Eliza Ruth - Baby 11

Eliza Ruth

I had been dealing with prodromal labor for a few weeks, starting around 37 weeks.  Off and on contractions, but nothing big.  The day I hit 40 weeks was very uneventful for my poor uterus, so we made a due date “date” with Hannah and Brigham.  We got out of the restaurant around 9:30 pm.  Then we shot off and hit up the opening weekend 11pm movie showing for The Avengers: Infinity War.  I did have a few strong contractions during the movie, and it was a bit distracting.  However, they quickly fizzled out. 

Come about Monday night, or a Tuesday morning since it was about midnight, contractions started about 15 minutes apart.  It would go on for hours, and then stall out for an hour or two.  Then pick up again, and stall again.  It was exhausting, but I was happy to get that portion done. I slept maybe 3-4 hours that night broken up.  

Come evening, I headed to the restaurant and worked on cleaning over there.  I needed to move and get my mind on something else, but also needed some space from my kids.  As much as I love them around, they were also part of the reason things kept stalling.  

When I went to bed that night contractions started up again at 11pm.  I had 2 or 3 at 15 minutes apart.  Then one that was 10 and then 8 minutes apart.  After those I stayed at 1-2 minutes apart for the duration of the labor. 

I labored in bed for a while.  I found leaning back, staying propped up with my arms behind me and tilting my pelvis forward made thing bearable.  After several bathroom trips though, I decided to just stay in there.  I spent the rest of the night going between sitting on the toilet, standing and rocking my hips, hands and knees on a bath towel on the floor, and leaning over the sink and rocking my hips.  At a point, I was so exhausted and fell asleep on the toilet as well as when I was laying on the bathroom sink.  It was only for that minute or two, but I grabbed what I could.  I also ended up laying on the towel on the floor a couple times and dozing off for a moment at a time.  The exhaustion was overwhelming. 

I was tired of the constant laboring.  The close contractions for hours and hours.  I started pushing, breathing baby down,  and trying to focus on visualizing my cervix opening through each contraction to try to help dilate my cervix more.  I was going by my mucus plug loss, and it started going more at that point.  Sometime around 4am I felt the beginnings of the bag bulging.  Just a small part, but what a huge encouragement!  I don’t check my cervix, but I will reach in far enough to feel for the sac or baby. Feeling the sac was wonderful!  Not too long!

Brent woke up around 5am and made his way into the bathroom.  Seeing how the toilet was occupied, and knowing I wasn’t budging for his bathroom run, he left for a moment and then came back.  

As he was gone, I felt a large mass coming out of me as I labored on the toilet.  I held my hand there as it came out, and then it burst!  My water had broken, and the sac was definitely a strong one.  It was really an amazing thing to experience.  I was almost sure it was a baby with how it felt in my hand.  That was at 5:10am, as I checked my phone to see the time.  

Brent made it back within a minute, but going by my noises, he went and woke up Hannah to help.  Unfortunately I was zero help with where I had stashed my tinctures.  I had moved to the towel on floor and my communication was mostly waving him with my hand.  In the end, we ended up without the tinctures, twine for the cord, or cord scissors for the birth. 

Brent came back in from looking for my birth stuff, and saw me on my hands and knees but facing the door.  He asked if there was any way I could turn around (we had been through this issue before with Z).  I kind of laughed and managed to turn so he could help catch baby.  

A moment later I felt baby’s head coming down.  I couldn’t say anything at that point, so I just held my hand down and felt the head.  I wanted another moment to prepare and relax, so I more held baby’s head inside me just to prevent too much more stretching.  After the contraction I told Brent that the head was coming.   

Although I’m pretty sure what I said was “Head, baby’s head, head...”. 

The next contraction I gently pushed, but more just let things move on their own while holding baby’s head to keep it slow.  As the head got about halfway out, I wanted to be done, and have a little push to finish up.  The head was out!  I started saying over and over “That feels so much better!”.  

It felt soooo much better!

Brent said “He’s just looking at me”.  The reassurance that baby looked good was amazing.  

I’m not sure if I waited for another contraction or not, but I pushed and baby shot out!  Brent caught baby and then said that baby was a girl!!!  I was wrong!  I was thinking boy the whole time!  

I was so happy!  I was done, baby was here!!!  I turned myself around and sat on the towel then held baby as they got towels for her.  

Everything was relatively easy, and my recovery has been amazing.  Minimal after birth pains, minimal bleeding after the first day, and I’m not sore.  Baby is healthy and just perfect.  Her latch is not good.  She has a lip tie making nursing almost unbearable at times.  However it’s getting better.  Especially now that my milk came in.  She’s a sweetie though.  If she’s upset I can just talk to her and she calms down.  

Eliza Ruth

Born May 2, 2018

40w 4d

5:20am

9lb 1oz

Baby 10 is here! Our 6th baby girl!

I haven't talked about this, but we found out at the beginning of the year we were expecting baby 10. From the very start of this pregnancy I had a strange sense of urgency to get everything ready or when my baby came.  I wasn't sure what the reason was, but I assumed it meant that baby might be earlier than the 40 week date.  As my date got closer I found myself getting anxious.  When October 30, at 40 weeks passed, I was getting irritable.  I was really wanting to get labor started, and it was hard to just wait.  However, I also knew that everything was fine and I didn't want to rush and cause any problems. 

I was getting more exhausted with a mixture of very bad acid reflux and not sleeping from that and contractions going from midnight to 4am nightly.   Around 40+4 the contractions switched to all day and nothing at night.  This was a wonderful break, and it gave me a chance to catch up on sleep.  On Saturday, November 5, I decided I needed a super rich meal.  The kids had eaten dinner and gone to bed.  Due to a crazy day, Brent and I hadn't eaten yet.  I made us some rich, homemade Mac and Cheese at 11pm.  We stuffed ourselves and went to bed.  At about 12:45am my contractions started and were 2 minutes apart.  I knew they would fizzle out around 4am, but laughed internally that at 2 minutes apart this could be fast.  I posted on a couple facebook groups so I could have a timeline, keep my friends updated, and they would know incase something came up that I needed answers to.  I got up at 2am to go to the bathroom.  Then at 3am Brent jumped out of bed choking.  He had a sudden acid reflux attack and inhaled it.  I stayed awake and listened to make sure he was ok and made it back to bed from the bathroom safely.   Then woke again at 4am and my contractions were still going, and still the real feeling ones in my cervix.  However, they were 5-15 minutes apart.  

Around 8:20am my plug started to come out.  That's when I knew it was getting real.  I only lose my plug during labor.  I continued to labor throughout the day.  I realized that if I laid on my side that my contractions were back to back and strong enough to bring me to tears.  When I sat up, they were more spaced out 5 to as far as 30 minutes apart, and easy to breathe through.  I decided to stay sitting.  I would rather prolong the labor and be more gentle on myself, than try to go faster and harder in hopes for a faster birth.

Around 3pm Brent made a comment that my noises were sounding more orgasmic, which is know to be when I'm getting closer.  I moved back into my birthing room and spent time on my birthing ball.  At 3:30 I felt a small gush of fluid and walked to the bathroom.  When I got to the toilet I saw there was blood in my pajama pants I was wearing.  I had heard I others bleeding when their cervix changed quickly, and a few friends of mine confirmed they did the same.  However, I still felt concern and got worried thinking about different reasons for bleeding, such as the placenta.  I knew it was up high, but thought of detachment.  I kept trying to get baby to move, but with back to back contractions it was hard.  Baby finally have me a kick, and I felt a little better.

At 3:45 I knew I needed to be in the water.  Contractions were coming fast and I wanted relief.  I got in the shower and sprayed warm water on my stomach.  About 15 seconds later my water broke.  I immediately noticed it was very stained.  A second thing that I had never personally encountered.  It wasn't necessarily concerning, but it was something else I had to monitor.  I mentioned it to Brent when he came in right after that.  He asked worriedly if that was bad.  I said it meant baby was stressed at some point (possibly because I fell down a couple weeks earlier), but only bad if baby inhaled it.

Brent stayed in there with me the rest of the time.  He helped with counter pressure and refreshing and warming the water in my tub.  I kept changing position from hands and knees, sitting, and squatting so I could keep the contractions coming since they kept stalling out.  I kept pushing on my stomach to get baby to respond, and did get a kick or roll to the side occasionally.  I will admit that I was rather stressed.  I would kind of test push with the contractions, but never felt progress with baby.

I moved to my knees and laid over the bench seat on the back of the tub.  As a contraction started, I felt a pop and my water broke again.  I let out a primal roar, and pushed as baby's head made it halfway down.  Another contraction and baby was crowning.  I stopped.  At the next contraction I began to push, but stopped and cried out "I CAN'T DO IT".  That was my cue.  Brent said that's when I'm at the end when I tell that. The next contraction I began pushing.  It hurt so bad.  Suddenly I knew baby had to get out right now.  I screamed baby out with a sense of urgency, and felt what I believe was me tearing slightly.  Baby's head was out.  Brent said he could see baby's little face.  The next contraction came and I pushed, but baby stopped halfway instead of the normal slide right out.  He said to stop.

Brent and Hannah (my daughter) said the cord was noosed around the neck really tight. There was no slack.  I felt a strange and painful movement, and he said baby's arm was out. Once he got one arm out they saw the cord was around baby's arm too, holder the arm up above baby's head.

He finally got the cord off baby's arm which gave slack to get it off the neck. I said I was going to raise up, and I raised up on my feet to put my butt in the air, but still laying on the bench.  I told him to keep baby's head out of the water.  I couldn't push, and kept yelling at him to stop pulling on her.  There was such pressure, and I felt like he was pushing on my perenium while pulling on baby.  He them said he wasn't doing anything.  It was just baby slowly coming out without help.

Once baby was out I asked "Is she ok?".  I heard a couple tiny cries.  Then asked if baby was a girl.  We had another girl!  She was very calm. She cried a couple times, but just looked at us. 

She is absolutely perfect.  She was born on Sunday, November 6 at 5:40pm CST.  She weighed 8lb 10oz and 21 1/4 inches long.   Our 10th baby!  Still no name.  I love the name Lena.  We shall see.