Ephraim's birth part 2

So at this point we were on the way to the hospital, and for me since you have to sit in the car, it was a pain in the butt to get there, as I totally hate not being able to move in labor and this time was no different.  But we made the 25 minute trek and I think I ate a pack of fruit snacks in the process of it all.

At the hospital we went to the ER as that was where they wanted us to be, we checked in there and waited for what seemed forever for a nurse from the maternity ward to come down.  Probably about 10 minutes later she had arrived and even though they wanted to sit me in a wheel chair to get there, I insisted on walking there, so I did while holding on to my husband, my stronghold thru this whole thing.  Seriously wanted to hold on to him during each contraction, which was different than last time but I guess I really needed him as my rock this time.

So we made it to the maternity ward, and we walked down the hall to the Holistic Birthing Center Suite, and on the way saw St. Gerard's statue and I remember saying if this baby is a boy that Gerard is going to be his middle name. When we got in the room, the nurse turned on the water for the tub, and then wanted to check my dilation status.  I really was having issues being on my back so she checked me when I was on my side.  She kind of freaked me out by saying that she didn't feel a cervix anymore, and I really had no idea what that meant at the time and when I learned that I was fully dilated at this moment, I was in disbelief.  I had only been in labor for a little over 4 hours, and only consistently for a little over 3 hours.  My last labor was 30 hours!

Because I was in transition, the nurse called in the on call doctor, because apparently my midwife wasn't there yet.  I got up in the meantime and decided that I felt like using the bathroom.  My water broke over the toilet and then I knew it was close.  The doctor came in and I was told I had to be on the bed and deliver on my back.  This was the last thing I wanted to do, because for the whole labor and even in pushing I wanted to be on my hands and knees, but in OB land this isn't a possible delivery position.  So I reluctantly obliged. The only thing I had going at this point was that it only took a few pushes to get the  baby out probably because it was a second baby, and not my first which took about 2 hours to push out.

When the baby was out, I learned he had his cord wrapped around his neck twice, but they got it off, and it he screamed almost instantly.  My husband said he was bluish at first, but I never saw him that way.  And when we knew he was a boy we named him Ephraim Gerard.  A few unfortunate things happened due to being in OB land, such as getting a shot of pitocin because I apparently was bleeding a lot, the cord being cut too early, and my placenta being pulled out.

To not end on a bad note, there were good things about his birth. They didn't wisk him away but allowed me to do kangaroo (skin to skin) care for 2 hours post birth, and there was no monitoring of fetal heart rate due to lack of time.  So even though it wasn't the ideal water-midwife birth, Ephraim was healthy and beautiful with a full head of hair.

The END.

The birth of my second son...part 1 of 2

So here is,  the birth story of Ephraim.  Now where to start,  let's start with the fact that he was overdue.  This in itself threw me for a loop because Ben was almost a week early. So those last few weeks were hard, and when the baby was a week overdue, I had hit a block in my mind that I was never going to have the baby and felt like it was going to go on forever! So I went to visit my neighbor and vented to her, and she listened and suggested a unorthodox way of calming down, which seemed to work.

The next day I woke up and praying and thinking about this baby in the womb and had an attitude change.  That day I decided to think differently from the day before by saying that instead of the baby never coming, the baby would come.

My friend K had invited Ben and I over to hang out with her and her kiddos, so we drove over to her house and had the kids play together and chatted.  We left after lunch and came back home for Ben to take his nap. After not being able to nap for about a week I actually fell asleep during nap time. When I woke up I felt sick and just off.  I did some laundry and then when Ben woke up I fed him some yogurt and as usual finished it off for him.  Oddly though it didn't taste right, something was off.  I wanted to take him to the library that afternoon to get some more books in case the baby came because we had missed story time that morning where I would have normally exchanged and acquired said books.

We didn't get to the library because I started to feel sick a little after 4 o'clock, so we went to town drawing with crayons in the coloring books at his little table.  I called my husband a few minutes later saying something wasn't right and I was being to feel cramps, and I asked him if he thought I should call the midwife. He said that probably was a good idea. In between calling the midwife, I called a friend and asked her if this was labor I was experiencing because it was nothing like I remembered, all the pains were low, and it felt like bad cramps.  Last time it was like full out contracting of the uterus, or at least that was how I remembered it.  She said it probably was, and to again call the midwife, so I did.  The office assistant told me I could come in and be checked, but I said well I don't really want to drive and my husband isn't home yet, so I'll wait it out till I know this is for real.

Well things quickly got intense, and after my husband got home at 5:30, I was pretty sure this was labor, it was getting worse not better.  I attempted to write and email and got no where, and then I decided to attempt some tub laboring, and that totally didn't feel good either.  All I wanted to do was be on my hands and knees by leaning over my exercise labor ball.  So that's what I did.  I managed to eat some chicken nuggets with the kiddo for dinner and then by 7-7:30 I told my husband to call his parents to get them to take Ben.  Well they were at a concert for his youngest brother, so we had to call the neighbor to take him and she thankfully could. We still had some hospital bag packing to do, so my husband quickly threw things in the bags and off we went.

part 1 of 2. part 2 coming soon...