She is Here!!!
Baby girl arrived near the end of July. It was a crazy long labor but all ended well. The short version of the story is that baby’s head was asynclitic, meaning it was tilted toward her shoulder, which made dilation extremely slow and uneven, and caused the pushing stage to also take a very long time. It was certainly intense. We can’t say enough good things about our midwife, our doulas (we highly recommend parents to be consider hiring one, and our doulas from the Birthing Boutique were especially wonderful), and our nursing team. K was the best support also, providing physical support in form of massage or counter-pressure, and tons of emotional support and encouragement.
After various position changes, some changes to the original plan, some strategies that worked and some that didn’t, I was dilated enough to push. It got a bit scary at the end when baby had trouble getting under the pubic bone due to the position of her head and vacuum or forceps use or a c-section were mentioned, but working together with our team and some help to get her head turned a bit I was able to push baby girl out. Hear heartbeat and overall handling of the contractions was perfect the entire time which we’re so grateful for because otherwise we may not have been able to continue for the 45 hours it took!
We truly believe everyone’s prayers and thoughts for a good outcome were what ensured we didn’t have to resort to those other measures and that everyone was healthy and in good shape after the birth. It was great to know so many people were thinking of us and waiting anxiously to hear of baby’s arrival!
I’ve since made a good recovery, and we’re now in the thick of things with this new adventure of parenthood. Here are some pictures!
