Guillaume's Birth Story (long)
Zaz
excruciating, like despair, like unbearable, like crazy, and so on. I might
miss out on the words wonderful, empowerment, wondrous, beautiful, unique,
and so on. But keep them in mind as you read this. For each mention of pain,
there was the victory of overcoming it, of living through it on my own.
Here goes...
Monday June 12, after a long walk and a miraculous Scrabble game against my
mother, I started experiencing more contractions as I went to bed. Given my
history of neverending latency, I didn't really bother timing them nor did I
believe they would lead to anything. However, having had a false alarm last
Saturday, I wanted to live on the hope something might happen so I decided
to forego the hot bath and at least let my uterus get some workout.
On Tuesday June 13 at 5 AM, the contractions were still quite intense and
getting stronger. I took a long hot bath, and nothing seemed to be changing,
so at 6 AM I told DH we were going to the Birth Centre, so "please don't go
to work". We waited for rush hour to pass, and got to the Birth Centre
around 10 AM.
After an internal by my midwife's backup, it was deemed I was dilated at 1
cm, 70% effaced, and that my cervix was finally coming up front. Good news.
I contracted, contracted, contracted, went for another long walk, lunch
(nice spicy Vietnamese food). Another internalat 2 PM, by my midwife
Micheline, indicated I was... 1 cm dilated and between 60% and 70% effaced.
Yet I was really hurting, and the contractions had been 5 minutes apart
since around 11 AM! I was very distraught and despair started getting at me.
This sounded like a bad rerun of Mlle C's birth, with a latency of over 60
hours... Micheline told me if I had been living in the city, she would have
sent me home. I must have looked at her funny, because she just read my
mind: "You're not going back home without your baby in your arms, are you?"
She knew, as I knew, if it came to pitocin and the hospital, so be it, I
couldn't relive the same story. So she said: "All right. If you're ready,
we're going to 'burn down the house'." I was.
She suggested many things, but I opted for a taint of herbs, a workout in
the park, an acupuncture treatment, and a massotherpeutic treatment by my
massotherapist/friend France. The taint of herbs tasted like a spicy salad
dressing and made me smell like a drunkard, but it didn't take long for the
contractions to get stronger. DH took me to the park and told me how to
proceed (Micheline had transformed him into a really mean sports coach). So
I walked, putting all my weight in each step. I went through the bleachers
of the soccer field one by one, making the whole (empty) setting resound
with every step. Up, to the other side, down, next bleacher. Up, to the
other side, down, next bleacher. And so on until the seventh, at which point
I decided I was bored... more likely tired, but I wasn't going to tell. I
could feel the contractions getting not only stronger, but more focused. It
really hurt, enough to stop me in my tracks, every three minutes.
As I got back to the Birth Centre I was dilated at 4.5 cm and effaced at
85%. The acupuncturist was next. She applied a treatment, many needles, but
at one point I stopped counting. The contractions seemed shorter, but
closer. And stronger. When my massotherapist arrived at around 6 PM, I was
having a 30-35 seconds contractions every other minute. The pain was
starting to get stronger and stronger. Enough for me to start thinking (and
saying to DH): "I must be crazy. I could be in a hospital and get an
epidural shot and be done with this pain..." I never saw my friend leave. A
bit later I broke my waters, and the pain got stronger.
The midwife checked my status later. I hadn't completely broke the waters,
only a fissure sort of thing. She ended the job, and there was a moment of
panic there on her side because she couldn't hear the baby anymore. I knew
he was fine, all I had to do is turn around so she could get a better angle,
but I was unable to speak coherently, and left her in some distress until
she caught the heart, but I didn't care; I knew my baby was fine. And he
was. Time was something like 10h45 PM and I was 5 cm dilated. By this time I
had gone into another state of mind. Did I use the word "unbearable" to
describe my pain? I guess now it can be applied literally, but it didn't
last. That's when I felt the endorpins kick in. My own private epidural. I
remember rolling my head back and front, side to side, changing position
every 20 minutes or so, humming, raising my arms and making circles with my
hands... And thinking, when things weren't going smoothly during one
contraction: "You'll handle the next one better."
The pain in my back was the worst. I don't remember the time, but it must
have been close to 11PM, when I asked my midwife: "Do you have something for
my pain?" And I remember, in a moment of conciousness, seeing her big
beautiful blue eyes turn very sad and her voice go very soft: "No." I asked
for a hot bath, to which she consented, thinking. I only wanted a bit of
respite, anything. 5 minutes, not more. She asked me for an internal before
going to the tub, and I agreed. The internal revealed I was 100% effaced and
9 cm dilated. I only said: "I guess I can't go in the tub, can I?" And then:
"Ooooh it's pushing!" And it was. I tried the birth stool, but the pain in
my back was so intense the midwife suggested the bed, on my side, with a leg
up and folded - believe it or not, I though about Todd Gastaldo :-D and
started laughing!
DH asked me if I wanted my baby born on the 14 or on the 13. I said the 13.
Not for any reason related to numbers, but only because I thought that
saying the 14 allowed for another 24 hours of this, and I didn't want that.
For the first time during the whole afternoon, I checked the clock on the
phone. It was 11h35 PM. That didn't leave much time.
Well. I pushed. It was a wonderful experience: I could feel EVERYTHING. I
knew my own progress, I knew exactly when to push without anyone telling me,
I knew where the baby was inside my, I knew when the head got out, and I
knew exactly when to push for the last time. After 15 minutes, at 11h50 PM
on June 13, I was holding a screaming and kicking 9 lb 8 oz baby boy in my
arms, and DH was kissing me.
I had done it. I didn't get any tear, Mlle C having already made the way,
and the birthing position having allowed me to open up (30% more I guess),
unlike what happened 18 months ago at the hospital (22 suture points,
epidural, no movement allowed, no conciousness except for the burning in my
perineal area).
This is the birth I wanted. I wasn't disappointed by it. I feel powerful, I
feel strong, I feel great and beautiful. I did it. It was tough, it was
rough, I despaired at times, but I held on, and I will never regret it one
bit. And who knows, maybe it will work again for a third child (but let's
wait a bit longer this time).
--
Isabelle
Mlle C 2004-11-27
Guillaume 2006-06-13
emily...@hotmail.com
despite all the pain. And here's to the migraine disappearing!
Em
mama to Micah, 11/14/04
Rebecca Jo
> This is the birth I wanted. I wasn't disappointed by it. I feel powerful,
> I feel strong, I feel great and beautiful. I did it. It was tough, it was
> rough, I despaired at times, but I held on, and I will never regret it one
> bit. And who knows, maybe it will work again for a third child (but let's
> wait a bit longer this time).
:-D I'm so glad you got the birth you wanted. :) Congratulations!
rj
Anne Rogers
use them at the birth centre, in particular the herbs, I can't imagine
anywhere in the UK letting you use those!
Congratulations again!
(just a note about last time, would they not allow you to roll on your side?
I've had epidurals both times, but have rolled on my side to give birth)
Cheers
Anne
Zaz
"Anne Rogers" <anne...@yahoo.co.uk> wrote in message
news:4fkjgvF...@individual.net...
> wow, amazing, all those tricks to get things going, plus being allowed to
> use them at the birth centre, in particular the herbs, I can't imagine
> anywhere in the UK letting you use those!
>
> Congratulations again!
Thanks!
>
>
> (just a note about last time, would they not allow you to roll on your
> side? I've had epidurals both times, but have rolled on my side to give
> birth)
>
You'd think they would. But they don't. I remember asking, but they said no.
It was stirrups and my chin down my chest... I suppose it's a lot easier on
the staff to do this than to support your big legs during labour... As much
as science advances, as much it loses on the natural and real things.
> Cheers
>
> Anne
>
Anne Rogers
>> side? I've had epidurals both times, but have rolled on my side to give
>> birth)
>>
>
> You'd think they would. But they don't. I remember asking, but they said
> no. It was stirrups and my chin down my chest... I suppose it's a lot
> easier on the staff to do this than to support your big legs during
> labour... As much as science advances, as much it loses on the natural and
> real things.
hmm, automatic stirrups, not nice, at least they don't do that at our
hospital, I had a special reason to do it on my side, SPD, if they hadn't
have let me they'd have been taking be to theatre as I don't think any other
way of giving birth would have been possible, even first time round.
Anne
carlye
> After 15 minutes, at 11h50 PM
> on June 13, I was holding a screaming and kicking 9 lb 8 oz baby boy in my
> arms, and DH was kissing me.
>
> I had done it. I didn't get any tear, Mlle C having already made the way,
> and the birthing position having allowed me to open up (30% more I guess),
> unlike what happened 18 months ago at the hospital (22 suture points,
> epidural, no movement allowed, no conciousness except for the burning in my
> perineal area).
>
> This is the birth I wanted. I wasn't disappointed by it. I feel powerful, I
> feel strong, I feel great and beautiful. I did it. It was tough, it was
> rough, I despaired at times, but I held on, and I will never regret it one
> bit. And who knows, maybe it will work again for a third child (but let's
> wait a bit longer this time).
>
Congratulations, Isabelle! How wonderful! Thank you for sharing your
birth story. I am so glad it went better than last time, and I'm so
glad that -finally- Guillaume is there with you in your arms. Doesn't
matter how bad it gets -- once they're here, they are just so worth it,
aren't they?
Congrats & best wishes.
-Carlye
DS 6-2-06
DD 9-29-04
mcm...@cup.hp.com
Wow!
Larry
sharalyns
Oh, Isabelle! What a *beautiful* birth, and how empowering for you! I
was in tears reading Guillarme's brith story.
Sharalyn
mom to Alexander (9/21/01)
lucy-lu
> This birth story will talk a lot about pain. It will use words like
> excruciating, like despair, like unbearable, like crazy, and so on. I might
> miss out on the words wonderful, empowerment, wondrous, beautiful, unique,
> and so on. But keep them in mind as you read this. For each mention of pain,
> there was the victory of overcoming it, of living through it on my own.
Your birth story is fantastic and an inspiration! Thank you for sharing
it, and I will keep it in mind at the weekend...
Congratulations on such a great birth!!
Lucy
Joybelle
"Zaz" <zaz...@nopourrielhotmail.com> wrote in message
news:1W1lg.47981$Ra3.3...@weber.videotron.net...
> This birth story will talk a lot about pain. It will use words like
> excruciating, like despair, like unbearable, like crazy, and so on. I
might
> miss out on the words wonderful, empowerment, wondrous, beautiful, unique,
> and so on. But keep them in mind as you read this. For each mention of
pain,
> there was the victory of overcoming it, of living through it on my own.
What a wonderful story! Your last sentence here is so true for my
experiences, also.
--
Joy
Rose 1-99
Iris 2-01
Spencer 3-03
Grant 9-05 www.caringbridge.org/visit/grantphilip