NAK = Nursing at keyboard. Usually while reading/writing on Xanga, I am feeding baby Jack. (Sometimes I am nursing Mercy.) As long as I am feeding someone, I do not feel I am wasting time on Xanga. So much to do such little time.
I discovered
Hathor the CowGoddess. She want birth stories. I am planning on re-write (when I find the time) some of my unassisted birth stories for her book.
I do have birth stories for all kid except Ken's. I have a printed copy of Ken's birth story written by one of the midwives that attended his birth. I do not have a computer file copy.
The other birth stories from my files:
PAC's Birth
Hospital Birth, First Child. Induced during TS Floyd.
EDD was 9/8/99
Somewhere between 9/8 - 9/13, I had at least one stress test done. A stress test
is used to see how the baby handle contractions. They observe the baby's FHT
before, during, and after contractions.
Sept 13: I went to a routine prenatal check-up. The OB scheduled me to be induced
on Thursday the 16th. Based the 20 weeks sonogram, the OB felt that my son was
two weeks older than what my first day of my LMP suggests. According to the OB, my
son was really three weeks late, not just the one week. "Aren't we expecting an
hurricane on Thursday?", I thought. "If the weather is bad, I am sure the hospital
will cancel." I did have bad feeling about this, but went along anyhow.
Sept 16: Floyd was still an Hurricane, but it was expected weaken to a Tropical
Storm by the time it gets to MA.
8:00 am. The pit drip starts.
11:00 am. My husband steps out to get something to eat. I ask for food. Labor
can take hours. I need to keep my strength up. The hospital just gave water and
sugar water, (Flavored ice, and Jello). I told one of the nurses that I want
chicken broth. She said that the water and sugar water is what my OB ordered for
me. Wait a second, I remembered I discussed food during labor at one my few
prenatals with the OB. I recall that chicken both was oked. I should of called
OB to correct the food, but I decide to not make a big deal about it. Of course,
my husband returned, after he had his lunch.
Afternoon: OB broke my water. Up till then, the contractions were easy. After my
water was broken, the contractions were more intense. At some point, I did ask
for some pain meds to take the edge off. A nurse injected some into my IV line.
Outside, it was pouring. The T.V. was set to a news station. The T.V. informed
one of the nurses that her class will be cancelled because of the weather.
A strong contraction came on, while a student nurse tried to take my blood
pressure. This made blood pressure reading uncomfortable for me. She apologize
and tried to get my blood pressure between contractions. She had few times
before she could get it right.
At a some point, my contraction were too strong for the external fetal monitor
to keep track the baby's heart tones (during contractions). They screwed an
internal fetal monitor to the baby's head. It was a transmitter will a small
cork screw pin on oneside and an antenna on the other. That internal monitor
still did not help keep track of the baby's heart tones during the peak of the
contractions.
Around 7pm, I was checked one last time. I was almost complete. There was bit of
a lip that the OB (with my permission of course) moved out of the way. It was
time to push. They laid paper covering over my tummy and legs. The OB guarded
his territory. The doctor claimed that the area covered by the paper needed to
be kept sterile and my husband not to touch there. There were poops coming out
of my anus my pushes. So that area was not that sterile.
Some of the nurses coach me through my pushes, with one nurse by my head. The
baby was almost to my perineum, when I felt a needle for the perineum block. Oh
no! I did a lot of pelvic floor exercises to prevent an episiotomy. I made an
comment about my perineum. The OB responded that my perineum "was beautiful". I
should have responded "THEN WHY ARE YOU GIVING ME AN EPISIOTOMY!". Instead I let
him cut my perineum. (The episiotomy still horrifies my husband today.)
About 7:45 pm, I pushed my son out. The OB caught him. My son gots all the
normal post birth treatment. They wrapped him and gave him to my husband to
hold. His APGAR was a 9 and 9, because he was a little blue.
The OB leaves rather quickly to save his house from flooding due to the storm.
Kyle's Birth
April 30th: I had my last appointment w/ Massachusetts CNM. She told me if I go
into labor on the trip down to my new home that I should go to the nearest
hospital. Alb and I had decided that if that happens we would deliver UC.
Anyways, we doubted the EDD of 5/21/03 was correct. (It was based the EDD on a
late (20 wks) U/S)
I was planning on a UC. Alb was ok with a UC, but still wanted us to find a
midwife, when we arrived in <New state>.
May 5th: We arrived at our new home.
A few days later, I contacted Connie, a MW. She agreed that an EDD based on a
late U/S might be inaccurate. Well, based on my LMP my EDD was June 30th. I
also notice that I felt quickening 3 week earlier than usual. I felt the my due
date might be 3 wks earlier than 6/30. This will put my due date at June 9th.
The only problem was that Connie would be out of town June 8-14. She suggested
that I contact her back-up. Well, her back-up did not wanted to work with me,
due to the fact that I was so far along. Her back-up suggested that I talk to
Debbie.
June 5th: Alb and I met with Debbie. We decided to think about choosing her
over the weekend. LOL At 1am (June 6th) my contrax started being 5 min apart. I
went into the kitchen and labor in my rocking chair. I did not want to wake Alb
and my sons. I spent the wee hours rocking, walking, and drinking water.
Whatever I was in the mood for. At 5:15, I went to go pee. I peed and then some
water from the wrong hole gushed out. I shouted to Alb that my water broke. I
went back to the rocking chair. I still had a lot of water, because with each
contraction more gushed out. At 7am, I lost my breakfast. I thought "Oh good it
is almost over". At 9am, Alb woke the kids. I told him not to. At 10 am, Alb
was chasing the kids around the house. I was feeling pushy. I was also starting
to worry if the baby was stuck. Alb reassured me that he is not stuck.
At 11am, Alb took the kids outside. After a while, Alb came back and
noticed that he can see the baby's head. I pushed and out came his head, Alb
said that he looks blue. I checked for a cord around his neck. I loosen the cord
around his neck. I push out his shoulders. Then the rest of him fell out.
Within a few moments he started to cry. About an 1/2 hr later I squatted to
deliver the afterbirth.
8/26/06: Still today, my dh, Alb, says this was our best birth yet. For the
following pregnancy, we did all the prenatals and birthed (twins) ourselves.
Twins' Birth written by Alb
Mom is a large-framed woman, about 5'10" in height, with a previous
beby being 10 pounds. This pregnancy was almost normal for her, going
to 40 weeks. Mom's belly was a tad elongated (belly button far from
spine), but not much. The belly seemed a tad narrow too. Sometimes the
movements were a bit odd, giving some fear of a breech. Fairly strong
and regular false-labor contractions would often go on for a day or
more at a time, for a month or two prior to the birth.
On the day of the birth, at 2:30 AM, Dad crawls into bed late/early,
quite tired from staying up too long. As Mom moves to sit up, she
feels a pop. As she gets up, it becomes very clear that her water has
broken.
Dad get orange juice for mom, hoping to get some quick-to-digest
energy into her before reaching the point where it would just come
back up again. Dad attempts to get some sleep, and manages to doze
off.
At about 5 AM, Mom is in the bathroom to poop. Well, it wasn't a poop.
Mom calls Dad, who is now sleeping. Dad continues sleeping. Mom crawls
from the bathroom to the bedroom, then screams for him to wake up. Dad
wakes with a start. At 5:13 AM, the baby is born. The head pops out,
and Dad takes a picture. The rest follows rather easily. It's not a
very big baby. Uh oh, the penis seems to be missing! The carefully
chosen name would have to be scrapped. Hopefully girls like getting
hand-me-down clothes from older brothers. She can have a crew cut like
the rest of them.
Mom then tries to nurse and deliver the placenta. The cramped area she
birthed in made it impossible to lie down or really do anything
besides be on hands and knees. This quickly got tiring and very
painful. Nursing wouldn't work. After many complaints, Dad found a
twisty (wire and paper bread loaf tie) for the cord and a scissors to
cut it. With the baby freed, Mom is able to move about enough to sit
or squat. Dad takes a picture of her sitting or squatting to nurse the
baby. The baby is an alert little girl, looking around at the world.
Then Mom heads to a more comfortable spot in the bathroom to birth the
placenta. Oddly, Mom has a rather tough time of it. She mutters
something about things feeling kind of hard and bone-like.
Dad sees a bulge coming out, and prepares to deliver the placenta.
It's looking awfully big and featureless, like a bag full of icky
juices. Hmmm... was that an ear inside the bag? Maybe this is a
hydroform mole or something. Placentas don't have ears.
That's a head. No way! Of course, time had been wasting, and this baby
needed to come out ASAP. Mom gives a huge push. Out comes the second
baby, with the placentas right behind.
This baby is not so alert. This baby is a funny-looking pale color,
completely limp, and not breathing. Dad starts to discuss options,
generally involving burial. Mom insists that Dad try rescue breathing,
which he does, though it seems rather pointless to him. Dad would
rather be happy for the one daughter than worried over a lost cause.
Mom sends dad to read the Heart & Hands book, while she grabs the
lifeless baby and tries her best. She notices that the cord has a
pulse. As instructed, she holds it face down, rubbing and gently
slapping it. She talks to it. She keeps at the rescue breathing.
After quite some time, the baby manages to take a few breaths and
wiggle her right arm. It's looking like this is an emergency, not time
for funeral planning. This new family won't fit in the car though, and
somebody needs to watch the kids.
It's now probably about 6 AM, though nobody is watching the clock
anymore. Dad calls a friend several times in a row, but doesn't get an
answer. He tries someone else, getting a very sleepy answer after the
third attempt. The friend will come over.
By the time the friend arrives, the baby is looking like a definite
survivor. The baby is not in great shape, but the breathing is fairly
regular and a feeble attempt has been made at nursing. After some
discussion, the friend takes the older kids to her house while Mom and
Dad head off toward the hospital.
Plan: insist that Mom and the first baby are NOT being admitted, and
that preparations have been made to file the necessary affidavits for
birth registration. The hospital gets to observe one possibly ill
baby, rather than acting as if the births were at the hospital.
Dad misses the turn, the baby is looking pretty good, and a
well-trusted pediatrician is not much farther. That seems like the
better option. This pediatrician - originally from Australia - is
known to not freak out too much over homebirths and even unassisted
childbirths.
Around 9 AM the doctor visit starts, with much confusion trying to
distinguish "baby A" from "baby B". Dad can tell though; the second
baby is rather sickly looking to him. The babies both weigh a few
ounces over 6 pounds, for a total that is most likely just under 13
pounds. This is very small for the family, though supposedly large for
twins. The doctor notes that the sickly one responds differently,
being kind of jittery, but probably OK. The doctor expresses more
concern about the poor breastfeeding behavior of the second one,
suggesting that blood sugar might get low.
Mom and Dad are send home, to get a call from the doctor later.
Late in the day, both babies are doing fine.
Comments (3)
Holy smokes...you didn't know you were having twins!!!!!
oh how i wish i could say i was strong enough, determined enough to follow thru,,, but i have to admit i so dont like the pain. but in the country where i grew up, the mayan indian women would just squat have their wee ones and get right back at it, I always found that amazing. You my friend are a strong woman!!!
R U still around?