Birth of a Yeti

I thought I was going to be pregnant forever. Seriously, I thought it would never end ... the nausea, the ligament pain, and the complete inability to play effectively with T. Three weeks before K was born I got a respiratory infection. I gave birth to T with a respiratory infection, so I thought maybe it was a sign I was about to go into labor. The week ticked by and eventually I was able to breath again, but no baby. I'd only just recovered when T came down with a fever. He was home from daycare for the better part of the following week. He was so sweet and easy to care for, but I was exhausted, sick, massively pregnant, and I just wanted to laze about on the couch (or better yet, give birth). Another week ticked by and still no baby. Did I mention I was already dilated to 3cm?

On Monday July 29th, I mentioned to my acupuncturist that I thought the baby was out of alignment. It felt like his head was centered over my lift hip. Every time I had a contraction it felt like something hard was smashing into my left hip bone and I thought maybe his lack of centeredness was perhaps making him hesitant to emerge. My acupuncturist didn't have any trouble sliding him over a few inches so his head was lined up with my pelvis and the next morning I was dilated to 4cm and the little guys was still in the right place. Throughout the day I felt more contractions, but nothing regular or painful. Still, I hoped. Have I mentioned that pregnancy is torture?

Finally around 1am I thought the contractions might be getting stronger and more regular and I couldn't sleep because I was afraid that if I fell asleep the contractions would stop. By 3am I'd had regular contractions for an hour - yay! At 4am they were 10 min apart and we headed to the hospital. My first labor was relatively fast (dilated from 5-9 in 45 min, but then pushed for 3 hours) so I figured we better not waste time getting T settled at my sisters house. I turned around to check on him expecting to see a sleeping child in the car seat as we pulled out of the garage, but there he was - wide eyed - staring back. We probably wouldn't have been able to get him settled at my sister's place, lol. T laid wide awake on the couch in the triage room and was very quiet. The Scoot and I sang "The Ants go Marching" to him while I was being monitored. Singing is good for relaxing!

Lying on the table in triage was so uncomfortable. I don't know how people lie still while in labor. I had to get up and move, but that slowed down the monitoring. The triage nurse told me I was only 5cm and not in active labor, but that they wouldn't send me home. Thank goodness. They did take their sweet time getting me to the labor room where I had to be monitored again - yuck, but I get it. By the time they finally agreed not to give me a saline lock and let me get in the hot tub the contractions were getting serious. The Scoot stayed with T in the delivery room (T, still awake and lying quietly on the couch) while my doula, Corrine and I headed to the hot tub. Corrine was amazingly supportive and reassuring and helped me moan my way through the next few contractions with useful reminders to relax my jaw. At this point, the contractions came fast and close together and by the third one, much to my surprise I was READY TO PUSH! I couldn't not push. I really expected to be in the tub longer than 10 min, lol, but I'm not sorry my time there was so short.

Somehow I marched (assisted by Corrine and my midwife Mary) back down the hall to the labor/delivery room while in the midst of a pushy contraction. The Scoot had just finished dressing T and was about to take him to my sister in the waiting room when we arrived. I had just enough time to tell T I was fine and not to worry about me when I doubled over (grabbing onto the bed) as another contraction started as I sort of screamed and my water broke all over the floor. I managed to get onto the bed so Mary could check my progress and was greatly relieved to find that I was a whopping 10cm. I couldn't stand being on my back, but luckily no one was opposed to me rolling over onto all fours. I got there just in time to endure a wave of contractions that didn't seem to have any end. I remember one brief rest of about 30 seconds and the rest was just contractions tearing involuntary scream-sobs from my body. I remember saying, "He's never going to drop" and "This is never going to end." Thank goodness he did drop and it did end and all in less than 15 min. I still remember the relief of feeling that little body slide out of mine and the immediate relief it brought. The Scoot got back mere seconds before K emerged. Being on all fours, I couldn't really communicate effectively with anyone behind me, but I was so grateful for The Scoot and Corrine who were each at a shoulder cheering me on.

Mary passed a screaming K to me between my legs and everyone helped me roll onto my back so K could hang out there until they cut the chord. The nurses gave us a long time to hang out out together before taking K for his first bath. K has a real set of lungs. After his super fast delivery and rude awakening into the real world, I wasn't sure he'd every stop screaming. Eventually he did and he also latched within the fist 10 min! yay!

I don't know when I officially went into labor, but I gave birth just two hours after being admitted (take that triage nurse!) and while those two hours weren't exactly comfortable, only the last 30 minutes pushed my tolerance to its limits. Those last 15 minutes were crazy! I could not have done that for 3 hours. During the three hour push with T there were actually breaks between my contractions. What I didn't see, but was told about afterward is that the midwife turned around to put on her smock after checking me and helping me get onto my hands and knees and turned back around just in time to catch the K in the smock she hadn't had time to do more than get over her hands. It was that fast. K was 7lbs and 19.75 inches long and left me with no stitches and very little swelling. I only spent one night in the hospital and was up and around as soon as I got home. I was still very grateful to my mom who came the day K was born and stayed for a week (cleaning, making meals, and making extra meals for our freezer), and to The Scoot's mom who came the following week and did the same. Although I emerged in good shape, I'm still very sleep deprived and it was so nice not to have to worry about household tasks for a couple of weeks. We will miss them both.

I also need to thank:
• The Scoot who put up with nauseous whining for 9 months and spent extra time entertaining T so I could go to bed early and/or lounge around like and invalid.
• Corinne Friedrich, our labor doula and Gracie Koester her partner who provided pre and post-partum doula support.
• Coleen Gibson, my acupuncturist - who worked with me through the entire pregnancy to help me cope with the never ending morning sickness and other pregnancy aches and pains.
• Jessica Dorrington and Essie Whitaker at Bethany Physical Therapy for helping me prepare for birth and for helping me get my body back. I visited their office in my last month of pregnancy because I had a diastasis. In only two visits they taught me how to give birth in the most effective way. First they taught me how to push correctly for maximum effect, second, they hooked up sensors to my pelvic floor and measured how relaxed it was in different positions to determine my optimal positions for labor. All fours was one of my lowest positions and ended up being very effective along with the pushing skills I learned. Everyone should see a skilled physical therapist before giving birth. Jessica and Essie are now working with me to close my four finger diastasis recti and we are optimistic it can be done - yay! I'll have to blog more about this after we're done.
• The amazing Certified Nurse Midwives of Woman's Healthcare Associates LLC for supporting me in my second unmedicated delivery.

If you've made it this far and ware wondering about the title, "Birth of a Yeti" ... when I first saw K, I thought he was bald ... He's actually just really really blonde with plenty of hair and tiny white eyelashes. He also has white hair on his back and shoulders and growls and groans like a yeti. After T and his head full of dark dark hair, I'm still ticked and surprised by this tiny blond boy.