Leo's Birth Story

Three days after birth and already smirking!! :)

I started to get light contractions at around 9pm starting on the 25th of August. On my due-date the 29th, the day after my Mother and Grandmother flew in from America, the contractions got 15 minutes apart continuing on until the morning. I arose restless at 5am for a walk followed by stair-climbing. This lead to a whole day of erattic contractions, loss of appetite, and an overall yucky day. That evening, the contractions got stronger and were 10 minutes apart.. which lead to another sleepless night..zzz

The morning of the 31st I felt like a zombie extremely sleep-deprived and in pain. Could this be it? I called the midwives and they asked me to visit them, but..by foot. So here I am walking with 8 minute apart contractions, dragging along my poor worrying Mother, Grandmother and Husband on an hour and a half long walk to the birth center. It was miserable!! I was painfully stopping every contraction and snapping at my family. When we arrived, I found out that I was only 2-3 cm's apart. (?!) I took the train home, attempted to eat something and took a warm bath.

That night at 10pm, the contractions became 5 minutes apart and I couldn't take it any longer. It was time!! My husband got a taxi, and we were all on our way home. The ride was awful. Every contraction hurt as much as the last, causing me to yell out every time! To make matter worse, the ignorant taxi driver accidently got lost AND asked me, "Are you ill?".(ILL?! If I was ill I would be knocked out on the seat with a fever or something, not screaming every 5 minutes!) To which I responded, "I'm in labor!! Hurry up and find the place!" Yes, by this time I had lost my usually cheerful self and been replaced by that ghost from The Grudge (呪怨).

Upon our arrival, I was rushed into the tatami room labor room with my husband while my Mother and Grandmother were asked to wait upstairs. (Probably for the best because they were extremely worried for me and not very accepting of my giving birth outside of a hospital.) When you're in labor, nothing can really make you feel better and I was so impatient with the poor midwives who were so helpful by massaging my lower back. One of them put a warm compress on my shoulders and I just remember launching it across the room because it was too hot. (Labor really brought out the worst in me.) After about four hours of unbearable contractions, my water finally broke, and in three pushes my baby was born. I should have listened to the midwives when they told me to push slowly, but I really couldn't handle it anymore and it led to me having to get two staples. (Ouch!!)

Leonardo was born September 1st weighing 2910g and measuring 48cm.

Overall, my stay at Matsugaoka was a nice four days. The food was good, the midwives were very kind and helpful, and on my third day, I was given a full body massage. My only misfortune was that I wasn't able to exclusively breastfeed so I had to substitute with formula. I had a hard time accepting this because it was something I had no control of. Regardless, Leo was healthy and that's all that matters! :) Yea!! I'm really proud of myself to have had a natural birth, but I completely understand why women choose to get an epidural!!! lol