July 24, 2006

The birth story

All my children were born before their due date (Teddy 3.5 weeks early and Benedict 1 week early) so I was expecting this one to be early too. He was born only 4 days before the due date so he was almost full term. My other labors were also very quick (3.5 and 4 hours, I don't include Cecilia's birth in the statistics she was a special situation) so this time when I woke up at 6:40 am feeling that I might be in labor (I had a very strong contraction and something went "snap" inside my belly, I felt it and heard it!) I thought I would have time to take a shower, check my hospital bag, let Dominic and my mom sleep for a little longer etc. By the time I was taking my shower I already was in pain. After waking up Dominic, I woke up my mom at 7:15 and a few minutes later Domi and I left for the hospital. In the car I was having strong contractions and we almost decided to go to the local hospitaal (Swedish is 30 minutes away from my home). Dominic ran through all the red lights went 80 mph on the highway, missed an exit and I was already screaming in pain. When we got there a nurse checked me and I was 4, a few minutes later in the delivery room the doctor checked me and I was 8 and I immediately felt like pushing. I pushed about 4 times and there was the baby at 7:57 am, 1 hour and 17 minutes after I woke up.
I was very lucky to get to the hospital in time (I was there for about 20 minutes before the baby came). I was also lucky to catch Dr Harding right at the end of his shift. He is the doctor who delivered Cecilia and he is the one I was hoping will deliver this baby too. But as Dr Harding said "you got 2 wishes out of 3": I got my successful VBAC (vaginal birth after Cesarean), I got him to assist my delivery but I did not get an epidural because there was no time. Good thing we mothers forget the pain soon after.
Since the birth was so fast the recovery was very long. I was still in significant pain about an hour after. They said that my brain still thinks I'm in labor. I was only able to hold the baby after about an hour.
His Apgar scores were 9 and 9.

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