Sunday, March 28, 2010

Happy Birthday LBII

My apologies for the delay.  Crazy times with two kids.

LBII was born at 1:12 AM March 26th after 48 hours of labor and an additional 4.5 hours of pushing.

I went to the hospital after nearly 30 hours of labor.  It wasn't constant.  It kept slowing down and becoming ineffective.  It was my choice.  I was giving up.  I believe it was my own lack of confidence in my body (thank you, infertility) and fear of the lack of control that labor and birth brings that stalled my labor.  I am very sad about this now as I knew I would be.  I wish I would have kept trying, but my rational minds knows I was doing all that I could and made the best decision possible at the time.  There is much more to this part of the story - and some amazingly wonderful moments which I hope to share later.

At the hospital, Dr. Wonderful followed my hopes and gave me every chance for a vaginal birth even though he didn't believe I could (he kept encouraging me, but I could tell).  He also let me down in a couple of very important ways, but his belief system and I knew that going in.  I hope to share more of this story too.

In the end, despite spending most of the pushing phase on my back and pushing uphill (why do they continue to do this in hospitals?!); I pushed out a 8 pound 15 oz, 21.2" baby with very little epidural to the point that I got out of bed at about the 3.5 hour mark to push in a lunge position.  Thank God my midwife was around who offered this suggestion because it completely turned things around.  I am convinced that it would have been a c-section had we not done the things we did prior to going to the hospital and had my OB not been willing to let me out of bed.  That is a victory.

A longer post will come for those who may care to read it  and I don't want to give out all the best parts, but I want to thank Leah for sticking it out with Brad and I throughout and for taking some pictures - at great personal cost.

I also want to thank my midwife who was with me for all three failed home births, yet leaned close to me after LBII was born and whispered, "I am so proud of you."

25 comments:

Lori Lavender Luz said...

Your midwife sounds like someone really special.

As is Miss Maya's mom.

Welcome to the world, LBII!

battynurse said...

I've been wondering how things were going but figured you were probably pretty busy with a new little one. Welcome LBII. Congrats Kami and Brad.

Panamahat said...

I'M so proud of you too!! Congrats, all of you, on the new addition to the family. xx

Geohde said...

Happy bithday LBII

xx

g

MrsSpock said...

Kami, I am proud of you too. This does not sound like a fail at all, but a victory.

Welcome LBII!

Leah Maya Benjamin said...

I was so hoping that becasue it was so long that you would see that it was not goignt o be possible at home, that in order to have a vaginal birth the hospital and a little help were the way to go, you did awesome! no one could have done better. I don't think Dr. Perfect ( I love that man) let you down, he did everything possible to protect you and the baby and everything possible for you not to have a c-section. YOu were looking for any answers at the time on how to get LB II out and didn't care what it was, we could have told you to hang from your toes and you would have. I still think the back position is the best, the other way has your hips pushed together too much in my opinion. None the less all that matters is that everyone is healthy and if you don't like all the hospital over the top crap thank the lawyers for that. love you! ready for those newborn pictures, send brad out to get LB II a easter dress.

Summer said...

You are awesome! Congratulations!!!

maresi said...

Oh, how wonderful that she is here. I'm with Mrs. Spock on the victory thing!
And what a friend you have in Leah.

Congratulations!

Ryan's Mommy said...

Wow, what amazing pictures. And what an amazing job you did. Way to go, mama!!

R. said...

I am so happy that LB II has arrived safely and that you are doing well too. Great pictures!

Sara said...

OMG, you did it!!! A VBAC is a huge victory, whether in the hospital or at home. You are braver than you give yourself credit for.

Congratulations to all of you!

The photos are beautiful. You have a very good friend.

niobe said...

So glad that LBII is here!

Sunny said...

Congratulations Kami!! So excited for you. Glad you had an excellent support team, even if it did not go entirely according to plan. You did wonderfully.

Laurie said...

Congrats Kami!!! Welcome, LBII !!

Anonymous said...

Welcome to the world LBII! You are beautiful just like your big sister :-)

Thank you for sharing the pictures.. I loved seeing those!

Congratulations to you all!
XOXOXO
Tracey

Frenchie said...

So happy for you Kami, and your entire beautiful family. Congrats!

Jill said...

Congratulations!!! And I am very proud of you!! You have worked so so hard to build your family! Give yourself some credit and be kind to yourself.

Sky said...

Kami - I was so thrilled to read that you finally got your v-birth and a healthy beautiful little bundle.

Congrats!

Bee Cee said...

Congratulations to you all. So so thrilled for you Kami!! Well done x

Anonymous said...

WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
She's here! And you got to push her out! WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Anonymous said...

Wait, did you actually ever say sex? I assumed girl, but is it a boy?

loribeth said...

Yay, congratulations!!

Me said...

WOOOOHOOOO!!! Huge congratulations lady! I'm smiling from ear to ear. And those pictures are awesome!

luna said...

how wonderful kami! I haven't been following along lately but I'm so happy to hear that your family is complete!

I don't know why doctors make you lie in bed, it's so counter-intuitive. lunging and squatting seem a far more natural way to push.

many congrats to you and your family! and those photos are gorgeous!

Unknown said...

That sounds like a tremendous birth and I am very impressed that you were able to last for 48 hours. You are impressively strong and I think you did the very best you could. I am so sorry you didn't get your home birth. It's unfair that sometimes things don't turn out the way we wished when we have already given up so many other things, but I think you did an amazing job. I am so glad she is here and safe and that your family is complete, congratulations and well done for navigating the long, long road to get here.

I loved the photos on Maya's site.