Hi Everyone,
I wanted to let you know that we have a new son!!!! He is our 3rd child, born on 3/30. He was born at 8:10 a.m. My water broke around 2:30am, so I only had about 5.5 hrs of labor. The girls call him Baby Ty. He is almost 10 lbs and he is very long at just over 22″. I don’t know anyone in our immediate family that had a baby so big. The girls were both around 7.5 lbs. We were expecting this baby to be about the same size since I was the same weight that I was with them. Of course, this is the baby that I decide to birth totally natural at home!
I don’t know if we are more shocked over the fact that he is a boy or his size. My midwives actually asked me if my husband was in shock when our son was born because he was so calm and quiet. But, that is just my husband under pressure. The birth was a beautiful experience. We really wanted to do use hypnosis for childbirth in our Jacuzzi at home. I did all of the labor in our Jacuzzi and it was wonderful. I was able to use the jets on pressure points along my spine. The Birthing Through Hypnosis audio tracks helped me to get into a trance so I didn’t really feel any pain until the last 20-25 min. That is when I started to push him out and realized that he was stuck. His head was coming out, but his shoulders were slamming against my pelvic bone. It was beyond excruciating. So, I had to get out of the tub and switched to the birth throne (a.k.a. the toilet). His head was partially out, but I still couldn’t get his shoulders out. Then, instinct kicked in and I stood up and my husband held on to me tight to keep me from falling. Within 2 pushes, the baby was out. Fortunately, the midwife was right there to keep him from falling into the toilet! It was the best sense of relief in my entire life when his shoulders finally came out. I could never imagine giving birth in a hospital again. This was the best experience and the best medical care that I could have ever imagined. We had 2 midwives and 2 doulas present. One of the doulas flew in from Ireland just for the birth.
He was blue and flaccid from only his head being partially out for so long when he was stuck. All the blood was rushing to his brain to protect him. But, the midwives were able to treat him very quickly and he started breathing and turned pink in less than a minute. It was incredible. So, he actually got very good Apgar scores (7 & 9). Angelina was able to cut his cord, and he started nursing in less than an hour after being born. His head is much bigger than the girls so he barely fits into a Pooh hat that was at least an inch too big for the girls at birth. Also, the newborn t-shirts and diapers barely fit him. He is so chubby. Amazingly, I didn’t tear! My milk came in yesterday morning and he is eating voraciously and loves to sleep. So far, he is just the perfect baby. Amazing!
Love,
C