Labor story: Baby Sebastian
Posted on | October 11, 2010 | 12 Comments
Labor was nothing like I anticipated. I expected to labor at home for hours, excited and impatient. I wondered what would be on TV to keep us distracted and envisioned progressing slowly from bed to the birth center’s birthing ball, then jacuzzi tub. In the three weeks leading up to my due date I paused at every twinge, hoping for more pain, any sign of impending true labor. I tried every old wives tale and we watched dozens of natural induction videos on YouTube.
In reality, my water broke at 4am on September 23rd, four days before my estimated due date, after a few painful but definitely tolerable contractions. I had a prenatal appointment scheduled for just five hours later and was hopeful that, at best, my doctor would tell me that these contrax were leading up to the real deal. Upon hearing a loud, surprising pop at the end of one contraction, I slinked quietly from bed to the bathroom, slightly nervous, but not ready to get the husband’s hopes up.
It absolutely was my water breaking, and I called Donny into the bathroom in what I’m sure was a giddy, sing-songy voice. It was a pinkish gush and I called labor & delivery, who told me to come in and warned that my contractions would soon grow stronger. In close to zero pain at this point, I was skeptical. I messaged a friend, then my September Moms BBM group. One of the Sept moms suggested I eat before being admitted to the hospital, so I drank a bottle of Muscle Milk in the car.
In the 20 minute drive across town, contractions went from next to nothing to unbearable, and were coming every three minutes. I timed them on the dashboard clock, unbelieving of how close together they were. Not only were the contractions themselves much more painful and intense than I’d imagined they would be, they were leaving me almost no time to recover in between. By the time we had checked into L & D, each new contraction was starting just as the last one had tapered off and I was four centimeters dilated. I requested pain medication and the IV helped immediately, but temporarily.
I went in wanting to avoid an epidural, but the IV meds were losing effectiveness after just half an hour and I knew things were only going to get more painful. I ended up being incredibly happy with the epi. I had feared being totally numb and immobile, but wasn’t. At one point later I even got on hands and knees.
The couple of hours between getting the epidural and my doctor arriving are hazy but when she did arrive she told me to hang out a bit longer until I felt the urge to push. A little over an hour later she came back and I began what would be two hours of pushing. Pushing was my favorite part of the birth process. It felt completely natural and I felt like I had unlimited energy. I had a concrete goal in mind, reinforced each time his head would push down and my doctor/nurse/husband would announce, “Head full of dark hair!” I was chatting and laughing all the way up until it was time to push the baby all the way out. Donny says he almost passed out from breathing along with my pushes. He was a fabulous birth partner & coach.
It turns out that Baby’s hand was up by his neck, making pushing take longer.
‘Crowning’ is the part of the experience I will have to forget before I ever choose to have another child! Unlike even the closest contractions, actually pushing his head through allowed NO break, just constant, searing & tearing pain. I’m told I let out several loud “mother fucker”s, but that I was pretty quiet overall. The moment he slipped out, my first reaction was just relief. Only when I heard Donny breathe, “Oh my God” did I come back to the moment.
Baby Sebastian was born at 10:46am on September 23rd, and put directly on my chest. I noticed that he attempted a breast crawl, and he easily latched and breastfed within an hour of his birth. I could not have been happier with my birth experience. Perhaps with half a day or more of labor I could have toughed it out longer, maybe even done it med-free, but for going from my first real contraction to pushing him out in under seven hours, I’m more than happy with my choices. I credit my awesome doctor for urging me from the beginning to keep my options open in regards to a birth plan.
Comments
12 Responses to “Labor story: Baby Sebastian”
Leave a Reply
About
Alternative Housewife is about maintaining a fabulous and eco-friendly household on a budget. My name is Janine and I live in Portland with my husband Donny and our son Sebastian. {We are expecting Baby Boy #2 in May 2013.}
I believe in the glory of thrift shopping, and in voting with our dollars to raise non-toxic families.
- More About Us
- Baby Registry
Categories
Search
Tags
Archives
Sponsors
Sponsors
Shopping
Giveaways
October 11th, 2010 @ 5:40 PM
Wow, congrats on having a wonderful labor experience. I actually kind of enjoyed the feeling of pushing the head out on my second birth (w/o meds), partly b/c I was SO GLAD it was almost over. I had a lame epidural (during a very long induction) with my first child, so while it’s good to keep your options, it’s also good to have a back up plan in case those options don’t work out so well. And, yes, boy oh boy do those contractions get a whole lot more serious when the water breaks.
October 11th, 2010 @ 7:29 PM
Amazing story! I got teary-eyed reading it, as it reminded me of having Eli. Every experience is unique, and sometimes surprising, and definitely a magical experience. I’m so happy that you three are all doing well. I also love his name! Well done mom!
October 11th, 2010 @ 7:41 PM
I am so happy for you and am still so amazed by how adorable little Sebastian is! Thank you for this story, it makes the “mystery” of birth seem not so scary – although I’m still going to hold off a bit longer
I love you!
xoxo Maria
October 11th, 2010 @ 9:41 PM
I wondered where you’d been….Awwww, what an awesome birth story and handsome little man!! I’m super jealous, I ended up being bullied into a c-section
I’m still working on writing Emma’s birth story and she’s almost two, oops, someone’s a procrastinator.
October 12th, 2010 @ 6:16 PM
I love that you shared this with us! I am so happy for you and Donny. Baby Sebastian is absolutely adorable. I’m glad everything went well and hope you guys are feeling good! Definitely post some more photos. <33 Congratulations to you both!
October 12th, 2010 @ 9:02 PM
Congrats, Janine! Your is so adorable… Happy motherhood!!
October 13th, 2010 @ 3:56 AM
OMG this is TERRIFYING me hahahaha IDK why but reading about crowning has me crossing my legs and squeezing to protect my vagina lol. Eeeek.
And congratulations to you two <3 Can't wait to hear more about Little Mr Fowler!
October 13th, 2010 @ 11:21 AM
Congrats J… he’s beautiful!
And to tell you the truth, your labor story kinda got me scared about having a child. =P
October 13th, 2010 @ 5:05 PM
If this story scares you go read a couple others that have women that were in labor for 36+ hours. That’s scary.
October 26th, 2010 @ 2:10 AM
Congratulations on a job well done. He looks like a keeper.
Thanks for coming over to comment on my post at Momformation.
January 26th, 2012 @ 7:13 AM
Okay, I just crept around and read a bunch of your pregnancy posts and really enjoyed your birth story, since I didn’t know of you back then. Sebastian was adorable at birth – I expected no less, but it’s fun to see the proof! You were quite the hot mama during pregnancy, too
It was fun to go back in time and see that journey!
January 28th, 2012 @ 2:55 PM
Thanks – I think so, too! I know everyone thinks their kid is cute but he really didn’t have an ugly-cute newborn phase. Of course, all of the cuteness will bite me in the ass when he discovers that it can be used to his advantage.
I keep wanting to re-write that birth story, but I like having the post from when it was so fresh in my mind. It bums me out that my initial reaction to the experience was so positive, but reading other people’s ‘natural’ birth stories gets me down on it. It seems like most people are overwhelmed with their first labor and more prepared for the next though, so I’m excited to try again.