Friday, August 15, 2008

Shawn's Birth Story

Okay so I know he was born almost three months ago, but hey better late then never right ;)

Shawn Matthew Dieli's Birth Story

I woke up on Friday, May 30, 2008 at 7:08 a.m. and immediately started feeling contractions. I sat down at the computer and started timing them. Surprisingly they were all at 3 minutes apart. There were a couple that were 5 minutes apart and then they were back to 3 minutes and 2 minutes apart. I was in denial for the first half hour that it could be real labor. I had woken up that morning with the intention of getting all my last minute stuff done before the baby. But he had other plans. My friend Gena finally convinced me that I should call my midwife and this was more then likely real labor! I contacted my midwife around 8:00 and she was like your not in labor are you? I laughed and said actually I believe I am. So she said okay I will drop my kids off and grab my stuff and be on my way. She was coming from Whittier which is an hour and a half away so she rushed to get here. As soon as I hung up with her I called Steve and told him I think that he needed to come home. So he also left right then. I then called my mom and told her I needed her here to help me so she went and got my sister from school and came over. I had taken a shower to help me through the contractions and brought the kids in with me. By the time my mom got here at 9:10 a.m. I was bent over the side of my bed breathing through the contractions and the kids were still playing in the shower. My sister helped me with the kids and Laura had called my mom asking her to go buy some last minute supplies for the birth. So she left and it was just me, the kids and my sister. My sister made them breakfast and kept them busy which I am very grateful for.
By the time my mom got back which was around 9:45-10:00 it was a mad rush. They lined the bed with a shower curtain and lots of towels and then put one on the floor also in case I wanted to move.I "quickly" got onto the bed in all fours position with a pillow under my arms. Steve walked in a couple minutes later. I was so happy he was finally home. He came over and held my hand the whole time. I told my mom I feel like I need to push because I was having pressure in my lower butt area. She then picked up the phone and called Laura and was like what do I do. I found it kind of funny she called Laura and not Christy but my mom had never talked to Christy so it made sense. She said it might help to put pressure on the sides of my hips, HOLY CRAP that did not help. Steve was like no no she does not like that.
About 5 minutes later Christy came running in. She quickly got gloves, grabbed her jar of olive oil, rubbed it on me and said okay whenever your ready Shana. I never thought that I would be a screamer, but man oh man did I scream. Christy told me that the screaming doesn't help because it makes me tighten which pushes the baby back in.
Soooooo I tried my hardest to grunt/breath instead of screaming. I think I did pretty well, at least they told me I was. Finally after about 3-4 pushes the head was out. Christy said hello to the baby and giggled and said she always loves this part because it's their first look at the new world. Everyone was like someone take a pic and my sister Tia was the only one right there with a camera and she was very hesitant (she is 17) so I said told her "Just take the fucking picture Tia". But I wasn't yelling it or being mean. I actually sounded quite calm. Everyone got a good laugh out of that one. Two more pushes and we had a baby at 10:31 a.m.! He 8 lbs. 8 oz. and 21 1/4 inches long and just absolutely beautiful. Jr was the one to announce that it was a boy :) I was so excited and I KNEW it was a boy! Steve was in shock. He was totally convinced we were going to have a girl...hehe

It was an absolutely amazing birth experience. I enjoyed doing it all natural and being in my home, my own element. It was very comfortable and no one was telling me what to do or how to do it. It was all up to me. Example, when Christy said okay I'm ready Steve asked does she push now and her reply was whenever Shana feels the need to. She is in control here, it's her body and she will know what to do when the time is right. And I love her look on birth. In a hospital it's the Dr who delivers your baby but that's not how she see's it. It's the mother who delivered the baby, the Dr, midwife, whoever is there to assist but the mom did all the work.
So that was how our beautiful bouncing baby boy was born!

1 comment:

  1. Beautiful birth story Shana! You are so amazingly strong. I am both envious & thrilled over your birthing experience. It had me in tears! Kudos Momma! I LOVE how JR announced his brother- He'll ALWAYS remember that!

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