big
China, i hope you feel better soon sweetie and lots of
for your 2ww hun
tink what an AWESOME piccy of you and lily napping together
i LOVE those days...can't wait to have it again.
coral, i bet you're excited sweetie...just a few more days!! i'm sure it'll all be just fine
poppy, you be careful while you're away hun!!! i'll be praying for safe travels for you with china
puppy, i'm glad your pastor was able to relieve your worries some about what happened with that couple. you never know where somebody is really at spiritually...being in church doesn't always mean they're where they're supposed to be with God
MC, maybe little rhys is getting himself turned with all that work on all fours...too bad your dh won't give you some lovin' "on all fours"
that might do the trick too!
hopes, how did i cope without meds? wellllllll.....it's been such a long time ago now...good grief! over 10 years since my last one! whew! but anyway, i never went to childbirth classes...mostly b/c i had so much preterm labor during my first one that there was never time and after that, i felt i didn't need it. pfft. during my first labor, after about 8 hours or so, i was ready to ask for some kind of pain relief...SOMEthing. but thank God, the nurse checked me again, and i had gone something like from 4-5cm to 9+cm in about an hour/hour and a half, so that gave me the boost i needed to get through to the end.
anyway, really, i just tried really really hard to focus on breathing through the contractions...trying to remember that they had a peak and would end. and always that there was a goal. that being the birth. i had to have it quiet and preferably muted lights. as much as i LIVE for music, music would have been too much stimulation for me and i didn't want any during labor. i had to put so much effort and energy into channeling pain tolerance and concentrated effort to making all the other parts of my body relax that music or any other extraneous stimulation would have distracted from that for me. i think that was a big part of it for me too...that focused/concentrated effort to keep my hands and legs and face all relaxed during the contractions. because (same as when you run or do other exercising) if you're tensing muscles you don't need during the contractions, you're expending unnecessary energy and will tire more quickly. meaning i would INTENTIONALLY NOT clench my fists, not tense my back or my legs, not flex my toes, not frown or tense my brow, etc....all the different things we do when we're tensed or stressed or in pain. those things detract from what your belly needs to be doing, in my opinion.
otherwise, also as my faith is a huge part of my life and very important to me, i just tried to meditate on my faith and i had my ex read certain scripture passages to me, particularly the psalms. it's probably one of the very very few cool things he did for me during our marriage.
i've also really been blessed with some fantastic nurses during each of my labors. my 2nd labor was particularly hard and painful and the nurse i had was AMAZING. she even stayed after her shift to make sure i got through it all. she was particularly skilled with Lamaze, but really she was just SO CALM and spoke to me in the most soothing voice. she rubbed my back and just talked me through the worst of the contractions.
i don't think i can pin it down to any one thing. i think if any of these elements had been "off" for me, i wouldn't have been able to do it. oh and for me, the pushing actually felt "good" (if you can use that word for it
). for me the pushing was not painful at all and it was a huge relief to finally be at that stage and i just didn't fight what my body wanted to do naturally. i don't know if any of what i said has helped you at all hun. and don't get me wrong...i totally support getting pain relief when/if you need it!! i think you just have to be in tune with your body and what it's telling you that you need. i would encourage you not to be "afraid" of the pain though. is it painful? yes. is it hard? yes. but it is doable. and my labors were quick, but not all easy by any means. i had pitocin with my first and my fourth. i can't remember if i had it with my third...must have because they induced me b/c i had pre-eclampsia, but the labor went SO fast, that there wasn't even time for the doc to prep and some other stuff. my 2nd labor was by far the most painful one. a back to back one like tink. one other was like that too, but i don't remember which one it was. i feel so stupid now for not having made some kind of record of details like that for my kids.
anyway, for me, as long as i knew what progress i was making and could gauge things from that, then i was ok to "i can do one more hour" or "i can do 30 more minutes"...until i had enough or until it was time to push. these damn period cramps are a whole other story though...i'm a complete wuss and whiner and wish they would just go away
but there's no goal with this either. blah...now i'm the one rambling......pfft....
When do you leave again? x
nighty night all xx
will have a nosey in morning...xx
ahhh I'm so funny!
and Lily is worth every inch of it x
everyone
