Almost natural - 1.15.10 Birth Story Long
I was 39 weeks 3 days pregnant, and so tired of being preggers...I wanted to be done.
I was a GD and on insulin and my doctor didn't want me to go past my due date of 1/19. I was scheduled to be induced on Tuesday. Thursday morning 1/14 (the week before Tuesday) I had my 39 week check up and NST, and was still only 1 CM dilated and looking like I was going to be induced. When I had my NST- there wasn't even a FLUTTER of a contraction on the monitor. I was so sad. I really thought I would have some contractions by then that I wasn't feeling. This story goes to show you how QUICK things change. I was scared because I didn't want to be induced. I didn't want to see the birth "coming". I really wanted to go into labor on my own. The doctor told me to not put too much stock into the CMs, things can change quick. I did everything in my power to go into labor on my own.
Thursday night (1/14) my DH and watched some t.v while I drank some Raseperry Tea. (Had red leaf in it) He jokingly said "we should have sex and try to induce you." annoyed I said "Fine... but this is the last time until 6 weeks after baby is born!" So- we had sex. Two hours later at 11:50 I was about to drift off to sleep when I got this really sharp pain. I though "ow.. that kind of hurts" I just though - RL pain or just a random cramp.
I layed down and again was about to drift off and 5 minutes later, another pain. I had my DH go grab my iphone and I started using my contraction master contraction counter. GOD SEND! There was no way I would have been able to write down the contractions and times and monitor how long they lasted. This application did it for me. Timed them, told me how far apart they were, and kept a log. LOVED IT.
My doctor told me to call when contractions were 3 to 5 minutes apart for one minute long, lasting an hour. I was afraid to call, because they were 3-5 minutes apart but these "pains" lasted anywhere from 30-45 seconds and went on for 2 hours. At 2:00 AM, (two hours after the first pain) I had enough and decided to stop worry about the girl that cried "wolf" and call the doctor. He told me "why don't you head in to the hospital"
I told DH and he jumped up and said "do I have time to shave?" Seriously? Yes- he asked that.
So he shaved, I threw on some other clothes, we finished some last minute things, and out the door we went. The entire time every couple minutes I'd be bent over trying to breath through the cramps.
The drive to the hospital sucked. The curves on the road and bumps were torture as I contracted. Got to the hospital, they hooked me up to the monitor and I said "am I going to be sent home and she said "no.. you're here for the long haul". I then said "when do you think I'll deliver" Peggy my L&D nurse said "I say 4 PM today. (OMG.. no- really.. that's SO far away!)
From 2:30 to about 7:30 I labored with no meds. It wasn't as bas as I thought it was going to be. I was really prepared for the worst pain of my life. For ME contractioins were REALLY strong and painful period cramps. They lasted about 45 seconds. I just kept getting through them by breathing and knowing - it's almost over. I watched the clock and knew that they all lasted about a minute, so that helped me through each one. They peaked at 30 seconds and then would slowly die down in pain. I really didn't want the epidural. At 5 cms It got to the point they told me they were going to get worse and I should think about pain management.
I asked about my pain options- and said "please no epi" I just had a thing about having a needle go in my back. They mentiona synthetic Morphin that was like having a glass of wine. SIGN ME UP! It was a shot in the bum, and I was afraid it would hurt, but compared to the pain I had going on in it felt like a bug bite. I got the shot about 8 AM. I'd have a contraction and fall asleep- it was heaven. My DH said it was funny, I'd moan through a contraction and 15 seconds later be snoring. Part of the problem with the shot is that it can slow down contractions. I was also scared that the shot was going to give me some sort of allergic reaction (I have weird allergies) so they only gave me 1 MG of the 1.5 MG the doctor prescribed. They told me I could have the other .5 later
Sometime in the morning around 10 AM they had me start potocin. They told me the contractions were now going to get a lot worse, longer and stronger. The shot made them slow down, so they wanted to speed them up.
Around 10:30 they checked me and told me I was at 6 CMs. They decided to break my water (which DID NOT hurt) They were REALLY surprised I was so dialted. I came in and I was only at 2 CMS at 2:30 AM.
At noon my doctor came in to see me, and she checked me and said "You're still at 6 CMs., I really want you to get the epi,we might have to do a c-section- you are stalled". I was so sad, I really really didn't want a c-section. I was determined to get through this. My contractions got closer together and hurt, but I was breathing through them and asked for the other .5 MG of my shot. It did NOTHING. I kept saying "when will it kick in?" They said... "it may not..." (ARGH!) The contractions slowed WAYYYY down due to the morphine like shot and they were almost ten minutes apart (after being roughly 3-4 minutes) I'll be honest, it was a nice break from pain so close together.
At 12 my doctor said "i'll be back to check on you in an hour." I had to dialate more or I was heading for a C-section. She had them up my potocin to see if that would bring my contractions back. My contractions picked WAY back up and then 2 hours later (not an hour) my doctor came in to check me. She said "I need you to push..." I pushed (and pee'd all over her) and she said.. no no... not like that... 
(haha)
At 3:00 (3 hours after she said she'd check on me) She came in and rechecked me. My husband thinks she was out on the monitor at the nurses station watching my contractions. She didn't come back in because she was giving me time to dialate. (THANK GOD!) She said "You are 10 CMs dialated, time to push." (Um huh?) So- knowing all I read, I pushed. I kept having to get up and pee (which I have to say- was helpful) When I hit 10 CMs and they had me push I had to pee- because I felt like I was just going to push pee- they let me get up and pee (where is my CATH!) and then go back to the bed. They had me push when I pee'd if I wanted (on the toilet - which felt SO good) Then they had me push when I was crawling into bed, (I was on all fours).
Then the doctor came back in and it was go time. I pushed for 55 minutes or just under. It was about 6 pushes and he was out. They threw him on my chest (all goey) and it was the most surreal experience of my life. The ring of fire- hurt like hell. OMG. I kept saying "I need an ice pack, I need something.. heat, ice - please give me something.
DH was awesome - he kept my mouth moist with ice chips. He put a wash cloth on me- I was SO hot. The entire experience wasn't what I've heard or read. I was really nervous about how bad it would hurt. For me, it was just really bad period cramps. The shot helped and I highly recommend it if you want to be able to sleep but still feel labor. When the shot wore off, it hurt, but the nurses think I either have a really high tolerance for pain or I was just made to give birth.
When I got checked in- my blood pressure was HIGH, and so I was told I had pre-eclampsia, but they think it was due to the stress of labor (gee- you think)
Feel free to ask questions. I'll check back on this thread. I am breastfeeding and it's a lot harder than I thought. The nurses said I did an amazing job giving birth. They said that most people take 2 hours of pushing. I had it in my head to just push as hard as I could, and it worked. You push like your taking a poop. We ended up having him at 3:55 PM on Friday. We didn't get discharged until Monday. Baby was born with ABO blood Group incompatibility. That causes Jaundice and so baby has been sleeping a lot. We also couldn't get him to suck/nurse. Everyone kept telling me "it's normal to nurse for 5 minutes and fall asleep" We talked to so many people and everyone had something different to say. We had him circumcised (which we weren't going to do) and thank god we did. They gave him until 6 PM to pee on Sunday. He never peed, and so then we learned his jaundice wasn't getting better. It was getting worse. He wasn't get enough fluids, so he wasn't flushing his system. It was a big domino effect
A few pieces of advice...
Don't listen to anyone elses' OMG birth stories, everyone is different. I also wish one of my friends hadn't scared me to death about taking a poop after birth. It didn't hurt, but I scared myself constipated. Seriously. Take a softener - and it will be fine. Just know everyone is different.
I did tear, I don't know how much or how bad, but I did get stiches. They are itchy now, but are getting better. Sitting was the one thing that's hard to do at first.
Feel free to ask away.
Re: Almost natural - 1.15.10 Birth Story Long
Thanks for sharing!
How much did he weigh and what did you name him?!?!