Here goes. So on Tues of the week I had all these surges that
drove me crazy because I had never had false labor before, and I couldn’t
figure out if I should go in or not. I did go in and get checked, but
there wasn’t enough progress from my last visit to have me go to the
hospital. But then Wed morning (Aug 4, 2004) we decided that it was the
real thing and went on down.
We got all settled in and did the CD and I was doing good and
getting sleepy between surges. But the contractions still ended up
hurting more than I would have liked. After maybe three hours the
midwife suggested that I get into the sitz tub. I have decided that this
is a major mistake for me. Not many minutes after I got in I was getting
back out, and happy. I have figured that I must have some negative association with those tubs, because as I looked back at my different labors, that’s about when I seem to turn in my attitude.

I was so happy with Seth, he was totally on my side with whatever I needed.
So I got back on the bed and went through a few more surges. The
midwife  told me to breath down when I was ready, which I didn’t want to do. But then when I started the J-breathing, it only took 5 minutes!!!!! I couldn’t believe it! I was thrilled, and ecstatic that I was done! His head came out so easy, and
then they all said that he had the shoulders of a football linebacker.
But they took him over to the respiratory table and got him all cleaned
out and said he was just fine. And then everyone, except me, was
surprised that he weighed in at 9 lbs 15 oz! So my biggest baby was the
easiest to get out. I believe it was because of the breathing-down
instead of “pushing” which I have always felt like I did wrong anyway.
So even though I didn’t get the pain-free (4 hr) labor that I would’ve
liked, it was all worth it at the end.
Thanks for all your help.

Danica & Seth & not-so-baby Gideon