Friday, November 16, 2007

I'm in love..


Hi everyone! It's Bianka again. I love my baby. She's sooooooo cute and kissable! This is Madeline, 2 days old.


John certainly did a good job keeping everyone updated on here. He was such an amazing support person for my labor. He picked up on my needs so fast and did everything just right. He was an amazing coach!


I had people asking me random questions here and there about my labor, so I'll try to answer most of them. The experience was nothing less than awesome. I am SO GLAD that I had the baby at home! Here is a little summary of things from my point of view.


The midwife broke my water around 8:15pm, and as John explained, wasn't entirely sure she had been successful. She said the bag seemed a little tougher than normal, and on top of that the baby was low so there was no gush of fluid. A little while after that I had a really strong contraction and had a sense that this was actually going to be the real thing. I was on the bed trying to breathe through them. I started to puke and the midwife handed me a bowl so I could get rid of my chinese food that I had eaten earlier at around 5pm. She asked John to fill up the tub for me (it was my desire to have a water birth) and before it was even full I was asking to get in because the contractions were coming on so strong. So off came all of my clothes and into the tub I climbed! I asked the midwife if she wanted me to put on a swim suit top, and she told me if I was ok with being naked then so was she.


I got down into the water nice and deep and laid on my side and tried to breathe through the contractions some more. The warm water helped me relax a lot, which made the pain more tolerable. John poured warm water over my body to help even more. Around 10:40-ish I guess, I had a contraction with this crazy unbearable feeling to push. It was so strange! My body seemed to kind of take over the whole process on its own at that point. I heard my voice grunting through each contraction. Those contractions actually were much more tolerable than the ones where I was just in pain. I asked John with a grunt where Robin (the midwife) was and immediately she was with me. When the next contraction was over she checked me and said I was ready to go!


It was starting to get intense and I asked John to get into the tub with me. He practically jumped in and got water all over the place. It was kind of funny. I leaned back into him and that made me feel a lot better. I was grunting and pushing for a bit, then decided that in that position I couldn't quite get my knees far enough apart. I got onto my hands and knees and slid my knees all the way apart in the water and that felt good. It also helped the baby come out, cuz all of a sudden she was almost there and I could feel her head moving through my bones. It was very painful, but such an amazing feeling.


I was really grunting super loud at this point, but it seemed the most effective way to do things. When her head was almost out is when I did some really super strong pushes while holding my breath. I was still on my hands and knees with my butt pointed at the midwife (nice visual, eh?). She asked me to stop pushing for a moment, cuz the baby decided to come through with her fist next to her head. Ouch! John said Robin put both of her hands up in there and did some manipulating, and with a couple of more pushes she was out and John caught her! The baby actually did a little bit of squeaking while she was just head out and her body still in. THAT was strange, hearing something crying from your vagina! Haha..


So I flipped over and they handed her to me. To be totally honest, I didn't get that overwhelming rush of emotion that I have had so many mothers tell me they experienced. I guess to me it was like just meeting someone new.. I looked at her and held her and observed her. She latched onto my breast really strong and quickly within a few minutes of birth. I'd say within an hour though, I was totally in love with my sweet baby girl.


While I was sitting in the tub getting to know my new daughter, my placenta came out. I felt more "emptied" when that came out than when the baby came out. Strange! However, the midwife said it was the biggest placenta she had ever seen, and that the bag was like a 10-ply rubber bag. Perhaps that is why I never went into real labor on my own?


John gave you most of the baby statistics already.. 8lbs 4oz (which John guessed right on the nose), 21 inches long, 13.5inch head circumference plus a fist, and only a minor skin tear, no stitches! Robin said that if it wasn't for the baby's fist, I might have not torn at all, and the labor time might have been cut in half. (As if 3.5 hours from breaking the water to birth isn't short enough, geez.) Am I bragging? Maybe a little.. =) I do feel very lucky that everything went so smoothly and easily though.


Getting used to breast feeding was tough last night. She just couldn't be satisfied and I was really starting to worry that I wasn't making anything for her to eat. Turns out, she's just a baby that likes to suck. John went and got a pacifier for her and now she's content between feedings. I still worry that I am not feeding her well enough since the real milk probably won't come until tomorrow or Sunday, so until I see real milk I'll wonder.


That's all for now. John and I are both quite sleepy and are taking advantage of the new grandparents being here. So off to bed I go!

7 comments:

Jenn Ann said...

YAY!!! No wonder Maddie didn't want to come out - she was hanging out in your 5 star womb!

What is with babies coming out with their fists?!

Oh and you get to brag a little about a 3.5 hour labor...because you went natural and had to wait FOREVER for Maddie to come out!

Anonymous said...

SHE IS JUST ADORABLE...I LOVE LOVE LOVE HER COLORING...TOO CUTE!! FEEDINGS WILL GET EASIER I PROMISE (HARD TO BELIEVE THE FIRST FEW WEEKS THOUGH)! YOU ARE A SUPER MOMMY!

karinski said...

haha Jenn! 5 star womb! Sooo cute she is! And soooo different looking than her first minutes. I guess the experience was also tiring for her because now she looks refreshed and rested. Awwwwww. I want to meet her now!!!
She is so blonde! and a little freckle under her eye. tee hee.

Anonymous said...

At the bowling alley Barbara was saying that Maddie looked like John and Gerti said she looked like Otto. I'm sitting there thinking right, it looks like a baby thats all. When I saw the pic's I couldn't believe it , she does look like John. Poor Maddie!! Just kidding! Congratulations the baby looks great. Love Bill & Eva

Anonymous said...

Big John,
You can tell who the daddy is...
I'll pray for the child!

Uncle Jim

Anonymous said...

Bianka and John,
Madeline is beautiful! Can't wait to meet her!!

Jim may be praying for the baby, but how about some prayers for me, the woman who lives with him???

Hope to see your happy family at Thanksgiving...can't wait to kiss that little blonde head...Madeline, not John!

Kimberly

Queen B said...

she is gorgeous :) you are definitely Wonder Woman :)