Today at 10:17 a.m. my little baby boy is ONE YEAR OLD!! Like most parents, I just can't believe it. But, I'm not gonna cry! It's time to celebrate! He's happy, he's healthy, and he's made it to his first birthday. So, all in all, we are doing alright. :)
At one year old, here is what Willie is up to:
Standing
Taking one little step occasionally
Screaming
Climbing on furniture and over furniture
Saying "mom, dad, dog, cat"
Roaring like a dinosaur
Waving bye-bye
Pointing to noses, when asked "where's my nose"
Pointing to noses, when trying to fall asleep
Pointing to noses, when eating breakfast
Kissing
Looking like he's going to kiss, but then biting
Dancing to music
Sooooo, here's the long awaited birth story. Haha, I'm sure only women curious about birthing, and other moms will read & appreciate this. Although, if you are a man, and you are reading this...thanks I guess! I know my husband has no interest in birthing stories, he probably would have chosen to sit out on Willie's birth...had that been an option!
The story starts with me getting pregnant...like all birthing stories do (and if you don't know how that happens...sorry, but I'm not going to explain. Although, there might be video evidence of this very incident. HA!). AnyWHO, the pregnancy journey starts about a year and a half before I finally got pregnant, but again, that's a whole story in itself! And then there's the 40 week pregnancy story with all my freak-outs and over-reactions...but I'll save that one too. This is the story of the birth!
After getting pregnant, I was SO excited! But, I also chose not to think about what would happen in 40 weeks. Mainly, THE birth. Ughh. Everyone has a horrible birthing story. The screaming. The ripping. The pushing. The pain. Oooooh, the pain! I was seriously freaked out.
One of my friends was also pregnant, and she was taking a HypnoBirthing class. I'd never heard of it before, but when she told me about it, I was interested. I "googled" it, like any modern day person would, and found a woman who teaches HypnoBirthing in the Madison area. Her name is Kerstin (she's awesome) and you can find her here. We took the classes and learned all about having a natural, calm, gentle birth. We learned about relaxation techniques and watched a lot of birth videos (during the first one I almost puked, but by the end I was LOVING them...I don't know if the same goes for my husband, haha). During one of these videos, the man was in a water tub with the woman giving birth, they were both topless, and maybe the man was fully naked too, who knows. Anyway, the discussion was about how skin-on-skin contact by both parents helps the baby to bond. I could tell my husband wasn't paying attention (ahem!), when all of a sudden he snapped out of la la land and caught part of the video. He looked at me with horror and whispered, "am I going to have to be naked too?". Haha. I couldn't help but go along with it. I nodded, yes. "Are you serious!?", he gasped. Haha, oh I could just picture it. I'm in labor in a hospital, and in walks my husband. Naked from head to toe. I wonder what the nurses would have said. Needless to say, he wasn't naked during our birth. He figured it out. Had we been planning a home water-birth, well then maybe. But, wouldn't he have worn swim trunks then anyway?
Back to the story.
Blah, blah, blah. We took HypnoBirthing classes, I was listening to my relaxation CD every day during the last 6 weeks of my pregnancy. We were planning on having a calm, gentle, medicine-free, natural birth. On November 16, 2010 I had my weekly doctors appointment in the afternoon.
(The following is taken directly from my journal):
"I had been having Braxton Hix contractions off and on all day, but didn't think much of them. During my appointment I had another one and the Dr. was like, "oh wow, you are having a contraction". I told her I'd been having them all day and she looked concerned, asking me how far apart they were. I had no idea. She then checked me and was surprised to find the baby's head so low, in the +2 position! I was 90% effaced, but still only dilated 1.5 cm. She asked me if I was in labor! I said I didn't know, haha! So, she told me to start paying attention to how often I was getting contractions, and if they were 5 mins apart to get to the hospital. I called Brad and told him the info and he said, "oh boy". I then stopped at the library before heading home. I had started working on a quilt that morning, so i finished cutting out all of the squares as I waited for Brad to get home. Brad got home about 6:45 pm and I had chicken noodle soup and a bunch of leftover chicken pot pie for supper. I ate a lot! At 7:30 pm I noticed I was having more regular contractions, so I started timing them. They were about 10 mins apart for the next 2 hours. I then started listening to my HypnoBirthing CD, and snoozed off and on for a few more hours. At 11:00 pm I started timing them again, they were 7 mins apart for an hour, so Brad called the hospital and they said to wait until they were 5 mins apart to come in. The contractions were also getting painful, like strong menstrual cramps, and lasting for over a minute each. I continued to listen to HypnoBirthing and focusing on breathing through each contraction. From midnight - 3:30 am, I was having regular strong contractions every 6 minutes. Brad called the hospital again, and they said wait until they are 5 minutes apart. However, I was ready to go! They weren't getting closer together, but they were definitely getting LONGER and STRONGER. And, the thought of the 30 minute car ride was starting to sound more and more awful, so I told Brad it was time to go. He called my mom, who had been up all night anxiously waiting, and she got on the road for her 3/1/2 hour drive. When we were almost to the hospital I got this overwhelming urge to throw up. Brad pulled the car over and I puked in the street. Brad was freaked out that I had puked, but had he paid attention in class (ahem!), he would have known that this was a good sign and that hormones were a'changin! We got to the hospital about 4:30 am, and I took the wheelchair ride up to the OB department while Brad parked the car. I got changed into a gown and they hooked me up to a fetal monitor and blood pressure cuff. I didn't want an IV. The nurse checked me and I was 5-6 cm dilated. Good news. She told us about our pain med options - some type of IV that takes the edge off but can lower the baby's heart rate, and the epidural. I said I was gonna do HypnoBirthing the natural way. I continued to listen to my relaxation CD and had Brad rubbing my forearm through contractions as I reclined in the bed. The contractions kept getting stronger and were moving through my back. They got to their worst at 8:00 am, when they were killing my back, and even after each contraction my back was still throbbing. I told Brad I was going to ask the nurse about the pain meds again, b/c all I could think about was how she said an epidural makes you numb from your stomach down...and I'm not gonna lie...that was starting to sound awesome. When the nurse came in, I asked if she could explain the pain meds again. She said she was going to check my cervix and we would go from there. At this point I was 100% effaced, 9cm dilated and the baby's head was nice and low. The nurse said I didn't need the meds b/c I was so close, and that she was going to go get the doctor. Brad had also been discouraging me from even asking about the meds b/c he knew how much I had wanted to do it natural. What a good husband! The Dr. came in and checked me and broke my water and then went to change into her scrubs. When she came back, they wheeled a bunch of carts and tables in the room and doctor sat cross-legged on the end of my bed and said we were going to deliver just like that. She started really stretching my perineum with each contraction and pretty soon told me I could start pushing. She had me grab my knees and curl up into a ball. Brad was holding my foot and was wrapped around behind me helping me pull my legs back. I had a contraction but it wasn't very strong and I didn't feel the urge to push, so i didn't. Doctor said to push with the next one. I did and it hurt. The Dr. was still stretching me while I pushed 3 times. I then fell backwards and was so relieved to catch my breath! I pushed again about 3 times and paused and they kept telling me to do it again. It definitely burned! Then the Dr. said, "i don't want to alarm you Torri, but the baby's heart rate has dropped, it's head is getting squished, and we need to get it out." So, I continued to push, push, push as hard as I could with hardly a break in between. I could hardly breath. My mouth was so dry, I was covered in sweat, and I felt completely exhausted. They kept saying the baby was crowning when I pushed, but when I stopped the head would go back up. They asked me if i wanted to touch the head or see it in a mirror. I kept my eyes closed and shook my head no! Brad also said he didn't want to see it, haha. The nurse was very encouraging the whole time. And I think 2 other nurses might have come in the room, but I didn't really know at the time! I was determined to get this baby out, and was scared to death about the heart rate, so I pushed as hard as I could over and over and finally felt the greatest release ever! The head came out and they told me to stop pushing. Haha. I don't know if I pushed again or if my body did, but a few seconds later the body came out too. I fell back on the pillow, SO relieved. Brad said, "It's a boy!", and they plopped this slippery, gray baby up on my stomach! I said "oh my gosh" over and over and was laughing / crying, as was Brad."
After delivering the placenta (which was a breeze), they discovered that the umbilical cord was attached to the end of it, instead of the middle, and it was starting to tear off...that's why the baby was in distress. Luckily, everything went well, and the birth really was beautiful. I will never forget the moment they plopped baby Willie up on my tummy. It really is love at first sight! And, I have to say that I'm proud of our birth story, because it isn't easy...that's why they call it labor! The Dr. and all the nurses said they wished they would have recorded the birth because I was the only one they'd ever seen do HypnoBirthing so peacefully.
However, I will admit that the birth didn't go exactly as planned. With HypnoBirthing, you aren't supposed to push. Instead you breath the baby down, and your body will naturally ease it out (this is why women in comas can give birth). But, in my case, when the Dr. said to start pushing, I was ready for labor to be over, and I thought pushing would get the job done faster! So, up until the pushing part, everything went as planned.
If you are pregnant, I urge you to consider taking a HypnoBirthing class. Even if you don't want to try a natural birth, I think the relaxation techniques are really helpful! The class also helped me to feel calm about my pregnancy and impending birth...it really put my heart and mind at ease. During the whole 15 hours of labor, I can truly say that I was very calm...up until I heard the baby's heart rate was dropping!
So, anyway, that's my story. And Happy Birthday to my baby boy!!
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