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Hunter Terryn Patterson was born via home water birth on Sept. 29th at 9:15pm...in the middle of a thunder and lightening storm!
Wednesday morning around 4 am I'd been having the usual contractions about 4 minutes apart and with lower back pain. Nothing I hadn't experienced before...so I cleaned my house. *grin* At 5:30 pm my midwife, Carron, arrived to do an internal and a stretch and sweep of my membranes. I was 4cm dilated at the time. *I* thought it would be awhile yet - so much for maternal instinct. ; ) She decided to try to go to her class downtown (normally about 20 minutes away). Since I was in no condition to do it (and she offered), I supervised Louise in the making of two batches of oatmeal cookies. Hey, priorities, eh! Actually it was a really good thing she did make them because everyone raided them after the birth! I don't think I was the only one that was tired and hungry afterwards. ; ) Around 6:30 I just knew that I shouldn't wait any longer to start filling the tub that we had rented from Birth Waves and away we went! I knew there was no turning back now! The midwife phoned to let us know that her pager wasn't working and to give us her cellular number. She asked if she should come now since it seemed like things were moving. Boy, am I glad I said "Yes" then!! Because of the storm and bad traffic, she almost didn't make it!! This was a big concern since Jay had been having ongoing nightmares about having to deliver a baby himself with the help of a 911 operator! While the pool was filling, I leaned against the windowsill and watched the storm outside start to brew (I love storms!) as I began breathing through stronger contractions. I had a wonderful CD playing and things just seemed so far removed from the tension and clinical atmosphere I had experienced in the hospital. I remember watching my Mom from the upstairs window carry bags of groceries into the house and how odd it was to be laboring in front of this window, how relaxed I felt about what was about to happen and how excited my Mom would be when she realized we were FINALLY progressing! Around 7:30 the tub was finally full enough for me to get in. I couldn't get in fast enough!! *grin* Jay and my sister helped me undress and settle in. The water was heavenly! I was able to easily maneuver into whatever position I felt like without having to think about it. I could move according to what my body told me and not have to 'fight' those feelings at all. It certainly made focusing and relaxing much easier! My 'waters' broke at 8:06 while I was in the tub...Jay was fascinated. He even ran to get me a mirror so I could see to determine if it was my bladder emptying or my membranes ruptured. The fluid coming out was mixed with blood so it was definitely my membranes. I remember Jay saying to me, "Wow! Did you see that?!?!" ME - Huh? See what?? JAY - All the lightening!! Geez, I think the whole world could have come crashing down and I wouldn't have noticed!! ; ) I don't remember what time my primary midwife, Carron, arrived (I also had a secondary midwife and a student midwife), I just remember wondering where the heck she was and starting to panic....just as she walked into the room! Big sigh of relief! I'm really glad that I'd only had a half sandwich earlier in the day and Popsicles after that because during the stronger contractions, the nausea was pretty strong (but I didn't toss my cookies this time). At 8:15 she did an internal. I was 8 cm dilated and fully effaced. She no sooner turned away than I had to push!! WHOA!! Because I had been on an Epidural with Ellyna, I hadn't realized how uncontrollable this feeling would be! I did manage to hold off pushing hard until about 8:55 pm. I do remember the contractions being very intense but far more manageable this time because of the valleys in between the peaks of contractions. I was able to rest in between and manage/breath through each contraction as they happened. This was something I was not able to do after they ruptured my membranes in hospital (while I was on a pit drip) for the birth of my daughter. I can see why unmedicated birth is not for everyone but it was something that I wanted to experience (call me masochistic). *grin* I wanted to feel *everything* this time...and I sure did!! It was at this point I think I almost broke Jay's fingers several times over! LOL! I feel really bad that I did this to him (I have no recollection of who's hand I was crushing on the other side until I saw the pictures - Sorry Mom!) and grateful that he was here for me. He was supposed to be in Hamilton that afternoon and evening for his grandmother's funeral but that morning I had a feeling that he shouldn't go…and it's a good thing he didn't or he would have been stuck in traffic for this birth! I am blessed with a very loving husband who supported my decision to birth at home and in water despite his misgivings about the safety of this venue of birth. I love you, Jay! I pushed for about 20 minutes before the baby's head appeared. I think he would have arrived much quicker but his hand was up by his face so I had to deliver his head and one arm at the same time. OUCH!! His body came with the next contraction and the placenta delivered 4 minutes later. By this time I was shaking pretty hard from the exertion. It took a few hours for it to go away. I did tear about a 1/2 inch and needed about 9 stitches. At 12:15 am they did the newborn exam. He was 9lbs 2ozs (2 lbs bigger than Ellyna) and 23 inches long (2" longer than Ellyna). His head was 36 cm (don't remember what Ellyna's was) and wasn't at all cone-shaped. He has dark hair (Ellyna's was fair). He has HUGE hands and feet! His apgars were 5 and 8 but improved to a 9 at 10 minutes. It took him awhile to pink up. We ended the party with my Mom serving birthday cake just after everything was cleaned up! Happy Birthday Hunter!! ~ * ~ My milk came in last night and although he was slow to start, he's been breastfeeding like a champ! Ellyna has shown some signs of jealousy towards this, but quickly lost interest when I allowed her to have some too...she just couldn't sit still long enough!! [Ooops! I spoke/wrote too soon! This afternoon I had to tandem nurse the two of them, which I honestly didn't mind. It eased some of the engorgement I am currently suffering from!] Hunter has been making a funny grunting noise. He almost sounds like a snorting pig! He also seems to have a lot of newborn acne which appears and disappears in a matter of hours. Overall I'm feeling much better than I did with Ellyna. Much more alert and able bodied. The midwives told me to stay in bed (upstairs) for two days but I only managed 24 hours. After everyone left last night, I was picking up toys, cleaning the kitchen and trying to re-arrange/organize the upstairs rooms (Jay dismantled the tub and I set up the futon for Jay). I think by now you get the picture that I'm not one for sitting still when I'm supposed to! My uterus is still tender to poke at (obviously), the stitches hurt when I cough or sneeze and although I don't think I'm ready to run any marathons in the next week or so, I cant believe how much energy I have! I guess we'll have pictures up on our website as soon as something comes back from development but most of the birth we did manage to get on video. To me it seemed to take a heck of a lot longer at the time but passed so quickly on tape! ; ) Susan Ellyna Sarah (b. 10 July 1997) Hunter Terryn (b. 29 Sept 1999) susan@acsl.com Ontario, Canada http://www.acsl.com/lyon |