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Tropigoth Mama to Two
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My birth story with my first
mostly natural hospital birth.
This time I will not be "okay" with Pitocin to "help deliver the afterbirth" as there was really no call for it and I will not take a morphine shot because it did nothing at all and just made me feel extremely loopy after the birth 

I woke up feeling excited and happy, because my mom and sister were arriving from Canada the next night. I made my list of the things I needed to do the next day while TeacherMan was at work, tidied the house, and got ready to go out with TeacherMan and his aunt that afternoon.
I was feeling a little uncomfortable and funny, but I chalked it up to false labor (like I’d been having for a few weeks) and got on with my day. We had dinner at Sizzler and then went to the movie theater and saw “Conan the Barbarian”. During the movie I felt a couple tightening-style contractions, but no pain except a bit of back-ache. I just leaned forward in my seat and had TeacherMan rub my back a bit.
I was feeling pretty quiet and untalkative while we drove home. We dropped Aunty off at her place and then came home to our apartment. I had a shower and laid down on the bed. TeacherMan was on his computer in the living room and I turned on a laptop in the bedroom to watch “Friday Night Lights” on Netflix.
Around 11pm, I had my first painful contraction. It felt like a dull, low ache in my pelvis and my first thought was fearful until I realized what it must be. It felt nothing like the Braxton Hicks I’d been having for weeks - it hurt. I kept an eye on the clock and had another one 7 minutes later. The next one came in 6 minutes and when it was over I went out to the living room and let TeacherMan know what was going on.
Around midnight, the contractions were coming 5 minutes apart and were hard - I could only concentrate on them while they were happening, although between them I felt all right. I called L&D and talked to a nurse, who said I could come in at any time to be checked.
I told the nurse we’d probably wait a little while, but then we packed up the hospital bag and decided to go in. The contractions were coming about 4 minutes apart and I really didn’t want to risk having my baby in the car!
TeacherMan and I got in the car and drove to the hospital - when we got to the closest freeway on-ramp, it was closed off by police! I had a panicky moment but luckily my husband knew what he was doing and we got to the hospital just fine.
The contractions were unwalkably hard by the time we reached the hospital. We went up to the maternity floor and the nurses got us into a labor room and checked me. I was only 2cm so they couldn’t officially admit me, but they put me on the monitor and said we’d wait a bit and see.
The next time they checked, I was 4cm so they admitted me and everything. Then they said we should walk the hallway and see if we could get things sped up a bit. I really didn’t want to walk but we did - we did about 5 or 6 walks up and down the hallway outside the room. I’d have a contraction at each end of the hallway and in the middle, too. Oh, and I had to go back to the room to throw up after our first trip up and down. Yuck.
I just wanted to lie down and sleep then, so we went back to the room and I got into the bed. The contractions were super, super painful - lots of pressure too because Molly’s head was really low. The nurse told us after I went back to the bed that she’d check where I was at 2:30am, so every time a contraction came TeacherMan would say “just a few more, just a few more and then we’ll know”. I think it was around this time that they put my IV in - just the part that goes into your wrist, they didn’t have anything going in to me yet. And they asked if, after the baby was delivered, I was all right with having Pitocin to aid in the delivery of the placenta. (I was).
At 2:30 (or maybe it was 3:30, I’m not sure…
they checked me and decided to break my water. That was the weirdest sensation ever! I also had a morphine shot around then sometime, TeacherMan thinks I was in the “transition” stage at that point. I felt like I’d been in labor (aka IN PAIN) forever and it was never going to end and I just wanted some help. I know I said “I can’t do this” and he told me that I could, I was doing it and I was doing a really good job.
After they broke my water they checked me again and I was at 8cm. I really wanted to push, I was feeling like I could feel so much better if I could just push down! But I was only 8cm so they said no, if I pushed I’d hurt myself and I had to wait. It was awful, all I wanted to do was PUSH but they told TeacherMan to make me blow like blowing out a candle instead. NOT THE SAME THING…
Plus they were saying I had to relax so I could get to 10cm and it was so hard! I wanted to relax but the contractions were coming hard and fast!
Finally, they checked and I was fully dilated and I was allowed to push. So I pushed… and pushed… And pushed…
TeacherMan thinks I was pushing for about an hour and 15 minutes before Molly was born - I have no idea, it felt like much less time. Finally she was crowning (oh GOD that hurt, yikes) and then they said her head was out and I’d have a baby with one more push!
I can’t even describe the feeling when they put her on my chest and I could touch her and she was crying and she was SO beautiful, all pink and purple and a full head of hair…
They let me hold her skin-to-skin for a few minutes, I kept saying “Happy Birthday” and telling her she was so beautiful and I loved her. TeacherMan was right beside me. They started the Pitocin going in my IV and I delivered the placenta just fine.
Then they said they had to take her to the other side of the room to check her breathing - I guess she inhaled or swallowed some fluid so she was a little raspy. We asked for a “tour” of the placenta and one of the nurses showed it to us - it was pretty amazing! The doctors had to fix a tear on me, too, so TeacherMan kept an eye on both of us. He called his parents, too, to tell them and handed me my phone so I could call my mom.
I was SO loopy from emotion and hormones and probably the morphine shot- my mom said I sounded funny on the phone! I’m pretty sure I said some stupid things to the nurse too (like “You have a Hello Kitty sticker on your badge!”
but oh well *haha*.
Then they gave me back my baby and I don’t even know how long we were in the room, I was just looking at her. TeacherMan fell asleep (we’d been up since the morning before!) on the chair next to my bed. Then they moved us to recovery!
I was feeling a little uncomfortable and funny, but I chalked it up to false labor (like I’d been having for a few weeks) and got on with my day. We had dinner at Sizzler and then went to the movie theater and saw “Conan the Barbarian”. During the movie I felt a couple tightening-style contractions, but no pain except a bit of back-ache. I just leaned forward in my seat and had TeacherMan rub my back a bit.
I was feeling pretty quiet and untalkative while we drove home. We dropped Aunty off at her place and then came home to our apartment. I had a shower and laid down on the bed. TeacherMan was on his computer in the living room and I turned on a laptop in the bedroom to watch “Friday Night Lights” on Netflix.
Around 11pm, I had my first painful contraction. It felt like a dull, low ache in my pelvis and my first thought was fearful until I realized what it must be. It felt nothing like the Braxton Hicks I’d been having for weeks - it hurt. I kept an eye on the clock and had another one 7 minutes later. The next one came in 6 minutes and when it was over I went out to the living room and let TeacherMan know what was going on.
Around midnight, the contractions were coming 5 minutes apart and were hard - I could only concentrate on them while they were happening, although between them I felt all right. I called L&D and talked to a nurse, who said I could come in at any time to be checked.
I told the nurse we’d probably wait a little while, but then we packed up the hospital bag and decided to go in. The contractions were coming about 4 minutes apart and I really didn’t want to risk having my baby in the car!
TeacherMan and I got in the car and drove to the hospital - when we got to the closest freeway on-ramp, it was closed off by police! I had a panicky moment but luckily my husband knew what he was doing and we got to the hospital just fine.
The contractions were unwalkably hard by the time we reached the hospital. We went up to the maternity floor and the nurses got us into a labor room and checked me. I was only 2cm so they couldn’t officially admit me, but they put me on the monitor and said we’d wait a bit and see.
The next time they checked, I was 4cm so they admitted me and everything. Then they said we should walk the hallway and see if we could get things sped up a bit. I really didn’t want to walk but we did - we did about 5 or 6 walks up and down the hallway outside the room. I’d have a contraction at each end of the hallway and in the middle, too. Oh, and I had to go back to the room to throw up after our first trip up and down. Yuck.
I just wanted to lie down and sleep then, so we went back to the room and I got into the bed. The contractions were super, super painful - lots of pressure too because Molly’s head was really low. The nurse told us after I went back to the bed that she’d check where I was at 2:30am, so every time a contraction came TeacherMan would say “just a few more, just a few more and then we’ll know”. I think it was around this time that they put my IV in - just the part that goes into your wrist, they didn’t have anything going in to me yet. And they asked if, after the baby was delivered, I was all right with having Pitocin to aid in the delivery of the placenta. (I was).
At 2:30 (or maybe it was 3:30, I’m not sure…

After they broke my water they checked me again and I was at 8cm. I really wanted to push, I was feeling like I could feel so much better if I could just push down! But I was only 8cm so they said no, if I pushed I’d hurt myself and I had to wait. It was awful, all I wanted to do was PUSH but they told TeacherMan to make me blow like blowing out a candle instead. NOT THE SAME THING…
Plus they were saying I had to relax so I could get to 10cm and it was so hard! I wanted to relax but the contractions were coming hard and fast!
Finally, they checked and I was fully dilated and I was allowed to push. So I pushed… and pushed… And pushed…
TeacherMan thinks I was pushing for about an hour and 15 minutes before Molly was born - I have no idea, it felt like much less time. Finally she was crowning (oh GOD that hurt, yikes) and then they said her head was out and I’d have a baby with one more push!
I can’t even describe the feeling when they put her on my chest and I could touch her and she was crying and she was SO beautiful, all pink and purple and a full head of hair…
They let me hold her skin-to-skin for a few minutes, I kept saying “Happy Birthday” and telling her she was so beautiful and I loved her. TeacherMan was right beside me. They started the Pitocin going in my IV and I delivered the placenta just fine.
Then they said they had to take her to the other side of the room to check her breathing - I guess she inhaled or swallowed some fluid so she was a little raspy. We asked for a “tour” of the placenta and one of the nurses showed it to us - it was pretty amazing! The doctors had to fix a tear on me, too, so TeacherMan kept an eye on both of us. He called his parents, too, to tell them and handed me my phone so I could call my mom.
I was SO loopy from emotion and hormones and probably the morphine shot- my mom said I sounded funny on the phone! I’m pretty sure I said some stupid things to the nurse too (like “You have a Hello Kitty sticker on your badge!”

Then they gave me back my baby and I don’t even know how long we were in the room, I was just looking at her. TeacherMan fell asleep (we’d been up since the morning before!) on the chair next to my bed. Then they moved us to recovery!
