Update to water broke at work: fast, unmedicated water birth

Tl;dr: Water broke at 4:30 PM, admitted at 8 PM at 9.5 centimeters, Tobin was born at 10:10 PM. 8 lbs exactly, 20.75 inches long. 3rd degree tear and non-emergency post-partum hemorrhage, but we're both doing great!

I posted on Wednesday that my water broke at 4:30 at work at 39+1, after losing my mucus plug earlier that morning. I hadn't had a cervical check yet, so I have no idea whether/how much I was dilated. I'd had constant Braxton Hicks contractions for months, but no signs of labor before Wednesday. 

I called my husband to let him know, then called the Birth Center. I really hoped to avoid induction, so I was a little worried about labor getting started on its own. I felt a couple little twinges in the car on the way home that I figured were probably minor contractions.

I got home and put on a big pad (it just kept gushing!), and did some last-minute chores. The midwife called at 5:17, and I let her know that I'd been having minor contractions, and in fact was having one then and obviously it wasn't very intense. She asked us to call again around 7:30. Husband did a quick Target run for labor snacks, then made me a sandwich. I ate maybe half of it and just started feeling...icky. Almost-nauseous.

I bounced on a yoga ball for a little while working through contractions while we (tried) to watch Twin Peaks. We watched about 13 minutes before I was really having to focus to get through them. My contractions rankled up so quickly. We pulled our little kitchen island to the living room (with AC), and put a pillow on top, and I leaned over that, low-moaning my way through each contraction while my husband rubbed my back. 

Husband called the midwife around 7:30 to let her know my contractions were roughly a minute long and two minutes apart. She could hear me coping in the background and asked us to come in to get checked. You guys, contractions suck, and I was so worried they were going to say I was barely dilated and had a long, miserable labor ahead of me. I tried not to think about it too much, but I was scared. 

But then, right before we walked out the door, I barfed in the kitchen sink. I knew that could be a sign of transition, so, as miserable as I was, and as impossible as it seemed that soon, it gave me a little hope that I was progressing well.

The ride was not fun, but I pretty much kept my eyes closed and moaned the whole way there. Had a contraction in the parking lot, had a contraction just before the midwife checked me...and said I was 9.5 cm. 

9.5 centimeters! In less than four hours since my water broke! Husband and I responded with a simultaneous "Holy shit."

We picked our room, and I sat on the toilet while they filed the tub. I knew the urge to poop was really the urge to push...but I really felt like there was some poo waiting in line! When I said I wanted to sit on the toilet a minute, the midwife responded, "That's fine. When he starts coming, move forward." 😂

I did not start pushing on the toilet, but did pretty quickly after getting in the tub. I tried a few positions, but ended up most comfortable sitting/lying back with my legs up on the sides of the tub. Pushing was haaaaard. I felt like I was going to split in half when he (I assume) descended through my pelvis. And the ring of fire. Oh man. I don't want to scare anyone because you can totally do it! But it is a total mind fuck to force yourself to push through that pain. The noises I made were so primal and animalistic. It was so frustrating feeling like I lost my progress every time. I wasn't really, and my husband, the midwife, and the nurse kept reassuring me that I was doing great, that they could see him come further each time. They also had me reach down to feel the top of his head. It felt so soft and squishy!

Some people appreciate the breaks between contractions during the pushing phase (I did start to fall asleep during them)--I hated them! I just wanted to get it done, and I had to psych myself up all over again with each contraction.

Finally, finally his head popped out! It hurt like hell, but was such a relief at the same time. I had finally done it! They guided my husband's hands down so he could deliver our baby with the next contraction. He looked at me with tears in his eyes, a grin on his face, so proud and encouraging of me and said, "I'm holding our baby. I can feel his nose!" One more contraction and I pushed his body out, and they pulled him up to my chest. He was born at 10:10 PM, and he was perfect.

They immediately drained the tub, and I moved to the bed to deliver the placenta, leaving a trail of blood the whole way. When it stopped pulsing, husband cut the cord. I know we're biased, but we made a pretty stinking cute baby! He was pretty calm and content that first night, and really alert anytime he was awake.

So I ended up with my dream birth! But post-partum was a little rough. I have a third-degree tear that took a while to stitch up, and I lost quite a bit of blood. Lots of fundal "massages," multiple medications to stop the bleeding, and sloooow progress towards being able to stand up and walk. I had to get a catheter, which sucked, and they couldn't get an IV placed to give me fluids. They ended up transferring me to the hospital for better monitoring. My bleeding was under control, but they were considering a transfusion because I was so slow to recover. Ended up not needing one, but they gave me a lot of fluid, and that along with time (and instructions to take iron) and I was in good shape. We left the hospital at four PM, almost 24 hours after my water broke. Everything is puffy and and sore down below, lots of pressure when I'm standing. Or sitting. Haha. Peeing surprisingly doesn't hurt at all, but I'm scared for my first poo!

We were slow to tell people, but still had visitors almost all day. Looking back, I wish we'd spent more of the day sleeping because that's all Tobin did all day, we were exhausted, and his first night home was rough. But we're figuring out a routine, and I'm really lucky to have my husband home with me for a month. We basically traded off a few hours at a time last night.

Breastfeeding is...okay? Challenging. Painful, and I don't know if it's normal getting started pain or bad latch pain. I'll probably call the lactation consultant soon.

Baby tax!