Lola Marie Lamb's Birth Story
If you have been around a while, you probably know my first baby Ruby and might have read Ruby’s birth story. Although different I loved both birthing experiences in their own way.
I love hearing and reading birth stories so heres one for you who love the same! But maybe you are just here for the GUT STUFF! I can’t write a blog post without tying it back to the gut :) One thing both of my birthing experiences had in common was I had to take a TON of antibiotics. If you have ever taken antibiotics or are currently taking them then you will want to read on! Skip to the bottom if you need the info ASAP!
From my experience to make my birthing experiences as amazing as I dreamed, I have found that being willing to try different things (stretching myself a bit but not with things that make me feel unsafe) has been part of what have made my experiences so great. I do recognize that some things are out of our control - but what we do throughout our pregnancies can make a big difference!
A few of these things were
learning hypopressives which seemed like silly useless breathing exercises to me at first but have been life changing for my body
practicing hypnobirthing which I thought was totally hokey at first
moving my body daily even if it was a few simple exercises at home or going on a walk
making sure I ate enough fiber + taking a magnesium citrate supplement to help keep me regular (that first poop after birth is not always fun, but it wasn’t an issue this time!) We made a lot of recipes from my Fiber Fix meal plan)
I was much more impatient this time for baby to come! I’m not sure why - but as soon as I was 37 weeks I just couldn’t help but think is it going to be today?! With Ruby I had mentally prepared myself that I was going to be overdue so I wouldn’t be disappointed if she didn’t come early or on time. It wasn’t that I was more uncomfortable this time - in fact I think I was less uncomfortable but I was just so excited! Ever since I had ruby I was excited to give birth again. I think giving birth is just a magical and beautiful experience. I know however this isn’t the case for everyone and some births can be really hard and traumatizing. My heart goes out to you and I think you are amazing for enduring so much to bring your beautiful babies into this world.
I was measuring small up until I was 39 weeks so sent for multiple ultrasounds to make sure baby was okay - and every time all looked good! I must have carried her really close because my belly felt quite small. I was consistent with practicing hypopressives throughout my pregnancy which I think help a lot with my core and could have been the reason my belly stayed smaller. I found out I has diastis recti early on in my pregnancy so hypopressives helped manage things so it didn’t get too bad. Honestly, I didn’t have a hard time bending until I was 39 weeks which was nice since Ruby never sits still and I am always chasing her around.
Apparently I like giving birth on Sunday’s and my babies like to come 3 days early. Scott says - maybe it takes you a whole weekend to destress and then the baby comes on Sunday! This sounds like it could be accurate in my case haha.
AUGUST 29TH, 2021
I thought I felt a few contractions as I was sleeping probably around 5:30am but had had contractions in the night before so I didn’t think much of it. They seemed to get a bit stronger by 6:30am. I got up because I had to pee and at that point I felt like they were real so I went to bounce on the ball and did some inversions so see if they would continue or if they would stop. They seemed pretty consistent so I was pretty confident I was starting labour. I figured I might as well get ready while I was waiting to be sure and I hoped ruby would at least sleep til 7 so I could focus on the contractions. She did and then just played happily in her bed for a while!
When I started tracking contractions a bit before 7 they were about 5 minutes about and started at about 45 seconds. It got to about 3 minutes between contractions by almost 7:20am and then I decided I should probably tell Scott. He was like “are you sure?” So I tracked a bit longer and I was definitely sure. I called Kate (our midwife) - Scott heard me on the phone and came into the bathroom to shower quick and then ran Ruby over to my Sister’s house. I was pretty confident it wouldn’t speed up too much while he was gone and luckily it didn’t. I was able to finish packing our stuff while he was gone and before Kate got there. The contractions started getting more intense and I would just kneel on the bed or floor and rub my tummy. When Scott got home he made me some toast and I ate a banana and a bit of yogurt but didn’t have much of an appetite. I figured I should eat something but I couldn’t finish anything. When Kate got there she was saying she didn’t think I was in active labour yet so so we going to check my vitals and then go get a coffee then she could check me. I was like “can you check me now” because I wanted to get to the hospital in time to fill the pool! Anyway in the time she checked my vitals I started getting shaky and my contractions were more intense, so she checked me and I was 6-7 so she said we should leave right away which I was glad about!!
It was the perfect time to drive to the hospital - a Sunday morning where no one was on the road! I turned on my hypnobirthing track in the car which was comforting but at the same time freaked me out a bit because it was saying “you will dilate twice as fast….” And I was like please not while I’m in the car!! At one point of our drive we ended up behind a police car ... of course! Luckily he turned shortly after. We got to the hospital a bit after 8am. We had to get a COVID screen at the front door (so annoying when you are in labour) and the guy was talking so slow and Scott was like “we need to get up to the room now!!” So he finally hurried up haha. They had a room ready for us right away which was nice! We beat Kate there so I had a nurse with me for a bit. As soon as we got into the room Scott started filling the pool like a mad man. Another reason I was so happy it was on a Sunday is that my sister could come because her husband could watch and Ruby and their son. It was nice she was there so she could put pressure on my tummy while Scott filled the pool. That always feels best for me in labour - having the counter pressure on the bottom of my tummy.
I was starting to feel like I had to push soon but the pool was still filling so I was worried I wouldn’t be able to get in… but Scott literally finished at the perfect time! I hopped into the pool and almost started pushing right away! I had a few contractions before. I only pushed about 10 minutes before Lola was out! I felt my water break before she came out and it was such a funny feeling, like this pop and gush in the water. I felt like I could control my breathing more this time compared to last time with Ruby. Last time I used laughing gas which I feel helped me breathe and I’m sure took the edge off the pain a bit. The water did help, but I could still feel the ring of fire. I feel like I’m pretty quiet in labour until I push and then I grunt and after it kind of hurts my throat after haha. I felt her head come out pretty quick but then felt like it wouldn’t push out more so she had me flip over - it was kind of hard to do so Scott basically flipped me and then I pushed one more time and Kate seemed to pull her right out and put her in my arms. She felt so little!!!
She didn’t feel quite as chubby as Ruby but they were only 1 oz apart! She had a bit of bruising on her face from coming so fast and I think because her hand was by her face. I delivered my placenta a few minutes later and it felt good to push that out. The water wasn’t too gross until the placenta came out and then I was sitting in a tub of red… like red wine. Lola came out so calm and didn’t even cry. She didn’t open her eyes for a long time. Her lower lip seems to sink in a little bit so we had to work it to get a latch but she seemed to latch better then Ruby! She is such a sweetie and we love her so much already! I just wanted to cry looking at her because she is so perfect! I thought labour and delivery with Ruby was amazing but this one went even better! I’m not in as much pain as last time except there were after pains this time which almost seemed as bad as labour haha. I didn’t tear much (even though it felt like I was tearing) and only needed 3 stitches. I could control my bladder this time after giving birth and was not bleeding as much. There were some huge gushes after and they gave me some oxytocin to slow it down which worked perfect. I can’t believe we have 2 babies now!! It seems so crazy!
While this seems like the perfect story (at least in my opinion 😆) it doesn’t end here…. you often hear people talk about birth stories but not what it’s like postpartum which came as a huge shock to me after Ruby - it’s not easy!
Things were going fairly well after we got home from the hospital with Lola… of course I was tired and a bit overwhelmed with Ruby running around always needing lots of attention and feeling bad I couldn’t give it to her, but Scott had 2 weeks off work and we had family come to visit which was very helpful. You would think breastfeeding would come easier this time around since Lola is my second baby but I felt like it was new to me and had to relearn everything! I was also really worried about my milk coming in because I had crazy over supply with Ruby. It was really painful and made it very difficult. Like no joke my milk would spray across the room and we had an ugly towel on our couch for the first few months because it was always a mess! It’s a blessing and a curse to have too much milk. I am SO glad I can breastfeed…. but it also comes with its challenges. I got mastitis with Ruby 2 weeks after giving birth and after you get it once, you are more prone to getting it again. Before my milk came in I started taking sunflower lecithin daily (to help thin my milk) and was drinking pineapple juice. This was new to me this time around but I had heard that the bromelain in pineapple helps to reduce inflammation and the chance for clogged ducts.
With Lola I was having a really hard time waking her up for feeds especially on Friday (when she was 5 days old.) this is usually peak day for jaundice which can make them sleepy but, this wasn’t the case - she was just a sleepy newborn. I literally tried everything to wake her up, blew on her face, tickled her head, feet and back, used a cold cloth, lifted her in the air and finally ran her hair under cold water but NOTHING worked. She would not eat! I kind of gave up because she wasn’t waking up and I was getting frustrated but by the afternoon my boobs were sooo full and starting to feel really uncomfortable.
Trying to stay warm with my uncontrollable chills feeding in funny positions to try to unclogged the clogged ducts.
My mom and sister were over and they went out to get groceries. My boobs were starting to feel so engorged so I decided I should pump a bit. I was also scared to pump too much because I didn’t want to increase my supply even more! I always put my pump on the highest setting (which now I know I shouldn’t be doing because it was irritate and inflame the nipple - it shouldn’t pinch at all and be very gentle) and pumped a bit and then laid down for 20 mins. I started crying as soon as I laid down as I just felt so overwhelmed and frustrated by everything. As I laid there I felt like my boobs were getting harder and harder and it was getting more and more painful. I went into a hot shower hoping the heat would help release some of the milk but nothing would come out! I started getting awful chills, fever and a pounding headache… like my jaw was hurting so bad because I was shaking so much and my whole body was shaking. No matter how much I tried to hand express to get the milk out - nothing was coming out. It was like it just kept filling but wouldn’t let any out. At this point I was bawling in the shower because I didn’t know what to do. Scott heard me crying in the shower and came to help. He called the midwife and she was concerned I had mastitis because of the chills and fever. I didn’t want to get out of the shower because I was so cold but I needed to try to feed Lola to help drain my boob. I put ALL the blankets around me (we had just gotten this quilt for Ruby from Scott’s Aunt and it was so warm it saved me!) Last time I had mastitis we tried all of these different positions for feeding to help unclog my ducts and it worked last time so we tried it again…it wasn’t so successful this time. We decided to try to feed every 2 hours for the next 24 hours to see if we could get rid of the infection at home. I also….
started antibiotics
took sudafed (supposed to help your supply drop a bit)
advil + tylenol for inflammation and pain
hot and cold compresses as well as cabbage leaves + potatoes on my boobs (to help with inflammation)
pumped out all of the milk after Lola ate to “start over”
echinacea to help with inflammation + support my immune system
used my haakaa (a manual pump) filled halfway with hot water + 1 tbsp of epsom salts leaving it for about 10 minutes to try to drain the clogged ducts
used my electric toothbrush to try and unclog the ducts
(normally these remedies can work wonders, but it was just too late for me - the infection was brewing quick!) By the morning my whole boob was bright red - like a very defined line around it. It very hot and swollen and I wasn’t feeling any better so we decided it was time to go to the hospital.
tried to rest….which was pretty impossible because I had to feed Lola every 2 hours and she takes about 1 hour to eat…
My midwife also suggested trying phytolacca (a homeopathic remedy) as directed on bottle. To be honest I have never been into homeopathic remedies….so I was hesitant but also so desperate for things to get better I ordered some and started taking it as soon as I got it.This homeopathic remedy stimulates the lymph system and can help to fight inflammation and infection. I’m not sure if it’s the kind of thing where you really have to believe in this remedy for it to work…. if that is the case I don’t know how effective it would be for me?
A few things I have learned since….
Sunflower lecithin 1200mg 4 x a day ( I was taking half of this dose)
Studies have shown Probiotics have been helpful in preventing and treating mastitis
VERY gentle massage towards your armpit to help get things moving - support your lymphatic system and drainage (like pretend a leaf of floating on water and you are helping to move it along with out dunking it under water)
Hard massage to try to unclog your ducts can actually make things worse and cause more inflammation even though it might feel good in the moment (I went hard on my boobs and caused more swelling and bruising)
dangle feeding (lay your baby on their back and you feed them from on top) can help drain clogged ducts - I actually did this with ruby but had forgotten about it!
Eat 1 raw garlic clove mashed every two hours until pain is gone.
Massage coconut oil around the entire breast, up into the arm pit, focusing on the clogged duct area. When I did this, the tissue softened a bit so we will see how it goes!
My tips for over suppliers…. (not medical advice)
A lot of people will recommend using the the haakaa…BUT in your case it can stimulate milk like a pump. I used it with Ruby and it took longer for my milk to regulate because my body thought it needed to produce more milk from using the haakaa. If you really need some relief you can use it like a manual pump.
Again if you need some relief, pump a little bit but don’t drain the breast.
I wanted to post this right after Lola was born for every one to read but things have been crazy over here. It’s like one thing after another and I am currently fighting mastitis again…in the other breast! I was told to go right back to the hospital if I got mastitis again because it progressed and got bad SO fast last time, but it didn’t feel like it would get as bad again this time - luckily it didn’t. As much as I didn’t want to, I started oral antibiotics to avoid having to go into the hospital as it was already red under my nipple and there were 2 red streaks coming off of the red circle. Lola had started sleeping 11 hours straight (amazing for an 8 week old baby!!!) I should have pumped at least once during that time to ease into it but was just so excited to be able to sleep more and things were flowing well otherwise so I didn’t think to at the moment. I woke up at 3:30am with pain in my breast. I’m a HUGE advocate of sleep training so I didn’t want to wake Lola up and have her regress from sleeping 11 hours straight but I knew I had to when hand expressing didn’t feel like it was enough. That morning I swallowed garlic, rubbed oregano oil on my feet, took On Guard, took my homeopathic remedy, used cabbage leaves, used epsom salts in my haakaa, Advil for pain and inflammation, tried rubbing lavender, melaleuca, rose and frankincense oil where the redness was to help with swelling…. so many things. Things significantly improved by the next day which was such a blessing!
I think the most important thing I can share with you after my experience of having to take so much antibiotics over the last few weeks is here….
HOW TO SUPPORT YOUR GUT WHEN ANTIBIOTICS ARE NECESSARY
While you are taking antibiotics, they will be killing off your infection, but along with that your good bacteria as well. We want to avoid other infections such as yeast infections that can occur from the lack of good bacteria so follow these steps to protect your gut and not have to worry about other infections.
1- eat fermented foods -
things such as yogurt, kimchi, sauerkraut, kvass, kefir etc. Fermented foods can contain healthy bacteria, including Lactobacilli, which can often be found in different probiotic supplements. You want to make sure the cultures are live to provide you with different strains of good bacteria for your gut. For example - when looking for yogurt it shouldn’t contain sugars or any added ingredients besides milk and/or cream and bacterial cultures. All fermented foods should be found in the refrigerated section.
2- avoid consumption of sugar -
our good bacteria feeds on fiber, where as our bad bacteria feeds on sugar which can lead to other infections such as yeast infections. We want to limit our sugar intake, especially while on antibiotics to avoid this from occurring!
3- take a probiotic supplement -
taking a probiotic supplement during a round of antibiotics can help reduce the likelihood of diarrhea. You should however wait a few hours between taking your antibiotics and your probiotics for them to be most effective. it is helpful to continue to take your probiotics for at least a few weeks after you are finished your antibiotics to help restore some of the healthy bacteria in the intestines that may have been killed.
4- eat prebiotic rich foods -
These can include apples, leeks, garlic, onions, green bananas and asparagus. Prebiotics are foods that feed the good bacteria. Doing this they may help restore the gut microbiota after taking antibiotics.
5- eat more fiber! (especially after your round of antibiotics is complete)
our bodies don’t digest fiber, however it is broken down by our gut bacteria which can help stimulate its growth. Because fiber takes longer to digest and slow down the time the stomach empties, we want to be careful with the amount of fiber we consume while taking antibiotics (or at least around the time we take our antibiotics) so we don’t slow down the rate of absorption of our medication. When your round of antibiotics is complete make your focus on fiber #1 to support the good bacteria’s recolonization. Check out my Fiber Fix meal plan to set you up or success!
I want you to remember, do not feel guilty or scared for having to take antibiotics. At times they are necessary, and can even save your life! Follow these steps while you take them and you will have a much better experience :)
xo erin