Katie Carpenter Instagram – Birth story, part 7.
I just groaned “no!” I didn’t want my sweet girl to be pulled out with a vacuum. I was lost.
But then I remembered: We had a daughter coming soon. It was up to me to get her here. I pushed.
It had been 34 hours since my water broke. I’d been actively contracting for 21 hours. I couldn’t remember life before discomfort.
And then all of the sudden – she was here. No head then body, just all at once, here was our baby. She was crying and looking around with her big eyes. I was in shock it was finally over.
Then we learned why things were so hard. Her cord was incredibly short. We couldn’t get her above my belly button. My placenta was high so poor girl had a hard time getting down on her little bungee cord.
Kevin cut the cord after it stopped pulsing, and I brought this little stranger to my chest. She was so alert. REALLY cute. I couldn’t believe she was ours.
My placenta came out a few minutes later. Poor Kevin looked down at just the right time. 😆
Our little girl nursed right away. The adventure continued as I had a 2nd degree tear which required stitches. But – I had our baby in my arms. Finally!!
Despite this not being the plan, despite an incredible amount of pain and interventions that we didn’t expect, I didn’t feel that I had a “bad birth.” I’m so thankful we switched to a hospital birth in advance so I had time to mourn and adjust. I’m thankful we were able to get help when interventions were needed.
And despite every new challenge, I’m thankful that all of our decisions felt like a collaboration rather than made for us. We were respected, something that I worried about after hearing hospital horror stories, and so well taken care of.
After researching short umbilical cords, I found they double the chances of complications and more often, lead to c-sections. We ended up being where we needed to be with the right team to get this girl safely here.
I am grateful for our doulas, Courtney & Lauren, the midwives, and the labor and delivery staff at North Fulton hospital for taking care of us.
Labor was another lesson. Make plans, but be open to whatever the universe brings. Thanks for following along ❤️ | Posted on 10/Nov/2023 07:12:10
