cruise
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I gave birth to C on 21 Feb, at 40+3. Might as well as type up the birth story 
Pre-labor:
About 2 weeks before labor -- lost more chunks of mucus plug in little bits
About a week before labor -- false labor going on for hours at a time
Several days before labor -- had brownish/reddish discharge (mistook this for bloody show)
Also several days before labor -- greatly increased discharge making wet spots. Thought I was leaking amniotic fluid, but I got checked out & wasn't.
Had a mucus sweep on 40+1, didn't seem to initiate anything. Was 1 - 1.5cm dilated & effaced, no change for two weeks running.
Had GIANT bloody show on 40+2 almost exactly 24 hours before labor which was a surprise, but did not recognize it as bloody show. Thought maybe it was irritation from sweep.
Day of labor:
Had been having BH all morning long. Early labor started around 11 AM, but was exactly like false labor. It was irregular, went on and off, et cetera.
Around 3 PM, it got fairly painful. I started thinking: if this continues, I'll want an epidural in a few hours. Might as well go to the hospital so I can get pain relief if it's real. The worst they can do is send me home, right?
So I arrived at the hospital at 4 PM. It took until 5 PM for someone to check me, where they determined I was 3cm dilated and admitted me. By then I was asking for pain relief and they said it was too early.
Around then the pain started really coming. It was the worst 2 hours of my life. Baby was sunny side up and it was back labor. It felt like the baby was going to bust out the tailbone Alien-style. The nurse showed my husband how to place counterpressure which was a godsend. My husband and I recited the alphabet backwards for each contraction, much to the amusement of hospital staff.
Finally, the CNM came and checked me and -- wow -- I was nearly fully dilated. Which would've explained the severity in pain... and here I was thinking, "wow, I'm only 3 cm, how much worse will this be???"
She called the anesthesiologist over, but due to needle supply issues which I will never forgive hospital for, it took him an hour to actually give me pain relief. He gave me a spinal block and an epidural. By then I was suppressing the urge to push, but holding it in & appearing as calm as possible so they wouldn't tell me "too late, you have to give birth without pain relief." That was one of the most difficult things I've ever done.
But what followed was about an hour of absolute bliss, feeling nothing except slight pressure during contractions.
Then about 8:30 PM it was time to push. But after some time of this, there was no progression plus the baby's heart rate kept dropping while pushing. I was doing exactly as the nurses said -- "do just like you're pooping!" They called the doctor over and made me suppress my pushing. (Spinal block wore off and epi mostly worn off at this point because in my pain haze I didn't understand that I had to keep pressing the button to keep the epi med up.)
If you've not given birth, some context: when you're pushing, it is a huge physical effort, but it also relieves a lot of pain. Suppressing the urge to push is difficult and very painful.
So, it took a while for the on-call ob to come over. We thought we'd have to get a vacuum delivery done. Not only did the doctor take a while to arrive, but it also took a while for him to set up the vacuum.
By then I finally figured out what I was doing wrong -- I wasn't supposed to do it exactly like I was pooping, which the nurses were telling me to do. I went with the motions my body was telling me to take which are kind of like a big bearing down. It only took a few pushes and the baby starting coming out literally as the doctor was holding the vacuum -- cord wrapped around his neck, but quickly resolved and 8-9 Apgar score.
Had a bad tear, bad hemorrhoids, and recovery was worse than pregnancy or labor. Even at almost 5 months pp, I have issues sitting down on hard surfaces. My advice to you ladies about to give birth: please, please do yourself a favor and eat only fresh fruits & veggies, make a meal out of prunes, beg for all the stool softeners, and so forth until your first postpartum poo.
Also, don't be afraid to ask if you can take Miralax afterwards -- that stuff was a godsend for me and I took it everyday for eight weeks; Colace wasn't cutting it for me. Despite the name, Miralax is just a stool softener and not a laxative; I had no issues going off it when I felt ready.
And in hindsight: feel free to smack anyone who responds to your complaints about tiredness with "oh yeah? wait until you give birth and you have a newborn." That one's for the husbands who didn't suffer hormonal insomnia. I had to care for my newborn alone because DH had a 6-week trip he couldn't get out of. I slept better anyway. Only two or three really rough nights so far. Hope it is the same for you.
Despite all that, C is absolutely worth it. We couldn't ask for a better baby.
Pre-labor:
About 2 weeks before labor -- lost more chunks of mucus plug in little bits
About a week before labor -- false labor going on for hours at a time
Several days before labor -- had brownish/reddish discharge (mistook this for bloody show)
Also several days before labor -- greatly increased discharge making wet spots. Thought I was leaking amniotic fluid, but I got checked out & wasn't.
Had a mucus sweep on 40+1, didn't seem to initiate anything. Was 1 - 1.5cm dilated & effaced, no change for two weeks running.
Had GIANT bloody show on 40+2 almost exactly 24 hours before labor which was a surprise, but did not recognize it as bloody show. Thought maybe it was irritation from sweep.
Day of labor:
Had been having BH all morning long. Early labor started around 11 AM, but was exactly like false labor. It was irregular, went on and off, et cetera.
Around 3 PM, it got fairly painful. I started thinking: if this continues, I'll want an epidural in a few hours. Might as well go to the hospital so I can get pain relief if it's real. The worst they can do is send me home, right?
So I arrived at the hospital at 4 PM. It took until 5 PM for someone to check me, where they determined I was 3cm dilated and admitted me. By then I was asking for pain relief and they said it was too early.
Around then the pain started really coming. It was the worst 2 hours of my life. Baby was sunny side up and it was back labor. It felt like the baby was going to bust out the tailbone Alien-style. The nurse showed my husband how to place counterpressure which was a godsend. My husband and I recited the alphabet backwards for each contraction, much to the amusement of hospital staff.
Finally, the CNM came and checked me and -- wow -- I was nearly fully dilated. Which would've explained the severity in pain... and here I was thinking, "wow, I'm only 3 cm, how much worse will this be???"
She called the anesthesiologist over, but due to needle supply issues which I will never forgive hospital for, it took him an hour to actually give me pain relief. He gave me a spinal block and an epidural. By then I was suppressing the urge to push, but holding it in & appearing as calm as possible so they wouldn't tell me "too late, you have to give birth without pain relief." That was one of the most difficult things I've ever done.
But what followed was about an hour of absolute bliss, feeling nothing except slight pressure during contractions.
Then about 8:30 PM it was time to push. But after some time of this, there was no progression plus the baby's heart rate kept dropping while pushing. I was doing exactly as the nurses said -- "do just like you're pooping!" They called the doctor over and made me suppress my pushing. (Spinal block wore off and epi mostly worn off at this point because in my pain haze I didn't understand that I had to keep pressing the button to keep the epi med up.)
If you've not given birth, some context: when you're pushing, it is a huge physical effort, but it also relieves a lot of pain. Suppressing the urge to push is difficult and very painful.
So, it took a while for the on-call ob to come over. We thought we'd have to get a vacuum delivery done. Not only did the doctor take a while to arrive, but it also took a while for him to set up the vacuum.
By then I finally figured out what I was doing wrong -- I wasn't supposed to do it exactly like I was pooping, which the nurses were telling me to do. I went with the motions my body was telling me to take which are kind of like a big bearing down. It only took a few pushes and the baby starting coming out literally as the doctor was holding the vacuum -- cord wrapped around his neck, but quickly resolved and 8-9 Apgar score.
Had a bad tear, bad hemorrhoids, and recovery was worse than pregnancy or labor. Even at almost 5 months pp, I have issues sitting down on hard surfaces. My advice to you ladies about to give birth: please, please do yourself a favor and eat only fresh fruits & veggies, make a meal out of prunes, beg for all the stool softeners, and so forth until your first postpartum poo.
Also, don't be afraid to ask if you can take Miralax afterwards -- that stuff was a godsend for me and I took it everyday for eight weeks; Colace wasn't cutting it for me. Despite the name, Miralax is just a stool softener and not a laxative; I had no issues going off it when I felt ready.
And in hindsight: feel free to smack anyone who responds to your complaints about tiredness with "oh yeah? wait until you give birth and you have a newborn." That one's for the husbands who didn't suffer hormonal insomnia. I had to care for my newborn alone because DH had a 6-week trip he couldn't get out of. I slept better anyway. Only two or three really rough nights so far. Hope it is the same for you.
Despite all that, C is absolutely worth it. We couldn't ask for a better baby.
