Olivia came to stay a week before Timothy was born. It was so wonderful having her here. She helped so much with the kids and gave me a foot rub every night. She's an angel! She watched the kids while I went in for stress tests.
So here's the birth story. I have been practicing relaxation for the past 5 months or so. I read the Hypnbabies book and listened to the CDs. I wanted to try unmedicated birth mostly because I wanted to see what it was like. I don't like having IVs and an epidural. I ended up needing pitocin so I had to have an IV anyway, oh well.
I decided to be induced on Saturday 25th. I was 9 days over my due date, 80% effaced and about at a 4 as far as dilation goes. We went in a 7am and started pitocin at 8am. The contractions started right away, not bad at all. I would just relax my body and get through it. It took until 2pm until I was at 8cm. Up until then the contractions were very manageable, although they got more intense as time went on. As long as I kept my body limp during a contraction it was good! I felt empowered and excited. Because I was at an 8 my midwife thought that delivery was minutes away so she broke my water and turned off the pitocin. Unfortunately labor stalled after that. I was still having contractions but I wasn't making any progress. After two hours (now 4pm) of that I decided to have the pitocin back. That's when it turned a corner and got harder. There were a few contractions that I wasn't able to relax and those were tough. I learned that even though it required all of my focus and energy, if I could remain limp and breathe slowly it made the contractions much more bearable. If I tensed then they were far worse. Paul said it was hard to tell I was in pain because I was so still and silent. But that was the only way to bear it. I've heard women who do hypno-birthing say they are able to deliver pain free and that blows my mind because it sure was painful! My midwife had me move from one side to the other side to move things along, that was difficult. The most painful part was the 4 or 5 contractions before I wanted to push. Those seemed almost unbearable. Pushing was easy and quick. He was born at 4:42pm. I was so exhausted from labor that when they handed Timothy to me it took me a minute to come to. But I loved meeting my baby for the first time. I was very happy to have the delivery I was hoping for and so grateful for a beautiful and healthy baby boy.
The kids came to meet him a few hours afterwards. It is so fun to see them meet their new brother. I love it! We had a few more visitors the next day before we were able to go home. It took us up until we left the hospital to finally pick a name. We went back and forth all day! But I love what we choice. Timothy Paul, we love you!
We have been home for more than 2 weeks now. It's been great having Paul here. He takes care of everything from carpool pick up to cleaning the bathrooms. We are all taking this time to get to know our new baby and adjust to having a new little one.
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