As promised here i am... Izaak was breastfed until around 10mths from around 9mths old he started weaning himself so feeds were slowly cut out until he had his last one at around 10mths. I never got my period back after having him and once the weaning process had started, i was sitting watching a movie one night when i started getting these immensely sharp pains on the left side of my lower abdomen. I'd never experienced ovulation pain before and sent a text to a friend to confirm that's what they were. This was the end of March, we were going to start TTC in August.
Two weeks and two positive pregnancy tests ( just to make sure, i wasn't convinced) later i was UTD with Kyan! An 18mth age gap (almost to the day) - WOW, we were crazy!
Once again, i was blessed with a smooth and pretty uneventful pregnancy (until the end when i made a few silly decisions that i would definitely change if i had my time over but never mind) with little morning sickness again and not a lot of tiredness.
I didn't get the birth i wanted this time around but alas sometimes you can not have it all, here is Kyan's birth story:
Kyan was due on 30th Dec but I knew he wouldn’t arrive early or on time. Izaak was a week overdue so I wasn’t expecting anything less from baby no.2. My midwife who looked after me throughout my entire pregnancy was leaving to go on holidays on the 3rd of Jan so I really wanted the baby to arrive by then so that she could deliver and she was keen for me to have him before then too.
So... two days before my due date she did a stretch and sweep to get things moving along a bit and I was already about 2cm dilated. That was unsuccessful so she did another on my due date when she discovered I was 4cm dilated and then another, the day after that. None of them really did anything except give me strong non-painful Braxton hicks which I’d been having for a couple of weeks anyway.
I woke up on Thursday the 3rd of January still having the strong Braxton hicks. I went about my morning as usual and realized they were coming about every 7mins. I didn’t want them to stop so i started pacing up and down my lounge room; my DP thought I was crazy. I did this for an hour or so and they still hadn’t changed, coming every 7mins or so but not painful. I decided to ring my midwife and let her know what was going on and ask what I should do. I spoke to my back-up midwife and she suggested i take some panadol and lie down incase to conserve my energy incase it was the real deal.
I went to lay down for awhile when the phone rang at midday and it was my midwife ringing to see how I was feeling. Contractions had stopped while I was resting and my midwife said that she would talk to the midwife in charge of the birth centre and see if she thought breaking my waters was a good idea because I had been 4cm dilated for days.
She rang me back about half an hour later and said all systems were go for that afternoon if i wanted them to break my waters but she did stress it was my choice and I didn’t have to and we could just see what happened. I decided that i was ready to meet my baby so my midwife said just get things organized and head to the hospital when we were ready.
We had some lunch and organized the rest of my bag and Izaak's things and dropped him at my nans. We arrived at the Birth Centre at about 3pm and my midwife said 'lets get things rolling' so i had my waters broken at 3:15pm. My contractions started about 10mins later and were full on straight away (which is exactly how my labour with Izaak started when my waters broke at home) lasting 1min or more and coming every 2mins or so.
Unfortunately my waters had mecconium in them so I was unable to stay in the Birth Centre and have my much wanted 2nd water birth. I was devastated but so caught up in the contractions that I didn’t have much time to be disappointed and upset. We started walking down to Labour and Delivery and got there and settled in the room at about 3:45pm. I started using the gas straight away as the contractions were coming thick and fast and I wasn’t coping. I hopped on the bed and leant over the back which was super comfortable (I used the same position leaning over the edge of the bath during Izaak's labour).
I started getting the urge to push at about 4:15pm and my midwife said i had to hold off from pushing until the pediatrician arrived! Let me tell you this was the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do, it was impossible to stop my body from pushing as it was doing all the work itself with no help from me!! I started pushing properly at 4:20pm and my little (or not so little) man arrived at 4:30pm. He needed help breathing initially and was very mucousy.
They put a nappy on him and wiped him over briefly and then we got to have some skin to skin cuddles to try and initiate the first breastfeed. He was so mucousy he wasn’t interested in feeding at all. I delivered the placenta without the syntocin about 20mins later and was checked for tears and grazes. I was so sore initially that I was sure I’d done some damage but there was nothing!! I was shocked especially considering his weight!
I got up and had a shower at about 5:30pm and then got to dress my little man and swaddle him before leaving Labour and Delivery and walking up to the post-natal ward. We got up there and settled in at about 6:45pm and he had his first breastfeed at 7pm. That first night he was still extremely mucousy which caused him to be very unsettled but I managed and we left hospital the next afternoon.
As i said in my last blog, the 2 births couldn't have been more different. Izaak's was calm, quiet and peaceful... Kyan's was manic, super fast and im sure you would have heard me screaming from Adelaide! Unfortunately, i think that screaming rubbed off on my little man as that's all he did for the first year (? my mind is a bit sketchy) of his life.
So... two days before my due date she did a stretch and sweep to get things moving along a bit and I was already about 2cm dilated. That was unsuccessful so she did another on my due date when she discovered I was 4cm dilated and then another, the day after that. None of them really did anything except give me strong non-painful Braxton hicks which I’d been having for a couple of weeks anyway.
I woke up on Thursday the 3rd of January still having the strong Braxton hicks. I went about my morning as usual and realized they were coming about every 7mins. I didn’t want them to stop so i started pacing up and down my lounge room; my DP thought I was crazy. I did this for an hour or so and they still hadn’t changed, coming every 7mins or so but not painful. I decided to ring my midwife and let her know what was going on and ask what I should do. I spoke to my back-up midwife and she suggested i take some panadol and lie down incase to conserve my energy incase it was the real deal.
I went to lay down for awhile when the phone rang at midday and it was my midwife ringing to see how I was feeling. Contractions had stopped while I was resting and my midwife said that she would talk to the midwife in charge of the birth centre and see if she thought breaking my waters was a good idea because I had been 4cm dilated for days.
She rang me back about half an hour later and said all systems were go for that afternoon if i wanted them to break my waters but she did stress it was my choice and I didn’t have to and we could just see what happened. I decided that i was ready to meet my baby so my midwife said just get things organized and head to the hospital when we were ready.
We had some lunch and organized the rest of my bag and Izaak's things and dropped him at my nans. We arrived at the Birth Centre at about 3pm and my midwife said 'lets get things rolling' so i had my waters broken at 3:15pm. My contractions started about 10mins later and were full on straight away (which is exactly how my labour with Izaak started when my waters broke at home) lasting 1min or more and coming every 2mins or so.
Unfortunately my waters had mecconium in them so I was unable to stay in the Birth Centre and have my much wanted 2nd water birth. I was devastated but so caught up in the contractions that I didn’t have much time to be disappointed and upset. We started walking down to Labour and Delivery and got there and settled in the room at about 3:45pm. I started using the gas straight away as the contractions were coming thick and fast and I wasn’t coping. I hopped on the bed and leant over the back which was super comfortable (I used the same position leaning over the edge of the bath during Izaak's labour).
I started getting the urge to push at about 4:15pm and my midwife said i had to hold off from pushing until the pediatrician arrived! Let me tell you this was the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do, it was impossible to stop my body from pushing as it was doing all the work itself with no help from me!! I started pushing properly at 4:20pm and my little (or not so little) man arrived at 4:30pm. He needed help breathing initially and was very mucousy.
They put a nappy on him and wiped him over briefly and then we got to have some skin to skin cuddles to try and initiate the first breastfeed. He was so mucousy he wasn’t interested in feeding at all. I delivered the placenta without the syntocin about 20mins later and was checked for tears and grazes. I was so sore initially that I was sure I’d done some damage but there was nothing!! I was shocked especially considering his weight!
I got up and had a shower at about 5:30pm and then got to dress my little man and swaddle him before leaving Labour and Delivery and walking up to the post-natal ward. We got up there and settled in at about 6:45pm and he had his first breastfeed at 7pm. That first night he was still extremely mucousy which caused him to be very unsettled but I managed and we left hospital the next afternoon.
As i said in my last blog, the 2 births couldn't have been more different. Izaak's was calm, quiet and peaceful... Kyan's was manic, super fast and im sure you would have heard me screaming from Adelaide! Unfortunately, i think that screaming rubbed off on my little man as that's all he did for the first year (? my mind is a bit sketchy) of his life.
Ky entered the world screaming (trying to scream, he was REALLY mucousy and had to have some oxygen in the first few minutes) and in a hurry and then came the colic... he was really unsettled and often didn't sleep a lot. I was a zombie and had an 18mth old 'baby' to care for too. It was hard, really hard. I don't remember a lot of Kyan's first year, it's a haze and it's sad.
The boy's personalities are VERY different and this is what i was referring to in relation to their births... Izaak is the calmer, more reasoning of the two. Kyan is louder, more boisterous and is a little comedian in his own right - he cracks us up.
Until next time...
It was definitely a frantic hour or so wasnt it...still a job well done though :o)
ReplyDeleteAwwww thanks! Loved it - would change some things but it was still great :) all thanks to you & Sue!
ReplyDeleteHi Karina,
ReplyDeleteReading your post about child birth made me think of my own very different births. You have such a mature voice when you write, it is very impressive.
Thanks for stopping by my site and I have to say your zucchini tart/garlic bread dinner looked wonderful!
Cheers