I had my baby! Gavin's birth story
Well, I can't believe that I'm now posting my labor/birth story! Time sure flies (except those last few weeks!)
Labor wasn't exactly what I expected. I expected the contractions to be unbearable and the pushing to be painless with the epidural (just "pressure" as everyone had told me). It was the opposite. I had menstrual-like contractions the night of my due date (9th) but they were two hours apart and didn't go anywhere. Then on Wednesday night (Oct. 10th) I started getting lower back pains at 5:40 pm...they got closer and closer until they were five minutes apart at 12 a.m. I timed them for the next two hours at five minutes until I finally decided to call the doctor at 2 a.m. I didn't think I was in labor because my water didn't break and I didn't lose the mucus plug. Plus it was all lower back pain... but they were getting pretty intense and I couldn't function when they came on. The doctor told me to go to the hospital so I woke my DH up & we left. To make a long story short, we got there 3 a.m.. I had to wait till 6 a.m. for the epidural (which hurt like hell 4 times -2x for inserting the needles/catheter & 2x for the medicine). The nurse had to manually turn the babys head bec. he was turned to the side (probably the cause of the back pain) then she kept my legs up on stirrups to keep him from moving (not a comfortable position to stay in!). At 10:30 a.m. they had me start pushing. I didn't feel anything until his head started appearing. At first it was just pressure, but then it changed to extreme discomfort in the rectal (sorry!) area that I can only describe as very very painful (to a point in the last 10 minutes that I didn't even want to push anymore). When the pressure turned to pain, I also started to feel to feel the urge to push , which I hadn't felt before. (I Iater learned that the doctor had told the nurses to turn off my epidural, which I was not happy about.) The nurse said I wasn't going to tear & probably wouldn't need an episiotomy- but the cord ended up being wrapped around his neck so they had to do it to get him out quicker. I pushed for only 25-30 minutes & Gavin was out into the world.
Throughout the entire labor & delivery time my DH was absolutely wonderful. He was so loving and supportive. He monitored the baby's heart rate & my contractions. He asked the nurses questions. He gave me updates on my progress pushing & encouraged me to keep going.
The biggest motivation for me came when I could hear his amazed reactions of seeing the baby emerge. That gave me the extra strength I needed in the end. and when Gavin came out & they put him on me we were both in total awe. It was the most amazing thing in the world to see him there knowing he was our son. :0) Every day we are still in amazement.
Ladies, it'll be here before you know it!!! and it's soo worth every minute and second of pregnancy & labor.
Re: I had my baby! Gavin's birth story