Even though it's technically Friday, aaand now it's Sunday...whatevs.
I recently explained to a friend that your first pregnancy, you're nervous and scared for labor, because you don't know what to expect. It's the anticipation.
With the second and subsequent pregnancies-you're nervous for what you know.
Giving birth aint easy, that's for sure!
Although for some reason we keep coming back for more...
With Moshe, I didn't have a complaint in the world.
Not an ache, not a pain, not even a braxton hick!
I was dilated to 3 cm. for 3 weeks...and went 5 days past my due date.
If you know me in real life, you know that I always have a list of things to do a mile long-honestly, I can't even tell you the things I do, I just know that I'm busy!
The day of Moshe's birth was no different.
I was overdue, but I had a jam packed day filled with returns and fun at the mall.
It was my last day-I was scheduled to be induced the next morning.
My last hoorah!
Around 4:00 am I woke up from stomach pains, real stomach pains, not contractions, as in I need to go, go.
I don't like talking about the bathroom-although you'll probably be hearing about it in future posts as I have a thing for being brutally honest, and we're about to get into the nitty gritties of birth!
So, I hung out in the bathroom for awhile...
Probably fell asleep...
You know...
Eventually I got up, but then "peed" on the floor...
Hmm, that's interesting...
I decided that I would try to see if I had to go more-I'm not really sure why that would make sense, since there was a decent amount on the floor.
So back on the pot I went, and sure enough, I peed.
Hmm...so I peed all over the floor, and still more in the toilet? Weird...
Then I started having some pretty intense pain-and then it hit me!
My water had broken!!!
I went to wake up my husband.
It was now 4:30 am, and he kindly asked if he could go back to sleep.
Hmph...yeah, sure.
My contractions were not that intense, and were not coming consistently. I couldn't go back to sleep, so I just hung out around the apartment, eventually went into the shower, and tried-unsuccessfully, to get in touch with the doctor.
Around 9am, the doctors office finally picked up (there was a problem with their answering service) and we were told to head on in!
I sent my husband down first to load the car-but when he got to our car, the Coke truck was blocking our car! My husband calmly told security to please find the driver of the Coke truck and have him move his car, as his wife was in labor.
Now, you would think the security guard's wife was going into labor based on how he freaked out!!!
The driver was found, I made my way outside to the basement exit where my husband had pulled up the car, and we received well wishes from the security guard as he saw us off on our journey to the hospital!
We had been timing my contractions, and at this point my water had broken almost five hours earlier-yet they were still inconsistent.
I enjoyed a nice car ride, minus the few contractions, made phone calls to family members letting them know our long awaited miracle would be making his arrival a day earlier than expected, and ate chex.
We quickly hit traffic, but we knew we weren't in any real rush.
Once we arrived at the hospital, I had to stop in the bathroom due to frequent gushes of amniotic fluid.
Did you know that your water will continue to leak out because it continues to be produced?
Best advice I ever heard-wear a newborn diaper like a pad-super absorbent!
Eventually we were checked in, and it was confirmed that my water had indeed broken, and that I was 5cm.
I was not in significant pain, and wanted to attempt a drug free delivery, so we began walking the halls.
We wandered into some deserted wings of the delivery floor, as they had done some recent renovations and had moved the delivery rooms, so we had a lot of privacy and peace and quiet.
Around noon, we headed back to our room where I mentioned to the nurse that I hadn't really been having any contractions-maybe two in a half hour.
We decided we would continue walking for a little bit more to see if it picked up.
No such luck.
Around 1 pm, they came and informed us that they wanted to give me pitocin, but that they would send in the anesthesiologist before hand to give me an epidural because if I got to the point were I did want one, he might not be available-better to get it beforehand.
Now, I don't necessarily agree with this-and we were on the fence about receiving the epidural. But, I've read that labor induced with pitocin is much more painful than regular labor, and contractions much more intense. So we figured, most likely, I would end up wanting an epidural anyway, why go through the pain of it.
Receiving the epidural itself was not so painful, but the process was the worst part of labor, the only part I cried.
You have to sit completely still and cannot move during contractions-at all.
Once the epidural was in place, I was pain free-a little too pain free.
I was over drugged.
I immediately felt like I couldn't breathe, couldn't move my lower half, at all, and in general I just felt out of it.
I ended up sleeping from the time the epidural was administered until about 5pm when my doctor arrived. He was definitely surprised to still me pregnant!
Around 6:30 it was time to begin pushing.
The problem was I still felt out of it, and could not feel my legs-which makes pushing very difficult.
In the end, I pushed for a little over 20 minutes, received an episiotomy, had to have the doctor manually check to make sure all of the placenta was delivered, decided not to hold the baby quite yet, and almost passed out when they attempted to move me to recovery.
The hardest part, by far, of the labor and delivery experience were the first two days of recovery.
In the hospital, I was in so much pain from the pushing and episiotomy that I could barely get around and required frequent assistance to sit up, get in and out of bed, go to the bathroom, you name it.
I also was not prepared for the amount of blood that first bathroom trip. So unprepared I blacked out and had to be carried back to my bed. It was one of my most anticipated fears, so I'm not surprised that was actually something that got to me.
I was a first time mommy, and Moshe was a somewhat difficult nurser, so that required a lot of help in the hospital. Thankfully the hospital employs a really wonderful lady and we've become friends throughout the years and I've reached out to her countless times for guidance and support.
I found that each day really was an improvement and by 1 week post-partum, I really was feeling generally well.
So there ya have it-my first birthing experience...
Eventually I got up, but then "peed" on the floor...
Hmm, that's interesting...
I decided that I would try to see if I had to go more-I'm not really sure why that would make sense, since there was a decent amount on the floor.
So back on the pot I went, and sure enough, I peed.
Hmm...so I peed all over the floor, and still more in the toilet? Weird...
Then I started having some pretty intense pain-and then it hit me!
My water had broken!!!
I went to wake up my husband.
It was now 4:30 am, and he kindly asked if he could go back to sleep.
Hmph...yeah, sure.
My contractions were not that intense, and were not coming consistently. I couldn't go back to sleep, so I just hung out around the apartment, eventually went into the shower, and tried-unsuccessfully, to get in touch with the doctor.
Around 9am, the doctors office finally picked up (there was a problem with their answering service) and we were told to head on in!
I sent my husband down first to load the car-but when he got to our car, the Coke truck was blocking our car! My husband calmly told security to please find the driver of the Coke truck and have him move his car, as his wife was in labor.
Now, you would think the security guard's wife was going into labor based on how he freaked out!!!
The driver was found, I made my way outside to the basement exit where my husband had pulled up the car, and we received well wishes from the security guard as he saw us off on our journey to the hospital!
We had been timing my contractions, and at this point my water had broken almost five hours earlier-yet they were still inconsistent.
I enjoyed a nice car ride, minus the few contractions, made phone calls to family members letting them know our long awaited miracle would be making his arrival a day earlier than expected, and ate chex.
We quickly hit traffic, but we knew we weren't in any real rush.
Once we arrived at the hospital, I had to stop in the bathroom due to frequent gushes of amniotic fluid.
Did you know that your water will continue to leak out because it continues to be produced?
Best advice I ever heard-wear a newborn diaper like a pad-super absorbent!
Eventually we were checked in, and it was confirmed that my water had indeed broken, and that I was 5cm.
I was not in significant pain, and wanted to attempt a drug free delivery, so we began walking the halls.
We wandered into some deserted wings of the delivery floor, as they had done some recent renovations and had moved the delivery rooms, so we had a lot of privacy and peace and quiet.
Around noon, we headed back to our room where I mentioned to the nurse that I hadn't really been having any contractions-maybe two in a half hour.
We decided we would continue walking for a little bit more to see if it picked up.
No such luck.
Around 1 pm, they came and informed us that they wanted to give me pitocin, but that they would send in the anesthesiologist before hand to give me an epidural because if I got to the point were I did want one, he might not be available-better to get it beforehand.
Now, I don't necessarily agree with this-and we were on the fence about receiving the epidural. But, I've read that labor induced with pitocin is much more painful than regular labor, and contractions much more intense. So we figured, most likely, I would end up wanting an epidural anyway, why go through the pain of it.
Receiving the epidural itself was not so painful, but the process was the worst part of labor, the only part I cried.
You have to sit completely still and cannot move during contractions-at all.
Once the epidural was in place, I was pain free-a little too pain free.
I was over drugged.
I immediately felt like I couldn't breathe, couldn't move my lower half, at all, and in general I just felt out of it.
I ended up sleeping from the time the epidural was administered until about 5pm when my doctor arrived. He was definitely surprised to still me pregnant!
Around 6:30 it was time to begin pushing.
The problem was I still felt out of it, and could not feel my legs-which makes pushing very difficult.
In the end, I pushed for a little over 20 minutes, received an episiotomy, had to have the doctor manually check to make sure all of the placenta was delivered, decided not to hold the baby quite yet, and almost passed out when they attempted to move me to recovery.
The hardest part, by far, of the labor and delivery experience were the first two days of recovery.
In the hospital, I was in so much pain from the pushing and episiotomy that I could barely get around and required frequent assistance to sit up, get in and out of bed, go to the bathroom, you name it.
I also was not prepared for the amount of blood that first bathroom trip. So unprepared I blacked out and had to be carried back to my bed. It was one of my most anticipated fears, so I'm not surprised that was actually something that got to me.
I was a first time mommy, and Moshe was a somewhat difficult nurser, so that required a lot of help in the hospital. Thankfully the hospital employs a really wonderful lady and we've become friends throughout the years and I've reached out to her countless times for guidance and support.
I found that each day really was an improvement and by 1 week post-partum, I really was feeling generally well.
So there ya have it-my first birthing experience...
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