.

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