Happy Birthday!

Well, belated happy birthday to...ME and to my son who was born on my 33rd birthday, July 30th, 2008! There's no scrapbooking in this post, no freebies, no layouts (haven't had time yet, LOL). THIS post is all about Julen and his way to this world. It was by far the best delivery out of the three, I must say. Started veeeeery slow but in the end we almost didn't make it to the delivery room! So....here's the story (not only for you, Aly:-))

On July 29th I went to hospital and they said they'd induce me the next day. It looked like the baby was coming a little biggie for my tiny shell. I didn't protest, he was already well overdue and the last thing I wanted was for him to get to big to pass. I was scheduled for the next morning at 8. I had been 2 cm dilated for 2 weeks but the cervix was not ripe yet, only 20% effaced. They gave me prostaglandines, connected me to CTG and sent me to bed. After 4 long hours of not much of a progress (2-3 cm&20-30% effaced) they suggested a pitocin drip first but in the end we agreed on breaking waters and see what would happen. They connected an IV with some kind of liquid (to keep you hydrated and with energy since you can't eat or drink) and I got up and started bouncing on a gym ball to help the dilatation. The ball was quite small for me though so I ended up on my feet, with my MP3 plugged in my ears and...dancing! There was not much room to walk because of the IV and cables of the CTG so dancing was the only thing I could do. The midwifes seemed to be quite entertained, LOL! Anyway, after breaking the waters I was having nice, strong, regular contractions but...at 4 pm I was still at the same. So we agreed on including a bit of pitocin in the show. At 6 pm, after another 2 hours of nonstop dancing (twist, salsa, merengue....:-)) there was finally some progress - 4 cm and 50% effaced. The shift had changed and the new midwife, Belen, was quite happy with it. She had said before that once I have effaced completely it would be VERY fast. And she was sooo right....my neigbor in the room had been stuck at 5 cm forever and since the baby was buttocks down they told her they'd give her last chance and if she didn't progress they'd do a C-section. They came to check on us again at 7.15pm and while the other girl was indeed sent to have a CS I marked another little progress - 6 cm and 70% effaced!!! About time after all the dancing...I got up to my feet again after the check, Belen (the MW) doubled the pitocin dosis at that moment and went to prepare things for the CS of the other girl. When she came back after about 10 minutes I was not dancing anymore but resting against the wall and in the middle of the preparations I told her I was feeling the head of the baby coming down! She ordered me to jump to bed and checked, the head was there! She laughed and said we'd not make it to the delivery room! But then she told me to push a bit with the next contraction and then said we still had a bit of time to make it. In the delivery room they gave me the option to choose the position to give birth (very surprising considering local conditions!). I didn't have to think twice and positioned myself almost seated. With the first push the tip of the head came out but I couldn't see it. So Belen grabbed one of the metal trays that was there and gave it to hubby to hold it in front of me as a mirror. It was ABSOLUTELY AMAZING to see it!!! I almost forgot to push! LOL Well, the contractions got somehow weaker and it took me about 10 minutes to get the head out, with the help of Belen massaging and stretching the perineum. No wonder, the head circumference was 37,5 cm! Once the head was out she unwrapped the umbilical cord that was around Julen's neck and caught the rest of the body that came like nothing, at exactly 8.08 pm. She put him on my chest immediately, covered him with blankets and checked him. He only gave a short cry so we could see he was fine (and haven't cried more until today, actually!!!). And then it was over....oh man, I could just live those moments again and again and again...someone got a replay button for those? LOL Sooo....we're both just fine, Julen was 3870 g and 52 cm (ca. 8.6 lb and 20.5 in), quite a big boy! I have some stitching inside (luckily no episiotomy needed) but I'm recovering very quickly, belly's almost flat again and I'm gaining strength, mainly due to the fact that the little one is extremely good, he doesn't cry, he sleeps well so far and eats like a maniac:-) He had his first feed shortly after birth, latched very well and has been gaining weight since. He didn't even lose any of his birth weight!:-) Anyway, it's getting late, hope you liked the birth story:-) I must say it was the BESTEST:-) b-day present I could have got!!!:-) And to finish, some photos: