Suzy Q Homemaker

There isn't much to it, really.

I went to my midwife's Tuesday for my prenatal and she told me what I can do to try to induce naturally. Then she said it's pretty much up to me whether or not I wanted to try all the things she suggested or just wait and see. Don't forget I was scheduled for a hospital induction that was supposed to be Thursday morning, so we only had a day and a half to get things going.

Obviously, I was like, yeah I'm going to do everything you suggest! Here's the regimen:

-take labor tincture at the top of the hour
-20 min. of nipple stimulation w/breast pump
-20 min. walking
-20 min. rest

I did that all afternoon & early evening. At 9:00 I was timing my contractions cause they felt like they were getting regular. They were all less than five minutes apart & about a min. long, but not real intense. So I called my midwife to let her know since she wanted an update before 10:00. I took one more dose of the tincture, we ate some sugar-free klondike bars, then went to bed.

I read for a bit and then fell asleep as usual.

About 3:30, I felt something gush out of me and I thought my water had broken. It was blood, though, and that TOTALLY freaked me out. Jamie was able to get me to the bathroom where I discovered that I'd been bleeding a lot. I was feeling dizzy from the sight of it and laid down on the floor. He called the midwife & I heard him trying to answer all kinds of questions.

Then the real contractions started, like the ones I had to moan through and where I didn't want Jamie to touch me. So I was all, woah this is it! in my brain while my body was like, don't you move one inch, motherfucker.

While I was laboring on the bathroom floor, Jamie was getting the bed ready with the plastic & extra sheets & all, coming in to talk me through contractions whenever he heard me cowing. Cowing is the only word I can use to describe the noises I was making.

Once the bed was ready, my midwife was there to help get me into the bed. After a few minutes in bed, I had to barf. I was so glad cause barfing meant I was in transition and would be pushing soon. Soon ended up being like a few contractions after that.

It sounds gross, but during one of the pushing contractions, my water broke and splashed all over the place, even onto my chart that my midwife had left on the bed. I couldn't laugh at the time, but I think it's really hilarious now. I actually saw it happen and that's something I'll never forget.

As Timothy's head was coming out, my mom came in. She made it just in time!

From the moment I woke up until Timothy was born, the whole thing was only an hour. AN HOUR! He was born at 4:30.

I never got to use the tub while in labor because it hadn't had a chance to cool down, but I sat in it while everyone remade the bed and cleaned up. So that was nice.

My midwife thinks that all the bleeding was because I had a slight placental previa that never got diagnosed even with all the ultrasounds I had (she says only 60% of previas actually get diagnosed). Her assessment is based on their examination of the placenta & where my bags broke. In any event, when she determined that I was like 8 cm. after getting into the bed, she wasn't worried about needing to transport me.

YAY HOME BIRTH!