Michael was born yesterday morning, January 12 at 7:35. He was 7 lb 3 oz and 19 inches long. By 6:30 on the evening of the 11th I was having fairly uncomfortable contractions about 20 minutes apart, and by 11:30pm contractions had been averaging 4-5 minutes apart for about an hour and we headed for the hospital. I was 5cm/90% effaced upon arrival around 12:30am(and thrilled to be that far along!). Things progressed smoothly (albeit uncomfortably) until 2:30am when I was 7cm and having what felt like a completely overwhelming desire to push - I stayed there for the next couple hours and those were by far the hardest hours of labor. Alex and I were both exhausted and with almost every contraction I was trying to keep my body from pushing - but Alex was amazing and kept me calm and focused :)
My water broke when I was 9cm dilated (hurray protein) and by about 6:30 we were finally at 10cm. Our nurse (who was incredible!) helped maneuver Michael past the lip of my cervix which hadn't quite gone away yet and we were pushing. I pushed for an hour and Michael was born at 7:35!
We did end up with an internal fetal monitor for the last 45 minutes or so because they were concerned about his heart rate as we were pushing and the external monitor would not keep a continuous track on him. They also gave me oxygen for most of pushing to help his heart rate. Turns out the cord was wrapped around his neck twice, but it was a long cord and didn't cause any problems.
The ob and nurse had me pushing hard and fast for the whole hour because of the concerns over his heart rate - and I was in no mood to argue because they had made it clear that he needed to get out quickly or else they would help. I started to tear and they suggested a small episiotomy (to control it? I don't know) but I said no. I ended up with a 2nd degree laceration, but got him out without any further interventions, so we think it is well worth it! I was bleeding more than they wanted, so they did some aggressive fundal massage to get the placenta out immediately and then put me on pitocin to help my uterus contract and slow the bleeding. We weren't able to breastfeed immediately because he had already passed meconium in utero (not surprising, as we were at 41w 3d) so the NICU team was there to suppress his breathing immediately after delivery and do some deeper suctioning to prevent him from drawing it into his lungs. It was all in the same room so he didn't leave my site - one of my worst birth fears avoided! As a result his first Apgar was 4, but at 5 minutes it was 8. After they were done I finally got to hold him :)
Everyone who has visited us - nurses, family and friends - has commented on how incredibly alert Michael is and they are very impressed. We attribute this to an answer to our prayers for a strong, healthy baby and a result of being able to give him the gift of a natural birth.
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