Tammy's Birth Story

I had just left Pomerado Hospital where I had been at fetal monitering because I was 6 days past due. I went home to have a quick lunch and go to my next client when I stood up at 2:30 at my table to bring my plate into the kitchen and my water broke! I was stunned, I thought I had possibly wet myself but soon realized what it really was as I soaked my pants all the way past my knees. :) I called my husband to come home and then walked around in a daze, I was stunned that this was it and had no idea what to do. So I did the obvoius important items like brush my teeth, change clothes, wash my face, drink a protein shake, pretty much everything but get ready to leave for the hospital. :)

When my husband got home I started to get it together and we packed the car to go. It was about 3:20 and I still had not started contractions so we decided to go for a walk around our neighborhood. My husband brought his stopwatch and out we went. About a block later I had my first contraction!
, mild and about 20 seconds. We kept walking and they continued to come about every 6-7 minutes and about 30 seconds each. Then they started to come every 4-5 minutes and that is when Brian decided we needed to head back home. I soaked through another pair of pants on the walk and needed to change. We left and got to the hospital around 5:00. I soaked through another pair of pants walking into the hospital. I had no idea how much fluid comes out!! After I got settled in my room, Brian brought up my physioball from the car and I started using it on my hands and knees to do cat/cow. I also continued to walk up and down the halls still able to just breathe through the contractions. By about 7:00 I was 6cm dilated and the contractions were taking much more of my attention. I liked cat/cow with and without the ball, Brian using the hand held massager on my low back, hip rotations sitting on the ball and standing to get through contractions. I also visualized "riding the wave" like I was body surfing. When I got to 7-8cm dilated those techniques were no longer working and so Brian would use the heating pad on my low back and push down on my sacrum during the contractions while I tried to keep my breathing steady. This worked pretty well but then the baby started getting overheated so we had to stop. At that point I got sick to my stomach and started shaking pretty badly. From 10:30pm to 12:00am I was pretty much a wreck. I was shaking, feeling really defeated, and not remembering about the tools I had learned. The nurse had said I was dehydrated and put an IV in so I couldn't get out of bed and do my stretches or use my ball. At 12am I was 10cm dilated and ready to push. I started in a squat position but my legs kept shaking so I laid back and had the nurse and Brian assist my knees back as far as they could go. The baby was so low that I only had to push 15-20 times and out he came! I had a mirror there so was able to see his head and that really motivated me to push with all I had to meet him. What a relief once his head came out and then his shoulders and rest of his body just followed. He was born at 12:38am. He was immediately placed on me, he didn't cry, just looked up at me with eyes wide open. So sweet! I held him and couldn't believe how smooth and clear his skin tone was and how wide and alert his eyes were. He only let out one little squeak while they weighed him and wiped him off. 7lbs 1 ounce, 20 inches.

I was fortunate and did not tear at all and have had a tremendous recovery. I was up and moving around right away. The entire experience was a positive one and I am a very happy, proud mom.

Thank you for all the tools your prenatal yoga class taught me. It was extremely beneficial.