Lions and Lambs Arrivals and Birth Stories!!

Nolan's Birth Story ~ Philly (aidansxmommy)

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Sorry ive been MIA its been a ruff couple of days around here but things are finally starting to get back to normal.

Its all started thurdays morning i woke up feel crampy & cranky but nothing that indicated labor was starting soon so i desided to wait it out until my scheduled induction at 7:00pm.
around 6:00 the contractions started to get worse so i packed up, said goodbye to aidan, went to pick up my aunt and off to the hospital. On the way to the hospital i started to have more contractions. we finally found a parking space & as i stepped out of the car i felt my water break but at the time i seriously thought i had peed on myself so i didnt say anything to anyone. We got up the maternity floor and even though i has a scheduled induction they didnt have a room ready & was put in the waiting room for 2 hours. While waiting my water kept breaking i had figured out what was going on by then but i was already at the hospital so i waiting to tell them. By 9:00pm when i finally got a room i was having pretty intense contractions maybe 4-5mins apart ( i never really timed them ) i told them my water had broken & got checked i was already at 6 1/2cm & 90% effaced. Yay for not needing cervidel (sp?) or pit!!!! an hour later at 10:00pm i was checked again and at 8-9cm,finally at 10:28 i was fully dialated. I pushed for 10mins and Nolan Parker L. Came into the world at 10:38pm weighting 6lb 14oz & 19in so much smaller then the doctors expected.

Nolans now 6 days old & has his first doctors appointment tomorrow ( i cant believe it already!! ) i attempted to breastfeed but it was very painful, even pumping or showers were painful the first couples days. Nolan just wont latch on correctly. I was very upset i was not able to feeding him myself & had to use formula but after 2 days i felt a little better and was sucessfully able to pump right now im pumping almost 3 1/2oz at a time so i only need formula a couple times a day im hoping soon ill make enough to get rid of the formula at together. Nolans also a little flipped flopped right now he sleeps all day & aidan sleeps all night so ive been a little sleep deprived. But overall im so in love with my 2 little boy & couldnt be happier with my life right now :)

Finally time for some pictures of my new little man::
These are all from the hospital ill post more tomorrow with his first apt update
( sorry i didnt resize them )

<a href="http://s1232.photobucket.com/albums/ff368/aidansxmommy/Nolan%20Parker%202011/?action=view&amp;current=DSC04580copy.png" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1232.photobucket.com/albums/ff368/aidansxmommy/Nolan%20Parker%202011/DSC04580copy.png" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

<a href="http://s1232.photobucket.com/albums/ff368/aidansxmommy/Nolan%20Parker%202011/?action=view&amp;current=DSC04620copy.png" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1232.photobucket.com/albums/ff368/aidansxmommy/Nolan%20Parker%202011/DSC04620copy.png" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

<a href="http://s1232.photobucket.com/albums/ff368/aidansxmommy/Nolan%20Parker%202011/?action=view&amp;current=DSC04673copy.png" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1232.photobucket.com/albums/ff368/aidansxmommy/Nolan%20Parker%202011/DSC04673copy.png" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

now im off to pump, feed nolan & get a little sleep in hopefully :)

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Connor's Birth Story ~ Erica (peach74)

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Well, it all began WEEKS ago with lousy contractions (LOL!), but yesterday morning, March 18th, after not sleeping a wink, I was taking DH to a work and kept feeling a trickle. I was having contractions and thought maybe I had a small leak. I called my OB office and left a message for the triage nurse. When the nurse called me back, she asked for the details and then said she'd talk with my midwife and let me know what I should do. Within 5 minutes, she called back and said I should go to triage at the hospital and see if my membranes rupture. I called DH, picked him up, and he, Lily and myslef headed to triage. I was contracting every 8 minutes or so. At noon the MW showed up and checked me, I was 3-4 and she checked to see if I was leaking. Fortuntately, it was not my water, BUT She thought I was in early labor and wanted time to walk to see if I made changes. I walked from 12:45- 1:50 and when I returned I was 5cms and Connor was a 0 station, so I was admitted. I had no pain at all.

Once in the L and D room, I declined a epidural b/c I had no pain, and I was told I could walk, take a shower, use the ball, etc. We walked and then returned to the room. By this point my contraxs were few and far between. I was not sure if the midwife would send me home or not after she came back at 6pm. At 5:15, the nurse came and told me my mw was going to break my water so if I wanted I could take the epi then. I decided I should since I was already 5cm. I had the epi and then waited 30 minutes for the mw. When she arrived, my nurse mentioned she thought she heard his heartbeat up high for a second, but then it returned below. My mw went to check me and she no longer felt Connor's head, but thought it was a hand or foot. It was 6:35 at this point, and they called for ultrasound STAT. U/S came and Connor was now transverse. Within seconds he went breech. The dr was called. When the dr arrived, he ultrasound me and by that time Connor was a footling breech. I was rushed into the OR to avoid membrane rupture and cord prolapse. Connor was born at 7:25pm weighing 6lbs 11oz and 18.5 inches long. His sugars are great, as is his breathing. :) I was very ill last night, so today was my first time holding him. We'll be released Monday and Tuesday.

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Quinn's Birth Story ~ Amber (Amber_daisy)

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I woke up 4:30 am on March 20th in active labour. Called the midwife, doula, and my aunt (who was to be there for Jesse) and then puttered around doing a couple things before waking mom. I left Steve and Jesse (Steve was sleeping in Jesse's room because Jesse woke up crying in the middle of the night). Midwife, her assistant, and my doula got here around 6:15 maybe. The midwife got my vitals and checked fetal heart tones and told me to eat (I didn't want to but she insisted) and everyone else went to work setting up stuff. My doula gave me a bit of a neck massage. Steve, hearing all the commotion, thought my mom was up making a racket and was about to rip into her when he saw all the people and figured out what was going on. Jesse figured out that the baby was coming, lifted up my night dress and started rubbing my belly saying "open...open". (hilarious!)

I decided at around 7 am that I should go pee (last time I did was around 5 am) so I went upstairs. I peed and then things started getting really intense. I had a couple of intense contractions where I just had to vocalize and I started feeling grunty. The birth pool was about filled at that time and I said I wanted to get in "NOW". Apparently Jayme (midwife) said something about making sure I was at least 5 cm dilated before getting in and apparently I cursed at her and had another contraction and felt really pushy and felt something come out (likely a lot of bloody show) so I whipped off my night dress and climbed in the birth pool. That was 7:20 am. I immediately got on my hands and knees and leaned against the side of the birth pool. The next contraction I had that really overwhelming urge to push and gave 'er. My membranes ruptured with a pop and I felt the baby move down and felt the stretching and burning. Baby started crowning and I was cursing and yelling. I yelled, "I wish I had that ****ing gas!" All this while Jesse was calm as anything (my mom was watching him...Aunt Cathy was coming from 2 hours away and didn't have nearly enough time to get there before all this happened). He brought me over his baby doll (the one that I had as a child) to make me feel better. Anyways, baby was crowning FAST and Jayme was doing all she could to protect my perineum and slow things down. I was even able to breathe through some of it. But in the end instinct won over and out came Quinn's head and then his shoulders. Jayme said "Amber, catch your baby!" and I put my hands down and she passed him through my legs and I pulled him up and sat back down in the pool. That was 7:29 am. I'd been in the birth pool for 9 minutes.

Quinn was corded twice so Jayme quickly unwrapped it so I could pull him up a bit higher. He was breathing right away. Jayme had been prepared for deep suctioning because a nurse at my second last biophysical profile had said that a hazy area of fluid looked like meconium to her. In the end, there was no meconium and she didn't even need the bulb syringe. Everyone started saying, "What is it?!" and someone said to let Jesse check. So we asked Jesse (I held the baby's legs open) and he said, "It's a BABY!" :lol: We asked again and he said, "It's a boy!" So sweet. The midwife checked the babe out a little while we sat there in the pool and he was obviously fine, with the exception of some facial bruising and a couple of broken blood vessels in his eyes (due to the precipitous birth). Apgars of 8 and 9. She was a bit worried about me though because I was a bit shell-shocked. She kept checking my pulse, thinking she might have to break out the oxygen for me.

Shortly after that I started feeling really bad. My whole bottom started aching really badly and I was moaning a lot. So with the baby still attached and him in my arms, everyone lifted me to stand and helped me out of the pool and onto the bed. They got me all dried off and we got the baby latched on to help encourage the placenta along. Jesse, seeing a baby on his boobies, insisted on nursing too....the more the merrier. I wasn't bleeding much at all though. There was very little blood in the pool water, and I wasn't bleeding heavily. I cramped and delivered the placenta at 8:03 am. Jayme estimates I lost less than 250 mls total. Shortly after that she checked me out and I had torn...we just weren't sure how badly. After I rested a bit she was able to assess me better and figured the tear was too much for her to suture, so she called Dr. Miller, who said I should head in to the L&D ward for the repair. We sort of decided to wait a bit and then go, since I was still pretty out of it and didn't really want to move at all. In the meantime, the baby was all weighed and measured and Jayme did his newborn assessment. He was 9 lbs 3 oz, 52 cms long, with a 36.5 cm head (completely unmolded, just like Jesse's was at birth).

In the afternoon, after the 6 hours PP observation, Jayme needed to go check on another client who was contracting and possibly ruptured, so she sent me in to the L&D with her other assistant, Erin, who's also a nurse. My mom came too and we brought the baby. Dr. Miller came in to assess me and numbed me up pretty well for it. He decided I had a partial 3rd degree tear so he got the OB to come in and assess me and she ended up doing the suturing. I tore right along my scar from Jesse's birth (which is part of the reason it didn't bleed much). You could tell the OB was pretty hostile towards home birth and all, but she really didn't say anything about it with Dr. Miller there. You could also tell she wasn't thrilled with this being a very post-dates pregnancy. Apparently she's VERY pushy with induction for post-dates. There was some talk of admitting me and taking me to the OR for an epidural/spinal etc... but Dr. Miller knew that I really did not want that. The OB also ordered 900 mg of clindamycin IV to prevent infection since it had been a few hours since the birth (she then prescribed a very high dose of oral clindamycin for 5 days...which I didn't really take notice of since I had other things on my mind). Anyways, the repair was done under local numbing (though I could still feel a LOT and it was incredibly uncomfortable) and then I got to go home. We were only there for about 2 hours total, and the suturing took a good hour of that, so it wasn't too bad.

We came home to a wonderful supper delivered by my mom's friend (she also brought gifts for Jesse and the baby). I tried to go to sleep around midnight, but the baby was having none of it. He was wide awake and HUNGRY from midnight til 6 am, when we both finally drifted off for a couple of hours. Steve had to go out with Jesse around 2 am, so I was on my own for all of that. It was HARD. It hurt so bad to move or to even sit, so I ended up figuring out how to nurse a newborn lying down. This baby has a MUCH better latch than Jesse did, and I actually have nipples this time, so I'm expecting that part to be much easier.

Oh, and today we finally decided on his name. We'd been throwing around the name Quinn for a while, and Steve figured it was appropriate, since the baby was born on the spring eQUINox. :lol: Then we had to figure out a middle name. And really, there isn't much that goes well with Quinn, but we both liked Oliver.

http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p..._7079861_o.jpg

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Riley's Birth Story ~ Jodi (Snapplebear09)

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March 21, 2011, Rob and I went to Cottonwood Hospital for me to be induced we met mom Shirley there, Things went smoothly they started to induce my labor, I was already 3cm Dilated and 75% effaced. They broke my water at 12:30pm and contractions started to come a lot, I think I was a little crabby. They moved me into the Delivery room and I was having strong contractions I got checked again and I was dilated 4cm I waited as long as I could to have an epidural I sat in a rocking chair for about 2 hours rocking and for a while that rocking helped with my contractions it came down to it around 5ish I just couldn’t take it anymore they gave me the epidural around 5:30 ish from there on I don’t remember a lot of things I was very talkative and bubbly so I was told. LOL!

Around 10pm or 11pm I was dilated to a 9cm and everything looked great, except for the part about Riley’s cord being around her neck, They told me about it but that epidural I was hurting so bad I didn’t hear it. A lot of hard work and at 12:05am on March 22, 2011 Riley Amelia came and joined the world and my family. The cord was wrapped around her neck twice but the dr was quick and got it off. Riley weighs 7 pounds and 8 ounces and 21 ½ inches long. Her hair at one point looks dark than it looks a little blonde to me so we still don’t know her hair color or eyes really right now they are blue. She is my pride and joy. I’m still getting use to the fact I gave birth to a beautiful little girl.

So in conclusion we have a new family member and we are all happy, excited and so in love with her. Dustin and Emma Love being a Big Brother and Big Sister. They are so amazing. Anyways there is my update.


Here is a few pictures taken today :)


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Daddy with his 2 girls (taken yesterday)

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Big sis, Daddy, Riley and Big brother.

http://i1013.photobucket.com/albums/...l_2010/ri1.jpg

Last night

http://i1013.photobucket.com/albums/...010/riley2.jpg
This morning I couldn't help myself

http://i1013.photobucket.com/albums/...ll_2010/w2.jpg
I really like this picture of her :)

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Riley Laine's Birth Story ~ Lindsy (capricity)

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We took DS to a children's museum yesterday because DH had the day off from work and we wanted to get it in before the baby came - little did we know how close we were cutting it.
I woke up at 3:30am to pee, thought I felt a little pop while I was in there, but no fluid, so I just figured she kicked at my bladder? I laid down and then a couple of minutes later I started gushing fluid. Shook DH awake, we had a neighbor come keep an eye on Cam until my mom could get there.
I was dilated to a 4 when they checked me (from a 1 at my OB appt this past Monday). Contrax were 2 minutes apart on the drive in and stayed that way until just about 5:30am - then they started to get very painful and even closer together. My OB said he would be here at 6am, so I tried to survive until then. As soon as they wheeled me into the OR at 6am, the pressure was SO bad, so they checked me and I was complete. I could feel her feet in my vaginal canal or somewhere of the like? The OB didn't think there would be time to try the spinal block, so he wanted general anesthesia. The anesthesiologist insisted he could do it.
My OB said that was one of the quickest spinals he'd seen done. Riley was born at 6:15am. Since she was still a little early they had her looked over by special care, but she passed!
I didn't get to see her until about a half hour after that when I was all stapled back together. I got to hold her on the ride from OR to the recovery room. It took over an hour, close to two(?) for me to get feeling back and wiggle my toes and then they moved me to a room.

Oh, and blessing in disguise, due to the c-section the OB saw that I have a bit of a septum in my uterus which is why both her and DS sat on my right side only for the entire pregnancies. And also what probably the cause of my early deliveries. I don't plan on having more, but it's still nice to have the mystery cleared up a bit.

She has latched twice!!!! But only on my left breast so far. I'm not sure how much she's getting and her sugars are a little low - (off the chart low when she was born, so they gave her an ounce or so of formula), but the lactation consultant told me I had "perfect breasts" and "ready milk," so..I'm just going to keep plugging away and hopefully she'll want to take the right one, too. Her sugar has been dropping again, pretty low, so the may have to supplement her again. She's sleeping right beside me right now in her little cart.

She is beautiful! Full dark hair! Her hair is seriously the thickest softest thing I have ever felt in my life. It's just amazing. 6lbs3oz, 18.5inches long. Shares a 'day' with her brother. He was April 23rd and she's February 23rd. :D I am in love with her! She looks a lot like I did as a newborn - way more like me than her brother, at least.

Sorry if pics are big, I didn't have time to resize them...

Here's our last family pic before she came...nothing good - just a snapshot of one of the exhibits as the children's museum:
http://i443.photobucket.com/albums/q.../DSC_4291a.jpg

Brand new right after she got cleaned up:
http://i443.photobucket.com/albums/q...rileygirl2.jpg

With Daddy:
http://i443.photobucket.com/albums/q.../rileygirl.jpg

In my arms (She's a little coneheaded from how she was laying in my uterus):
http://i443.photobucket.com/albums/q...rileygirl1.jpg

All I have are the cell phone shots for now..my camera is somewhere in this hospital room, but danged if I can get out of this bed with my incision to find it. And DH is at home showering and picking some stuff up for me right now.
I stood up for the first time about an hour ago - not fun, but making progress. :)

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Hannah's Birth Story ~ (youbeme)

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Tuesday I woke up early and decided to shower in case the hospital decided to call. Just I was getting ready to dry my hair they called and said to be there within two hours for induction. I immediately got nervous. I had no idea what to expect! We finished getting ready, woke Elise so I could see her one last time as my only baby and took our last family of three picture.

We got to the hospital a little after 9 a.m. checked in and we were directed to triage. Luckily the unit was very slow that day and it didn't take long to get us into our L&D room. Our nurse was fantastic and started the check-in process. I felt very at ease and comfortable with her. Then the doctor came in to break my water to try and get labor started without pitocin, but turned out there was still lots of fluid and baby's head was too far up to break my water safely (risk of prolapse cord). So, we started on pitocin and I really didn't feel much at all. I could feel a contraction every now and again, but I was totally comfortable. I sat on the yoga ball for a while to try and get the head farther down into my pelvis and it seemed to work, because when the doctor checked me I was 4cm and still relatively pain free and the baby was in a better position so they broke my water.

Very similar to my last birth, breaking my water brought hard labor on quick! Contractions went from barely noticeable to very painful within probably 10 minutes. I was working through my labor with breathing, and I could tell I was entering transition because I was becoming quite nauseated with each contraction. I got up and went to the bathroom and while in there things were getting really intense. I had a long hard conversation with myself and decided that I wanted an epidural. I didn't want the out-of-control feeling I had with Elise's birth, I wanted to try and enjoy every second that I could. I asked for the epidural and in no time the doctor was there to put it in. It was fantastic! I don't regret it for one minute. I called my mom and gave her an update. I was feeling contractions, but they were very manageable. Then all the sudden I was having intense rectal pressure and having to breathe through my contractions. My nurse called for the doctor and she checks me and says, "your baby is RIGHT THERE, you are going to have her in about two pushes". I got into position and seven minutes later, Hannah was born! It was so wonderful, I was able to watch her come out and she was placed onto my chest. It was such a different experience than my first birth and the labor was only 1 hour and 45 minutes! I am kinda glad we did an induction, because if I had been somewhere, or had to wait for Jon, I don't know that I would have made it. I guess my body likes labor fast and furious.

We have been home now for three days and things are going pretty good. Elise is really sweet with her, but having a few more tantrums than normal. Breast feeding is a struggle as I expected, but I have not used anything other than expressed milk to supplement! We are definitely working hard on that aspect of things. She is also battling jaundice, but since my milk is now coming in I think we should be OK. She is such a sweet little cuddle bug, and I am proud to be her Mama!

Hannah Josette born March 22nd at 3:59 P.M., weighing 7lbs 4 oz. and 19.5".

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Piper's Birth Story ~ Meg (Maggies Mom)

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I was surprised that I slept so well the night before. I thought I would be up with anticipation of the C-Section. At 0530 3-23-11 we arrived at the hospital. Typical check in. Had my FAVORITE anestheologist give me an awesome "new" spinal. Baby Girl arrived at 0748 at a healthy 8lb 6oz. 20 inches long. I went straight to my room for recovery with baby and my husband. She looked SO much like my DD, I actually called her Maggie by accident. We had an uneventful day. My family came, and DD met her sister. She could care less, actually. She was more worried about me seeing an IV in my hand and hooked up to a blood pressure. It was pretty sweet. I had NO pain and was doing well. Was up and walking in a few short hours. I was getting nervous because the list of names we brought with us for a girl just didn't fit.

Night time was horrible. The nurse came every 2 hours to check on us. I swear I got maybe 40 minutes sleep. The nurse was also concerned because the baby was "singing" in her sleep. I guess that the noises she was making could be indicative of a breathing problem. She showed no signs of distress so I was not too concerned. I thought it was typical baby noises. The Pedi came in and assessed her in the morning and thought everything was fine. He would monitor her and if she was doing it more he was going to get some blood work to see if she was brewing an infection. I wound up having a mental breakdown due to lack of sleep in the morning. That morning, I was up walking, still no pain. I convinced my OB to let me leave that day due to I would kill him if I had to spend another night with no sleep :) He said if Pedi was ok, he was ok.... So, we went home about 6pm the 24th. An hour before we left, we came up with Piper as her name. It fits her so well. She is beautiful, perfect and the most wonderful addition to our family.

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Nolan's Birth Story ~ Rebecca (rmacburn)

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On Monday, March 21st I went to a "post dates" appointment for a NST and a BPP. The obstetrical resident offered a cervical check and a sweep. Since I was 41+2, and my other kiddos came at 10 and 11 days post EDD, I thought a sweep might be just the trick to get things going. I was 2cm dilated and 70% effaced during the check. I headed home at 4pm.

The rest of the evening was pretty normal. I was having some sporadic contractions, similar to the days preceding. I did call my mom to come stay the night, just in case we would need the childcare later. I went to bed at 11pm. During the night contractions woke me up regularly, but I still felt like I was having a good rest. They weren't really uncomfortable and I was getting some decent periods of sleep.

Around 4am (now March 22nd) I decided to get up, eat something and time them for a bit. Once up, they were coming every 2.5-3 minutes, but they were very short. They were only lasting for about 30 seconds or so, and the painful portion of the contraction was even shorter. I also hadn't had a bit of spotting or mucous plug. I was unsure that this was "go time", but I decided, since we needed to pick up our doula, and the drive to our chosen hospital was over an hour, we should start heading out.

At around 5:30am or so, we finally had things in the van and I was helping hubby remove the kid's car seats. At this moment, it started feeling different, and intense. The contractions were one, after the other and very strong, it also felt like my water was going to break at any second. I said to my husband, "I don't think we're going to make it to the city." We made the 10 minute drive to our doula's house and decided to go to our local hospital to "be checked" before continuing.

We arrived there at 6:15am. In the main lobby I felt a little pushy, but I said, "It's just because my water hasn't broke yet." My husband got a wheelchair and we rushed up to the second floor (and he only rammed me into one door frame! lol). I knew they wouldn't be thrilled to see me because I have never been a patient at this hospital. They knew nothing about my history or previous pregnancies... but I had no idea that the obstetrician would be so PO'd about it. We were apparently the "3rd ones that week". Boo hoo! So we had to answer a lot of questions, but my doula and husband were pretty good at covering the basics (lots of extra questions when they discovered I was vbac-ing!) The nurses also read my birth plan quickly and were really excellent.

I made it into their assessment room at 6:30am. They asked me to give a pee sample in this tiny cup... yeah... right... haha I sat on the toilet and my membranes exploded. My doula and the nurse heard it break from outside the bathroom. It took a whole lot of pressure off! I was able to relax for about 2 minutes. At this time, the nurse first checked babe's heart rate and it was pretty low. Around 80 BPM or so. We were a little concerned that it could be a cord prolapse, so she rushed me to the delivery room to put on the continuous monitor belt. I dreaded being in that bed, but I wanted to know baby was ok too. He had a few more little decels during contractions, but he sounded happier in the position I was in. They were guessing the slower rate at times was due to "rapid descent". I was thinking, "yeah right, it took me 3 hours to push my second out, nothing is descending rapidly from there!". I agreed to a check so the nurse could rule out a prolapsed cord. She declared that I was 5-6 cm.

At this point I was feeling really out of control. It was intense and I just couldn't find my zen. My body was just taking me along for a crazy ride. I couldn't believe I was like this at only 5-6cm. I was feeling like I was in transition since leaving our house.

Indeed, just 5 minutes after that check, I was complete and my body involuntarily started pushing (about 7am). I had my eyes closed almost the entire time I was in this room. I was vaguely aware that the doctor arrived and I was being urged into a semi reclined position on my back. I said, "I feel like I'm going to tear if you put me like this..." but no one responded so I just went with it. I also kept saying, "He needs to come out!", so pushing out that head was top priority. :smile:

I was so swollen last time, I didn't get to experience the ring of fire, things just felt numb. This time I did! It was an... experience. lol So after what felt like 3 hours (actually 20 minutes), at 7:21am his head was out and his body slipped out after. What sweet sweet relief!

Nolan was a little shell shocked. The doctor did not delay his cord clamping, although it may not have made any difference because the placenta detached only a minute after he was out. They suctioned him and they took him for a bit to "get him going". I was upset by this because I kept thinking that I did things naturally without drugs, I should be rewarded with my baby (comes from my two previous birth experiences... not because it actually made sense at the time). I was actually pretty weepy that he wasn't in my arms.

The doctor stitched up my tear (along the "dotted line" of my tear/episiotomy scar from my last birth). I consented to the IM shot of pitocin just to avoid the argument that would likely happen if I declined. In my experience, the bleeding that followed was completely normal. There were some little gushes when my fundus was pressed, but that is to be expected. The doctor then said that I was bleeding too much and she wanted the nurse to start an IV and give me a bag of fluid with added pitocin. I said, "Are you sure it's more than normal?". Doctor replied, "I don't know what you're asking me right now? Honestly, we give everyone here an IV with pitocin, so I don't know what normal is. A tsunami and a hurricane is normal, they still kill people. And after they start the IV, I will reach in and remove the clots." This is an OBSETRICIAN, in her fifties, and she doesn't know what normal postpartum bleeding looks like.

I declined the IV (and her hand in my va-jah-jah) and asked to nurse my baby instead. Just on cue, my husband came back in the room with my sweet new baby. He latched on and nursed like a little champ. And I didn't die of a hemorrhage, wonders never cease. :wink:

Baby boy weighed in at 8 pounds 6 ounces, 21 inches long and with a perfectly round 14.5 inch head. He's a lovely little package! Time of birth was 7:21am (51 minutes from first assessment in hospital, to baby), meaning had we continued to our chosen hospital/doctor, he would have been born on the side of the highway. So the doctor was a little shocking, but my short labour and short stay made it bearable, and we didn't have to clean all the lovely fluids of birth out of our van!

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Tessa and Sophie's Birth Story ~ Jules (kiwi_babe)

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WARNING - LONG!

So I have been rubbish at actually doing anything except keeping my head above water with a never-ending cycle of feeding, changing and sleeping over the last week. But I have finally managed to complete my birth story of my twins.

At 40+1 weeks gestation, I went to the hospital for the prostaglandin induction. For the first hour I was strapped to the CTG monitor. Nothing special – I was 2cm dilated and 75% effaced with a soft cervix. The prostin gel was applied at 9.00am and I had to remain on the bed for another hour. During this time I started having increased contractions and by the end I was definitely uncomfortable and desperately wanted to move off my back. For the next few hours I just walked around the room, sat on the gym ball and chatted to DH with intermittent monitoring of the babies (every 30 mins or so). Contractions were coming every three minutes, but to be honest, they were only just marginally more uncomfortable than I had been having for the last few weeks.

At around 2pm I asked my midwife to complete a vaginal examination as I really wanted to know whether the prostaglandin was working so I could make a decision about what to do next. She was reluctant as there was nothing that could be clinically done until 3.00pm when the obstetrician was back on the ward (he was running a clinic somewhere else in the hospital) and/or a decision could be made about attempting another gel application. But I wanted time to discuss my options with DH without having to feel pressurised into making a decision with everyone around. So she completed an examination and I was 4cm, almost completely effaced and very stretchy. Baby A STILL had not come into my pelvis and made good contact with my cervix. At this point, I decided to have a rest and remained on the bed in side lying to chat through the options with DH and my midwife.

Suddenly while I was still resting (around 2.15 or 2.30pm??), my contractions changed in intensity and frequency. This is the point at which I actually feel and it was documented that I was in active labour. I had to stand up and breathe through contractions which came every 2 minutes and around 2.45pm I walked to the bathroom and had a major bloody show. At that point, the midwife and myself realised that this was going to happen very soon and I walked through to a delivery room. As soon as we arrived in the room they placed an IV lure (something we had agreed on prior to labour) for a syntocinon (pitocin) infusion “just in case” of PPH. It was REALLY not easy to keep still in full blown transition, especially as I then started to feel a little pushy.

Foetal monitors were then attached to keep an eye on Baby B and got on the bed, I was checked and fully dilated with bulging membranes. I just rolled onto my side and started pushing at 3.04pm. It was very instinctive and I requested Gas & Air - primarily to have something to focus on during contractions. In my previous labour with DD2, I was hyper aware of everything going on around me; however, this time I was totally focused on my body and only vaguely aware of other people. I could feel something coming out of me…it was the membranes / waters. I knew that the baby could not be born in the caul as the sac was attached to the other twin's so when they asked to break my waters I nodded. My waters burst out and I can remember them covering my feet so they must have been coming at quite a rate!

Baby A presented with a hand (knuckles first) after nine minutes of pushing at 3.13pm. The baby was immediately handed to me by my midwife where I announced to the room that we had another little girl. She was bigger than any of my other babies and covered in vermix so I think that she would have been happy to stay in a bit longer! DH cut the cord when it had stopped pulsing. I completely forgot about everything else as she was all I could focus on – it didn’t even cross my mind that I would have to do this again - I was just so in love.

Apparently as soon as A came out my uterus “fell” to the side so the obstetrician (who had just been waiting in the room while I was pushing) externally applied pressure to return it to midline, he checked internally to make sure that B’s head was presenting (and not a cord) and broke my waters. He then stepped back and let my midwife take over again - that was the extent of his involvement. With my next contraction I delivered B’s head. Totally surprising everyone by B presenting face to pubes - that’s a close up photo which will not be appearing in the family album! One contraction later and 8 minutes after it’s twin, B was out. Covered by a towel and handed to me (placed on top of A who had been on my chest while I birthed B), DH and myself looked between the legs and laughed….another little girl.

After I had delivered both babies a syntocinon/pit infusion was started as the risk of PPH is higher with twin births. Something to do with the size of the placenta attachment site and a hyper-extended uterus which is less likely to contract down effectively following labour?? This stage occurred pretty quickly as well and a single large placenta arrived a couple of minutes later. Hospital policy is for the infusion to run for 6 hours post-delivery; however, after an hour there was no sign of PPH so the IV was stopped. I needed some stitches due to the second degree tear caused by twin A and her presenting hand. This was easily repaired with local anaesthetic.

Both girls latched on and started breastfeeding within 30 minutes of their arrival. After having the repair done, the babies were weighed and measured in the room with me. I never understand why they would have to go off elsewhere for this to be completed? Both babies had Apgars of 9 at one minute and were nice and healthy with just a weight difference. So the final results were:

Tessa Fleur
22/03/11 at 3.13pm
8lbs 2ozs
52cm long, HC 37cm

Sophie Violet
22/03/11 at 3.21pm
6lbs 5ozs
50cm long, HC 35cm

After an hour or so, when the IV was stopped, I got up to have a shower (and a wee!). Got dressed and walked over to the postnatal area of the ward where we all settled down into our new room.

To be honest, apart from the tear (hey ho) the birth really couldn't have gone any better. It was a hard slog to get the birth I wanted but that all work beforehand seemed to pay off and everyone really listened to what I wanted and did not push any interventions that weren't essential. I do feel exceptionally lucky to have had such an "easy" twins birth and know that things could have gone very differently. But I do feel very proud of myself at the moment :).

Now I am just looking forward to life in a chaotic household with four girls for a few years!

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Lauren's Birth Story ~ Amy (asteuck)

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We were scheduled to be induced at 9am on March 18. I didn't get much sleep the night before just like when I was induced with Alyssa! That morning we had to bring Alyssa to my mom's. I thought I was going to have a total meltdown dropping her off but I did alright! Had it been the day before it may have been a different story, I had a completely emotional day on thurs just thinking about how Alyssa wouldn't be my baby anymore and how was I going to handle 2 kids. I must have gotten it all out then! This was Alyssa first time sleeping away from home and me.

Anyway....We got to the hospital at 8:45 to check in. They brought us up to the delivery room and got all the paper work and check in stuff started. My nurse Sarah was so great! Much better experience than the nurse I got with Alyssa. After all the check in stuff was done, IV was in, the Dr came in a broke my water at a little after 10 am. I was still 6cm and about 75% effaced. I had to be monitored for 30 mins before I could get up to walk around. So we walked around the halls going back to get monitored every once in a while. It didn't really do much to start contractions. I did have a couple pretty good contractions but nothing consistant. So at 1pm they started pitocen. I started feeling a couple contractions and decided that I was too much of a wimp to go much longer so I got my epidural right away! I ended up with another perfect epi!! I wasn't feeling contractions but I could still mostly move my legs on my own and could feel some pressure with contractions and when I needed to push. My Dr stopped in to see me (she didnt deliver, Sarah she they dont normally do that!) she said that I was making her pretty nervous and had been thinking about me at home which she normally doesn't do! Didn't take terribly long to finish dilating to 10. I think it was a little after 3 or so Sarah checked me and said I just had a little bit of a lip left on the left side, so I turned on my left for a few minutes before the Dr came in, Sarah informed her, and she checked again too, and they both thought I could probably just push right past it and decided that I could start pushing. Sarah joked that there was another girl down the hall that was fully dilated and starting to push too and that she wanted to beat the other nurse to a baby first!! I started pushing at 3:38, after just a couple contractions of pushing Sarah said this isn't going to be very long at all! After about the 3rd contraction she had me stop pushing so they could get the Dr back in the room and call for back up incase the other girl went fast too! With the next couple contractions I pushed her out (3:55 pm, just 17 mins after I started pushing!) and they put her on my chest! Something I didn't get to experience with Alyssa b/c she was delievered with the help of the vacuum. After a few mins the took her to clean her up more and weigh her. It took the same amount of time, 17 min, to deliver the placenta. I just had a small 1st degree tear, more of a 'skid mark' the Dr said that they stitched up with a couple stitches. She latched and nursed pretty well right away.

After she nursed, Jason went out to get Alyssa. I wanted it to be just the 4 of us at first. She was a little nervous at first b/c I started crying when she walked in!! SHe stood on the bed next to me and looked her over. I think she was more concerned about everything else going on in the room! After my parents, brother and BFF came in she seemed a little more interested in the baby!!

Now she just loves her and is always touching and kissing her! She has been so helpful and wanted to help me change her diaper! If she is crying she'll say "its ok baby sister, hold my hand!"

Lauren Kay
9lbs 2oz
21 in
14 in head circ.
She looks just like her big sister! I'll have to find some pics of Alyssa for comparison!

http://i254.photobucket.com/albums/h...k/013jpg-1.jpg
http://i254.photobucket.com/albums/h...uck/023jpg.jpg
http://i254.photobucket.com/albums/h...uck/113jpg.jpg

On wed we took Lauren for her check up and to the LC to see how things were going. At the LC she ate 4 oz!!! She gonig to be a little oinker!! At the pedi she was already back up and past her birth weight (was 8lbs 8oz when we left hospital) at 9lbs 4oz. And she measured her at 20 in so who knows if they measured wrong or if the hospital did!

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