always_xo
John's Mumma
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- Mar 15, 2012
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Well, my baby boy is finally here. John Daniel Berry was born at 4:22PM on Friday, November 16th, 2012. He's absolutely perfect.
I was dilated to 1 centimeter at 36 weeks and 70% effaced. I thought I would go early on my own, but I stayed the same each week. I have a hiatal hernia, which means part of my stomach is pushed through my diaphragm into my esophogus, so I throw up A LOT. And as baby grew, he pushed on the hernia. I was unable to keep food or water down and started losing weight by week 39, so we decided on an induction.
I went in on Thursday the 15th at 7:30 PM and they inserted the Cytotec. I was SO against Cytotec and terrified that something bad was going to happen, I really pushed for Cervidil but the doctor kind of reassured me that everything would be fine... (it was.) It brought on contractions within a half hour or so. They were mild and I could definitely deal with them. Like dull period cramps. They'd check me every so often and I was still the same and kind of discouraged.
For some reason it hurt much more than usual when I was checked.. probably because I was having real contractions.. but it was definitely uncomfortable. (Cervix was also very far back though.) So my parents and OH were waiting it out overnight, waiting for some progress to be made. I got up to go to the bathroom and when I laid back down in my bed, intense pain hit me in my lower stomach, back, and for some reason in one of my legs. It was unberable and I burst into tears right away. Too early for an epidural so I was given morphine through my IV. It made me extremely weird... apparently I kept saying "Spiro Agnew", and telling my overnight guests where they could sleep... like in the baby's little bed, on the shelves, etc. Hahahah I was out of it. But that wore off pretty quickly. The pain was pretty bad and the morphine was no longer helping. I was breathing through my contractions and squeezing hands. At times they were super close together, so that wasn't fun, but to be honest they weren't as bad as I thought they would be, and I have a very low pain threshold. By early morning on Friday, I was still at 1. So they started pitocin. Broke my water. Don't remember which order that happened in, haha. Contractions got more intense. The pitocin brought me to a 3. After a few hours I got an epidural- which was TOTALLY painless, quick, and amazing. I felt no pain at all after the epi. I was able to sleep, even through contractions. Suddenly I was at a 7. Still no pain. I was sleeping and talking and laughing with family and OH. I slept most of the day actually, til around 4:00 when my OB checked me and said the head was right there and it was time to push. I seriously couldn't believe it. I was convinced throughout my whole pregnancy that I would have to have a c-section and now I was really pushing a baby out? I got nauseous while they were getting everything ready and randomly projectile vomitted on my mom... oops haha! I wasn't in pain or anything, I think just nervous. Still wasn't feeling a thing and couldn't believe there was a head coming out of me. Mom on one side, OH on the other. They told me to push when I felt like I needed to, so that's what I did. About 4 pushes, 10 minutes or so and my baby boy was here. I had a slight tear, because he came out pretty fast, and had to have stitches. Didn't feel them putting them putting the stitches in. I was kind of just in shock at that point that I had pushed my baby boy out of me. They handed him to me and I was overwhelmed with ten thousand feelings, love being the strongest one. 7 lbs 6 oz of pure perfection, 20 inches long. He's amazing and we're so thankful.
Some things that helped me... squeezing my mom's or OH's hand during contractions. I also watched the contractions peak on the screen while I was having them, it kind of helped because it showed me when the worst was over and when it would subside, somehow that helped me cope. To anyone on the fence about epidurals, I highly recommend them. I know they aren't for everyone and if I thought I was strong enough to do without, I would have. But it made things so much better for me and I was able to enjoy the process, get rest before pushing, etc. It was painless going in. The IV in my hand hurt more than the epidural. Literally, it was a tiiiiiiiiny little poke.
Also... I didn't expect recovery to be this difficult. I expected pain if I had a c-section, but I had a vaginal birth and I am still in a lot of pain a week later. I was very bruised and swollen after delivery, and I had a repair on top of it. Things are still pretty bad down there. Just be aware that even with a vaginal birth, you will have to take it easy for a while. I wasn't taking it easy the first few days I was home and I started passing pretty large clots because of it. Take help when you can get it because this is a rest period for us mamas! Happy, pain-free mom will make for a happy baby.
I was dilated to 1 centimeter at 36 weeks and 70% effaced. I thought I would go early on my own, but I stayed the same each week. I have a hiatal hernia, which means part of my stomach is pushed through my diaphragm into my esophogus, so I throw up A LOT. And as baby grew, he pushed on the hernia. I was unable to keep food or water down and started losing weight by week 39, so we decided on an induction.
I went in on Thursday the 15th at 7:30 PM and they inserted the Cytotec. I was SO against Cytotec and terrified that something bad was going to happen, I really pushed for Cervidil but the doctor kind of reassured me that everything would be fine... (it was.) It brought on contractions within a half hour or so. They were mild and I could definitely deal with them. Like dull period cramps. They'd check me every so often and I was still the same and kind of discouraged.
For some reason it hurt much more than usual when I was checked.. probably because I was having real contractions.. but it was definitely uncomfortable. (Cervix was also very far back though.) So my parents and OH were waiting it out overnight, waiting for some progress to be made. I got up to go to the bathroom and when I laid back down in my bed, intense pain hit me in my lower stomach, back, and for some reason in one of my legs. It was unberable and I burst into tears right away. Too early for an epidural so I was given morphine through my IV. It made me extremely weird... apparently I kept saying "Spiro Agnew", and telling my overnight guests where they could sleep... like in the baby's little bed, on the shelves, etc. Hahahah I was out of it. But that wore off pretty quickly. The pain was pretty bad and the morphine was no longer helping. I was breathing through my contractions and squeezing hands. At times they were super close together, so that wasn't fun, but to be honest they weren't as bad as I thought they would be, and I have a very low pain threshold. By early morning on Friday, I was still at 1. So they started pitocin. Broke my water. Don't remember which order that happened in, haha. Contractions got more intense. The pitocin brought me to a 3. After a few hours I got an epidural- which was TOTALLY painless, quick, and amazing. I felt no pain at all after the epi. I was able to sleep, even through contractions. Suddenly I was at a 7. Still no pain. I was sleeping and talking and laughing with family and OH. I slept most of the day actually, til around 4:00 when my OB checked me and said the head was right there and it was time to push. I seriously couldn't believe it. I was convinced throughout my whole pregnancy that I would have to have a c-section and now I was really pushing a baby out? I got nauseous while they were getting everything ready and randomly projectile vomitted on my mom... oops haha! I wasn't in pain or anything, I think just nervous. Still wasn't feeling a thing and couldn't believe there was a head coming out of me. Mom on one side, OH on the other. They told me to push when I felt like I needed to, so that's what I did. About 4 pushes, 10 minutes or so and my baby boy was here. I had a slight tear, because he came out pretty fast, and had to have stitches. Didn't feel them putting them putting the stitches in. I was kind of just in shock at that point that I had pushed my baby boy out of me. They handed him to me and I was overwhelmed with ten thousand feelings, love being the strongest one. 7 lbs 6 oz of pure perfection, 20 inches long. He's amazing and we're so thankful.Some things that helped me... squeezing my mom's or OH's hand during contractions. I also watched the contractions peak on the screen while I was having them, it kind of helped because it showed me when the worst was over and when it would subside, somehow that helped me cope. To anyone on the fence about epidurals, I highly recommend them. I know they aren't for everyone and if I thought I was strong enough to do without, I would have. But it made things so much better for me and I was able to enjoy the process, get rest before pushing, etc. It was painless going in. The IV in my hand hurt more than the epidural. Literally, it was a tiiiiiiiiny little poke.
Also... I didn't expect recovery to be this difficult. I expected pain if I had a c-section, but I had a vaginal birth and I am still in a lot of pain a week later. I was very bruised and swollen after delivery, and I had a repair on top of it. Things are still pretty bad down there. Just be aware that even with a vaginal birth, you will have to take it easy for a while. I wasn't taking it easy the first few days I was home and I started passing pretty large clots because of it. Take help when you can get it because this is a rest period for us mamas! Happy, pain-free mom will make for a happy baby.
Huge shock when we found out. I had 3 different ultrasounds that told me it was a girl, had a huge shower and received ALL pink gifts, and then at 36 weeks.. the ultrasound tech says "Ohmygod... it's a boy...." Talk about shock, lol.
