7:00am I am awakened by Roger getting ready to head to his dentist appointment. I try to go back to sleep but some of my braxton hicks contractions seemed a little stronger than usual... was this labor?! I was so hoping it was. I decided to get up because it was becoming too uncomfortable to remain lying down in my bed. I let Roger know that I was having some pretty uncomfortable contractions and that this might actually be labor starting! I told him to still go to his appointment because I didn't want him to stay home and then nothing happen. If I really was in labor I wanted to look somewhat decent so I took a shower, shaved, and even did my hair, haha! Doing my hair was essentially my regular routine of scrunching it with some mousse and then blow drying it. Porter is awake by 7:40am and Roger throws him in the shower with me so he can get to his appointment by 8:00am. I of course have been having good strong contractions in the shower and was very happy about it because I was ready to welcome little Eleanor into the world. I call my mom around 7:55 and let her know what's been going on and that I would keep her posted if things progressed. I had also texted my midwife at this point. Twenty to thirty minutes later I call my mom again and tell her she should probably come and get Porter soon. Roger is home by 8:30 and is amused with me while I try to do my hair between contractions. I try to eat some breakfast but end up crying because all the memories of being in labor and how painful contractions become all came flooding back. Porter's crying too because he doesn't like to see mommy in pain. He kept patting my back and hugging me every time I had a contraction. Super cute.
My mom arrives around 9:00am to pick up Porter. Roger and I are in the car by 9:10 and he remembers to give me a blessing before we leave, so he does that and then we were off. I gave birth at the same location as I did Porter (Andaluz Waterbirth Center in Tualatin, OR) so we had about a 35 minute drive up I-5. Once we got in the car I didn't have another contraction for 12 minutes so I was worried that it had stopped there for a second, but it hadn't, but I also considered it a blessing that I wasn't doing a ton of labor in the car (only had 5 contractions on the way to the birth center!).
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| listening to baby's heart beat |
I get into the tub and it helped ease the pain a lot. The warm water really helped me relax. With Porter, the water was nice but it didn't really have the same effect on me as it did this time. Around 10:30 pushing started. Really? I was only 5 centimeters 20 minutes ago. How was I already feeling the urge to push? But I did what my body wanted to and it felt like pushing, so I pushed. At 10:58am my water breaks. Baby's head isn't really crowning yet but then at 11:01am a baby is born. She kind of popped out which was not good for me because I ended up with a partial 3rd degree tear! I'm a fast and hard pusher which doesn't do me any favors (other than getting my baby here faster) so I tear. Just as a side note, even without pain medication you don't feel tearing. There is so much pressure (and that burning sensation) during the actual delivery, and everything else going on, you don't even know you tear.
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| Roger catching Eleanor! |
Shortly after the placenta was delivered I handed Eleanor over to Roger and then I get out of the tub and walk over to the bed to rest. After only 4 hours of labor I still had so much energy and walking wasn't nearly as difficult as it was after Porter was born (even though I was only in labor 8 hours with him). Afterbirth pains (yeah, the uterus continues to contract until it's back to it's original fist-size state) on the other hand hurt more. I took acetaminophen, ibuprofen, cramp bark, and placed a small heating pad on my belly to help with afterbirth pains. Cramp bark is this herbal tincture that they had on hand at the birth center. They added about two drops of this stuff to a small cup of water for me to drink. Tastes kind of gross but I think it helped the most.
Roger and I were still trying to figure out a name for our little girl. I told him I really liked Eleanor Hazel, but he said he liked Hazel Jane (he had a great aunt named Hazel Jane). We compromised and named her Eleanor Jane.
After about an hour and a half of some skin to skin bonding time the midwife checks me for tearing and Eleanor gets weighed, measured and checked over. Turns out Eleanor is tongue-tied and lip-tied just like Porter was. NO! Are you kidding me? Breastfeeding is going to be rough... more than usual. It also turns out that I need to be transferred to the hospital because the tearing was slightly worse than a second degree tear and the midwife felt that it was best if a professional surgeon repair it. I was pretty sad because the last thing I wanted to do is get out of bed and dressed to leave the birth center. So the midwife comes along with Roger, Eleanor, and me to Legacy Emanuel in Portland. Eleanor actually nurses while we were there at the hospital, which is great because it took Porter a few daysbefore he was able to nurse (I pumped and we fed him with a little syringe that had this 8 inch small tube connected to it. Porter did better once the frenulum was cut under his tongue and and under his lip). The same tongue-tie/lip-tie procedure that Porter had was also performed on Eleanor when she was a few days old. Eleanor was also able to receive craniosacral therapy because my midwife had been trained in this relatively new therapy... at least I think it's pretty new. This therapy basically puts a little pressure on some bones around the jaw, head/skull, and sacrum to help align and release any muscle tension due to inappropriate use of the tongue-tied tongue. Eleanor is now a nursing champion and it no longer feels like shes just biting me the whole time!
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| Eleanor was blessed on May 1, 2016 |
We LOVE you our darling Eleanor!
