I finally had time to sit down and write my labor and delivery story. I had a natural birth at a birth center, and while the labor was extremely long, the progression was relatively fast towards the end and Im very grateful that I had the birth that I wanted. Sorry if this is a little lengthy
I started getting contractions on Monday (11/3) afternoon. They were about 10 minutes apart at that time, and lasting only 30 seconds or so
pretty manageable. I basically continued to have contractions throughout Monday, and at night time, I was taking cat naps in between contractions. At some point, I did manage to get 80 minutes of continuous sleep which I was very grateful for.
On Tuesday, I continued to have contractions all day. My DH decided to stay home from work that day because I couldn't do much by myself. He was really helpful, getting me food, helping me move around, etc. I also used the ball, lay down, sat on my bedroom floor, went on all fours basically used every technique I knew to ease the pain. By around 4pm, they started coming like 7 minutes apart on average and they were getting pretty intense. Thats when I decided to jump into my bathtub and soak. The hot water was amazing but I think I might have slowed my contractions a little because they spaced out again to like 10-12 minutes
I was not a happy camper.
Anyways, the contractions kept on coming and by around 11pm, they were like approximately 5 minutes apart and 45-50 seconds each. The birth center had told us had told us to use the 4-1-1 rule, i.e. call when they are 4 minutes apart, 1 minute each for at least an hour. I waited until like 1am and they were still 5 minutes apart but Id had enough. DH called the birth center and they told us to come in, but that if I hadn't progressed significantly theyd send us home.
We got to the birth center about 1:30am. I was checked and was 4cm (phew!!) so they checked me in. They checked the baby who was doing great, and hooked up the IV for antibiotics coz I was GBS+. I asked if I could get into the jetted tub but they said not yet because they didnt want to slow my contractions down. They continued to check the babys heartbeat every half hour during contractions to make sure she was doing fine. They also kept giving me antibiotics every 4 hours. In between, they unhooked the IV so that I could move around.
At around 8:15am, I was checked and was about 5-6 cm dilated. The contractions were about 3-5 min apart, but they were very intense and lasting about a minute each. They told me to walk around or bounce on the ball to try and get them a little closer (what??) which DH & I did for maybe 30 minutes and I was done. The contractions were being followed by mini-contractions and it was all very painful without much of a break. I was allowed to go into the jetted tub at that point and it was amazing!! The contractions still hurt like hell, but the period in between I did get some more pain relief. DH sat there with me, giving me massages, trying to help where he could. Just having his presence there was very reassuring for me.
At some point, the contractions started to come much closer together, almost one on top of each other with no break in between. At around 10:00am, they checked me and said I was pretty much 9-10cm. My bag of waters was bulging and they offered to break it to get things going which I agreed. Once they broke it, I felt a big whoosh and when the next contraction came, I had the strongest urge to push. I will say that the contractions at that point weren't painful, they just gave a really strong urge to push and when I pushed, I felt so much better. My midwife allowed me to ride about 5 contractions in the tub and start pushing there and then DH and the nurse got me on the bed where I pushed until Samantha was born at 10:19am. DH cut the cord
even though he didn't think he would want to. After she was born, they put her on me and wiped her off there, and we did skin to skin for like 2 hours after that. It was the most amazing feeling ever to just hold her and see her astonished face looking at us and around.
I had two 1st degree tears so not too bad. The placenta came out like an hour after. All in all, it was an amazing experience and one I would do again and again for the prize at the end.
And just in case youre curious, I gained 22 lbs my whole pregnancy and after I gave birth, I lost about 12 lbs. However, I still looked like I was 6 months pregnant
. So Im now 10lbs over my pre-pregnancy weight.
(again, probably that whole denial thing 
