All I have heard my entire life when it comes to childbirth is how painful, tiring, and hard it is. I'm sure that is true for many woman but that is not the experience I had. If you are looking for a blog about what to expect during childbirth, my story is probably not the one you want to be reading (well actually it probably is) but I am going to share it anyway.
After all, there is no sense in getting yourself worked up over something you can't get out of and that may not be such a scary experience in the end.
First of all, let me start by saying that I had a super easy pregnancy from the beginning. Baby Hudson was an unplanned honeymoon baby. I didn't have bad morning sickness. I was nauseous and tired a lot but nothing compared to what most people experience. I was 6 months pregnant before anyone who didn't know I was pregnant could tell. No part of my body ever became swollen and I gained very little weight. I decided from the beginning that I already spend every single day of my life worrying about eating super clean and working out so I was going to put all of that on the back burner and enjoy being pregnant. So that is exactly what I did. I ate what I wanted when I wanted but I also never formed the mindset that I was "eating for two" because that simply is not true.
Lets jump ahead to my final month of pregnancy. My due date was January 29th. At my 36 week appointment following a trip to labor and delivery for what turned out to be a pulled back muscle, my doctor determined I was dilated to a 3 and got my hopes up by telling me she would be willing to bet she would be seeing me later that night/weekend to deliver a baby. Didn't happen.
Even though I wasn't huge, swollen or waddling I was uncomfortable and bitter about having to show up for a 37 week appointment. Don't get me wrong, I wanted a healthy baby and I wasn't by any means trying to rush this experience but I was ready and the way she was treating my body, she was obviously ready too. My doctor checked me over and was just as disappointed as I was that she had been wrong the previous week. This time she determined I was dilated to about a 4 or 5. At that point she let me know she would be going on vacation the following Thursday and wouldn't be back until the day after my due date. Fabulous. Just what you want to hear from your doctor. Since she felt I was ready she asked me if I wanted her to check me in a way that could cause me to go into labor.
Well duh! Of course I do. I didn't realize you could help me out with that, lady!
She warned me that it could be painful but it would be super quick and she had a pretty good success rate with woman going into labor within 24 hours of her performing this little magic trick. What the heck did I have to lose?
That lady "stripped my membranes" as she called it. Since then I have heard it called several different things. It was slightly uncomfortable but not too bad. I left her office at 2:00 on Friday with her telling me she thought I should probably go home instead of back to work and that she was on call this weekend so she would be hoping to see me within 24 hours. Let me take a second to say I am a very organized person. I always plan everything. However, I had not packed a bag, I had not purchased any of the last minute stuff I needed, I had not gotten that urge to nest hardcore like everyone had said I would, and I did not have the baby room done. My husband was out playing "cops" with his friends and my mom had chosen that specific Friday night to go to her house rather than spend the evening with me. Needless to say I WAS NOT PREPARED! I knew I needed to be but I just wasn't.
Within an hour I had done some last minute shopping at the mall "just in case" and had stopped at McAlisters for my regular EVERY DAY pregnancy lunch. I kid you not, the second I took the exit for my house I had the worst, most intense pain I had ever felt! I had being having "contractions" for a few weeks but I kept questioning if thats what they really were because they weren't intensely painful like everyone had described. I was positive this was a real contraction this time. About 10 minutes later I had another one. I had been told repeatedly to wait until contractions were CONSISTENTLY 5 minutes apart before I went to the hospital so I just called my mom and my husband who both laughed at me and told me even if I was in labor it would be a while so just go home and take a nap. Once I was home my contractions were happening anywhere from 2 minutes to 15 minutes apart. Nothing was consistent in the time department but they definitely weren't stopping. I tried doing some chores, packing my bag and preparing just in case but those things were so painful I couldn't get anything done.
Aaron came home around midnight and I finally decided I was going to try to "take a nap" because I just knew we would be hospital bound once those darn contractions were consistently a few minutes apart. I tried laying down but I just couldn't fall asleep due to the intense paralyzing pain of those inconsistent contractions. At 1 am I decided to get in the shower and "get dressed." By the time I got out of the shower my contractions were about 3 to 5 minutes apart!
Everyone kept telling me to wait until they were EXACTLY 5 minutes apart. That NEVER happened for me so I suggest not taking that bit of info to heart when you are wondering if you should go to the hospital or not.
We called labor and delivery and my doctor told me I should probably take myself to the hospital. Still yet, my mom and Aaron were sure it was going to be a LONG while before we had a baby.
As they were hooking me up in the triage room at 2:00 am they were telling me that I would need to be monitored for an hour or two to determine what the doctor wanted done with me. 15 minutes after they hooked me up they were rushing to get me checked in. So much for an hour or two. Apparently I wasn't making a big deal out of nothing and things were, in fact, progressing as I had tried to tell them. Once again, I called my mother, who informed me that I needed to just try to get some rest because it would be a while.
During my pregnancy I had to have a cervical biopsy that although was not my first cervical biopsy in my life it was the most painful thing I had ever experienced so I decided right then and there that if that was so painful there is no way a natural childbirth was going to be for me.
So, with that little bit of info behind us let me continue...by 3:00 am I was all settled into my very comfortable delivery room that was nothing like I had expected. I was having some pretty intense contractions that I was handling like a champ! I had fabulous nurses, they really are the best things you can have when you are giving birth. They gave me some fabulous medicine that they said would make me feel "tipsy." And that is exactly what it did...IMMEDIATELY! This made the pain much more tolerable until the anesthesiologist could get there for my epidural.
Let me tell you I was most nervous about that epidural. Nothing scared me about childbirth more than what I had heard about getting epidurals but I knew there was no way I was going to be able to handle it without one. And I was even more terrified when they informed me that Aaron had to leave while they gave it to me. If I hadn't made a decision when we walked into that hospital to just go with the flow and not get upset about anything I couldn't change then we could probably insert a meltdown right at that point.
The anesthesiologist came in and chatted with me about what to expect. He and the nurse both warned me that it would sting pretty bad when he put the needle in and all of that scary stuff you don't want to talk about. Let me just say, I felt nothing but fabulousness from the epidural. I felt no pain, no stinging, nothing.
It was great. Getting an IV was MUCH worse and to be honest I would rather cut off a finger than have that done again.
I wanted to hug the guy when he was done and I do not hug. Once that was over my nurses got me nice and comfortable. From the second he put that needle in my back I didn't feel a single bit of pain or discomfort. My water still had not broken so they had me working with an exercise ball to try to make it happen and told me I should probably call my mom and tell her to be on her way since she lives an hour from the hospital.
I called and the lady laughed at me again and told me to just relax and get some rest that it would probably be a while. My water broke as I was on the phone with her and she STILL wasn't taking this seriously. I got off the phone with her knowing good and well she was going back to sleep. Aaron and the nurse's were laughing because they were positive this was happening soon and she wasn't believing it.
Apparently you can have more than one sac of water? I didn't really understand other than my water had broken but there were still 3 sacks of water they could feel that they needed to break but were waiting on the doctor to get there and do it. At this point it was 4:30 am, they had contacted my doctor and she was due to arrive by 6:00 am and I was being told I would more than likely be holding my baby by 7:00 am. About that time I was dilating quickly but my contractions had just completely stopped. Who knew that could happen? They were asking me if I wanted them to give me some meds to get them started again. What kind of question is that? Do I get to go home and try again next week if I say no? They put a little Pitocin in my IV and we were back in business.
6:00 am rolled around and my mom was still not there but neither was the doctor. 7:00 am rolled around and in walks my mom absolutely shocked that things have progressed so quickly and, in my opinion, a little resentful due to the fact that she was in labor with me for 2 days! 8:00 am rolls around, still no doctor. The nurses were at the point of deciding they were ready to have me push with or without the doctor. Finally at about 9:00, my doctor came in, checked me over, had the room prepped, and decided we needed to start pushing.
I was in a whole pain free world of my own as I pushed this little nugget out. No ripping, no tearing, no cutting. It was fabulous! We had a bit of a scare when baby came out. She decided to turn over as she was coming out and ended up with the umbilical cord wrapped around her neck. She wasn't crying and she was turning blue. I could tell from the look on A's face and from the way my mom was reacting that something was wrong but to be honest I was just so relaxed I didn't know what was going on. A few minutes later she was just fine and we were all admiring how beautiful she was.
My recovery was just as easy and pain free as my delivery and I realize that makes me an exception to the rule but no one ever tells you that its possible but it is. Within 8 hours of giving birth Aaron had me walking those halls so I wouldn't be so sore later and within 24 hours of being moved to my recovery room we were pacing the room ready to be discharged. By noon on Sunday I was in my own bed in my own home taking a nap.
Pregnancy, child birth, and recovery really can turn out being super easy. I know its luck of the draw but my advice is to just go with whatever they throw at you, don't research too much on what to "expect," and get moving as soon as you can to avoid being in lots of pain after all the meds wear off.
