Tuesday, September 6, 2011

"He will come out spinning"

I am typing this with one hand with Frankie Nolan or "Bean" as Stephen calls him sleeping in the other. (IDK if he will like the nickname bean but I guess we will find out.) He is 10 days old and I should probably document his birth. Since I am not a good journal writer and Stephens journal is clearly written by a man(lack of details) I will write his birth story here before I forget more then I already have. I will not be putting any gross details in it so men you are welcome to read (well to me they aren't gross). Plus instead of telling everyone my story I can send them here!
First off I took my natural childbirth Hypnobabies class trying to educate myself. I hear so many horror stories of birth. The majority of the horror stories I hear are actually of people who used medication. Most women who I spoke to who did natural childbirth had a positive experience (or they are all just crazies :)) But I had a lot of pressure from both sides telling me to do things a certain way. What I wanted from my experience was for it to be positive and beautiful and not at all like the movies portray things but for me how God sees it. Anyway, after you read my birth story you will see it didn't go EXACTLY as planned but I did get everything that I wanted (no c section and a positive experience) SOOO for those who are having a baby in the future make sure you do your education! It doesn't matter if you want to use the meds or not... Do what you feel is right! Don't just do what everyone else does, what your doctor tells you is right or what you are pressured to do....

Anyway.... Frank Nolan----

Stephen always would joke that he would come out spinning on a snowboard. I always thought it was funny but that is exactly how he came out... no joke. And at the time it wasn't to funny. We were praying that the baby would come that weekend of his due date because we really didn't want to be induced at all. And he came just when we wanted. Thursday night Hank and Stacy came to stay with us for a night before they tried to catch a flight back to NYC. That night I had some contraction but i didn't really think anything of them since I got them a lot that week. I went to bed and woke up at 2 am. My contractions were 2 minutes apart like clock work and strong. I waited a hour and listened to Stephen snore as I sat on my ball with Max. I DID NOT want to go to the hospital and get sent home. But since they kept getting worse I woke Stephen up and he got everything ready. I thought my contractions were suppose to start far apart and get to 2 mins apart later on so I wasn't expecting it. I put hypnobabies on to get in focus. At five we went to the hospital. They were still like clock work until they put me on the monitor. They still were coming often just not like clock work like they were before. She checked me and I was at a 1 booooo. She said the contractions were coming close together one after another because the baby was POSTERIOR.... which means he was running into my back causing crazy back labor. I didn't want to be stuck there so we went home. I felt bad because Stephen and Hank were planning on going mountain biking. So I took some pain reliever and slept for 4 hours while Stephen went Mountain biking. Yes I let him... he was amazing during labor and he didn't just leave me alone. Plus I had Stacy if I really needed someone.
When I woke up they were still coming regularly. I got in the tub and tried to stay hydrated which isn't easy when your are throwing up constantly. The water unfortunately did not stay warm so that relaxing tool didn't work out. I tried for about a hour all these exercises that would help switch a posterior baby.... It didn't work. My back pain was getting worse and worse and keeping water down was no good. I was still so calm and excited and didn't freak out. All because of my hypnobabies class. Finally when the pain was really bad I went back into the hospital. Time was pretty much a blur so I think it was around fiveish. They checked me and I was at a six almost seven. I stayed there for a while longer. But the fact that my labor was extremely close together I thought I would have been at the final transition period but sadly no. Since Frankie was posterior he would just run into my back instead of my cervix so really I was lucky to be were I was!! My doctors really were supportive of my going natural but he didn't want me to have a c section so he informed me that the baby would probably take a lot longer to dilate any further and contractions would stay the same. To be able to switch Frankie from posterior I had to be at a 10. I was having bad back pressure waves for a long time and I knew I would be pushing a long time. Not only that but they had to have me on a IV because I was so dehydrated. They put 5 liters in me and still I was very dehydrated and was throwing up my jello and crackers. Both Stephen and the Nurses told me I could do it without a epidural if I wanted. Stephen was super supportive and a great coach! Stephen and I said a prayer and felt right to get the epidural... because I was so dehydrated and didn't want to be pushing for a long time and end up getting a c section because I couldn't keep anything down. I told the doctor that I didn't want a strong one so I could still move. He did a great job I could still feel the contractions just not as strong I could still feel my legs. I was so grateful that he knew what he was doing. My contractions were still strong like crazy. My parents showed up because they were worried I had to get c section (My dad said I was the calmest lady in labor he has ever seen-- Thanks to Hypnobabies) After giving me a pinch (1/10 of what he usually gives patients) of pit I was at a 9 at nine ish o'clock. He still couldn't get in to Frank to switch him and Frank really wasn't descending at all!!!! So at a nine he broke my water, I started pushing to try to get to a 10. After a half an hour of pushing with the doctors help he rotated Frank. He left me with Stephen and the nurse (who was great) and I continued to push. The nurse check me and saw that Frank had switch back to posterior. I told her I felt him switching and I thought he was spinning in there. She thought that was weird and called the doctor in. Frank was back to anterior... Then when the doctor left and she check him he was back to posterior. So he LITERALLY came out spinning..... Stephen is so proud... After the doctor left I pushed for 2 more hours... the doctor came in through out the whole thing and saw that he was still not descending... I could tell he was concerned but him and the nurse were very supportive and helped coach me longer. At two hours I was close enough for the doctor to help me... he was amazed that I was able to push him down enough... He told me all other patients would have had a c section with how far up Frank was. He got another doctor and his forceps and with my pushing we got Frank Nolan out at 12:11 am Saturday. The other doctor had to jump/push down on my stomach while I was pushing while my doctor got Frank out. It must have been crazy for Stephen to watch this.... Looking at baby Frankie for the first time was exactly how I wanted it to feel... It was amazing and I don't want to forget that feeling. I didn't get the natural childbirth that I wanted but I was so grateful for the way everything happen. The doctor said if Frank wasn't posterior he would have come extremely fast because of how I was contracting and because I was natural for so long. So hopefully his siblings get that memo.

My mom delivered her first with forceps..... My grandma delivered my dad who was the second child with forceps... so I guess it was meant to be. Luckily with my pushing and good doctor Frank didn't get to many marks and his head came out normal....
Oh and I strongly suggest Hypnobabies to everyone... Its great natural or not... you do have to practice it to make it work!

Well here are few photos.... if you made it through that story congratulations....... so far this week Frank has welcomed me to motherhood by pooping on, peeing on and projectile spitting up on me ... (Stephen is very helpful and has had many chances for that to happen but Frank seems to avoid doing any of those things on him).







We are taking some photos this weekend and I will add a lot more... Since that's what you all want! Oh and the recovery is going great... I feel great even with all my stitches. (he did come out like a torpedo so some damage was done)

12 comments:

Aria said...

great story Rosie! You're so strong. Thanks for writing it all out. That was a lot of pushing. He is so handsome too! Glad you had a positive experience friend!

Bethany said...

Hurray Rosie! he is adorable! Congrats.

marian said...

WHOOOHOOOO Rosie - you are a champ. I'm so glad your classes and training helped so much! I've never heard of anyone not being 100% happy with hypnobirthing - I'm glad you were no different. Frank is PRECIOUS!!! I want to kiss him so bad, but flying is out for the next 5 weeks for me. So, kiss him for me and tell him Daddy needs to be marked with bodily fluids too.

Jessica said...

He is amazingly handsome and you Hunky are going to be amazing parents!! Can't wait to meet the little man!!

Jennilee said...

hey congrats, sorry it didn't happen exactly the way you wanted it, but its perfect since you and him are doing well!! congrats to ya'll!!

Tunes & Spoons said...

I really enjoyed reading your birth story. Thank you SO much for sharing. John and I are expecting our first baby girl in January. I have considered using Hypnobabies and you have convinced me to look in to it! Thanks so much, Frank is BEAUTIFUL! You did such a fantastic job!

DAVID BOREN said...

Great story Rosie! You are amazing!!! We'd like to come up and see little Frank sometime. Let us know when you think he's old enough for his grubby little Pleasant Grove cousins to stop by for a visit. Love you guys.

Katie Mumm said...

Jedd and I read the whole story together. Jedd said to say 'Your AMAZING, and that sounds way harder than a 130 gap jump', and I wanted to say congrats. I love your story, and am really glad that everything went well. I love that you studied hypnobabies and did everything that you could to be natural, and then had just a low dose epidural. We're excited for you! And jedd thinks he looks like Stephen ;)

Steph said...

Ok so he's adorable...let's just put that out there. Some babies are just not cute when they come out and to those parents you say something vague like "oh your baby is so sweet" but seriously your baby is A-dorable! So cute! Cute as a button! On top of that, I read your whole story Rosie and you are my hero. I will look into hypnobabies for my next one. My first epidural was perfect, but my second was a DISASTER! So...I am looking into other ways for the 3rd one.

Megan Hollenback said...

wow thats crazy! im glad everything went bell and cute lil frankie is here! congrats stephen and rosie :)

Unknown said...

Oh my gosh, I loved this story! I am happy you didn't have to get a C-Section, that totally scares me. Little Frank is seriously such a cute baby. I know you're thinking "well duh!" but no seriously, he is SO cute!

Congrats!! :)

emily, etc, etc said...

Well done Rosie!!! It is good you learned on your first that it is best to do what feels best for you. People get so pushy and opinionated when it comes to childbirth. I am glad it was positive.

By the way, my oldest was born using forceps also and the other three weren't; so there is hope for Frank's sibs. He is perfect baby. Congratulations.