I want to reply to everyone but also want to record my birth story and don't have to energy to do it all, so I am going to write down my birth story, and just know that I have been reading all your replies and keeping up to date!
Congrats to elonaire on the birth of sweet Freddy.
midnight- that's horrible about your after pains! I can't imagine how bad they'd be after 4 kids. Almost puts me off having another!
Ok - and my Birth story! Be prepared that it is very long!
On Fri, Jan 27th, I woke up at 4:10 am with my first contraction. It was relatively mild (just that first one) but definitely the real deal. I tried to just get back to sleep in between but couldn't, and they were coming about 8-10 minutes apart right away. I wanted to make sure it was the real deal and they wouldn't just fizzle out on me, so I texted my mom letting her know I was likely in early labour but nothing to be alarmed about just yet.
I sneaked upstairs so as not to disturb DH's sleep and tried to find some comfy positions to labour in. I immediately found I was too uncomfortable to lie down for them or even sit/squat while leaning over anything (which had been comfortable for my early labour with dd1). When I did that this time the pain and pressure was just too unbearable. I felt nauseated from the pain but never threw up.
I ended up finding that the best way to cope was to walk around the house in between contractions and then to lean on the kitchen counter while standing and swaying back and forth and wiping my face with a cool cloth during contractions. By 5:25 am the contractions started coming 5 minutes apart consistently. However, there was the odd one that would be slightly longer in between but there would be CONSTANT pain and cramping during the in between time. At the time, I was worried this meant I was having ineffective contractions and that I wouldn't even be dilating properly. In retrospect, I realize it was probably a sign that things were progressing very quickly.
The contractions were fairly intense and I was having trouble with them, but I was really in the zone in the quiet by myself with the routine of walking and leaning. Through each contraction I followed Apple's lead (&some notes I had) and just told myself over and over, "this is one contraction closer to my baby" and, "I can handle anything for one minute!" This helped a lot. Since I was in such a rhythm and was worried about being 'gun shy' going to the hospital too soon, I didn't wake DH up until 6:40 am, when contractions had been 5 min apart for 1.25 hours. I told him I wanted to be alone and that he should go eat some breakfast while I showered and then have it all cleaned up by the time I got upstairs so the smell wouldn't make me sick. Then gave him some orders on last minute hospital bag items, etc.
I hopped in the shower at 6:45 and so wasn't able to time contractions very well, but they became a lot more frequent at this point and I am guessing this is when they became 3 min apart consistently. The shower felt so good and I basically got 'stuck' in the shower because there was so little time in between and if I got out of the shower, the contractions were too cripplingly painful to manage. When the water was aimed at my back during them, it felt so much easier to cope. I did have to get out of the shower to text my mom to come get dd1 right away and to give DH a few more instructions. I barely had time to send a few texts in between contractions (which I'd hop back in the shower for) which is how I realized the contractions were only about 2-3 minutes apart at this point.
I realized I had to get out of the shower so we could get to the hospital, but getting ready was very difficult since so little time between contractions, and the contractions were extremely intense and unbearable. I was feeling loads and loads of pressure low down by this time (and had felt a lot more low pressure the entire time I was labouring compared to the early stages with dd1). This did make me think the baby was getting a lot lower and closer to needing pushing, but at the same time I had a VERY long labour with dd1 and when my contractions had been 3 min apart with her, I was only 4 cm! So with only that last experience to go off of, I was really worried I would get there and only be 4 cm again. I felt like maybe I was a wimp because I felt like I could barely cope and everything was unbearable.
My mom finally arrived to pick up dd1 at about 7:30 am. I said a quick goodbye to dd1 but she was very good about not disturbing me during contractions. She seemed to sense I needed to be alone. She was very excited about her baby sister coming soon. As soon as my mom left, we prepared to get out the door to the hospital. However, I kept having to wait for another contraction to pass before doing another step like just putting on my jacket or putting on my boots, so that was a bit scary because it felt like we were never getting out the door and I just wanted to be there already. I was worried about signing in and getting assessed in uncomfortable positions when I was in so much pain.
Finally got in the vehicle and had an extremely painful car ride mostly contracting the entire time. I was again having loads and loads of pressure down below as I contracted.
We got to the hospital and I was immediately struck with another bad contraction. Someone saw us standing there (me gripping DH and in pain) and offered to get us a wheelchair. However, she took too long and as soon as the contraction was over I knew we needed to MOVE to get me signed in. We got upstairs at 7:58 am and DH signed me in while I had contractions the whole time.
Got into assessment and I couldn't even get into bed before having another seriously intense contraction with an extreme amount of pressure in my bottom. As soon as that ended I just got into bed and had another one. I would say they were 2 min apart but lasting over a minute so very little time in between. The nurse checked me which hurt a LOT, but then she wouldn't tell me how dilated I was because my waters were bulging and she said sometimes after waters break, the cervix collapses, so she wanted to get the doctor to check before she told us how dilated I was. She just said I was "doing very well" but I had no idea what that meant. I felt so awful but at the same time was worried I was only 4-6 cm and was going to be in that much pain for a lot longer!
Basically the minute the nurse left the room to get the doctor, my water broke in one big burst, and I was overcome with the most painful I've ever felt in my entire life. I started screaming in agony and yelling that I needed to push right now. I actually was unable to stop myself from bearing down during the contraction. It was an irresistible urge and reflex like I'd heard people talk about but never experienced with dd1.
Nurses came running into the room and I kept saying, "I NEED TO PUSH!" But they started yammering about how I couldn't push there and telling me to get into a wheelchair but I could NOT move and NEEDED to push so they quickly just wheeled me in the bed over to the labour & delivery room. Got in the room at 8:14 am. Was in total agony and immobilized by pain by managed to transfer to the l&d bed. I was surrounded by nurses and a dr and someone helped me get my pants off. It is all a blur of pain. I just kept yelling that I needed to push, and during my contractions all I could do was push - there was nothing I could do to stop myself! But since this was so fast and no one had even told me how dilated I was, I wasn't sure if I was even allowed to push or dilated enough yet? But they let me just push and I couldn't stop myself so kept pushing.
They wanted me to move to my back (I was on my side) but I was in so much pain I couldn't even think about moving. Finally there was a tiny break in contractions and they managed to roll me over and break the bed very quickly. They could see the head and told me that in the next contraction they would direct my pushing and I would probably deliver my baby! So, that contraction started and I did one big push for the head, then a bunch of very short little pushes as I pushed the shoulders out, then pushed the rest of her out, and at 8:22 am she was born and on my chest, just 9 minutes after starting to push, and 24 minutes after arriving at the hospital!
Even though it had been so agonizing and intense, as soon as it was over I felt so amazing and relieved! She was put on my chest and did take a bit to cry because she was stunned from the fast exit! But she did cry and was fine and I had lots of skin to skin while they stitched me back up. I experienced an endorphin rush I never had with dd1, and I was surprised when they told me I had 2nd degree tears because I felt no pain at first. I didn't even feel the freezing needles going in for stitching, which is sort of funny because I had no pain relief/drugs whatsoever (whereas with dd1 I felt EVERYTHING after despite having an epidural). I did start to feel after a bit more time but it was nothing major. Also, this time delivering the placenta was no big deal at all. Just delivered it in one easy push! Made me realize why others don't have a terrible experience and that the manual extraction I had last time really was terrible! Basically as soon as she was born I couldn't believe how happy I was that she was here already and that the experience was so much better than last time! My doctor of course missed the delivery, but the doctor there was so incredibly nice and so was our nurse! I had a wonderful experience and was allowed to have 90 min of skin on skin, I was able to nurse after about 20 min (she wasn't interested before then), and no one pushed me to give up my baby and go take a shower immediately. I was able to just bask in the glory of her birth! It was so wonderful and makes me want to cry just thinking of it! My stomach was also in a lot less pain after and I was able to walk to the shower without bending over etc! I felt amazing and euphoric for that entire first day of birth!
So happy it is over now! It was so intense and scary at the time but so amazing in the end.
