Hey, all! I had a baby!
Introducing:: Charlie Richard Mosman
Born April 27th @ 3:41 AM
7 lbs 15 oz--20.5 inches
::charlie was my heaviest and shortest babe::
::30 minutes or so after he was born::
::sweetest little dimple chin::
::oh, hey there::
::an hour after delivery, moving to recovery::
This is long and pretty graphic. Don't say I didn't warn you.
All along I have been telling people, "Everyone, I know I'm going to go early with this one. I can feel it. Be ready." Of course this is what every mom says when she's pregnant. Or at least they really hope and pray for it. I wasn't particularly uncomfortable--at least not anymore than a 38-week pregnant person should be (plus, my vag varicose veins had subsided around week 34 (don't you love how I just talked about my vag veins?)). I had virtually no swelling and my belly was totally normal sized.
On to the good stuff.
I was having absolutely no painful contractions approaching week 38. I was a tad discouraged because with Ruby I was having painful, irregular contractions from week 36 on. My doctor's office refuses to do cervical checks unless you are bleeding or contracting regularly which totally annoyed me. I decided at 37 weeks 5 days I was going to reeaalllyyy try and do all I could (walking, sexcapades, spicy food, evening primrose oil, castor oil, WHATEVERICOULDGETMYHANDSON) to help speed the process along. We went for a really long walk along Venice beach the morning of the 20th and all it did was make my back hurt.
At 37 w 6 d, the 'bloody show' began. For the next 5 days. Come ON! So gross. But, I knew that meant baby was coming and I felt really strongly he was coming that weekend. Everything was packed and I was ready to go. On Wednesday (24th, 38 w 2 d) I decided to take castor oil. Just for fun. I took 2 tablespoons with juice and sat down to watch The Voice from the previous night. Contractions started about 2 hours later and increased in length, consistency, and pain level over the next 8 hours and then slowly died off (*also, I had no explosive diarrhea like everyone claims you get. I know you were wondering...). The next day I decided to not do castor oil and just walk.. When I woke up Friday I knew that would be the last morning I would wake up pregnant. I told everyone I came in contact with that day I was having that baby within 24 hours. I just knew! So that evening we decided to eat at Pei Wei to celebrate my hunch. We got home at 7:15 and immediately put the kids in the bath. This is where it started...
I was washing the kid's hair when I felt the first gush. I thought, "Welp, here we go again!" So I finished washing their hair, whilst leaking all over myself, before I called Sean in and told him my water broke. And then it came like a faucet. Ugh. Having your water break is really such a gross feeling. My contractions were picking up all day Friday (oh, I took a teaspoon of castor oil at 5...) and as soon as my water broke I was feeling it. Oh was I feeling it. We called a couple of my good friends to assist with the kids and off Sean and I went!
We got to the hospital around 810, got checked in, and found out I was dilated to a 3. I requested the midwife who was on call. She came (and was awesome) and asked what my pain medication plans were. I, very unconvincingly said, "uh...no pain meds?" (*note* I was planning on doing it natural because my epi with Ruby was so horrific). She said, "great! I will help you as much as possible."
Side-note: You know all those people who do it natural because their water broke and they progressed so fast and there was just no time and ahhhhhhh! I assumed that's what would happen to me. My contractions were regular, so painful, and my water had already broke.
Then 11:45 hit, and I was dying. Oh my, so so painful. I told Sean there was no way I could do this. No way. I said, "If they check me and I'm less than a 7 I'm getting an epidural." They come in and check me--a 6. Oh, COME ON. I tell Sean I'm dying over and over again, "you have no idea how bad this hurts!" And variations of those things. With lots of bad words. Classy lady, here. Anyway, at 1 I was feeling so terrible. My contractions were 2 minutes apart and it literally took everything in me to make it through each one (water broke, remember?? several hours earlier??). They came in and checked me and she said, you are at a 9.5! Just a tiny bit of cervix left to go! Oh, HALLELUJAH. She said (the dirty liar) you'll have this baby by 130! She suggested we try and manually move the last part of the cervix over. This consisted of her reaching in and pulling my cervix over WHILE I push. With NO pain meds.
Kill me.
It didn't work. It wouldn't budge. FOR ALMOST 3 HOURS I WAS STUCK AT A 9.5. Oh, oh, it was so painful. I don't know why anyone would choose to do that. Oh wait, if you have one hour labors after your water breaks I could probably do it. But EIGHT HOURS?! Oh, never again. I was so physically and emotionally exhausted. I just couldn't do it anymore. And then...then my midwife suggested some drug to help 'relax' my uterus in the hopes that my cervix would move over. I pleaded, "WILL THIS TAKE AWAY ANY PAIN??" She said, "Well for some people maybe..." (lies, again) Not this person. But, the weirdest thing happened. After about 4 minutes my body did this crazy crazy things where it involuntarily pushed. Like, it felt like if you were in a semi-truck that was downshifting...THAT'S what it felt like. And then everyone in the room was said, "IT'S TIME!" And it was. I started pushing at 3:38 and he was born at 3:41.
I DID IT.
AND I DIDN'T TEAR!
(I had a 3rd degree tear with Ruby)
I had no pain meds, no pitocin, nothing.
I am woman. Hear me roar!
But let's be honest, I will never voluntarily do that again. It was so painful. Sure, the recovery has been absolutely amazing. I mean, remarkable. So freaking awesome. Those 8 hours--specifically the last 3--were so difficult. I have a really high pain tolerance and I just knew that if I went any longer I was going to pass out. Or die. Or just scream the F word over and over again at everyone until they pulled him out because I was NOT about to push a baby out on top of all of this.
Charlie's apgars were 9 and 9 (Ruby's were 5 and 7!) and he just laid there on my squishy belly for twenty minutes while they cleaned everything up. Bliss.
Phew. That's the birth story. I'll do another post tomorrow about the last 8 days as a family of 5.
5!
We are crazy...
...crazy in love with our sweet little family.
