I have been meaning to write the birth story, but it has taken some time. But, here it is.
I had been scheduled for an induction on this very sunday night at midnight, however I called in to the hospital and said I was not coming. I was not going to have this baby when he wasn't ready to come. So, I am glad I didn't however.....
It all started Sunday night at 9 pm. Pop, water came out of me. Just like that. Was sitting down showing Kalima something on the computer and I thought well what is this wetness. OH, my water broke!!!!!!!!!!! Ha ha , I was laughing so hard, it was the funniest thing, that I did not realize at first what it was. Got up and it trickled down a lot. Wasn't sure what to do but finally made my way up to the bathroom and got in the shower. I was awaiting the contractions to start, some pain to kick in, I guess I did not know exactly what to expect, but I thought maybe they will start REAL soon. Well I felt nothing, but I called the midwife, who of course said I needed to come in right away. I thought, really? I am feeling just fine, nothing is happening, would I not be better of at home? Well, of course in that moment I was relying on the midwife, the one "who knows best" in these situations and I prepared to go into the hospital. But, I did wait a while though. Made it into the hospital at 11.30 pm. A girl was sitting in there with strong contractions. Poor girl, I remember how that was when I was having Bianca. I felt nothing yet, so I was thinking maybe I will be so lucky this time, it wont really hurt at all. Well, not the case.
Went into our room finally at about 12.30. Got checked and I was not dilated much, only 3 cm. When I came in to have Bianca it was much different, I was 9 cm opened and ready to go. Although at that time the water never broke. So with this delivery, the midwife told me that at 4 o'clock we would put me on pitocin (drugs) to get this going, in case things had not started to progress on its own. Well come 4 and it hadn't started, but I told her I would rather wait a while to see if the baby was gonna get it going on its own. Finally after some talking she agreed with me. THANK YOU!!!
The midwives changed shifts and a new one came in. A young woman. She agreed to let me wait til 3 pm, which would be 18 hours since water broke. I was very happy. But by now having been awake since sunday morning, I was really tired and I was not allowed to eat ANYTHING, only sip on water. COME ON! I am supposed to give birth , I need some evergy. But no, nothing. I slept NOTHING. Was just trying to get this baby going before 3 pm, becuase I DID NOT WANT TO HAVE TO DO ANYTHING THAT WAS NOT NATURAL! But came three o'clock and I had to get started on the pitocin. They started me really low, and checked me an hour later, not much happened, so they added more pitocin. Checked again a little later, not much happening, so more pitocin, and so it went for a while. Finally around 6.30 or so the contractions started coming and they were SO SO SO SO painful. When I had Bianca it was painful and I had NO painkiller at all, plus with her I had back labor which is supposedly worse than stomach labor. Now I had staomach labor but it was soooooo painful. I could not bare it at all. SO against my will, I had to ask for the epidural. It was the only way I could do it. The pain was too much, and having had a natural birth before I knew this pain was so crucial because it was brought on, the baby was not wanting to come out, we forced it out. So epidural here we go. I have now tried both. Please if I ever have another baby, natural is the way.
When I finally after a long wait and lots of yelling, I got it. I felt nothin, my legs were numb. Scary feeling. I really did think, what if I don't get the feeling back in my legs, what if. So scary. But it was nice not to feel those awful contractions and I was able to sleep for an hour. This was now 10 pm Monday night. Remember, no sleep since sunday morning and no food since sunday night. CRAZY!
As they are checking me and the baby, it seem the baby is having weak heart beats at some points and they strat mentioning C-Section. I am thinking no way in hell. No way am I being forced to have this baby, but also I needed to do it with medicine and epidural which is so against the way I wanted it done. Now they are going to cut me open too? Oh no. So as if the baby felt where I was coming from the heart rates stabilized and it all looked good. At pretty much midnight I was dilated all the way. Talk about working against a baby. I was now allowed to pusch if I wanted to. I did not really feel the urge to push, which I remember I did with Bianca, once again, becuase the baby was not coming on his own. But anyway I was ready for the baby to come out so I could eat and sleep. Well I guess, I really should'nt have been able to push this baby out as weak as I was, but it is amazing what we can do it seems. I pushed and pushed and yelled that this baby is never coming out and pushed some more. An hour later he arrived into this world. I heard his scream, probably he was really mad that he was forced into the world, but the yell was a nice melody for my ears. I asked to get him right away, well they of course needed to take him and do this and this, but I only allowed them to do a few things and then I demanded having him. He laid so quietly and gently on my chest and seemed to be very very pleased after all to be here. He instantly started eating, to the nurses surprise. (Well, because you keep them away from their mothers too long.) He was so amazingly beautiful and when I first saw him I had a flash back to 2006, it looked just like Bianca. And the surprise was of course, IT IS A BOY!!!! I thought it was a girl, but my nurse kept telling me she thought it was a boy, since he was so stubborn. Well it was so nice to hear that, but of course it's a girl, would have been as great.
It was a nice, quiet early morning when Odin was born. 9 lbs 3 oz, and 22 inches tall. Such a big, strong boy. I am so happy he was born on the 4th becuase the 3rd was not a great day for me. It was such a hard day. Now we started out the day with a beautiful newborn baby boy. Could it be any better?
I think that Odin had set his mind on the 8th of januray. His due date was the 24th of december, and had he been born on the 8th he would have been 14 days past due, exactly like Bianca. Her due date was the 24th of march and she came the 8th of april. On a saturday which the 8th of january would have been a saturday as well. That is so cool to think of for me. But since the water broke they had to get me going, in Sweden I believe they would have waited longer before doing anything as long as things were looking good. But it is all good. He is here, he is good, he is the best boy ever. I guess having a very pleasant smooth, great pregnancy gotta lead to a bit of hard work at the end. Yeah? I think so!!!!
I do not believe in taking babies out of their safety when they are not ready. They will come when they are ready. The due date is such a hard thing to say exactly anyway. If things start to go closer to three weeks then sure, because the baby really could be too big and it could get harmed. But as long as you are being checked and the baby is moving normally, then he or she should get to decide its duedate. And of course, my respect to those who really want to have a c-section and be put on pitocin, sure, it is great that those options are out there for you. Nothing wrong in that. But babies should stay as long as they please. They will be ready when they are!
~ Jennie
