another birth another story

Coles Notes:

 

Cedrik was born a few days ago, after a wonderful birth. He was 3390 g (10 g lighter than Leona and 1 kg lighter than Eliana), and 47 cm long. He is healthy, calm, and beautiful, and I am doing great as well. The girls adore him.



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Long Version:

I was preparing...or rather trying to prepare...myself for another long final wait, seeing as both girls were born past their estimated birth dates (EBD).

But I was hoping, hoping strongly, that he would come early, because that would not only give us more time post-birth with the help from my mom who arrived June 1st and is going to be here until the end of July, but more importantly Judge starts his summer job in the kitchen at the old folks' home June 22nd. That meant that if he came as long after his EBD as the girls, Judge would have just started working, not a stellar situation both in terms of work inconvenience (though of any country, Norway is the place that it is ok) and exhaustion for him.

I had found a sort of peace though, feeling a sense of ok that he would come when he would come. And at the same time continued with the hypnobabies tracks of 'visualize your birth' and 'baby come OUT' after I passed 38 weeks.

I was trying to think what the best scenario would be - how close and long the pressure waves should be before we headed out on the 1.5 hour drive to the hospital, what time of day would be best, etc., especially seeing that E's birth had taken 3 hours from the first contraction until she was out...but that was an induced birth, so hard to say what this next birth would be in comparison - especially since each birth is it's own story anyhow.

A few days after my mom arrived and before I found an ideal 'answer', my water broke a little after 2pm, after I had helped Eliana go down for her (rather late) nap. I went and took a shower while Judge made some beef fried noodles to bring, and during this time my pressure waves started. We were in the car by around 3:30 or so - thankfully Eliana had woken up from her nap so we were able to tell both the girls we were heading out.

On the drive to the hospital the pressure waves came every 3-4 min and lasted about 45 seconds, so we knew we were good and started at least.

And I was yawning almost non-stop ... or at least every 10 min or so. Had me some exhaustion coming, and I thought it not a stellar way to go into a birth, but it was what it was.

We arrived a little before 5pm, so it was hospital after-hours and the parking lot almost empty. Interestingly, the most uncomfortable moment in the whole entire birthing process came when we drove into the parking lot, where it was super uneven, as a pressure wave started just then and I had to tense up due to the rocking of the car. The difference between this and being able to be fully and deeply relaxed made me realize how painful birth could be, and made me all the more thankful I had come across Hypnobabies back in the day. Seriously.

It was a very quiet day at the birthing ward (I don't think anyone else gave birth that day), and we got a wonderfully relaxed and comfortable-as-a-person midwife assigned to us. She asked if it was ok if a student attended (it would be her first time being present at a birth), which I said yes to, hoping she wouldn't bring stress into the room, but at the same time knowing I would be focused on me so most likely wouldn't notice her anyhow.

The midwife was totally ok with no internal checks (one of the points on my birth wish list) - said that she would have to listen to Cedrik's heartbeat a bit more often because of it, but that it would be just quick checks (a few seconds each time, it turned out), if that was ok with us. We had an initial 20 min or so measuring of the pressure waves and his heartbeat while she did some paperwork on us in the midwife office, and then she brought in a birthing ball and a 'stand-up-leaning support' thing that I could try out if I wanted.

I tried the ball for a second, but it squeaked on the floor and I couldn't fully relax, so I moved onto the bed and sat there relatively straight up - trying to let gravity do some of its work.

But I was just sooooo tired. So I decided to see if I could get some rest for a while and then let gravity work again later, and lay down on my side (the head of the bed was raised a bit, so I wasn't fully horizontal at least), positioning the pillow and blanket to find a comfortable supported position. The midwife came in to do a quick check on Cedrik's heart beat and see how I was doing, and said for us to push the call-button when I woke up.

I had the 'Easy first stage' Hypnobabies track on, and had to laugh (not out loud but perhaps with a sliver of a smile shining through sometimes) each time I consciously heard the "I look forward to each gentle/powerful birthing wave" affirmation, as I have to admit though I know the wonderful function of these here pressure waves, they were not really something I was looking forward to, exactly...I was more looking forward to this stage being over and getting to the pushing stage where the birthing waves work differently and - for me - there is no discomfort.

At the same time, this was the first birth I was able to use the relaxation and hypnoanesthesia to really get the powerful back tension I have had each time to fade (this has previously been the only discomfort area for me during my births). I had to really focus and put a lot of mental effort into it each and every time, but I was able to do it! And for that, each and every time I felt a huge sense of gratefulness and relief.

I was also way more aware of the actual stretching sensation of my cervix opening, which was kind of fascinating, and I used the 'open, open, open' hypnobabies phrase through each birthing wave along with the total relaxation of my body and mind, so that there was no tension holding back the opening process.

I also had to kind of laugh each time I heard the "and every 20 minutes is like 5 minutes for you", as I was doubting that one was working.

On the second round of the track, the pressure waves were getting pretty intense, where my breathing changed from the slow and deep I had been doing throughout to more shallower and stronger on the in- and out-breath (still with open and relaxed mouth though), and I was starting to wonder if my strengthening "looking forward to this stage being over" feeling could maybe mean I was in transition...but didn't want to focus too much on whether or not it was the case in case it wasn't...just wanted to go with the process and let it take its course.

After laying there pretty much motionless listening to the track 1.5 times - meaning about an hour I think, I felt rested and energized, and told Judge I wanted to go pee (it's important to empty one's bladder once an hour or so, to make sure there's good space for the baby to maneuver in there), and asked him to press the button to call the midwife in, and if he could help me to the bathroom.

Coming off the bed I found I had to really lean on Judge, and had a sense of fullness in my pelvis, so knew he was really far down...but didn't realize just how far down he was until I was on the toilet and suddenly felt the need to push. I checked to see if I could feel his head, and there it was, about 3 or 4 cm from my perineum already.

Judge asked if I wanted the door closed and I told him (in Mandarin) no, that he was coming, and just then the midwife came in, and I told her (in Mandarin) that he was coming. Realized she may not understand what I just said so repeated myself in Norwegian and she caught me as I came out of the bathroom. By now I was bearing down, unable to stop or pause the powerfulness that is Birth. I was leaning heavily on both her and Judge, and she was asking Judge to please pull the string (in Norwegian) [so the student and pediatric nurse could hurry in], but he wasn't catching that she was talking to him as he didn't understand 'string' - she had previously asked him to press a call-button.

So I shifted my weight fully onto her (she was squatting on the floor in order to carry my weight), asked Judge to press the button, and the midwife and I worked together to try and get me onto the bed as there was nothing laid out on the floor.

Got onto the bed, had a powerful push-wave, after which I felt for his head and could feel he was already good and crowned, and decided to go for a controlled push while I was guiding his head out before the next push-wave came. Head was birthed, and with the next wave he was out!

The student didn't make it in time, while the pediatric nurse just barely made it.

After a few minutes the midwife said she felt it was best to give me the pitocine shot in my thigh, as there was a bit too much bleeding for her liking, which was totally ok with me (obviously).

And after a short while I birthed the placenta, nice and whole, no problems (yay!!!!!! - with Eliana it had to be manually removed under full narcosis), and she held it up to show us the 'tree of life'...Judge said that was the most stressful (read: terrible - he's not good with needles or blood stuff) part of the birth for him.

The midwife and pediatric nurse both told me after they were so incredibly impressed with me, that it was a really amazing birth - so nice to be a part of this type of natural birth.

The midwife also mentioned she had been wondering about me, as I was sleeping/resting for such a long time, and was completely caught off guard when she came in to check his heartbeat only to find him on his way out.

Overall, it was the most perfect play-out of the birth we could have dreamed up.

The view from my post-partum room (I stayed in the hospital one night, so the doctor could check Cedrik out in the morning).

Maternity ward gifts - knitted by a group of aunties and grannies. The blanket blew my mind.

 

The girls holding Cedrik for the first time when they came to pick us up the next day. Holding Cedrik is Leona's new favorite pastime. It reminds me of how amazing she was with Eliana as well, making up a spot to lay beside her and singing to her or explaining who and what was what.

38 vs 39 weeks