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Tuesday, January 28, 2014

Moshe's Birth Story

Now that Moshe is officially ONE month old (!), I figured this was a good time to share his birth story:)


Now to give a little backstory, I went into labor with Ellie when I was 37 weeks and 6 days along. Since I had been *planning* to pack my bag at 38 weeks, I was totally unprepared, just throwing things into a duffel bag while in intense back labor!

So this time, I was determined to be ready. I packed my bags, created an "in labor" checklist for my husband to follow, discussed babysitting options......and waited. And waited. And then waited some more. By my 39 week appointment, I was shocked I had gone this far.  As I ate dinner with S after my appointment, I complained that I was going to be the only pregnant woman to just stay pregnant for ten years.  Later that night (can you tell where this is going?) I felt a contraction as I was menu planning for Shabbs. Unlike my Braxton-Hicks contractions, this one hurt. I didn't want to get too excited, so I gave myself time, and kept on menu planning. The contractions got more and more intense, so I decided to call a babysitter and our doctor and doula, just in case.

The next hour was a blur--I tried to breathe through contractions on the couch, accepted that I was indeed in labor, and we got everything ready to go. As an aside, this contraction app was awesome and super helpful!


My first contraction had been at around 9:45, and by 11:00 we were heading to the hospital. We met our doula there, and checked in. By this point, I was measuring 5 cm but I was in extreme pain--as with my first labor, I had terrible back labor. I waited (very impatiently) for my epidural--by this point it was nearly 1:00 AM.

And this is the part where things got a little too interesting--as the anesthesiologist came to give me the epidural, I felt a strong need to push. Sure enough, I was fully dilated. However, the baby's heart rate had started rapidly dropping when my nurse stepped out for the epidural. I could tell my doctor was concerned as she urged me to focus and get the baby out immediately. I was terrified at the thought of having to do that without an epidural, but I focused and was able to get baby M out in a single contraction.

When he was born, he wasn't crying, moving, or breathing on his own. My doctors determined that I had had an placental abruption and the cord had been wrapped around his neck several times. It's still terrifying to think of what could have happened had we not been in the hospital when I had the abruption--especially since I delivered baby Moshe only about 3 hours after my first contraction.

Moshe spent the next 8 days in the NICU, getting treatment to help him recover his rough start. It was very difficult seeing him connected to so many wires, and being unable to care for him. I didn't see him until hours after his birth, and didn't hold him for nearly a week. And to be honest, I think I'm still processing all of that.

Eight crazy days after his birth, baby Moshe finally came home:



And met his (very excited) big sister:


The weeks since then have been a blur--newborns tend to do that to you:)  As I'm still figuring out I feel about the birth and everything that happened, it feels good to share it.


So tell me, are there any stories YOU struggle with sharing?

15 comments:

  1. He's just beautiful! Congratulations! Jude had a different entry than my other babies, too, and it was an emotionally difficult time. He's almost 3 months old now (huh???) and I'm feeling better about things. I hope you get there, too! I posted an entry on my blog today that was very hard to share; it's about my struggles with church and faith. I worry that I'm going to offend basically everyone I know who reads my blog! But it is my current reality, and I felt fake without owning it, so I tried to do so as carefully as possible.

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  2. So glad to hear everything turned out ok! I had a placental abruption with my second one, Alex, and he spent time in the NICU too. Our stories sound fairly similar! I got to hold him on his fifth day, and I always felt a lot of guilt about that. About not being there at the hospital every second, even though I wanted too. Everywhere I went, I had to leave one baby (Claire was 17 months old at the time). Somehow I've let go of almost all of that guilt, now I can see I did the best I could under the circumstances.

    By the way, he is gorgeous and I really love his name! :)

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  3. Wow!
    Glad that everything is OK and Moshe (Moshiko? ;-)) feels good :-)
    All my girls were born with no epidural, but I expected it...

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  4. What a scary experience. So glad that both you and your beautiful son are well. Much happiness to your growing family!

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  5. I have 4 sons and none of their births went exactly as I expected them to during the pregnancy. My second son was born with a birth defect(which we found out about in utero) and everything about his birth was very planned. He spent 1 week in the NICU. I still remember so many things vividly about that time even though it will be 9 years next month. You'll process the experience differently at different times in his babyhood/childhood but don't let that get in the way of enjoying these days with him. He looks like a healthy little guy now and I wish your little family lots of luck... and sleep :)

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  6. We have friends who the same thing happened to about a week before I had Hannah. Her baby spent about a week in the NICU-3 of which were in the special cooling device. He seems to be doing great now! I found dealing with the NICU was awful-and I only did it for a day!
    Glad to hear things worked out!

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  7. He is so crazy adorable! I didn't realize that he was in the NICU so long! I'm so sorry!!! I can't imagine how scary that must have been! So happy that both you and he are doing well!! I do have to give you the virtual high-5 for the non-medicated birth... ;)

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  8. Oh wow, that sounds rough. Glad to hear you both are ok now. And love the picture of the two together :D

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  9. I'm just so glad that both of you are ok. He is such a cute little guy!

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  10. Whew! Well, he sure made quite an entrance into this world, huh?! Maybe it's a boy thing- my second was a boy, too and he came super fast, but luckily less dramatically than little Moshe there! I'm glad everything turned out okay and that he is home all safe and sound. I love the picture of the kids together- she does look so excited! Congratulations again! :)

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  11. THREE hours of labor and ONE push and NO epidural?! Okay, wow.

    ...I also love the shot of both kids. :)

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  12. Oh my word. Talk about stressful. I would still be processing all of that too. Super glad he is home and healthy now. Congratulations on your new bundle of joy! He is just too cute. And, thank you for posting this. So brave of you to push through without an epidural.

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  13. Wow, Keshet. That was an intense birth experience and such a contrast from your first. Baby looks adorable though and it looks like there is a strong sibling bond developing between Ellie and Moshe. I have never written my birth story as mine was not a good one and is more than part of the reason we only have one child!

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Thank you so much for taking the time to leave a comment! I love hearing your thoughts:)