Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Maggie Mae's Birth Story

Maggie Mae’s Birth Story

On the morning of Sept. 11, 2011 I had a couple of good contractions around 3:30 am and thought maybe I should start the herbal induce at 4am.  I figured I would have a couple hours of darkness where my oxytocin levels would be higher and took a chance.  I woke up at 7:20 with what felt like real contractions about 7 minutes apart.  Hmmmm…..  I woke hubby up to go get our contraction sheet and start timing a handful of them.  They looked promising.  I had him stop and get me some breakfast and he took a shower.  I rested and then started timing them again.  They were between 4 and 6 minutes apart for half an hour.  We paged the doctor on call and asked when he wanted us to come in and he didn’t really have an answer for me.  So since it was 30 minutes to the hospital and we didn’t know how long this labor would be since my last was only 8 hours we went ahead and left


(We took my last belly shots on the way out).  I had 3 good contractions where I felt her move down in between some milder ones.  I was glad we were on our way.  We checked in and hubby and his mom started setting up everything while I sat on the bed breathing through contractions.  I felt like I wanted to walk around and did so, but didn’t go very far before I felt like we needed to get back because they were becoming more intense.  Soon though I realized I was having a lot of back pain with each one.  Back labor.  Now I know how it feels, not a very fun way to labor.  It was way more intense than I could imagine.  Now, cue my angel nurse who was also like a doula (her last was born in water).  The angels singed at this point.  Someone was watching over me for sure and they knew I needed a nurse exactly like Kristin.  She had me laboring standing up, on the toilet rocking and swaying and finally squatting on the bed over the back edge.  She knew exactly what I needed.  I did end up on my back and with the back labor I don’t think I could have squatted for long enough to push her out.  At 9 centimeters I let them break my water because she was still pretty high up and I needed a little push I guess to just push her out and I trusted Kristin and really at this point I would do anything to have her out (I even asked for a c-section 15 minutes before she was out).  I needed relief from this back labor, it was so intense, it was nothing I’ve ever felt in my life.  I should note that the back labor is all my fault since I chose to recline in a chair to watch a movie two days before and she swung to the back and I noticed this because her hiccups were not up front anymore and I kicked myself for doing that because the next night I tried to get her to swing back.  I asked Kristin for a break at this point, you know just 20 minutes to get my act together and really push with the contractions.  Kristin’s like, nope, you gotta push her out, your body isn’t going to give you a break until then.  This is when I cussed.  Heh.  I can’t remember what Kristin said, but she was like ok.  I started fighting the contractions at this point because I really wanted that break.  Heh.  I did push with the ones I couldn’t resist any longer and made good progress with those and felt her really move down.  Finally her head was peaking out a little and I got to touch it.  Then a little more and I really savored touching her head.  At this point I asked everyone if they thought it was weird to tell everyone in the room that I loved them. J  It was just Dave, Kristin, and the doctor (who was on-call and even though it was not my primary doctor I think I liked him better, shhhhh, don’t tell).  Kristin said two good more pushes.  I think I still wanted to resist, didn’t.  I think it was 3 more. J  It was so different from James’ pushing phase.  I felt her head crown and then pop out and then her whole body slide out, which was really cool to feel.  There was also a true knot in her cord.  She didn’t breastfeed nearly as early as James’ did, but she is a champion little nurser.



 We were the only ones there and they brought the scale to us so she could continue to nurse. : )


We are so in love.  She is the sweetest little thing.

Magdalena "Maggie" Mae Holt
Born: September 11th, 2011
9lbs 2oz and 20 inches

3 comments:

  1. Cathy, you may not remember me but I am from MDC (lawmama1984). I'm so so so so happy for you and I loved reading Maggie Mae's beautiful birth story! What a big, healthy girl and wow! A true knot!!!

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  2. She is darling and large, as she should be, Mrs. Holt! Oh, and Mrs. Holt I am flabbergasted at the breastfeeding pix you have posted! (Inside joke folks, not a true statement but tell that to her!)Can't get Rod Stewart's song out of my head now. And love the name. Hope she gets lots of froo-froo, in Michigan that is. Congratulations. G. Ingram, MGV

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  3. Congrats! I am climbergirl from MDC. I am so happy for you all! A true knot is amazing, she must have really been active in there. Hope you are having a wonderful babymoon :)

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