Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Joseph Zammarrelli ~ A birth story

Joseph Ronald Zammarrelli
Feburary 14th, 2012
8lbs 13oz
21in

Monday, February 13th - 39 weeks and 6 days. I was 3cm and 80%, a long way from the 0 and 0 I was last week. The doctor assured me it should be any day but I didn’t want it to be that day since I was so close to making it to 40 weeks and still hoping for my special Valentine’s Day baby. I started having contractions here and there immediately after the appointment so Sam picked up Samuel from school and my mother got on the next flight and arrived in SC at 6pm. Contractions were averaging 6 minutes apart but slowed when I rested so I tried to get some sleep.

Tuesday, February 14th - 5am came around after a long night of not sleeping so I decided I was going to get up and get this labor going. I called my doula, Cindy, and she headed over to see if we were making progress. She arrived at 6am and I had progressed to only 3.5cm, 1/2cm more than at my appointment the day before. She expected it would be that day so I was excited about that and ready to do whatever it took to make the labor progress; Pressure points, sitting on the ball, lollipops, walking etc., but progression was slow. Cindy figured that Joseph was sunny side up making the labor progress slowly and causing a lot of back pain. She had me do some things to help turn him and then I got to take a warm bath (she added lavender oil……and Sam added Mr. Bubble). After that I was exhausted and here it was 1pm and no baby, I was still having contractions only every 6min. Everyone was getting anxious and even Cindy thought Joseph would have made his appearance by now (and I thought he would have been here for three weeks at this point). After more walking and squatting and contractions, that were finally getting stronger, I needed a nap. I got to rest for about 30 minutes and woke up feeling ready and was relieved to hear I was 6cm, yes! I was reluctant to go to the hospital so we really took our time getting ready; I just didn’t want to leave the comfort of my home and certainly didn’t want to spend hours in the hospital but off we went. We were checked in at 2:30pm and I was about 6.5cm. We had planned a natural birth, no drugs and no intervention and we were sticking to it! We started off laboring in the rocking chair, Sam was amazing and with Cindy there to instruct him he acted like a pro. He helped me through each contraction and they were getting more frequent and more intense. Finally I had one so strong it made me shake and then I felt a pop….my water broke! Once it broke I felt the baby drop was suddenly having the most intense contraction yet. I shock head to toe! The next contraction came on quick and was another one that knocked me off my feet and now I wanted to push. In my mind I’m thinking, for sure it was too soon to push and I would have to hold back and endure these intense contractions for a while longer. The urge to push was uncontrollable and being checked was almost unbearable but hearing I was 9cm and getting the go ahead to push, HALLELUJAH! The sensation of wanting and starting to push was so relieving I knew I had passed that point of “hitting the wall” that I had heard about. As I was pushing I heard them saying he was big and I needed to really work hard so I gave it my all and before I knew it I was reaching down for him. This happened so instinctively, I grabbed him under his arms and pulled him to my chest (4:05pm). Suddenly nothing hurt, no pain, no discomfort, just complete euphoria and that little face looking back at me. I was in awe. I didn’t cry, I don’t even think I spoke. I just stared at him and kissed him, my little Valentine.