In my last Birth Stories post, I told you about the births of our first 4 babies. Two were induced, two were not; three were with epidurals, one was not. All were at a hospital, each with different doctors at the delivery. I’d learned a lot about taking care of babies and myself, and I was happy to think of our next baby coming.
Birth Story #5
This pregnancy started out by looking for a new doctor. The group of doctors I had been going to before didn’t take my insurance any more. I was prayerful as I looked online at options for doctors in our area and that would take our insurance. One doctor stood out to me who ran his own practice close to the hospital we were used to. I loved the personal feel in his office, and quickly felt confindant about that being a good place to get pre and post natal care.
Early in that pregnancy I felt that something was off. I felt more tired/hungry than I was used to while expecting a baby. I remember we were at my sister-in-law’s house and I felt like I just had to lie down. She asked if I was ok and my husband told her we were expecting again. 🙂 In my next prenatal visit I talked to them about something feeling off and they had me get some blood work done to see what was going on. It turned out that my thyroid wasn’t producing as much hormone as it was supposed to. That was the beginning of taking a little thyroid pill every morning, probably for the rest of my life, and periodically getting my thyroid level checked. Luckily, that new doctor’s office had a lab in it, which made it easier to keep on top of my changing thyroid levels throughout that pregnancy.
Life kept going with four little kids, homeschooling, weekly dates, and my growing tummy. We were very excited to find that this would be our second boy! I got a new pregnancy symptom with vericose veins behind my right knee that got achey. Heading into the third trimester they discovered that my fluid levels were too high, like they had been with the fourth baby. That meant extra ultrasounds and monitoring toward the end to make sure we were well aware of everything going on with our baby.
Late in September, a few days before our due date, my husband was able to come to a doctor visit with me. We were both surprised when, because of a few little changes showing up that day, the doctor said to head over to the hospital to be induced! I was upset because I didn’t want to be induced again, especially when baby #4 had taken 22 hours of labor with induction! But I trusted the doctor. And I was very grateful that my husband was there with me and we already had his parents watching our kids.
That labor turned out to be my quickest so far, only about 6 hours. I had decided not to get an epidural that time because I liked how I felt after birth better that way. His birth was quick and uneventful. He was our biggest baby up to that point at 8 lb 1 oz. We were in love with our new baby boy! 💙💙💙 I loved watching my hubby dance him late into the night, just because he could, while I rested in the recovery bed.
Birth Story #6
After five pregnacies I had learned some things about my body. When I would start to seriously wean my baby my menstual cycle would return, then I’d get pregnant again. As a general rule, exclusive breastfeeding up to 6 months is as effective as any birth control to prevent a next pregnancy. For me, though, the longer I breastfed, the longer it would be before I got pregnant again. I had also learned more about natural family planning and was tracking my cycle when it did come back to put off the next baby. After a few months, though, I stopped paying attention and got pregnant again. We were thrilled.
We had changed a lot of things about our diet before we concieved #6, and I believe that played a big part in having less issues with that pregnancy. Other than those achey varicose veins spreading a little, that pregnancy went very smoothly. Our 5 kids were in a really good routine with their meals, sleep, and homeschool.
When I was 41 weeks pregnant, I went out to have some me time and got a pedicure. I noticed some light contractions coming very regularly and getting closer together. By evening they were still coming regularly and getting harder, and I figured birth was coming soon. We sent our 5 kids to Hubby’s sister’s house down the street. It wasn’t long before we headed to the hospital, but they turned us away, and said my body wasn’t ready yet. I was bummed. They said to come back when the contractions were hard enough to make me cry.
My sweet hubby took me out for frozen yogurt, which cheered me up a bit. The contractions kept coming, and I knew we’d be going back to the hospital soon. We walked around the backyard together and talked. We tried to go to bed, but I didn’t sleep. I soon found myself curling in a ball on my side with every contraction, and crying. I turned to my hubby beside me and told him it was time to go back.
At the hospital they put me in the gown, put me on the bed, and turned on the pitocin. I was used to that routine and didn’t question it. Time went by and contractions got harder, but I wasn’t dialating more. So they turned up the pitocin. That happened a few times, and I was hurting way more than I had with any other baby. I didn’t understand then that the pitocin was too much, or that I could have asked them to turn it down, or take it off all together. That was my most intense labor, and I still feel a little traumatized thinking about it, even though it was 12 years ago.
Finally a nurse suggested that I turn on my hands and knees, and that did the trick. I dialated very quickly after that, and she was out in a few pushes. The umbilical chord was around her neck. My experienced doctor quickly fixed that issue. Then they realized she had breathed in muconium, and it was a couple minutes before I heard that beautiful cry. I hadn’t even realized I’d been waiting for it until I felt the relief of hearing it. Whew! Our baby was ok!
The poor little darling was so purple, and I had severe after pains and shakes, no doubt made worse by the pitocin still in my system. But she was a good little nurser, and such a welcome addition to our family. 🧡🧡🧡
Birth Story #7
While we were expecting baby #7 we bought a bigger van and moved to a bigger house to make room for our bigger family. What I remember most about that pregnancy was that I had stopped exercising and I got sick more often and worse than I had for years. That made it a hard prenancy.
Our little boy was due on December 28th. The day came and went with no birth, which was no surprise to us. We were used to late babies by then. I noticed some small contractions coming regularly, but too soft to call labor. They kept coming, and over the next few days they got closer together. I can remember walking around shopping on New Years Day with those soft contractions coming every 10 minutes all day long.
When it got to January 3, the contractions changed. They were a lot harder, but way more irregular. I was so confused! What was my body doing?? Was this ever going to turn into real labor and birth??
I walked around our backyard feeling discouraged, pausing a few times for hard contractions. I did some projects in the kitchen with our big girls and paused our conversation sometimes for big contractions. I also remember close to bedtime that I had a really big contraction that made me feel like kneeling on the floor instead of sitting in the chair where I’d been watching tv. But with those contractions still 20 minutes apart, I just stayed home and put my kids to bed and went to bed as usual.
In the middle of the night I got up to use the bathroom and saw that I was bleeding, something I had never seen during pregnancy before, so I told Hubby it was time to go to the hospital. I’m sure we called his parents to come stay with our kids, since they were our nearest family at the time. I was so relieved and excited at the hospital when they said I was already dialated to an 8! Woo hoo!! Baby boy was on his way!
I was better at listening to my body that time, asking if I could get up on my knees when I felt the need, and then doing it. He was born within about an hour of our getting to the hospital! He was the first one I’d had without them giving me pitocin or an IV. I wouldn’t say it was pain free, but it was the most relaxed of our babies’ births. Yay!! How encouraging to know that my body was able to bring a baby into the world without any medicine! How empowering to know that trusting my body made labor feel better! How wonderful to have a sweet new baby boy!!! 💙💙💙
That’s enough birth stories for now. You can read about the birth of Baby #8 at A C-section. I’ll put a post about the birth of the last 2, my Vbacs, within the next couple months.
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