Wednesday, September 1, 2010

Adelaide is here!

So I'll start with stats, then get into the story:).
Her full name is Adelaide Elizabeth Jane Koch.
She weighs 6 pounds and 10 ounces and is 20 inches long.
She arrived at 3:00 am on the dot, this morning, September 1st, 2010.

Yesterday (August 31st), I started to have some contractions in the early evening. At first I thought they were just braxton hicks contractions, even though they were sort of patterned. At around 8pm or so, I had my first more painful contraction that I had to actually work through. After that I told my mom, "it's probably nothing, but it's not entirely impossible that I'm in labor right now." I was in denial for quite awhile. My husband is deployed and should be home for his R&R in the very near future, so I was really hoping she'd hang on another week or more.

Around 9pm, I decided to get in the tub at my house. I mean there was no way I was in real labor (haha :P,) and they say that a nice warm bath will usually stop contractions, if it's not the real deal. I stayed in for about half an hour and didn't have any contractions... or at least I didn't feel any contractions. I get out of the tub and a few minutes later have another contraction. At this point I decide it'd be a good idea to start timing them. They all lasted 1-1.5 minutes and for awhile were around 8-10 minutes apart.

I started packing my bag around 11:45, since that was something I hadn't planned on doing until this week (I know, I'm a total procrastinator.) As I was packing my bag they became closer to 5 minutes apart. That's when I decided to call The Birth Center's answering service. They connected me with the midwife on call and we started to talk about what had been going on. While we were on the phone I had two contractions about 3 minutes apart, so we decided that I definitely needed to go in, and agreed to meet at 1:15, since I'm about an hour away.

We finished getting ready, and I went with my mom and McKaleigh in one car, with my brother following us in the Cobalt. The drive was pretty long, but giving my mom directions was a nice distraction and she was very encouraging as I worked through each contraction. They remained about 3 minutes apart for the entire car ride. We arrived to the birth center right on time. I went in and as soon as the midwife checked me, she said "well it's a good thing you came in," which was great to hear. Then she totally surprised me and told me I was already 8 centimeters dilated!

To be honest, I prepared myself for much, much worse than what I experienced as far as pain. I thought for sure that I had so much worse ahead of me, since I was at an 8. I labored the last bit in the tub, so that may have helped, but even when she told me I could push whenever I was ready, I just couldn't believe that I was done dilating and that part was over! I had no pain medication whatsoever, and really never felt like I needed it. It's amazing the difference breathing and moving WITH your contractions instead of against them, can make.

After trying to push a few times in the tub, I decided that delivering in the tub just wasn't going to work for me. Half of my pushing I did leaned over a big ball and on my knees. Eventually my thighs got pretty tired, so I turned over and delivered her in a semi-sitting position.

When I first got set up in the birthing room, my brother set up his computer for me. Michael wasn't online, as I assumed would happen, but luckily I got a hold of someone he works with and they got him for me. Michael then got on skype and got to witness pretty much the entire thing. Well... except for the most important part! He got up to do something, thinking I still had quite a bit of pushing left to do. The second he was gone, the big push came, the one that you can't stop from happening, you just have to give into it. Within a minute or two of him getting up, I had a baby in my lap and he walked back in to a crying baby girl:).

The entire experience was amazing! After she was born she was brought up onto my chest and her cord was left alone until it was done pulsing. My mom cut the cord, which is funny, since I don't think our cord has been cut yet;). After a few minutes, I put Adelaide near the breast and she just knew what to do right away. She nursed so well, it was really great, plus the fact that I'm tandem nursing and already had my colostrum in means no sore boobies for mommy:), at least not yet, lol. Adelaide was never "taken" from me, when I decided that I was ready to get cleaned up, that's when she went to be weighed and measured. Everything was on my time, I love the birth center!

McKaleigh was present for the birth, and was very interested in her new baby sister. I can already tell that she's going to be a great big sister. I can't wait to see her interact with Adelaide more in the days and weeks to come, as she gets used to her.

I'll get to go home today, yet another thing that I love about the birth center:). Just waiting for a while until then.

9 comments:

Brittany Thomas said...

Congrats Tara! Glad to hear you had such an amazing birth! I hope mine goes that well!

Renita said...

I'm so excited for you!! It sounds like everything went really well. It's too bad that Michael wasn't able to be there for the birth. Thank goodness for skype though! :)

Nikki said...

Wow! Great job girl! Sounds like an amazing birth story! :) Glad Michael got to witness a good chunk of it even if he wasn't there in person! ((HUGS))

Erin @ sometimes-homemade.com said...

Amazing birth story! I'm so glad you got to do it on your terms. Very cool that Michael got to see most of it. Take care!

Angie said...

Congrats!!! That is exactly how I felt with my first natural birth! I could not believe that I was already ready to push since I had hyped my self up for so much pain. :) It sounds like it was perfect!

Stephanie said...

I'm from the BBC Sept 2010 birth board... Congratulations! What a wonderful birth experience! Hope your hubby is able to come home soon. I feel blessed that mine is not deployed at the moment.

Blessings!

Unknown said...

Hi I'm from BBC and your story is amazing. Natural birth is always the most visual, it was like I was there with you. Good luck with everything, things seemed really perfect congrats!!

Anonymous said...

Hi Your story is SO inspiring!! NCB yay! I'm a FTM from BBC Sept 2010 and I keep hoping to read stories like yours because I'm planning on birthing at a Birth Center and so many people think I'm crazy. But people who have done it, like you, are so reassuring. Thanks for sharing!

Ambrosia said...

From BBC also, what a great birth story- so nice to hear about a successful non-medicated birth :-)
Congratulations!