I started having mild contractions Saturday morning along with bloody show. Same thing Sunday and the contractions were mild enough that I went to work that day anyway. I had a doctor's appointment that evening and he checked the baby's position and heartbeat but said he didn't like to do internals because they could cause infections. I was cool with that as I hadn't wanted one anyway. He thought the baby would probably be born within 24 hours.
I'd already decided not to go into work Monday but I still didn't think I was in labor because the contractions weren't particularly long and not regular either. Sunday night they'd been about every 8 minutes but when I got up Monday morning they stopped as soon as I stood up and swivelled my hips a bit.
I'd really wanted to try bring things on more quickly by drinking super-concentrated raspberry leaf tea but Monday afternoon Guy had an exam for the one and only course he's taking and I was afraid to speed things up and have the baby come while he was gone. So I layed about all day watching movies, practicing belly dancing moves and trying to relax through the contractions.
I spoke to both the midwife, Ilana, and labor coach, Madeline, by phone during the day. Ilana thought the baby would be born that night or the next day. Madeline said I should be prepared to have to wait another week.
Then about 2 or 3 hours after Guy gets home from his exam, the contractions started to come harder and faster but were still completely irregular. I was trying to relax through these things but it got to a point were they were just too painful and I finally had to drag Guy away from the TV and get him to start timing things again. He really didn't believe this was it since all the books say the contractions should last for a minute and be 4 minutes apart and REGULAR before you get excited about things.
Well all of a sudden they were coming 3 minutes apart and were really painful. I got Guy to call Madeline (I knew Ilana wasn't going to be home for another hour or so and could only be reached by beeper) and while Madeline was grilling him over the phone about exactly what was happening, my water suddenly broke. With the next contraction I already had the urge to push so Guy beeped Ilana and she called back a couple minutes later.
At this point I'm trying really hard not to push because I really didn't want to have the baby right there on my dirty floor (I must have missed the nesting phase that was supposed to make me clean my house). At first Ilana said to meet us in about 45 minutes at her place and I'm thinking there's no way I can wait that long. I can't remember if Guy had to take the phone at this point or not but in the end she said she'd head home right away and we should meet her there.
That was a 10 minute drive for us plus it took us another 5 minutes just to get out of the house. I was just having a really hard time getting it together between contractions to do anything or go anywhere. I ended up just throwing on a t-shirt and a sarong (no patience for underwear) and leaving the house in my slippers. And our car was parked so close to the neighbour's car that I had to take off my slippers just to squeeze myself through the door.What I didn't realize until we got to Ilana's was that I'd taken the slippers off outside the car and left them there so I was barefoot until I got home the next day (and never did see my slippers again).
I guess I had about 3 or 4 of these pushing contractions at home and another 3 in the car on the way there. I was in the back seat on my hands and knees. Forget seat belts and all that safety stuff. There was no way I was going to sit down through these. And all the way there I was gushing out more and more water.
As we pulled up to Ilana's house she was right behind us in her car. I panted through another contraction and then we went in and she checked me and agreed that this kid was well on her way out. I had 2 more contractions on the bed on my hands and knees -- the first ones I actually allowed myself to push on. And it was so much nicer being able to push through them than having to pant through them. At this point I asked to go into the tub. Ilana didn't want me to have the baby in the tub because there was a bit of meconium in my water and she wanted to be able to start suctioning the baby right away but she agreed to let me to get into the tub up to the final pushes.
We were supposed to have had a doctor at this birth but Ilana knew he wouldn't make it in time and so didn't even call him in the end. Guy was a bit worried but I'd never been too excited about having a doctor around in the first place so I wasn't disappointed.
The water was great. Just having Guy aim the hose at my back during contractions as he was filling the tub up helped enormously because the only really painful part of these contractions was what I was feeling in my back.
Well, 20 minutes after we arrived at Ilana's (and 5 minutes after midnight) Yasmin was born. Guy watched it all and wasn't squeamish at all. I didn't get to see what was happening because of the hands and knees position I was in but I didn't mind. It was so nice to give that last push and have her out.
I took the baby and lay down with Guy and a few minutes later Ilana delivered the placenta. Not too long after this, Madeline arrived (she'd had to come all the way from Jerusalem which is usually around an hour trip). I had a tiny tear and Ilana put in 2 stitches. We got Yasmin nursing and Guy and I ate a bit then we all went to sleep until morning -- Guy and Yasmin and me together.
The next day before leaving, Madeline gave me the massage I'd been so disappointed to have missed out on (the whole reason I'd wanted a labor coach was just to get lots of massages!).
I was feeling perfectly OK when we left and it wasn't till a few hours later that the tear began to sting a bit when I peed and my insides started to feel a bit sore too. But by the next day, all that already began to fade away.
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