magnacarta
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Well, this is a little late in coming, but here we go....
I had had several false-starts for weeks prior to delivery. Contractions would come every 2-3 minutes and would last for a minute. This happened for hours on end, pretty much every other day.
Fast forward to my due date. I have my normal midwife appointment, and we don't talk about much. No indication that I was about to go into labor. A few hours later, I was working in the garden, and I felt a funny feeling in my abdomen. It felt sort of like AF was on the way-- not like AF cramps, but a sort of queasy weird feelings I sometimes get the day before she arrives. I felt strange for the rest of the evening, but had my partner make me a giant pineapple smoothie in the hopes of starting labor.
Around 11:30 PM, I was watching Deadwood (a great TV show, if you haven't seen it) and my waters broke. I had been really worried that I wouldn't know when my waters broke, but it was just so clear to me that that was what had happened. I felt a pop and then a small gush. I walked to the bathroom and more water came out. It was tinged pink. I had my partner grab a towel for me to soak up all the liquid, and I called the hospital (I had group B strep, so had to be put on antibiotics as soon as my water broke).
I arrived at the hospital around 1 AM (I live far away) and then spent an hour being admitted. My hospital has a birthing center attached, so they have to do lots of question-asking and checking to make sure that you qualify to go there instead of labor and delivery. Finally, around 2 AM, I get admitted to the birthing center. They did not check my dilation because my waters had broken. I was having contractions, and they hurt enough to keep me from sleeping (I'm a light sleeper), but not so bad. I was told that I had to get to 4 cms by noon in order to stay in the birthing center--otherwise, they would bring me to labor and delivery in order to get pitocin to make sure the baby was out within 24 hours of my water breaking. I did NOT like the pressure of this time-crunch, and I think this slowed my labor substantially.
I hung out in the room, walking around with the giant IV of antibiotics attached to me. Contractions were coming every 3 minutes, but weren't very severe. The midwife and nurses kept coming to check on me, but they mostly seemed interested in commenting on how they thought I wasn't progressing fast enough. I disagreed, but what could I do to convince them? It was kind of tense-- and eventually it go so that every time they would come into the room, I would tense up and the contractions would slow. I explained this to them, and finally, after getting me some castor oil to speed things up (I vomitted it up within about 20 seconds of drinking it, so it didn't do anything), they left me alone.
At noon, they checked, and I was at 4cms. Yipee! Once I knew I could stay in the birthing center, I relaxed a lot. That was when labor speeded up. I went to go take a shower, and while I walked in there without a care in the world, within about 15 minutes I was screaming in pain. I had my partner go and request a doula to come to help me during labor (my hospital has an AMAZING volunteer doula program), and then I had him feed me vanilla pudding in between contractions.
I left the shower and went back to the room (which was really nice-- they had a giant bed and everything), where I basically got a little freaked out. I was really screaming with every contraction, and felt a bit unprepared for the amount of pain I was feeling. Eventually, my doula got, there, and helped me with some breathing and humming techniques. She also fed me popsicles (I ate SIX!!!), which really helped me to keep my energy up.
At 2:45, I asked to have the birthing pool filled, but the midwife said that I wasn't far enough along (don't know how she knows that....) and that I had to wait until I was at 6 cms.
Around 3PM, I was really in a lot of pain and asked again to have the pool filled. The doula really advocated for me on this one. The midwife reluctantly checked me, and I was a big 8 cms, so she filled up the pool mighty quick! The pool felt SO nice between contractions, but I think it actually made my contractions much more painful (makes sense, I guess-- it relaxed my body which helped my body to do what it needed to do). After about 45 mintues in the pool, I started feeling the urge to push. I told them that, and they said it was OK to do what I felt I needed to. I pushed a few times and then reached down and felt my baby's head with my hand! I told them this, and they didn't believe me ("You feel the baby with your hand? You mean you feel it with your pelvis, right?"). They got a flashlight out and saw her head.
This meant that I had to get out of the pool (they don't allow waterbirths). So, I got out of the pool and had to walk over to the bed to give birth. This really slowed things down (in a relative sense...my baby was born less than an hour later, but her head was halfway out when I was in the pool... I think she could have been born within 5 minutes if I had stayed in). I got on the bed and pushed for about 45 minutes. Actually, this was one of the most comfortable parts of labor. My contractions got very spaced out --from being basically non-stop to being every 5-10 minutes-- (I've read this happens if you're about to give birth and then have to stop for some reason...you miss your "window of opportunity" and contractions slow a lot...this usually happens when women are told not to push, but in my case I think it was from having to move across the big room), so I only pushed like 6-7 times during that time. The whole time, I was vomitting up popsicle, which I thought was really funny. Pushing felt really good, and I enjoyed feeling like I was making progress. I felt some burning tearing towards the front of my labia (they ended up ripping a little, but no stitches needed), and then she was out.
Within about 5 seconds, they put her in my arms, and we cuddled while I waited to deliver the placenta (it happened within 5 minutes, with just one contraction and no pushing). Alice, my baby, was super healthy and happy and was nursing before the cord was even cut. Recovery was easy, and because I had no pain relief, I felt in pretty good shape (considering not having slept in a while) immediately.
Now, almost a month later, and things are great!
I had had several false-starts for weeks prior to delivery. Contractions would come every 2-3 minutes and would last for a minute. This happened for hours on end, pretty much every other day.
Fast forward to my due date. I have my normal midwife appointment, and we don't talk about much. No indication that I was about to go into labor. A few hours later, I was working in the garden, and I felt a funny feeling in my abdomen. It felt sort of like AF was on the way-- not like AF cramps, but a sort of queasy weird feelings I sometimes get the day before she arrives. I felt strange for the rest of the evening, but had my partner make me a giant pineapple smoothie in the hopes of starting labor.
Around 11:30 PM, I was watching Deadwood (a great TV show, if you haven't seen it) and my waters broke. I had been really worried that I wouldn't know when my waters broke, but it was just so clear to me that that was what had happened. I felt a pop and then a small gush. I walked to the bathroom and more water came out. It was tinged pink. I had my partner grab a towel for me to soak up all the liquid, and I called the hospital (I had group B strep, so had to be put on antibiotics as soon as my water broke).
I arrived at the hospital around 1 AM (I live far away) and then spent an hour being admitted. My hospital has a birthing center attached, so they have to do lots of question-asking and checking to make sure that you qualify to go there instead of labor and delivery. Finally, around 2 AM, I get admitted to the birthing center. They did not check my dilation because my waters had broken. I was having contractions, and they hurt enough to keep me from sleeping (I'm a light sleeper), but not so bad. I was told that I had to get to 4 cms by noon in order to stay in the birthing center--otherwise, they would bring me to labor and delivery in order to get pitocin to make sure the baby was out within 24 hours of my water breaking. I did NOT like the pressure of this time-crunch, and I think this slowed my labor substantially.
I hung out in the room, walking around with the giant IV of antibiotics attached to me. Contractions were coming every 3 minutes, but weren't very severe. The midwife and nurses kept coming to check on me, but they mostly seemed interested in commenting on how they thought I wasn't progressing fast enough. I disagreed, but what could I do to convince them? It was kind of tense-- and eventually it go so that every time they would come into the room, I would tense up and the contractions would slow. I explained this to them, and finally, after getting me some castor oil to speed things up (I vomitted it up within about 20 seconds of drinking it, so it didn't do anything), they left me alone.
At noon, they checked, and I was at 4cms. Yipee! Once I knew I could stay in the birthing center, I relaxed a lot. That was when labor speeded up. I went to go take a shower, and while I walked in there without a care in the world, within about 15 minutes I was screaming in pain. I had my partner go and request a doula to come to help me during labor (my hospital has an AMAZING volunteer doula program), and then I had him feed me vanilla pudding in between contractions.
I left the shower and went back to the room (which was really nice-- they had a giant bed and everything), where I basically got a little freaked out. I was really screaming with every contraction, and felt a bit unprepared for the amount of pain I was feeling. Eventually, my doula got, there, and helped me with some breathing and humming techniques. She also fed me popsicles (I ate SIX!!!), which really helped me to keep my energy up.
At 2:45, I asked to have the birthing pool filled, but the midwife said that I wasn't far enough along (don't know how she knows that....) and that I had to wait until I was at 6 cms.
Around 3PM, I was really in a lot of pain and asked again to have the pool filled. The doula really advocated for me on this one. The midwife reluctantly checked me, and I was a big 8 cms, so she filled up the pool mighty quick! The pool felt SO nice between contractions, but I think it actually made my contractions much more painful (makes sense, I guess-- it relaxed my body which helped my body to do what it needed to do). After about 45 mintues in the pool, I started feeling the urge to push. I told them that, and they said it was OK to do what I felt I needed to. I pushed a few times and then reached down and felt my baby's head with my hand! I told them this, and they didn't believe me ("You feel the baby with your hand? You mean you feel it with your pelvis, right?"). They got a flashlight out and saw her head.
This meant that I had to get out of the pool (they don't allow waterbirths). So, I got out of the pool and had to walk over to the bed to give birth. This really slowed things down (in a relative sense...my baby was born less than an hour later, but her head was halfway out when I was in the pool... I think she could have been born within 5 minutes if I had stayed in). I got on the bed and pushed for about 45 minutes. Actually, this was one of the most comfortable parts of labor. My contractions got very spaced out --from being basically non-stop to being every 5-10 minutes-- (I've read this happens if you're about to give birth and then have to stop for some reason...you miss your "window of opportunity" and contractions slow a lot...this usually happens when women are told not to push, but in my case I think it was from having to move across the big room), so I only pushed like 6-7 times during that time. The whole time, I was vomitting up popsicle, which I thought was really funny. Pushing felt really good, and I enjoyed feeling like I was making progress. I felt some burning tearing towards the front of my labia (they ended up ripping a little, but no stitches needed), and then she was out.
Within about 5 seconds, they put her in my arms, and we cuddled while I waited to deliver the placenta (it happened within 5 minutes, with just one contraction and no pushing). Alice, my baby, was super healthy and happy and was nursing before the cord was even cut. Recovery was easy, and because I had no pain relief, I felt in pretty good shape (considering not having slept in a while) immediately.
Now, almost a month later, and things are great!
x 
