7 semanas
Friday 23 January 2009
actividad
se supone que deberia estar activa despues de darle la teta. A veces coopera.
y a veces no.
y a veces no.
birth story
Aca va la historia de como fue que Ana llego al mundo. Esta en ingles, porque la escribi para una revista local de padres, pero espero traducirla pronto. Es muy larga, pero aca va...
It all started on Sunday 30th of November. I was 37 weeks and 2 days. I woke up at midday as I had gone to sleep really late the last two nights because I had a friend visiting from Argentina. I felt strange that day. Something had changed. My belly had visibly dropped. I had a relaxing day, finally ordering Ana’s – the baby’s- room and doing my hospital bag. There were a few things I still needed to buy –nursing bras and some nighties for hospital. In the evening, Pete, my husband, went to a Primal Scream concert. When he was out, I texted him and he did not see the text until he came home. We started joking about ‘what if I had texted you or called you because I was in labour?’ He arrived at around 11pm. Half an hour later I felt I had wet myself. I thought it could be my waters breaking since it felt different from the few times I had leaked a bit when sneezing or laughing. But I was not sure. It felt as if it just happened – I did not feel I wanted to pee, or like a leak, but it just dripped out and it was clear. I checked some books and they said that of the water have broken, then it should be worse when lying down, and stop a bit when sitting or standing, as the head would act as a ‘cork’, but with me, it was the opposite. Also we started wondering about the order of things – shouldn’t the show come first, or the plug? The thing is we could not believe it was real labour.
At around midnight I started having mild period pains that came and went. We went to bed and I tried to get some sleep. I could not sleep but rested in bed on my side. At around 2 am, the tightening feeling began to intensify a bit, ad I paced around and put the tens machine on my back. This was real- our baby was on its way! We were both really excited. In the meantime, I started getting a reddish discharge, what I guessed was the show. We started timing the contractions – using the ‘contractions master’ online! Around four in the morning and they were coming every four minutes, lasting 35-40 seconds. I could not be bothered continuing timing them as I could not be still and talk when a contraction was coming, but Pete realised when one was coming when I raised my hand and changed my breathing. I was using breathing techniques to cope with the contractions, some that I had learnt in my yoga class, and some that I had read about in Ina May’s book on childbirth. Basically breathing out when a contraction came and later on, making noises helped a lot too! It was really like a wave, and it helped to think that the contraction was going to peak soon and then I will get some rest. It also helped to think that each contraction was working towards opening up and getting ready to have my baby. The plug came out at some point. I was coping well with the tens machine. I tried having a bath but did not feel comfortable in it and got out. All the time it felt as if I need to poo, but couldn’t and spent a lot of the time sitting in the toilet, as it was the most comfortable position to be in- or leaning against a wall. I decided I wanted to shower as I could not face the idea of feeling disgusting during labour, and manage to shave my legs too! The hours seem to pass by quickly, my sense of time was totally gone. I had bought massage oils, candles, and all the works but did not feel like doing anything but concentrate on what was happening. All this time, Pete kept asking me if I needed anything, if I wanted to eat, etc, but left me to it as I did not want anything. Just water. He brought all the bits and pieces that we needed for the hospital together, prepared sandwiches and had an English breakfast at 6 in the morning. He was great all along. At around seven in the morning we started timing the contractions again and they were coming every two to three minutes and getting longer, almost a minute long. But I was coping well. From all the stories I have heard of labour I was expecting the worse to come. At eight we called the hospital and they wanted to talk to me. They talked to me and heard me through a contraction, and then told me if I could still cope, then I should try to stay at home as long as possible. I did not feel like going to hospital, as I did not want to get out of the house only to come back and also the thought of being examined was not pleasant. The hospital was only fifteen minutes away anyway. From then on, time seemed to go slower, and the contractions started to get more intense. At 10:30 am we decided we should go in soon. We called and said we were coming in and asked for the room with the birthing pool. As we were getting ready to go, I suddenly felt we needed to go NOW. I felt like pushing! We threw all the things in the car an off we went. There was no traffic and we arrived there at 11:30. I was told to wait in the waiting room for what seemed like ages but where just minutes. In the meantime, Pete went to get all the things from the car and to park. I felt I could not walk or move too much at all. It was too much of an effort. I was told to go to a room to be examined and I could hardly get my jeans off! - to say nothing of lying down on a bed. I finally managed to do it and the midwife calmly told us that she would ask someone else to come as she thought she could see a foot! Then she asked my partner – ‘would you mind pressing that red button behind you?’ We could hear the bell in the ward go off! The midwife tried to stay calm, but it was obvious a kind of emergency! The baby was breech and it was coming out! A doctor and more midwifes came in and confirmed that it was a foot and told me I was completely dilated. They decided to let her come naturally instead of the usual c-section reserved for breech babies. More people arrived, but I was not paying much attention to that. They asked me if I wanted gas and air and I said no. I did not want anything, no distractions, I just wanted to push. I was pushing with the contraction and Pete and the midwives cheered me on. The legs came out first and I felt something strange, as if she was about to come in again, but when I asked they told she was doing the can-can! I kept pushing and the bum and then the body came out. The head came last and it was the hardest bit. I don’t remember the whole birth being very painful, it was more of a relief after a hard push that actual painful pain if that makes any sense. I had an episiotomy but I did not even realise they had done one until they told me later. At 12:46 Ana Rosaura Newell was born. The placenta came straight out too. They put her on me when she was born, and it was an amazing feeling- all sticky and warm. They whisked her off then. I asked Pete to go with her. They told us that breech babies often have trouble breathing as the head comes last. So she had to get help breathing. But after 10 minutes they returned her to me. She was tiny! 2.290 kilos 5 pounds 1’. She was just the most amazing little thing in the world.
Saturday 10 January 2009
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